~heya all! Hope you’re all sat down whilst am saying this, lol… (lmao, why the hell wld you be reading fics standing up?? Haha! Anyways, tis not the point!) Basically, I kinda LIKE the next few chaps of 1^st time… *every1 drops dead* hehe- no, tis true! Like, the next 4 are quite coolies, haha!! (then there is a slump, be warned, lmao) but yeh, I really like this chap, don’t know why, just makes me smile wen I look at it, and wen I typed it up just now; just gives me a warm feeling inside, lol. think its lovely Paul… hehe. Newho, I enjoy these next few chaps, so hope you lot all do as well! Purple next week folks… yes, Katie, you can stop complaining soon! Luv Kate xxx~

Chapter 19

"Well," Paul said, after she'd spoken. "Well."

Elisabeth just sniffled, grateful of the tissue Paul had provided for her.

"I'm sorry you had to go through all that, sweetheart," he said to her earnestly, holding her arm, like he had done the whole time she'd been speaking. "He's such a bastard, I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault," she replied croakily. "I'm a stupid girl."

He squeezed her arm. "You are not stupid, Elisabeth," he said firmly, annoyed she thought that. "I know you weren't inclined to listen to me before because you thought Steve was everything to you- being your first relationship and all- but I hope you'll at least listen to me now.

"Steve is no good for you, Elisabeth. He doesn't know how to treat girls right. It's ironic that he comes across as such a 'gentleman', when he's completely the opposite. I knew he'd try to rush you into things too soon, and that you'd be taken in by it- not because you're soft but because that's what Steve does; he does it to every girl he's ever been out with. He doesn't care about their feelings! Even when he's in the wrong, like he was last night, he'll just turn it around so you're feeling bad and guilty about it all. Emotional pressure. I've seen it time and time again- he doesn't even care about Becky either; that's obvious by the way he keeps going after you. Just remember Elisabeth, that if he never shows up here again being all flirty with you, it would not have been any of your fault. You did the right thing in standing up to him last night and saying no when you weren't ready. I'm really proud of you for that."

"I listened to you then," she smiled softly.

"Indeed you did! See- I am the best agony uncle there ever was!" He grinned.

She looked down at her hands and fiddled with her tissue; still feeling the warm presence of his hand on her arm.

"What do I do now, Paul?" She whispered.

"Now?" He paused. "What do you think you should do?"

"I don't know," she whispered back, her throat all dry. "I don't know if I should tell Becky the truth or not."

"See- this is where I'm confused. Whether Steve would tell Becky or not. Because he'd do it- but then Becky, gathering she's a decent gal, wouldn't want anything to do with him anymore, and I'm not sure Steve will give her up just yet."

"So what will he do, then?" Elisabeth asked. "Keep it secret?"

"Erm..." Paul looked a little uncomfortable.

"Paul?"

"He... he may... and I don't know if he will, am just saying he'd be the type to do this... he may change his story around a little bit- say you came onto him."

"What?!" Elisabeth cried. "But that's not true!"

"I know, I know," Paul soothed, realising he'd tactlessly gone and upset her even more. "And he probably won't say that! But he's just the kind of person..."

"So- he might?"

"I dunno."

"Becky wouldn't believe him, anyway," Elisabeth decided, firmly. "I mean- me? Coming onto a guy? She knows that doesn't sound right."

"You may have hurt his pride by refusing to sleep with him last night," Paul told her. "Not many say no to Steve- you'll have bruised him a little. Perhaps he'll just leave you alone, now."

"Well you know him better than I do," Elisabeth pointed out. "You're his best mate- what do you think he'd do? Honestly?"

Paul sighed. He looked like he was caught between telling her the truth and putting her mind at rest- whichever made her feel the most comfortable. He was an honest person, though; always had been his trademark for being blunt- he didn't want to hide anything from her.

"All I can think Elisabeth is that he’s lied about you before, what he said to me about having slept with you- so then he could lie about you again. But like you said- Becky would be an idiot to believe him.”

“She might, though,” Elisabeth sobbed quietly. “She likes him so much.”

“But you’re her best friend,” he assured her, giving her another squeeze. “Don’t girls always put their friends before their guys?”

She couldn’t help but laugh a little when he said that- seemed odd that such a ‘macho’ looking guy seemed to be quite in tune with his feminine side! “I suppose,” she said.

“Ahhh, I should know. Have enough girly friends moaning onto me about their boyfriends, and then of course I have a sister, so am used to the way the sttttrange female mind thinks.” He pulled a funny face at her, made his eyebrows rise up, and she laughed even more. He had such a weird, funny face! Totally unique.

“How old’s your sister?” She asked him.

“Errr… Shareen’s about 4 years older than me… bout 31,” he said, thoughtfully.

“So that makes you… 27?!!”

“It does indeed.”

“Oh my God, you’re so much older than me!”

“No I’m not!” Paul laughed. “Why does everyone always make me sound so old?! I’m as young as anything in here,” and he pointed to the spot on his chest where his heart was.

Elisabeth looked a way from him a moment, embarrassed. “Do you think I’m really sad?”

“How do you mean?” He looked serious again.

“That I’m 24 and Steve is the first guy I’ve ever even kissed.”

“No, I don’t think you’re sad,” he said back at her, totally honestly. “I do think it’s a shame Steve was your first. I do hope you realise love is out there for you if you search for it.”

“Are you some kind of poet?” She eyed him suspiciously.

He smiled, and shook his head. “No… not at all.”

“H-How- ” She stopped. She wasn’t all that certain whether she wanted to ask Paul this or not; whether it was the answer she was afraid of, or just his general reaction- what it would reveal about him. In the last half an hour or so she’d found herself really being able to open up to him, in a way she couldn’t with anyone else- she just wanted to know more- but was scared to cross the line. But still; she wanted to know, and she had a right to. “H-How did you know that Steve was my first? Without me telling you- how did you know?”

Paul’s face showed uneasiness when she said that; he leant away from her slightly, as if trying to gather his thoughts. “I… just knew.”

“But how?”

“You had the air of naivety about you… I could just tell.”

“But I don’t get it! Just because I’m a bit shy- how can you tell from that?” Elisabeth wondered aloud.

“It wasn’t just you being shy,” he mumbled.

“Well…?”

He looked down; Elisabeth even thought he might be blushing. “Just the way you acted, who you were… I could just tell, that’s all.” Now he was fidgeting, like he was concealing a dark and hidden secret.

“But- I don’t get it.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Paul finished the conversation, and looked up at her. “What are you doing for lunch?” He suddenly changed the subject.

Elisabeth blinked at him; at the unfamiliar word. “Luuunch?”

“Yeah,” he laughed. “Isn’t it lunchtime, now?”

“I’m not hungry,” she replied immediately, looking away.

“Awww- you gotta have something!” He protested.

She wiped her face to make sure it was completely dry. “No- thankyou.”

“Ahhh, I’ll make you something. Paul’s super-super, absolutely famous, one-off special type recipe of Chicken Tetrazzini!”

Elisabeth gave him a wide-eyed look. “Chicken Tetrazzini?”

He grinned. “Yeah- I’ll have you know I’m an excellent cook,” he said, and winked at her cheekily.

“But… you’re a… guy…” Elisabeth struggled to find the logic behind that.

Paul opened his mouth offended, and laughed. “Guys can be great cooks!… okay, some can… Anyway, I’m brilliant, and I’m going to make you lunch now.” He stood up.

“Paul, you don’t have to make me lunch,” she said, shyly.

“On the contrary Miss Rogers, I’m afraid I have to,” he replied, giving her his cutesy look, yet another face of his. “It’s only fair that you eat well.”

Elisabeth laughed. “Well you talk yourself up! Go surprise me.”

He grinned happily at her. “Muy bien! Follow me.” And he took her hand, and dragged her off the armchair into the kitchen.

It was still as white and shiny as ever in here, Elisabeth had barely been eating this weekend, so had the nerves been devouring her appetite. But with Paul here, it was slowly returning, especially when he marched over to the cupboards and started flinging them all open, listing off the ingredients they required as he did so, looking for them.

“We need: butter, onions, chicken, flour, tomatoes, stock cube, carrots, pepper, mushrooms, some cheese… got any Parmesan?”

Elisabeth looked at him, amazed. “I don’t think so,” she whispered.

“Ahhh, never mind, grated’ll do. Got any tarragon? That may help. And we need some spaghetti, too,” he said, beginning to take the things he needed for the meal.

He just looked so at home in the kitchen! Elisabeth thought she was seeing things- was this Paul… cooking?!!

“Do you wanna just take care of the spaghetti?” He said to her. “And I can do sauce, ‘cos it needs the Marazzi touch.”

She laughed and caught the spaghetti as he threw it at her, transfixed by this side of him.

“Paul… are you sure you want to…” She was verging on speechless now!

“Elisabeth- boil some water!”

And so she slowly got to work, making the spaghetti to go with what Paul was making. He looked so natural doing it; when she occasionally glanced over at him chopping away at the onions, his softer side shone through.

Yet if she actually stopped to think about it- did he even have a tough side to his personality?! Just because he looked the part doesn’t mean it came with the package. Maybe this was just who he was- a chef?!!- No… she had to remember he was making this lunch for her- he was doing his best to help. Elisabeth couldn’t think of anything better at the moment.

When they sat down for lunch, Paul eagerly awaiting her opinion of his ‘Tetrazzini’, she suddenly began to feel a little nervous in front of him again- just his presence threw her off balance a little. It felt… felt like they were having a meal together; which okay, they were, but it was like a dinner date.

“Go on- try it- you know you waaaant tooo…” He coaxed her gently, and she picked up the fork, worried about eating in front of him, but she tasted a little morsel for him… and it was delicious.

He gave her a huge grin as he saw her tasting and swallowing it, without a look of disgust on her face. “Seeeee! Told you I’m the best cook in the universe!”

“This is really nice,” she immediately felt in awe of him- and very shy. “Thankyou.”

He started tucking into his lunch as well; totally making himself at home.

“Glad you’re having something to eat, Elisabeth. Wouldn’t wanna see you feeling all sad and hungry.”

“I would have had a sandwich later on,” she shrugged.

“But isn’t this so much better?” He grinned at her.

She smiled shyly back. “Yeah.”

They ate the rest of their meal- Elisabeth openly confessing that she loved it, and then when they tidied away all the plates and stuff at the end, Paul set about washing up straight away- leading Elisabeth’s greater and greater opinion of him that he must be some kind of secret house-husband!

“Becky would so love you around here,” Elisabeth commented as she did the drying up- they were the perfect kitchen team!

“Why’s that?” He laughed.

“You cook… you even clean up after yourself… you wash up…”

“Am just doing my bit!” Paul grinned up at her. “Besides- it’s not really a lot, is it?!”

“Can just hear her now,” Elisabeth smiled, and shook her head to herself. “’Let’s hire him, Liz! We can do £4.20 an hour!’” She then shuddered a little, and muttered, “wish she wouldn’t call me Liz.”

Paul laughed at her. “What’s wrong with Liz?!”

“What’s not?! I hate it!” Elisabeth said passionately. “And everyone calls me it too, ‘cos it’s so much easier.”

“I don’t call you it,” Paul pointed out. “I call you Elisabeth.”

“Yeah well, you’re not my frie- ” She stopped suddenly. She couldn’t say Paul wasn’t her friend, now! After all he’d done for her, he wasn’t just the new ‘strange’ guy anymore…

“I’m still a stranger to you, aren’t I?” He said softly, looking back into the soapy bubbles.

She looked at him, a pained expression on her face. “Noooo! That’s not true… I just haven’t known you very long, that’s all.”

“Yeah, I get that. Kinda pushed my way into your life,” he laughed, embarrassed.

“Paul- you have to know I appreciate absolutely everything you have done for me,” she said, turning to look at him fully and sounding serious. “I don’t know what I’d have done without you.”

“I haven’t done a lot, really,” Paul still sounded modest.

“Nooo- you have. Just you being here has been a fantastic help,” she stressed.

“Sure I don’t still freak you out?!” He grinned.

Now it was Elisabeth’s turn to feel a little awkward. She couldn’t deny it- she still wasn’t comfortable around him. She avoided contact as much as possible, and particularly eye contact, and her heart was always beating higher than normal whenever he was around. But he’d never hurt her- and he was just a brilliant, brilliant person. Elisabeth hoped one day she could think of him without getting frightened.

“I’ll get used to you,” she said.

He grinned at her. “You know what? I’m gonna give you your very own new nickname.”

“Oh God what- Easy Eli?” She made a face.

He burst out laughing. “Noooo!! That’s awfffuuuul! Like Porno Paul!”

“Pardon?!” She sent him an alarmed look, and he just laughed harder.

“Don’t ask!! No- I’m going to call you Libby… Lib.”

“Lib?”

“Yeah. That’s a version of Elisabeth- right?”

“I guess…”

“Cool. Lib. My mate Lib.”

She let a smile out at him- he was the most unique person she had ever, ever met.

“My friend Paul,” she replied.