Corruption | Ethan Landry

[01] angel baby

Ella wasn't a fan of parties.

The getting ready together? The dressing up? Face-timing her girlfriends to choose outfits, doing their makeup together in each others dorms, and getting cute together? That she adored.

The actual party aspect of the night? Nooot so much. Watching college-aged students grinding against each other to the beat of the heavy bass music wasn't exactly her idea of a fun time. It's not like she was purposely looking, but god they were all so shameless: it was like every direction she turned, there was a couple making out and all but eating each others faces off right in the middle of the room where anyone could see them. 

And the touching? The sweaty bodies? The odor of booze on the breath of anyone that wandered near; the occasional pinching hands that wandered to areas they had no business to be in? Yeah, she could go without dealing with all of that.

Even so, Elle looked great that night, and it'd be sad if she didn't at least try to enjoy herself. She'd arrived at the party with Mindy and Annika—Ethan had offered to wait for her as they got ready, but Chad dragged the boy away since he'd 'cry if he had to stomach the party alone without at least one buddy'. And the girls were taking too long, so off they went.

It was worth it though. Ella knew she was a pretty decently-good looking person. She'd probably never be a top-model in a front-cover vogue magazine or something, but she was pretty enough that she could feel cute after dressing up and spending some time on herself. Not so pretty that she didn't still get self-conscious sometimes, but pretty enough that when she put effort into dressing up like this, she could even look amazing.

The girl had chosen to go with a simple, classic angel outfit for the night. It was a risk, considering the very likely possibility of someone spilling a drink on her outfit, but Ella liked it. She enjoyed the cutesy, feminine vibe the white angel dress gave; the halo was rather cute, and she thought the wings looked adorable. She'd even put on a cute white-winged eyeliner to add to her look, and used sparkly eyeshadow; not to mention highlighter in the corner of her eyes and on the tip of her nose. All in all, she looked pretty good.

After arriving at the party with her friends, Annika and Mindy had quickly made themselves comfortable on the couch. As much as she enjoyed talking with her friends, Ella didn't particularly wanna third-wheel the couple for the entire night. She got the feeling they wanted to be alone to canoodle anyways; which was fine, since Elle really wanted to find her own partner anyways.

As she walked around, searching the rooms, a hand suddenly clamped onto her arm, forcing her to pause and turn around. She blinked in surprise.

"Um, hi?" She greeted the stranger awkwardly. "Can I help you?" She asked politely.

"You sure could." The blonde boy smirked, looking the girl up and down with a pair of bright blue-eyes, the shade of the sky on a clear, sunny day. "You look beautiful. Like a real life angel." He was rather attractive, she noted, with a chiseled face, a fit body, and a boyish, charming smile that would've had a lesser woman dropping to her knees. But Ella wasn't interested. She slipped her hand out of the stranger's grip. 

"I've got a boyfriend." She apologized, trying to leave. But the boy halted her again, blocking her way. 

"That's fine." He said quickly. "I—uh, I um actually wasn't going to hit on you."

The girl hesitated. "You weren't?" She felt embarrassed, but a little doubtful. It's not like Ella naturally assumed anyone talking to her was hitting on her—but the way he had approached her, and the way his body language spoke that told Elle the guy wasn't stopping her just to compliment her outfit.