A Simple Line of Chords Part 18

“ Well, that was an interesting day,” Lizzie said, slamming her locker shut.1

“ It’s only one more year,” Artemis reminded her. “ Then we’ll have graduation and its off to college.” ]2

Kassidy looked at her, a shocked look on her face. “ College? You want to go to college?”3

“ Well, yeah,” Artemis answered.4

“ Remind me to tell Elsren thank you,” Kassidy said.5

Artemis tossed her head back, laughing. “ We’ve been back in school a week and its easy cheesy so far. I’m going to college.”6

“ Hey, slow down. I wasn’t saying that you couldn’t go to college,” Kassidy defended herself. “ You just never expressed an interest before.”7

“ This is true,” Lizzie said.8

“ All right, so Carmel’s tonight?” Michaela asked. 9

“ Count me in,” Kassidy said, tossing her purse and books in the trunk.10

“ Yeah me too,” Lizzie said.11

“ Artemis?”12

“ Oh I can’t,” she answered, pulling her keys out of her pocket. “ It’s three month anniversary night and Elsren has something big planned.”13

Kassidy, Lizzie and Michaela looked at her. Artemis smiled and unlocked the door to her car.14

“ Wow, you’ve been together that long,” Lizzie said. “ Well, congratulations Artemis.”15

“ Thank you,” she said sweetly, tossing her purse into her car.16

“ So what are the plans for tonight?” Kassidy asked, leaning against Artemis’s car, her chin cupped in her palm.17

“ He’s coming by to take me out to dinner. He said to get dressed up so it must be some place fancy,” Artemis said. 18

“ Did you buy him something?”19

Artemis winked at Kassidy, who smiled back. “ Sort of. Now stop pestering me. I have to get ready!”20

“ All right, all right. Get outta here.”21

“ Bye Artemis,” they chorused.22

“ Bye.” She waved and drove out of the parking lot. She drove the two miles home.23

An hour later, she came downstairs, ready for her date. She had bought a new dress for the occasion, a long slim-fitting light blue dress with tank straps and a low neckline that made her blue eyes even more shocking then ever and was coupled with simple white heels. She had applied a little make-up and her long straight hair half-up and half-down.24

She stopped at the bottom of the stairs and glanced around in shock. All the lights were turned off and lit candles were placed all over the entryway. Roses petals were scattered on the bottom stair and on the floor leading towards the dining room. she followed the rain curiously into the dining room. She stopped suddenly and gasped. “Elsren…”25

He smiled at her, a handsome picture in the candlelight dressed in a button-up shirt, tie and slacks. The table had two plates with food, the delicious aroma filling the air. “ Hi Artemis. Happy Anniversary,” he said softly.26

Artemis looked at the scene that lay before her. “ W…w…what’s this?” she said.27

He paused. “ Well since I couldn’t afford to take you to dinner, I decided to make dinner for you,” he joked. He winked. “ With a lot of help from George.” He pulled out the chair for her. she slid in and scooted closer to the table.28

“ Well tell George I said thank you,” Artemis said.29

Elsren leaned down and kissed her gently. “ You look beautiful.”30

She smiled in response. “ Thank you. You look pretty good yourself.” She picked up her fork and took a bite. She paused while she chewed. “ Not bad.” He laughed.31

They ate their dinners, engaging in small talk about dance, the band and, more interestingly, Michaela and Jake. 32

“ I got something for you,” Elsren whispered. He reached under the table and pulled out a small white box. “ Here,” he said, handing it to her.33

Artemis looked at it curiously. “ Elsren, what is this?” She took a deep breath before opening it. “ Oh…” Inside was a small silver bracelet with two tiny heart charms. Engraved on one of the hearts were the initials EG and on the other one AC. She immediately slipped it on her wrist. “ Yours is right there,” she said, pointing to it. “ It seems so lame now.”34

Elsren picked it up. “ I’m sure that I will love it,” he reassured her, ripping it open.35

Artemis sat back in her chair, biting her fingernails nervously. “ Do you like it? I know it’s not much…”36

Elsren’s mouth had fallen open in surprise. “ How…where did you get this Artemis?”37

“ Well Kassidy’s mom works for a record company that is associated with Drive-Thru records and she owed me a favor…” she explained. “ Do you like it?”38

“ Like it? Artemis, I love it. This…is amazing.” 39

Artemis hid her satisfied smile. Even though Kassidy had apologized for her not-so-nice behavior, she still felt like Kassidy owed her a favor. Kassidy convinced her mom to get the members of Something Corporate to autograph a poster and cd. 40

“ Thank you Artemis,” he said. “ I love you.”41

She got up and slid into his lap. “ I love you too. Happy Anniversary Elsren.”42

“ Happy Anniversary,” he whispered back leaning forward to kiss her.43

“ Artemis…”44

Artemis pulled away and looked up. “ Um, hi Mom. What’s going on?”45

“ Who’s that?” her mom asked, running her hand through her hair absentmindedly. 46

“ This is my boyfriend, Elsren, Mom,” she said slowly.47

“ Oh,” she answered. Artemis and Elsren exchanged looks.48

Artemis stood up and crossed the room, over to her mother. She was so dazed and smelled strongly of alcohol. Artemis flushed with embarrassment. “ I’ll be right back,” she mouthed to Elsren. “ Come on, Mom, let’s go back to bed okay?” she took a hold of her mother by the arm and started to lead her to her side of the house. When she came back, Elsren had disappeared. She looked around and then went upstairs. Elsren was perched on her bed, in the darkness, the moon making the only light in the room. He had taken his tie off and looked very relaxed. 49

“ I’m sorry about that,” Artemis said, taking off her shoes and sitting down next to him. “ What did you come up here for?”50

“ I came up here so we wouldn’t be interrupted again,” he said, taking her hand.51

Artemis smiled. “ We were interrupted, weren’t we?” She leaned in closer. “Where were we?” 52

He pulled her towards him. “ Right about here…”53

They sat there, kissing their bodies pressed together. Artemis started to slowly unbutton his shirt as they fell back against her pillows. She didn’t notice a thing until she felt her dress straps fall off.54

“ Okay Elsren, what are we doing?” Artemis said, pulling away, breathing heavily.55

“ I’m sorry,” he said quickly, resting his forehead on hers.56

“ We can’t do this, Elsren,” she said. “ You know we can’t.”57

“ I love you, Artemis,” he said simply. “ I want this.”58

“ But…but …” she started to protest.59

He put his finger to her lips. “ Do you want to do it? Don’t think about if it’s ‘wrong’…do you want to do it?”60

She didn’t answer. There was a huge part of her that wanted to make that step. She had made that step with guys before and here was a guy that she was madly in love with. “ I guess I do.”61

“ Please, Artemis,” he said softly.62

She looked into his eyes and was lost in them all over again. She felt as if she could never pull herself back. “ Do you really want this?” she asked.63

“ I really want this,” he said. “ But I’m not going to make you.”64

Artemis sighed and traced her fingertips across his cheek. “ Okay,” she agreed finally.65

It was a slow process for the both of them. Elsren was a virgin and Artemis wasn’t. They both wanted to please the other more than anything. Artemis wanted to make it special because it was the first time she was doing it for love. They both undressed slowly, embarrassed by what they were experiencing. Elsren lost all his breath as the sight of Artemis and she knew when she saw him that there wasn’t a more beautiful man in the whole world. 66

He trembled at first, in a nervous fear. She kissed his forehead to reassure him. He couldn’t keep his eyes off hers the entire time. It was the most wonderful feeling to be held in Elsren’s arms, his kisses scattered all over her body as he moved gently above her.  In every way, it was absolutely perfect for the both of them. 67

The next morning, Artemis awoke, her head resting on Elsren’s chest as he slept silently. She glanced around, not really sure of what had happened. Then it all came rushing back to her. The dinner, the kissing, the sex.  She sat up in surprise and fear. They hadn’t used a condom…they hadn’t done anything. They had just had sex with no thinking whatsoever. She took a deep breath and looked at Elsren lying so peacefully on her bed. She climbed as quietly as she could out of the bed and threw some clothes on. Grabbing her keys, she ran out the door and to her car and took off.68

She drove around for quite some time, thinking about what she had just done. She didn’t know what to make of it just yet. She couldn’t believe that they had actually done it, that Elsren had given up everything he’d grown up with for her. They weren’t even careful about it. She stopped at a grocery store parking lot and cried, unsure of why she was really crying in the first place.69

When she had cried to the point where there weren’t any more tears, she started the car and headed back to her house. She let herself him, afraid to find out if he was there waiting for her. She was frightened of what he was going to say and what she would say. She knew as soon as she walked in and saw Athena, that Athena knew something was up and that Elsren had left.70

“ Artemis, what happened?” Athena said firmly.71

“ We had sex,” Artemis answered, running up the stairs. 72