“Spock,” Nat said.  “I REALLY appreciate the laptop and chair but . . . could you do me another favor and beef up the couch?”

He had turned on the room’s giant flat panel TV and found the movie Endless Summer but when he dropped into his chair, his view of the screen was limited.  Moving over to the couch, he had eyed it, even going so far as to test it. 

The computer removed the couch without a word and replaced it with apparently the exact same couch but Nat trusted the AI and dropped onto one end.  There was no resounding crash so he settled in, put his feet on the coffee table and started his movie.

Jessy padded silently toward the common room and stood watching Nat for a few moments before she gathered her courage and entered the room.

“Nat want to go to the danger room and play in Hawaii?” She gave him a hopeful smile.

“Rather go there for real,” he said, not looking away from the TV.  “Guess it's a psychological thing, I'd know it was all fake.  Waves here are pretty gnarly so I can wait for a trip to the real North Shore.”

Jessy sighed and Nat looked over at her,

“Jessy . . . what do you want from me?” he said.

“Umm . . . you really want the truth?”

“Yeah.”

“Short version or long version?”

Did this girl EVER give a straight answer?

“Whichever,” he said indifferently.

She blinked at him then took a deep breath.

“K,  short of it I want you to be my boyfriend and hold my hand and take walks and umm . . . kiss me and be able to tell everyone how great it is to have you as my boyfriend.”

She watched him expectantly but he didn’t react.

“Lessee the long version . . . well everyone that is anyone in the normal world has boyfriend since like forever and cause who my dad is I never get to be normal and you are everything dreamy and I really like you . . . and I kind of really, really like you and umm I have just about tried everything to get you to like me back I am not really good at all the girl stuff to get a guy.”

“You got a forest full of elf guys, what do you want with me?” He replied.

“They are just horny elf dudes,” she said. “That isn't what I want.  I want to be real and normal.  They are all just all icky like and you’re not.”

“All I do it hang at the beach and surf,” he pointed out.

“But you are so was cool!” she said in a small voice.

“Even my mom calls me a bum,” Nat came up off the couch and went to the mini-fridge.

“I don't think so,” Jessy said then excitement colored her words.  “And guess who I invited to my birthday for you.”  She beamed at him.

“Who?” he asked suspiciously.

“Gabrielle du Mort and Sean Thornton!”  She squealed.  “And they said yeah!”

“How'd you do that?” Nat had to admit it was pretty incredible.

“I called Sam,” Jessy said as if it were obvious.

“But . . . their like . . . “ Nat stammered.

“She is the secretary at the Seattle Hunt,” Jessy explained.  “And she got them to come as a present to me and that’s my present to you!”

“It’s your birthday though,” he pointed out.

Jessy shrugged “Yeah, so?  I was thinking of giving Wren a dress from India and I was thinking Matt I would get a hand buzzer.  Not sure what to give the new girl yet.”

“I ain't got any idea what to get you,” Nat said.  “I'm so lousy at that kinda stuff.”

“You could . . . umm . . . you could.”  Her voice dropped to a whisper.  “Kiss me"

“You wanna kiss that means something or just a plain kiss?” She felt his eyes on her, she blushed deeply.

“Umm . . . “she tried.  “I umm . . . well, it would mean something from you,” her voice dropped again.  “To me."

She was staring at her feet again,

“I don't know what to do with you . . . “ He leaned against the mini-bar, his mission for a soda forgotten.  “You like . . . pound the crap out of me with a sand wave . . . You run off every time I say something to you.  You dye your hair . . . and paint your face . . . “

“I got brown dye coming!” she interjected.  “I want you to like the way I look.”

Nat threw up his hands in frustration.  “Why don't you just be you?”

“Because you would never notice me if I was just me,” she said. “I would just be another elf around here and I . . .  umm . . . I am sorry about the sand wave.  I was feeling upset.”  Her head dropped lower and her shoulders slumped.

“I can't seem to do nothin' right,” he said.

“You do tons of things right!”

“The sand didn't hurt or anything, takes a lot more than that . . . “ he said.

“I just haven't ever really wanted a boy to like me as much as I want you to,” Jessy said.  “Guess I'm no good at it but I really think you are awesome and Nicky has been helping me to get your attention and even after what happened I still want . . . “

Her blonde hair formed a curtain.

“I been tall since before I noticed girls weren't like guys,” Nat said.  “I go out on the waves and surf . . . Girls watch but always seem to disappear when I get to the sand . . . and they see I'm 2 feet taller than them.  Kinda hard to get a girl friend like that . . . so I never did.”

“I don't,” Jessy said.  “I think it's great you are tall and tanned and strong and so . . . “

“Yeah, but to you,” he said.  “I'm just an elf with round ears.”

“NO!” she looked up at him, horrified.  “That’s not what I think.  I think you are an awesome guy not some fruity elf boy.  I just want to be close to you and share stuff with you and make you smile and stuff.”

Nat shook his head.  "Don't know why...."

“Cause I really like you more than I have ever liked any guy,” she said.  “And I want you to be my first kiss.

Nat started pacing.

“If you don't like it later you could like break up with me,” she suggested.  “It's not like I am asking to get married or anything.”

“Kiss you and break up all at once?” He scowled.  “Even if I am a beach bum, I'm not that shallow.”

“No!”  She said hastily.  “You got it all wrong.  I don't want you to break up with me just if things aren’t right you could but you could try and see if it could be right . . . Guess I'm not explaining this right.”

“Yeah . . . but . . .“

Jessy looked up at him with her big puppy dog eyes.  She was pushing all the buttons.  He stopped pacing.

“I ain't looking for a girl friend . . .”

“So you don't have to look.”

“I'm just trying to not break things.”

“You won't break me.”

“You have no idea, Jessy.”

“Yes I do.”

“You dad says only two people he knows are stronger than me . . . “ he said.

“But I can help you learn to touch soft,” she said.  “And you will never have to say you never had a girlfriend.”  She dropped her eyes to her feet.  “Or am I just too ugly, just too weak for you?”

Nat sighed in exasperation.

“You're gonna hang with that?” he growled.  “It's all your fault?”

“Got to be,” she said.  “I don't see any fault on your side so I must not be right somehow and I will try and fix it so I am, honest I will.  You just don't know what it feels like to me I really like you a whole lot and I am probably making myself look like an idiot right now but I don't know what else to do.  I did all the stuff I read and the stuff Nicky told me and now I am trying what Josho said.  He said I should just tell you and  . . . umm . . . well forget about that part but he said if I told you up front you would understand how much I really like you.”  She had turned a beet red.  “You hate me now?”

“I don't hate you,” he said, “but I gotta tell you, I don't know you enough to go the boyfriend girlfriend thing.”

“But I only got a week,” she said in an exasperated tone.  “And I don't want no one else!”

“You scare hell out of me . . .”

“Why?”  she said.  “What did I do? Was it ‘cause I did the sand wave.”

“CRAP!” he thundered.  “Why do you think everything is your fault?  Maybe it's all mine!"

For an instant he thought she would burst into tears and run but it was his turn.

“I gotta go . . . “ he said, rubbing his hair hard.

“Please don't,” she begged.  “Tell me how I scare you.  I don’t want to scare you.  I just want to be around you.  Please Nat!”

“I gotta think . . .”

Jessy nodded, obviously trying not to cry.

“Okay,” she said in a small voice.

She turned away from him, the picture of dejection and made her way back to the school.  Nat watched her for a moment then headed East toward the forest and away from the sea.

“You lost?” A childish voice called to him a few meters into the trees.  “The water is the other way!”

“Go away, kid,” Nat ignored Nicky.

“Why,” the kid asked.  “I might be able to help.”

Nat gathered himself and leaped straight up into the nearest tree, landing lightly on a branch a good 40 meters from the ground.

“Cool!” the boy said.  “You sure can climb a tree!”

“Kid . . . you are pissing me off.”

Nat spied a branch in the next tree and leaped across to it.

Nicky ran along below him.

“I might play tricks on people but I'm not a total jerk!” he called.

“GOD DAMNIT kid, leave me alone!”

“Okay, I will let you go this time,” the boy slid to a stop.  “Yeesh!”

Nat dropped from the branches at the edge of the forest and made his bouncing way to the cliff and the sea.  From the top of the cliff he got a good running start and broad jumped out into the water.  He didn’t come up again until 2 a.m..