Wait for You (wlw) (Bitter spin-off)

twenty-six

Vic's pov

"I gather you two are on good terms now" Sam said as she met us outside her and El's apartment, glancing at our intertwined hands.

"Oh. Uhm, yeah" I mumbled, not even realizing we were holding hands.

"I'm glad" she said, looking vaguely amused. I could never tell if that was just her face.

"We probably won't tell Ellie...not now at least" Mei said, letting go of my hand.

"I'm sure she'd be happy for you" Sam shrugged.

"We'll see" I said, feeling slightly awkward, mostly because I didn't even know what we were supposed to tell her. It wasn't as if we were together.

"Anyway" Sam said, probably sensing the awkwardness. "I told her I was going out to pick groceries up, so she's really not gonna expect this. She's gonna be so happy"

"Are you sure we're not gonna scare her?" Mei asked.

"I don't think so...I hope not at least" she said. "She was in bed five minutes ago, she's probably still there" she added, unlocking the front door.

As we walked into the familiar apartment, the slight awkwardness of the moment was soon replaced by the excitement of seeing my best friend. Not only I hadn't seen her in months, but I'd been really worried for her for the past 24 hours.

"Babe, I don't know why you're already back home but I hope you didn't go to the shop yet" we heard El's voice come from the bedroom. "I forgot to ask if you can buy some of that specific brand of cream cheese we always used to get, I'm craving it for some reas- Oh. Have I been going so crazy that I'm hallucinating now?" she said as Mei and I walked into the room.

"Nope" I laughed. "Hi El" I said, my best friend lying in bed in front of us. Her ginger hair was very ruffled and she was wearing a worn out t-shirt with 'University College London' written on it.

"What the fuck?" she just said, sitting upright.

"It's nice to see you too" Mei chuckled as we both hugged her.

"What's going on?" she asked as she hugged us back. "I mean...hi. Oh my god, hi. What's happening?"

"We were told you haven't been well and we just wanted to be with you as soon as possible" I shrugged as I smiled.

"I'm literally wearing pajamas right now and probably look horrible"

"I've seen you in worse conditions, to be honest" I jokingly said.

"Yeah, same" Mei agreed.

"How did you even- I... I'm confused" she continued. "It was you, wasn't it?" she asked, looking in the direction of Sam, who was leaning on the door frame behind us.

"Might have been" she shrugged.

"Obviously" El smiled. "I love you so much"

"I love you too" Sam said with a smile. "I'm heading to work now, just call if you need anything, yeah?"

"Sure, thanks Sam" I said as she walked away, feeling a small pang of jealousy like I would every time I saw them being such a perfect couple. "So...what's been going on?" I added as we sat on the bed next to her.

"I've just been a little stressed out about college... nothing terrible" El said, looking downwards instead of towards me. That's how I usually recognized it when she was lying.

"You sure? Sam seemed concerned about you" Mei asked.

"I... okay, I might be having a harder time than usual" she sighed. "My panic attacks have come back because of it, I guess"