Robbers

fifteen

// fifteen //

It was only after Ryan had stormed out of the coffee shop that Ella realized she had no other way of getting home. Ryan was supposed to have brought her back after they'd talked things over, but as usual, their meeting had gone badly and Ella was left without a ride. She'd needed to wait until well after five o'clock for her mom to pick her up on the way home from work.

Ryan wasn't in school on Friday, but Ella was still too hurt over what had happened to try speaking with him again anyway. If he couldn't find it in himself to trust her, then why should she bother? Ella wanted to do everything she could to help him, but she couldn't keep stealing money when she had no idea what it was for.

But Ryan called her that Friday afternoon, and Ella had hesitantly picked up - she'd half been expecting him to curse her out over the phone, but his tone was soft when he spoke. He asked if Ella could come over as soon as she could to talk things over - for a second time.

"Please, Ella." His voice from the plastic speaker was close to her ear, and it was almost as though he was standing right next to her. "I feel like shit for leaving you yesterday. I want to apologize."

She'd held her breath, because there was no way to know how a second encounter like this would go. Ella didn't want another argument, or another conversation with Ryan that made everything hurt worse than before.

Then again, Ella knew she would regret not going when Ryan was the one who so rarely sought her company.

"Alright," Ella said after long moment of holding her breath, until her lungs had ached and she'd needed to let out the trapped air in a rushing exhale. "I'm coming."

She ate a hasty dinner with her family, and then gave some poor excuse to her parents before bundling herself into a thick grey coat and hurrying to the car. Ella felt guilty for lying to her parents when she'd so recently sworn against it, but she decided she'd feel bad about it later. If she didn't go to see Ryan now, she was worried they would remain awkwardly separated and distant forever.

Of course, it had begun to be a habit of theirs to come back to each other every time it seemed they'd never speak again.

The night air was ink-black and freezing as Ella pulled up the parking brake and stepped out of the car, a dusted layer of frost that was stuck to the Hunter's driveway slipping beneath the soles of her boots. Ella tucked her plaid-patterned scarf around her nose, squinting up at the partially illuminated house as an angry gust of wind blustered around her. The grey station wagon was absent from the driveway, but Ryan's dark blue truck was parked in its usual place on the right.

This had made Ella assume Ryan was the only one home, but it was his mother who answered the door when she knocked. Julie Hunter smiled widely and greeted Ella whole-heartedly, ushering her inside before quickly shutting the front door to cut off the flow of chilly air.

"It's always so good to see you, Ella," she said warmly, leading Ella down the short length of the hallway. "Would you like anything? Tea, coffee?"

"No, thank you," Ella refused politely, still wrapping her arms around herself despite how warm the interior of the house was. The entrance hallway had opened up into the cozy living room, so Ella gestured somewhat awkwardly to the stairs. "Is Ryan in his room?"

"Yes," Julie nodded. She took Ella's arm instead of telling her she could head upstairs, pointing to the kitchen with the corners of her eyes crinkling from her smile. "But come into the kitchen with me, I'll get you a glass of water."

"Oh, you don't have to do that," Ella protested. "I can just go straight up to see - "

"Don't be silly," she insisted, gently pulling Ella towards the kitchen on the left of the living room. "It'll only take a minute. I want to talk to you."