A/N: So, The Indie CR Awards are starting up for the summer! I encouraged you guys to go nominate, and apparently you did. Myself and, my good friend, Standard-Ang3l have both been nominated for a lot of stuff. Between the two of us we're the only ones in the Best Nate/Ella category. Well, thank you to anyone who nominated! And I wanted to let you guys know that the first round of voting is now open and will be until July 1st!

Here's the link to go vote (take out the parentheses, and it will work):

(ht)(tp)(:/)(/) (bit)(.) (ly) /mHcVmX

I'm also going to put the link in my profile. But, please, go vote!

Happy reading,

angellwings

P.S.- The song in this fic is Thompson Square's "Are You Gonna Kiss Me or Not?"

Are You Gonna Kiss Me or Not?

By angellwings

Their second summer as counselors wasn't any easier than the first. They'd all assumed after spending the previous summer instructing and leading it would come easier, but it didn't. Every one of them spent plenty of late nights preparing for their next class. By now they had a routine. They'd set up a schedule with Brown. He'd said something about not wanting all of them to be up late at the same time.

Brown was apparently paranoid they'd secretly be up to no good.

Tonight it was Nate and Ella's turn to be able to stay up and prepare for their classes for the week. Nate was instructing the drumming classes again and Ella was in charge of nearly all the wardrobe and costuming classes. Camper interest apparently greatly exceeded the number of potential instructors and since Ella was a part of the Fashion Institute's Young Designers Program…she was clearly the most qualified of Brown's staff.

They were both inside the staff lounge. There was a living room set up and a small kitchenette where the staff could keep any snacks they wanted since food wasn't allowed in the cabins. Nate snuck a glance at Ella out of the corner of his eye. She was curled up on the opposite end of the couch from him with her laptop. She gave him a soft smile when she noticed him staring, and he gulped before turning away. That was something he'd been doing a lot lately. Staring at Ella.

He couldn't help it. They'd spent so much time working side by side this summer that he couldn't help but notice her. She stuck out like the sequins she wore almost every day. He heard music start up quietly and smiled. Ella's need to always have her iTunes playing while she was working had annoyed him at first, but now…he couldn't imagine working without it. He'd been looking over some of his notes in his cabin the other day and couldn't focus until he'd turned on his iPod and played it on his iHome dock. He was starting to think about her in the most unexpected moments too. He'd even started a song for her.

Clearly, he had a crush. A very large crush.

And he had no idea what to do about it.

Nate froze as he caught sight of Ella stretching her arms over her head and arching her back slightly. That was not an image he needed in his head. He had classes to get ready for, and this attraction he'd developed toward Ella was distracting him. His focus was nearly non-existent at this point.

Ella stood from the couch and retrieved a can of icing from the refrigerator. She smiled at him and motioned to the can with a grin. "Rainbow chip. My brother sent it to me. He knows it's my favorite."

He chuckled and nodded. "Nice. I don't see any cupcakes, though. What are you putting it on?"

She shook her head at him. "Silly Nate, who says I need to put it on anything?"

"You're just going to eat it straight from the can?" He asked in amusement. Instead of speaking she peeled off the lid of the can and dipped her finger into the white icing. She grinned at him and stuck her icing covered finger into her mouth. He tried very hard not to show any outward reaction as she sucked the icing off of her finger and removed it from her mouth.

"Don't tell me you've never eaten just the icing?" Ella asked. "Not once?"

He shook his head mutely. He didn't trust himself to speak.

"Oh come on, Nathaniel. Live a little," She said as she held the icing can out to him.

He hesitantly dipped a finger into the can and then ate the icing. "It's good."

"You should try the chocolate butter cream icing. If you refrigerate it, it has a texture that sort of resembles fudge. It's delicious," Ella said happily as she opened up one of her sketch books. She dipped her finger into the icing again and Nate immediately looked away.

This was torture.

Only he, apparently, wasn't being tortured enough if the song that Ella's iTunes played next was any indication. Ella sighed happily and turned up the computer. She gave Nate a questioning look. "You don't mind, do you? I love this song."

"No," He said quickly. He winced when his voice cracked ever so slightly. "I—I don't mind."

She sketched and hummed along with the verse as it played all the while continuing to stick her finger into the icing can. Oh yes, the universe certainly enjoyed torturing him. His eyes were irresistibly drawn to Ella's lips as she brought yet another bit of icing to her mouth. It would be so easy just to lean over her and…

No, he couldn't do that. Could he? He didn't even know if she had feelings for him. He couldn't kiss her when there'd been no signs of her returning his crush.

Ella smiled brightly at him when she caught him staring for a second time. She bit her bottom lip and blushed prettily as she looked away. He noticed she was staring at her sketch pad intently but she hadn't started sketching again. She swallowed and nervously tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. Nate finally managed to look away from her and back to the notebook in his hands. He narrowed his eyes on the page and tried to read over his lesson plan.

"Are you gonna kiss me or not? Are we gonna do this or what? I think you know I like you a lot, but you're about to miss your shot. Are you gonna kiss me or not?"

Nate whipped around to face Ella as she sang along to the music. He stared at her with wide eyes. Did she know he'd been thinking about that? Did she even mean anything by it? Or was she just simply singing along?

Ella gave him a concerned glance after several moments.

"Nate? Are you okay?"

He blinked and shook himself back to reality. "I—I'm good."

"You know for a guy who likes to look cool you sure are stuttering a lot tonight," Ella said with a smirk as she scooted up next to him. "Nervous about something?"

"I—I—I…"

He couldn't seem to form words. He was nervous, and she was very close. She stuck her finger into her can of icing again, but while bringing her finger to her mouth she accidentally smeared icing across her chin. He gulped when her finger landed across her lips. He needed to get that icing away from her somehow. Once again he was struck by how easy it would be to close the distance between them and—

"Are you gonna kiss me or not? Are we gonna do this or what? I think you know I—"

Ella stopped singing abruptly when Nate suddenly reached over and brushed a finger across her chin. He cleared his throat and his face flushed. "You had icing on your chin."

"Oh," She said as she blushed and placed her hand over the spot Nate's finger had touched. She smirked suddenly and dipped her finger into the can again.

"You know if you're not careful you're going to eat that entire can. That can't be good for—Hey!" Nate exclaimed as Ella smeared a glob of icing across his cheek.

She laughed loudly and quickly smeared a glob across his other cheek as well.

"What are you doing?" He asked her with a playful glare.

She smirked and dug out more icing.

"Ella…"

She reached out before he could stop her and smeared it across his mouth. She laughed at the look on his face and the way the rainbow chips stuck out from the icing on his face at weird angles. "You know, you look hilarious when you're covered in icing."

He wrapped a hand around her wrist as she reached for more icing and leaned across her to pin her wrist over her head. "Not so fast, Ms. Pador. Don't you think you've done enough damage?"

She bit her bottom lip and grinned at him. There was barely any space between them now. It would take only a slight movement to cover his lips with hers. The air between them was electrified and thick, and Ella huffed impatiently but kept her grin.

"So, are you gonna kiss me or not?"

He gave her a small questioning smile. "What?"

She groaned. "Na-ate! The smiles, the icing,…the song! Ringing any bells?"

He blinked at her and smirked evilly. "Again, what?"

"Oh! You are so oblivious! Signals, Nate! I was sending you signals!"

He suddenly crushed her lips with his and she smiled as she tasted the icing on his mouth. She ran her tongue across his bottom lip and giggled into his mouth as she caught icing and a couple of rainbow chips. He deepened the kiss and pulled her tighter against him. He wrapped one arm around her waist and kept his other hand around her wrist. She brought her free hand up to his cheek. Icing smeared across her palm. She also felt it spreading across her chin as Nate continued to kiss her eagerly.

She tasted like icing, Nate thought happily as he released her wrist and wrapped his other arm around her too. Ella swung her legs across his lap and buried her free hand in his curls. It made sense that he tasted icing though since she'd been eating it all night and he had it all over his face. The rainbow chips certainly added something different to the kiss, though. It was interesting. They pulled apart reluctantly and Ella wiped a hand across her mouth and chin to get rid of the extra icing. She laughed and glanced down at her icing covered hands.

"We're a mess," She said happily.

"That's okay with me," Nate said as he stood and crossed the room to the kitchenette. He pulled several paper towels off the roll and came back to the couch. He swiped a paper towel across Ella's hands and then across his own face. "That was a pretty fantastic kiss."

Ella blushed and smiled cheekily at him. "It was the rainbow chips."

He chuckled and pulled her legs back across his lap. "It was more than the rainbow chips, Ells."

She quirked a brow at him and smiled knowingly. "Oh? Then what was it, Mr. Oblivious?"

"I—I don't know if you've noticed," He said nervously. "But I really like you, Ella."

She bit her bottom lip and smirked dryly. "No, I couldn't tell! What with all the staring…"

He poked her side and she squealed and edged away from his hand. "It's not easy for me to talk about how I feel. You know that."

"I know," Ella told him. "But sometimes…it was hard to tell whether you just thought I was pretty or whether you really liked me, you know? And I would have said something, but I wanted to know…which one it was."

He reached over and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "It's both. Believe me, it's both."

Ella caught his hand as it left her ear and tangled her fingers with his. "I really like you too, Nate. It's hard not to."

He squeezed her hand and she looked up to see his frosting covered hand moving toward her face. She yelped as icing covered her cheeks and nose.

"Na-ate!"

"Revenge is sweet," Nate said with a wink. He leaned toward her slowly, and let his lips hover over hers. "Now I get to find out how sweet."

Ella laughed and smacked his arm as he leaned down for another kiss. "And you are a songwriter. So cheesy."