CinderEll

Chapter Eight ~ Sweaters

As soon as she had placed Ell down onto her bed and got her sister set up in another room watching Tv, Alex placed her jacket over the shaking girl and sat down beside her, pulling her into her arms.

It was a full five minutes of shaking before Ell finally began to cry, and soon her crying turned into sobs as Alex held onto her and comforted her as best as she could.

The poor girl had been though so much over the last few days. Alex only wished that's she'd been able to prevent the situations from happening, instead of just saving her in the Nick of time.

"It's alright, your ok now, I've got you." She soothed, and when Ell finally stopped crying and looked up at her, her eyes red and puffy, Alex tried to muster a gentle smile.

"Hi there." She said, just barley above a whisper. Ell blushed as she wiped at her eyes, and when she realised that Alex was still holding her close, she quickly jumped away, her cheeks burning more at the mere thought of their close contact.

"Y-Y-You saved m-me." She managed to say as she looked at Alex shyly.

Alex blushed a little and shrugged.

"I'm just glad your alright." She said, but ELL's eyes shined with newfound tears as she found herself not knowing exactly how to express her thanks.

"I-I really thought that w-was the end of me. T-thank you Alex I-I owe you my l-life." She stuttered as her teeth began to chatter from the cold.

Alex frowned at that and quickly pulled a blanket off the bed to cover her with.

"It's nothing really, no need for thanks. I'm just glad your ok, but we really should get you something to wear as your current clothes are well and truly soaked." Ell looked down at her clothes in dismay. She'd already had strike one from her boss, this would be strike too and she might even be fired this time and if she was her uncle would surely kick her out and she'd have nowhere to go and-

Alex frowned in concern as Ell began to breathe heavily.

"Hey are you ok?" She asked, placing a gentle hand on her blanket covered shoulder.

Ell but her lip and nodded as she tried to shake away her thoughts. She would simply have to take things how they came and try to get straight back to work.

"I'll loan you some clothes, one moment." Alex said as she got up and began to rummage through one of her suitcases until she was able to find a comfortable top, a chunky knit sweater and some jeans.

"Ah well, these probably won't fit you so good but you can try them if you'd like?" She said as she offered Ell the pile of clothes and pointed towards the ensuite bathroom.

"You can get changed over there if you want,  and your welcome to take a shower to get warm or use any towel."

Ell blushed as she gingerly accepted the clothes and shyly nodded. She quickly made her way into the bathroom and closed the door. Although a warm shower sounded very tempting right than, she had to get back to work as soon as possible so she settled for patting herself dry with a towel and putting the new clothes on.

The jeans where quite a bit long on her but Ell just rolled them up her legs a bit, and the sweater was oversized, but it was comforting and warm. Ell was extremely grateful for Alex's help and she didn't know why she thought that Ell deserved it, but she really did want to thank her somehow. After all, she'd saved her life now more than once and that was quite a lot of be thankful for!

When she stepped out of the room the first thing she noticed was that Alex too had changed into new clothing, which made sense since she'd jumped into the pool to get her.

When Alex saw her coming out of the bathroom her face lit up like a thousand stars and her eyes grew as wide as sauces.

"Oh good lord. You look like a puppy in a blanket." She said as she grinned at her.

Ell blushed ten times redder than she already was as she shyly ducked her head and played with her sweater covered hands.

Alex smiled gently, deciding not to cause the girl any more redness in her cheeks.

"How about a warm cup of tea?" She offered, but Ell shook her head.

"T-Thank you so much for saving me again Alex. I have to get back to work right now but I will make sure t-to think of someway to replay you for all y-you've done for me."

Alex grew concerned at that. She didn't want to keep Ell there against her will, and she's never would, but she was worried about her. After all she'd literally just almost been drowned and on top of that she still seam just as exhausted as she had been the other day.

"Well... ok. If your sure your alright." She said, her voice full of concern for the girl she was rather quickly growing quite attached too.

"I-I'm ok. T-Thank you. I'll make sure to wash a-and return the clothes tomorrow if that's ok."

Alex nodded as she gave Ell a warm smile.

"You can keep them, they look far better on you anyway."

Ell blushed at that as she found herself once again lost for words. Was she flirting with her or was she simply reading far too much into it?

"T-Thank you." She said again as she backed up towards the door, but when she was unable to look away from Alex's sparkling eyes, she bumped into it and blushed in embarrassment as she hid her face in her hands and turned around. She quickly opened the door, and all but ran out of it, hoping that Alex hadn't noticed how incredibly clumsy she had been.