Ella put down her cup as Joe came up behind her, shortly followed by Ethan and Blythe. Yes, getting out of here was absolutely ideal. Especially since the air became so intolerably sufferable, Ella could barely breathe normally on her own. But it wasn't just the space she wanted to get away from. It was Blythe. It was Ethan. It was even Joe. For a moment she just felt so out of place, like she was trying to fit in with this cool guy and his friends and already failed miserably.
Ella glanced up to Joe, a new emotion flashing across her eye as her lips twitched up.
"Oh but we just got here, and I didn't even get to see if they have the third book of my Timberwolf series-I know how much you support my interest in them" she teased. Ella reached her hand out, her fingers traced down Joe's arm before reaching his hand where hers slid perfectly into his. She looked back to Ethan as they still waited an answer.
"We're gonna stay here for awhile but if you guys are still there, we'll meet up later?" She said before walking backwards, dragging Joe with her to a more quieter section of the bookstore. It seemed like the area was excluded from the rest of the opening 'party'. The music didn't quite reach towards the back of the store and the decorations slowly stopped and instead aisles and aisles of books stared back at them as Ella dropped Joe's hand and began glancing down each isle as she walked.
"Wow...I don't know Joe. This place makes yours look like a miniature Barbie dollhouse." She turned her head to look behind her at him, that playful smirk back on her face. "You might actually have some fierce competition" she stopped walking abruptly, turning on her heel to face him. She held her hands behind her back, leaning her body against one of the large bookshelves.
"I hope it's okay I turned down the pizza invite.. I just..Ethan is nice..and Blythe is...intimidating..but- oh- I don't know" she felt her cheeks grow warm again as she looked away with a small smile. "I just wanted to like talk to you more?" She continued looking back to him. "I feel like..we're hanging out and I like barely know who you even are" she took a step forward. "I think I've heard you talk about Mr. Mooney more than you've talked about yourself" Another step forward.
She stood just inches from him, looking up at him from where she was. Standing only at 5'5, Joe towered slightly over her. Her eyes stayed on his the entire time, but after a moment of silence and the tension that slowly built up, her eyes flickered to his lips, lingering for a moment before looking back to his eyes.
A shy smile crossed her face as she bit her bottom lip softly. Why did she want to lean in. She just wanted to see. She wanted to calm the butterflies that ran loose in the pit of stomach, inhaling his body's scent to satisfy them. She bet his hair was soft and wanted her fingers to feel it when they tangled in them. She wanted...him.
But the tension broke suddenly at the sound of a book falling from a shelf and giggling followed soon after it. It seemed they weren't the only ones with the same idea. Ella turned her head to the mysterious noise.
"Now this is the start..of a good murder mystery" she whispered before smiling and pulling back from Joe, turning to peep around the bookshelf slowly. Though she wasn't ready for the unexpected surprise.
Evan.
He was tangled up with a female, their hands exploring each other's bodies as their mouths couldn't disconnect from one another even to breathe. Books had fallen off the shelves around them as they roughly pushed one another against them. No care in the world those two. Selfish. That's what Ella would describe. Absolutely selfish.
Ella pulled away from her hiding spot, careful not to make noise as her expression had change.
"Actually, I am ready to go now" she told Joe, walking past him to leave the bookstore and walk down the empty sidewalk towards the Stoner's pizza plaza.
