The Art of Living

[11] Photos and Phonecalls

Ellie had actually gone back to the group only very shortly that evening in the pub. Lynn, Mary, Freddie and Brian had been talking about who knows what. Ellie had gently tapped Mary's shoulder, who then had turned around.

"Hey! What happened to you? You've been gone for like half an hour now," she had told her, causing the other three to pause their conversation and look at them.

Ellie had chuckled and run a hand through her slightly dishevelled hair. "Uh, well, I was out the back door with one of the bartenders," she had told them with a smirk.

"What? No. Seriously? Oh my god," Mary had laughed surprised and both Lynn and Freddie had joined her. Brian had just stood there, looking down somberly. The hopeful expression on his face when Ellie had joined the group again had disappeared very quickly.

But that had gone completely unnoticed by Ellie, she had still been on a slight pleasure high. She had nodded and grinned. "Oh yes. And yes, oh my god indeed. My knees are still slightly weak," she had laughed softly. "Actually that's why I came here. He's off now, so I will be going home with him." She had grinned and winked at Lynn who couldn't help but laugh. "Don't wait for me or anything? I'll be in a veeery good place, believe me. I'll talk to you soon, have a fun time tonight."

"You too," Mary had told her, laughing a little.

And with that Ellie had disappeared into the crowd.

The next morning her usual sneaking out routine worked much better than it had with Brian and so she was back in her flat and under the shower. It had been a great night indeed, exactly what she had needed. She had been a little frustrated that the evening before it hadn't worked with Roger, but the bartender - whose name she didn't know - had definitely made up for it. Definitely. They had barely slept, which was why Ellie went to bed as soon as she got out of the shower.

That was all she did on that Sunday, except for some eating and studying in the afternoon and evening. Nothing too exciting. The same on Monday and Tuesday. Of course she went to her classes on those days, but nothing really exciting happened. She hadn't run into any of the group after she had left the pub with the bartender, and the first time she talked to anyone of her closer friends was Tuesday afternoon.

She was sitting on her couch, her notes and course books spread out next to her and on the coffee table when suddenly the phone rang. Groaning a little, Ellie got up and tried not to step on any of her photos that she had laid out on the ground so that she could decide which ones to include in her upcoming project. She was far from done yet, but she had to get started somehow. So anyway. Once she had gotten through the obstacle parcours, she picked up the phone.

"Yes, hello?" She straightened up and stretched her back a little.

"El! Hi! How are you? I feel like we haven't talked in forever even though it's only been three days. How was your night on Saturday? No, wait, don't answer that, you can tell me tomorrow. Tomorrow we're meeting up in the park and we would like you to come, do you have time? We sort of have something planned and we need you to be there, preferably with some of your best pictures, can you do that?"

Ellie had tried to get to say something, but Lynn had talked without a pause. "Hello to you too, Lynn.. and... care to explain that a little bit more? That was a lot of information at once."

"Of course, of course," she chuckled through the phone. "Alright, so we're meeting at the park tomorrow."

"Hyde Park?" Ellie asked and sat down on the chair she had beside the phone. She had a feeling this call might take a while.

"Of course Hyde Park. On the bridge. When do you get off tomorrow?"

"Uh.. I get off at twelve. When were you planning to meet?"