Anna

50 - Epilogue

Three years later

The heavy box dropped from Ellie's hands and landed with a thud and a rattle, jarring the contents inside. She grimaced and hoped that whatever was inside remained intact.

"If you're going to throw boxes around, at least find one with blankets first." Freya followed close behind with a bigger box than Ellie's. Sweat glistened on Freya's forehead and bare shoulders. Moving in the middle of a Los Angeles summer was not ideal, which made Ellie even more grateful for the help.

Freya's shoulder-length black hair was pulled back, and the light purple tips brushed against the base of her neck. It had taken Ellie a while to get used to Freya donning her mostly natural hair color in a longer length than when they met. She was not as easy to spot in a crowd anymore, but Ellie liked the change.

After gently resting the box on the floor, Freya gave Ellie a playful nudge with her elbow. They both smiled.

Ellie shoved her hand in her pocket and felt the small ridges of a key against her fingertips. She pulled it out to admire it again and flattened out the sticky note attached to it with her name written in marker: Ellie Russo-Holland.

"Coming in hot," Joe announced from the doorway of Ellie's new apartment. He backed his way in, straining to hold up the end of the sofa he tasked himself with carrying.

"Tilt it to the right," came Chase's voice from the opposite side. "No, your other right."

Joe cursed his brother under his breath as they struggled to fit the oversized couch through the door.

Grateful that Joe and Chase took the heavy lifting upon themselves—despite their inevitable bickering—Ellie turned away and left them to it.

With the doorway indefinitely blocked, Ellie and Freya turned to the kitchen to help Tessa unpack what had already been brought in.

The apartment was not large by anyone's standards. The one-bedroom, one-bathroom layout failed to lend itself room for creativity, but it was exactly what Ellie wanted. The eggshell plaster walls didn't offer much, the doors sometimes got stuck on the warped floor, and she would have to take her laundry down the street, but Ellie didn't need the perfect place to live. The starter apartment was perfect to her.

Dishes clinked and clamored as Tessa, Freya, and Ellie set to fill the kitchen cabinets. Freya hopped on the counter for better access to the taller cabinets. As she stretched to reach the top shelf, the hem of her tank top raised to show a sliver of smooth, tan skin on her back. Ellie involuntarily paused to stare at her—something she'd been doing a lot of in recent months.

"Hand me that mixer," Freya said, pointing to the box next to Ellie.

"But I can't reach it up there," Ellie said. Freya gripped the cabinet door for balance and turned around.

"I've seen you cook. You're never going to use it."

Ellie shrugged and passed the hand mixer to Freya. When she put it away, Ellie got to admire the way her torso stretched with her outreached arm.

From the living room, which connected to the kitchen, Joe and Chase finally set the sofa in place with exaggerated grunts.

"That's enough work for now," Joe said. Resting his hands on his hips, he turned to Ellie, Freya, and Tessa. "Who's hungry?"

By the time the delivery arrived an hour later, half-empty boxes and torn packing materials lay scattered across the floor of every room. Since Ellie had yet to find a table and chairs, they all sat in a circle amongst crumpled old newspapers and bubble wrap, with an upside-down box topped with stacks of pizza boxes as the centerpiece.