take on me, e.williams

eleven

—to the edge
and back—

———odessa wasn't very good at soccer. it was clear now, as ellie was stealing the ball from her and sam was blocking all her shots. ellie was purposely running to odessa and tackling the girl, all because her love language was touch.

ellie didn't know much about loving someone, because the one person she had loved died. and she felt like it was her fault. now that feeling was coming back but for odessa, but ellie didn't want to make the same mistake. ellie couldn't help but stare at odessa.

the way her nose scrunched up after a sarcastic comment, the way her eyes lit up when she was inspired to draw something, the way she hummed billie jean softly. odessa was perfect to ellie.

"gotcha." odessa giggled after tackling ellie back. she had been so distracted by her thoughts she failed to see the miller girl leaning over her body. odessa's eyes flickered to her lips. could it be? ellie thought to herself, had i just witnessed that? she blinked up at odessa, her own brown eyes going to her lips.

                     "we've waited long enough." joel announced suddenly, standing from his chair and eyeing the two girls. odessa climbed off of ellie awkwardly and brushed herself off as she stood. the group resumed its formation once more and walked slowly through the tunnels until they came through a door. "do you know where we are?" joel turned to ask henry.

                  "yeah. the other side." henry told them, as they exited the parking building and into a neighborhood.

"no one is here." sam signed to the older brother, henry let out a dramatic sigh.

"that's right, sam. no one is here, and that's because my plan worked." henry told his brother and everyone else loudly.

"you know, for callin' me a loudmouth, you sure do so much god damn talkin'." odessa pointed out, smirking. her country accent shining through, that was something ellie liked about her. sometimes you couldn't hear it, but when odessa was angry or swearing a lot you could. in fact, it made her sound a lot like joel.

"i'm just saying, i delivered. i'm good." henry argued playfully, shoving odessa lightly. she fell into ellie who wrapped an arm around the girls shoulders. "make this right, go down the street, embankment behind the last house, and we're out." he instructed, gesturing with his hands.

"so we cross the water, then what?" ellie asked, looking over odessa at henry. "where ya gonna go?"

"don't know yet." henry replied.

"we're going to wyoming." ellie told the older boy, who looked down at sam. sam was squinting hard to catch what everyone was saying. at those words, joel glanced backwards to shoot ellie a scolding look.

"what, joel? wyoming is a huge state! it can fit two more people." odessa argued with her uncles eyes as he turned his attention back to the front.

"maybe we just... call this one a success and go our separate ways." henry told them, his voice sounding sad.

"no, it's okay. joel normally changes his mind." ellie shook her head, eyeing joel.

"that's usually how it goes. he'll pretend to hate you, like, you're a burden to his life. and then next thing you know, he's not calling you girl anymore, it's kiddo or some nickname he made up." odessa was whispering now to the group of teenagers and sam as they hung back behind joel.