Love At The Coral Reefs

Chapter 4

The rest of the week passed by in an alarming speed, now Eleanor was on the way to Thorn's dance studio to meet him at 5pm just like he said yesterday night when he texted her.

When she woke up this morning at 8am she hurriedly went to shower and ate her breakfast. After doing a few researches on the topic of the sea mammals until she was sure of the data. Then at 4pm, she rushed out of the house wearing an oversized hoodie that reach her knees and a pair of long jeans with sneakers adorning her feet.

Reaching the given address, she was amazed to see it was not a small studio but rather a three leveled building. 'Exactly how rich is he?' She thought gazing up at the building. She made her way to the receptionist area and she saw Terrius and Carson at the desk.

Both of them turned towards the sound of the main door opening, smiling at her as she walked to the desk.

"Meeting with Thorn!" It was more of an excited statement then a question that Carson, with an overly enthusiastic attitude, threw at her.

"Stop scaring her, Car! Thorn won't let us off if she ran away because of you! Hello, Eleanor, nice to see you today!" Terrius beamed at her, his eyes shining and clear, making him look like a wise man.

He awkwardly returned both their smiles wondering why they were named as bad boys in school when they looked harmless. Then again, they were notoriously terrifying in school. The image of them clashing with 8 other boys on Wednesday went through her head and Eleanor decided, she should not judge books by their covers.

"I think he is waiting for you, just go to level three, the room with his name on

it is his." Terrius continued with Carson nodding along, both looking back at her to see what she was doing to do.

She nodded, "hi, thank you for the directions, erm...hope to see you guys...later?" As she cringed at her own wonky words, the two in front of her did not make fun of it instead just pointed the elevator out for her.

Eleanor braced herself and walked towards the elevator, pinching herself to relax her tense muscles. The idea of going into an enclose space was horrifying for her who was claustrophobic.

'Eleanor Winters, don't be dumb, it is only for a few seconds, you will be alright!' Stepping into the elevator and quickly pressing the third floor with shaky fingers. She hugged herself as the elevator door shut and made its way to the third floor. Once the elevator doors open, she rushed out and took a moment to calm herself down.

She never really knew where she started becoming claustrophobic in small spaces. But those places really send her into a panic attack if she stays inside for a long period of time. Luckily it was bright enough outside so that she can keep telling herself people were in the building. If it was at night she would have started crying. Once she was sure she was calm enough, she made her way towards the different rooms and looked at the tags on the doors.

Finally locating the room with the i***t's full name, she waited outside unsure of how to garner his attention when the music from the room was blaring.

As she stood outside, she peeked into the dance studio from the little square window at the door and saw Thorn dancing alone to the music. He was wearing a black turtleneck with black jeans and loafers. She had to admit that he was looking really handsome and she was mesmerized with how fluent he was with the moves, easily dancing with a smile of his face.

She did not really know how long she was staring at him as the next moment the door opened and his face popped up right in front of hers causing her to step away in fright. Only the still swollen ankle of hers decided to give way and she almost went tumbling to the floor if not for the two arms on her waist that was holding her steady.

"Second time you are falling because of me." He noted, his voice low and husky, which she chose to believe it was due to the dance practicing he was doing before. They were now in an ambigous position with his arms remaining on her waist and her hands gripping tighly onto his shoulders.

"Well, you should really stop...stop appearing...randomly, yeah randomly everywhere!" She stuttered and then scolded herself in her head for being such an embarrassment.

He gazed amused at the slight pout that was tugging on her lips. He was waiting for her while dancing when he caught her looking in from the door through the mirrors. That was when he decided to tease her. "This is my dance studio, more importantly my own personal practice room, of course I will be appearing, I am so sorry that someone was sneaking a peek at me and got flustered when I caught her red handed." The look of total innocence and justification flickered on his face but she knew the man was totally making fun of her.

"I wasn't sneaking a peek, why would I sneak a peek...you are not even, no...well you are good at dancing...but I was not sneaking a peek...I just...wasn't." She was now flustered, big time and his arms around her waist was not helping one bit. She tapped on his arms, "Do you mind letting me go!"

"Yes, I do mind, but here you go!" Releasing her, he smirked as her face became red. "Let's go in we need to start on that pair work if we want to finish it by today." He turned back into the room and hold the door as she stepped in after him.

The practice room was big, with floor length mirrors adorning the walls. It was slightly cold in the room and she thank goodness that she wore a hoodie today. There was no chairs or benches around so she decided to sit on the floor.

Hearing a click of the door she turned back questioningly at Thorn who sat down next to her. "Why did you lock the door?" It was a genuine question, Eleanor was not afraid that he would try anything but the mere thought of only two of them in a locked room made her flustered.

"Why? I won't do anything to you if that is what you are worried about. But if you want then I can. Should I open it then?" He was disappointed that she would ask a question like that, because he was not a man like that. However, he understands that a woman would have more concerns so he pushed the feeling of being misjudge down and instead just smiled warmly at her.

"No,...is ok...I really didn't mean it that way...just because I am a...klutz and I might...not be able to open the door...later on!" She did not really know why she was desperately trying to explain things to the sad man in front of her. But maybe it was because of the flicker on sadness in his eyes a few moments back.

Thorn's smile widened and he appreciated that Eleanor cared about his feeling enough to actually explain to him. "Is alright, I will unlock if for you when you leave, let's get to work shall we?"

~~~~~

"Dolphins were a lot harder than we thought it was going to be." Eleanor gave a pointed look in Thorn's direction. The two of them were just finishing up the last few slides of the presentation. Gazing at the way his long fingers ran across the laptop typing, she thought that he was a really good partner for pair work.

The uneasiness and anxiousness of earlier on had totally disappear from her heart when he started joking with her. She had to admit he was a joy to be around with, not only did he diffuse the ice between them, he also did multiple researches for the sea mammal and the discussion between them flowed like a stream of water.

"If you keep looking at me like that, I might just decide to add more slides to keep you here with me?" His confident tone snapped her out of her reverie and she scowled lightly back at him.

"I was just looking to see if you were done with the slides...my parents must be waiting for me." at the mention of parents, Eleanor could see a slight frown forming on Thorn's lips but it disappear just as sudden and he looked back at her, emotions gone from his face.

"I am going to be just about done with the last slide, I will send you back home if you are ok with it?!" He resumed his typing unaware that his words caused her to silently gasp.

'He is going to send me hone, should I or should I not but is already 8pm and it is getting late. Maybe I should just let him.' Overcoming her inner conflict, she voiced out, "I am ok with it, but are you free?"

"I am very free, I will send you back and then head home. Sorry if I seem meddlesome, but it is because of the timing that I arranged that you have to go back so late and it is unsafe so I rather send you back then worry." Thorn said with a wink that almost send Eleanor's heart into overdrive but she reminded herself that he was just a flirt.

~~~~~

Waiting for the elevator was a torment for her causing her to helplessly ball her fists tightly. "Hey, you ok?" The concern laced tone of his made her look up into worried pair of brown eyes.

Thorn could see that Eleanor was having trouble focusing and looked scared for some reason, But her consistent stare that remain on the elevator and the clenched fists of hers made him wonder if it was the fear of elevators or the fear of enclosed spaces.

"I...am fine!" Her voice came out higher than she wanted it to and she knew he could pick the difference in the pitch.

"Fear of elevators or fear of enclosed spaces?" His soft whisper almost made her want to just let out the fear and cry but she dug her nails into her self to distract herself. "Hey, hey, don't do that to your hands, there will be bruises."

Grabbing her hands, he unclenched her fingers, smoothing her palm out.

"Fear...fear of enclosed...spaces, it was fine...just now...but now it is late...outside and I can't..." She stuttered out, trying her best not to cry when he slowly drew circles on her hand.

"Shhhhhhhhhh....its ok you don't have to explain, erm...can you breathe together with me?" He whispered as both of them stepped inside the elevator pressing the button for level 1, once the door shut and the lift started making its way down.

She shut her eyes and started squeezing tightly onto his hand afraid that he would let go and she would become a mess.

"We are going to be just fine,...see now the doors are opened." Thorn who kept watch on the trembling Eleanor beside him slowly rubbed his thumb on the back of her hand. His left hand hurt slightly due to her nails dugging into his, but he ignored the slight pain in order to relieve her fear.

Grabbing her hands and pulling her out of the lift, he waited until she calm down and started speaking.

"I am so sorry...your hands...I am really so sorry." She wanted to shout at herself when she saw that his left hand now had marks from her holding tightly onto him. But he just smiled warmly at her shaking his head.

"Is fine, your hands are too small to cause any kind of a big pain, Cupcake." He teased, trying to lighten up the mood and that was when Eleanor realized, he was right, his hands engulfed her small hands and the warmth from his hand did kept her calm in the elevator. She decided she did owe Thorn big time. Remembering that they were still holding hands, she slowly tried to get her hand out.

He who felt the small hand trying to leave his hold, became slightly reluctant but he was no exploiter of others fears. Therefore, he let go of her hand gently.

She was disappointed when the feeling of warmth left her but she reminded herself that she was the one who wanted to be let go. So she followed after him, who strolled towards the receptionist desk which was now occupied by Simon and Louis.

"Thorn, going off now, is a bit too early for yo, ain't it? Oh...hi Eleanor, are you sending her back?" Simon asked and greeted as he tried to get away from Louis who was trying to cheat while playing cards. She returned the smiled and waved at the two. Looking back at him, she wondered if he stayed even longer at the dance studio normally.

"Yes, I am, is it the both of you only?" He replied with a question of his own.

"I think Ben and Car are also here, not so sure of Mars though. Thorn can you please scold him!" Simon explained, requesting exasperatedly at Thorn to stop the still trying to peek Louis.

Thorn glanced over at Louis and at once he stopped peeking and just made sad faces back at him. "Thorn, he is the one trying to cheat, I didn't do anything!" The indignant tone of his just made him ruffle the younger's hair with a sigh.

"The two of you are unbelievable, don't stay too late and get dinner with the other two." This was her second shock of the day, now she understood why the rest of the boys were always willing to break the rules together with him. He was like an older brother to them. 'Why are they so close to each other? Why are they still not at home at this time of the day? Do they always stay here?' Thinking quietly to herself, she wanted to know the reasons even though she knew she was never going to voice them out.

"Cupcake..." Shaking herself out from her thoughts as the familiar call of Thorn reached her ears, she looked as the three boys seemed to wait for something from her. They were asking if the studio was beautiful." He prompted, he knew she was lost in her own thoughts since she always seemed to be doing so whenever things are different from what she expected.

"Is beautiful...feels very homey for a studio...is really amazing for you guys to create a building like this..." She trailed off, the place was beautiful with pots of plants, couches and a big television. The building walls were covered in bright colors giving off the vibe of a safe place.

This caused the other three to laugh appreciatively at her words.

They were very glad that they saved up their pocket money as well as worked as models for Thorn's mom's fashion line. Their similar mindsets of wanting to build their own space for teens to relax while enjoying dancing came true last year when they saved enough money for it.

"We should get going now, it is getting late, you guys take care!" Thorn spoke up after a moment and both Simon and Louis waved at Eleanor, smiling. She returned their genuine smiles and turn her back to walk next to him as he lead her out of the building.

Thorn brought Eleanor towards his motorbike that was parked in front of the building. "Is this mode of transport ok, or do you want me to take the bus with you?"

She, who had never ridden a motorbike before in her life, was scared of it but she wanted to try it out so she replied, "I have never really rode on a motorbike, I want to try tho..."

The honest interest playing over her face was enough to convince him to pass her one of his helmets. "You know how to wear...?" Glancing back at the now confused girl, he continued, "Never mind, I will help you."

After putting his own helmet on, he turned his attention towards Eleanor, placing the helmet on her head he tightened the straps so that the helmet stayed securely on her.

"Come on up." She sat down behind him as he reved up the engine, after a moment of not moving.

She confusedly asked, "Why are we not moving?"

"I can't move, if you don't grab onto me, you will fall off!" The slight joking made her silently think for a while. When two hands grabbed onto hers and placed it on his waist.

"Now just hold onto me, there is nothing to think so seriously about!" She could hear the annoyance in his tone and stuck out her tongue at him from behind.

"So...Are we friends now?" The question came out hesitant and that made Eleanor think about how everything snowballed so fast. Her disliking him seemed to be a distant thought now.

"We are!" She replied in a heartbeat, not really understanding why. This answer earned her a friendly knock on her helmet with his helmet.