LOVE IN THE DARK , MILEVEN TEXTING AU

seventeen.

the thought of group therapy clouded el's head throughout the day, her fingers ran across bella's head and bella cuddled up into el's lap.

one part of her training and by bella's behaviour, el knew she was in trouble.

bella had a responsibility of being close, ensuring el was calm and comfortable and with how bella was nudging her nose against el's hand, el knew bella was checking up on her.

el let out the tiniest smile at the sight of bella's doe eyes and bella went to sit inside el's crossed legs.

she hugged onto her as lola walked over, sitting down next to her. "time to go, el,"

el looked up, standing up as bella jumped, trying to claw onto her legs. 

looking back at lola, she nodded then cheekily smiled as she took out a leash to put on bella.

"there you go," lola smiled, handing the leash to el as bella instantly followed along to their steps. "this will be a good training for bella. the walk, i mean,"

lola acknowledged el's facial expression. "they won't mind. bella is quiet,"

lola held onto el's free hand as they headed to the venue of the group therapy and bella made sure to not walk so ahead go ensure that el was okay.

bella turned back to face el once they reached the crosswalk and el bent down to pick bella up into her arms.

lola gave bella a pet, smiling down at the dog as el held onto her therapy dog till they reached their destination.

el stopped by the door, lola turning when she realised el had come to a stop. "el?"

el took a deep breath.

"do you need a second? i'll wait for you inside, okay?" she said gently and el looked down, bella perking up in alert straight away.

"hey," someone called out, el turning just as bella cuddled closer to soothe her.

"cute dog," mike whispered, recognising the dog straight away. "what's her name?"

el looked away, ignoring him as bella moved closer to him, trying to nudge her nose against him.

at the behaviour, el turned to look at bella, then at him.

el looked up at mike as he gave bella a pet and then he smiled gently at her. "you look nice today,"

she looked down at herself. she was in a sweater, a skirt with dark tights that covered her skin to not show the scars beneath.

"why are you standing out here? wont you go inside? or does bel— this puppy need a poop?" he asked, but she was too out of it to notice his almost slip up.

she looked up at him, their gazes meeting and locked for a few seconds before she walked inside.

he smiled a little and followed her in, seeing that the only free seats left were next to each other.

el sat next to lola and mike sat next to el, bella situating herself on the ground in between them.

"you okay?" lola whispered to her and el just looked over before looking down at bella.

bella stood from her laying position, going to el's legs, placing her paws on el's knees for their faces to meet.

el picked her up to set her on her lap and mike leaned in to whisper to her. "granola bar?"

she turned her face to look at him before looking away, petting bella instead of fidgeting with her fingers like usual.

she blinked slowly and tiredly before she scratched on her thigh, bella going to lay across her lap which made her stop.