Ella watched as Joe stood infront of Ethan's way. Her face slowly shifting into an amused smirk as Joe struck a golden deal with Ethan that seemed to change his mind.
"Okay! I'll see what I can do" Ethan chirped as he came back to the counter as Ella's eyes lit up. She smiled at Joe, snickering slightly.
"Improv..?I don't have to go to that..right?" She whispered teasingly before turning to Ethan as he opened Evan's laptop. He started typing on the keyboard, Ella watching him intently as the only sound in the store was the clicking of the keypads. After a few minutes went by, Ethan let out a loud sigh.
"What? What?!" Ella asked dashing around the counter to look at the laptop. But she was only met with a black screen with small green codes flashing across the screen. "What the hell is that?"
"It's a backup security screen. Whoever's laptop this was must've been pretty paranoid, they set up two security screens to bypass and this one is gonna take a little longer to get through. They must have some pretty deep stuff they didn't want getting out of here" Ethan explained making Ella's gaze fall to Joe. His words from earlier echoed in her mind. What if Evan was hiding a lot more than he led on. She and Evan talked a lot about secrets, how to hide things..fake identities...Ella had her own skeleton in her closet that not even Evan knew about, so it only made sense he had the same. But still, what would Evan ever hide. He was an open book.
The sound of the laptop closing broke Ella away from her thoughts as she watched Ethan put the laptop in his bag.
"Wait what are you doing?" She asked as Ethan started to walk around the counter again.
"Look I'm still helping okay? But I can't work with you two breathing down my neck like lost hound dogs. And I really can't miss Star Wars night okay? Come back first thing in the morning and I promise I will have it completely unlocked and ready for you" Ethan said. Ella wasn't satisfied but she couldn't push her luck. Even if she had to wait longer, they were still heading in the right direction. As Ethan left, Ella turned to Joe. She felt guilty. She was so focused on Evan, she barely acknowledged what happened to him.
"I'm sorry Joe..I've been running you everywhere with me, you probably need to go home and read and put ice on that eye, it looks horrible" she said walking up to him to examine it. She placed her fingers under his chin, tilting his head up to get a better angle of his eye before pulling his face back down. But her breath caught in her throat as she looked to him. Her breathing picked up as her eyes flickered to his lips once again. This time it felt different. The tension in the air was thick but now that they were completely alone..nothing could stop them..
Joe has been so helpful..so supportive. He's been all about helping her when her mind has been on another guy the whole time. For awhile she convinced herself that she was way too into Evan to look at Joe in that way. But..right now..standing here and facing him..all she wanted was..him.
Ella leaned up on her toes, finally closing that empty space between them as she smashed her lips into his. Her hand in his chin moved to the side of his face and her other hand placed on his side, her fingers gripping his shirt gently. Their lips moved slowly together, letting the kiss deepen as her butterflies finally settled in her stomach. A soft moan vibrated from her lips as she slowly pulled away from the kiss. Her smile growing as she bit her bottom lip, staring in his eyes.
"Um..take that as a..thank you..? For helping me with..everything" Her voice soften as a a blush creeped on her cheeks.
