Ella sat at the foot of her bed, her brush stroking down her hair over and over again as she rid it of it's knots. But she stared at the blank wall infront of her, part of her felt guilty getting ready to spend time with Joe. Evan could be out there, waiting for a rescue and everyone is just going about their days like it's nothing. Was Evan scared? Was he alone? Maybe this was a bad idea. Maybe Ella shouldn't give up so easily. Normally she would be FaceTiming him how excited she was about having this date with Joe, but she didn't feel excited. She felt nervous, she felt..sad.
She slowly stopped brushing her, placing the hairbrush beside her before slipping on her tall black boots. She wore a red blouse that tucked slightly in her black mini skirt, throwing over her black leather jacket to go with the look. She walked over, grabbing her phone from the nightstand before pausing. She left the golden chain on the table, picking it up she lifted it up to her face again. Her eyes lingered on it for a while before she clasped it in her fist and shoved it in her jacket pocket. With one last look at herself, she sprayed her cherry blossom perfume, adding a glossy pink cherry scented gloss and tossed her hair back for dramatics before leaving her apartment.
She took a cab to Joe's place, thanking the taxi driver before getting out and texting Joe 'I'm here' as she walked up the steps to his door. She noticed a small kid sitting on the staircase going up. He had a book in his lap and a paper box of food sat on the step beside him.
"Hi there" Ella spoked before turning to knock on Joe's door, but before she could, the kid spoke again. "Are you Joe's date?" He asked making her turn her head to him. Her smile grew as she slowly walked closer.
"That depends..did Joe call it a date?" She asked teasingly, making Paco smile.
"You're pretty" he said, now making Ella the one to smile.
"And you are a handsome boy." She said, tapping at his leg before turning back to Joe's door and knocking on it. The door almost swung open immediately as a handsome cleaned up Joe stood there. Cool, calm and collected like always.
She bit her lip as her eyes wandered down his body.
"Hello..you.." she said, mocking his word choice from earlier. "You clean up nice but I hate to be the bearer of bad news..you might have some competition" she joked looking back to Paco. She giggled before walking past Joe to walk inside his apartment.
...
Ella took in a deep breath as she entered, looking around slowly. Wow. It's..exactly how she imagined it would be. Small. Books everywhere. And old. She was right, Joe *is* predictable. Ella felt amused as she turned to Joe.
"I..like your place. It's very cozy. Very..you" she smiled before pointing to the coffee table she helped pick out. "I knew it! It fits so well in here" she laughed before walking over to the diner table where it was set up with Indian food already delivered. She shook off her jacket, revealing more of her top as she placed her jacket on the back of the chair and sat down in it.
"This is sweet of you Joe, I honestly don't know how to thank you for just..being a good friend to me through all this..madness. We just met and I feel like I threw you into the wolves immediately" she chuckled shaking her head before shrugging. "I just..really appreciate you, is what I'm trying to say"
