Chapter 10

Elisabeth stood frozen, this sudden throb of panic welling up gently inside her as she looked at him. Her whole head went blank and she blinked a few times. But then all her thoughts began screaming at her, panicky, worringly.

Becky’s spoken to him!

She said she would; she thinks I like him! Oh no.

She clenched the door handle tightly, and swallowed hard in saying, “P-P-Paul!”

“Hey… is this a bad time?” He asked her, seemingly relaxed, his lip stud glinting. Elisabeth caught sight of it- it reminded her of sharp glass wanting to cut you, ans she shuddered.

“W-What do you want?” She asked, still nervous, her heart beating away. God- how can such a person have such an effect over her? What was he- 5”5??? How the hell is he gonna hurt you, Elisabeth? And he looked pleasant enough- jeans, red T-shirt and that black leather jacket which had brushed past her arm the other night.

Just his face. His face scared the hell out of her and she didn’t know why.

She hadn’t even begun to try and make eye contact with him yet.

“Can I talk to you?” He asked in a more softer, real tone.

Ohhhh… what are you doing back here? She thought wailing. If you think I like you… ohhhh Becky was in serious trouble when she got back home.

Going out with Paul… no, no! lots of reasons why no. she couldn’t handle him for a start. And he frightened her.

Just the sudden realization that he might be here to ask her out, she panickly let out,

“No!”

that wonderfully animated eyebrow arched up. “No?” He questioned.

“No- what becky said- she got the wrong end of the stick. I don’t feel like that- I don’t. it was just a misunderstanding, and Becky thought that I liked you, and I didn’t, and… I mean… no, no! I’m not saying I don’t like you; I mean, I’m sure you’re a good person, it’s just-“

she was babbling about nothing.

But she was so desperate to get Paul to understand that she didn’t like him like that… and because he made her feel so nervous, words were just running aimlessly out of her mouth.

Paul looked at her, a kind of waited expression on his face. Probably waiting for her to get to some kind of point in her rambling.

When she paused though, he took the opportunity and said, “what are you on about?”

The general confusion in his voice made Elisabeth’s mouth hang open from her last word a little more, before she slowly closed it. And she spoke softly, looking down. “I don’t wanna go out with you.”

She didn’t have time to worry about his reaction.

It came almost straight away with this light, amused burst of laughter.

She looked up at him, astonished.

He was laughing at her?

And she saw he most definitely was. He was really, really laughing, sounding extremely amused. Worried he might be mocking her, Elisabeth frowned and said,

“what’s so funny?”

“I-I’m sorry,” he laughed, trying to compose himself. He coughed a little and with a broad grin, which she’d never seen before, he said, “I just found that funny.”

“That I said no to you?”

“That you thought I wanted to ask you out!” He almost burst out laughing again.

Her eyes widened in shock. “You don’t?”

He put his hands into the pokctes of his jacket, and leaned against the door pane, a bemused smile on his face. “You’re one forward girl, Elisabeth Rogers.”

She opened her mouth to protest at being called “forward”; something she most definitely wasn’t! but something else had caught her attention.

“How do you know my name?” She asked a little warily.

“Er… when Becky introduced you the other night…?”

“No- my surname. How do you know my surname?” She almost demanded.

But how did he know it? She’d only really seen him on the Saturday. And he can’t have found out then.

At her request, he blushed a little, she thought.

“I saw it on one of the letters I picked up,” he said, a little embarrassed. ‘When they were knocked off the other night.”

When I knocked them off, she thought. He read the front of the letters?

“Oh,” she said and there was a silence. Elisabeth released her tight grip on the door handle, and taking a deep breath asked, “so what are you doing here?”

“Can’t I come in?” He asked her.

“Why do you want to?” She asked, not caring that she sounded slightly harsh.

“I want to talk to you. You haven’t got a dead body in there, have you?” He joked.

“No,” Elisabeth replied, not relaxed enough to laugh. This was Paul for Gods sake. He could turn the frighteningly scanner eyes on at any point. She still hadn’t shaken off the feeling that he knew all about her.

‘Then Miss Rogers, can I come in?” He asked politely, smiling at her.

She’d never seen him smile so much before.

“You can call me Elisabeth,” she said quietly to him, opening the door a little more, hesitating.

“And you can call me Al,” Paul grinned.

Elisabeth couldn’t help but smile just a little at that. “Who are you, anyway?”

A look of pretend horror came over his face. “I’m Al!” He cried.

“Noo..” She even laughed a little, when he grinned a bit more to show he was joking. “What’s your name?”

‘Paul!” He announced, taking his hand out of his leather jacket and offering it to her. ‘Paul Marazzi.”

She warily took his hand and shook it, at the same time trembling a little. His skin was so olive… so meditteranean and tanned…

‘Marazzi?”

he took his hand away. ‘My dad,” he explained, “is half Indian.”

‘Ohhhh,” she replied. Indian? She didn’t think he looked in anyway Asian. He looked Spanish- or Greek.

“So can I come in?” He asked hopefully, for about the third time.

“Erm… I was just going out,” she said slowly.

‘Oh please, I won’t be long,” he said, suddenly sounding less jokey, more determined. ‘It’s kind of important.”

“Well… just tell me what it’s about first,” Elisabeth said.

Why does he want to talk to me anyway? She wondered. He doesn’t even know me!

“Erm… it’s kinda… personal,” he said, seeming a bit awkward.

Whaa? She thought in her head.

“Well, I mean, not to me!” He laughed a little. “It’s kinda personal to you.”

“Huh?” She was really confused now. What the hell was he on about?!!

He sighed and shifted uncomfortably before saying, “i-it’s about Steve.”

Her heart almost stopped. As soon as he said that name, she stood there stunned, like she’d been hit really hard.

Steve. Steve? What does he know about Steve?

Personal to her??

“W-W-What?” She asked, a little struck.

“I know about you and Steve,” Paul revealed, and Elisabeth really did gasp then.

Oh no.

Oh noooooooo!

“So can I talk to you?” Paul asked.