With All My Heart

WITH ALL MY HEART

[a one-shot entry for Bellaaa_'s The Boy Who Lost His Sight]

             Slamming the door of my car close, I strode over to Ellie’s house, the heels of my ballet flats cling against the hard surface of the driveway. The door of her house was ajar, so instead of knocking or ringing the bell, I pushed the heavy wood open, to find Ellie dressed in denim shorts and primrose dropped shoulder top. She was applying a layer of lip balm, looking into the mirror of her compact powder as she does so. Her neatly curled dark brown hair twirled when she turned to see me standing by her doorsteps, a mix of confusion and excitement on my face. She smiled so merrily I’d almost forget she was that intimidated, parentless new girl in town who tried so hard to help the ignorant blind boy in school.

             “Reese! Oh, the Witherspoon!” Ellie beamed at me, closing the cap of her lip balm and snapping her compact powder close, shoving them both in her tribal wool bag.

             That’s what them – Ellie, Riley, Aiden and oh-so-unfortunately, Ben – had been calling me lately; Reese Witherspoon. We had a movie night at Aiden’s last week, before Aiden had to go back to his uni in North Carolina. The movie we were watching was This Means War, starring the one and only Reese Witherspoon. So every time she appears on the screen, either Ellie, Riley, Aiden or Ben will nudge and tease me, saying that she’s my long lost twin. Not that I minded being compared to a sexy, 37-year-old actress.

             “Someone’s looking decent today,” I said as I eyed Ellie from head to toe.

             “You think so?”

             “Yeah, yeah, don’t get it over your head, sweetheart. Where are you going, anyways?” I asked, closing the door behind me as I entered the house. 

             “Wait, let me answer that. A date with Riley, huh?”

             Her cheeks grew rosy pink at the mention of his name; she lowered her head so her curtains of hair would cover her cheeks. “Yeah,”she nodded, “he said it’s a surprise, of where we’re going and what we’re doing. God knows what that boy has up in his mind.”

             I laughed, “And that’s why you called me in the middle of my lavender cream bath and asked me to come here? So I can give you relationship advices, then? Okay, I’m not that good at giving advices but I think–”

             “Can you please babysit Sophie?”

             I choked. “You want me to do what?”

             “I said, can you–”

             “No, I heard you. But what? Isn’t Aaron around?” I asked, hoping that he was around, because as much as I love Sophie, I am not going to spend my Sunday on a summer day by babysitting a ten-year-old.

             “He’s out of Florida for some game shooting, not gonna be back until tomorrow,” Ellie answered. 

             I sighed. “But aren’t there anyone–”

             A sudden loud, blaring horn thumped our ears, making us both turned our attention to the sound, startled. “Ah, that must’ve been Ms. Gail,” Ellie baffled nervously. She rummaged through her bag, making sure that everything she needed was there. She opened her compact powder once again, checking if her make-ups were well done. Snapping it close, she turned to me.