All Mixed Up

Tied together again

I've lost everybody. It all started with Ella and now I can't even talk to Emil let alone the two that saw us kiss - which meant nothing! It's Mathias I like anyway... Emil was stupid enough to kiss me even when he knew that. I take out my phone and through blurred, teary vision, I call Ella.
"Hello?"
"You picked up!" To be fair, I'm surprised she picked up; she didn't the first forty-seven times.
"Well Naoki told me you were a mess. He was in the bubble tea cafe today when everything kicked off." She explains. I heave a heavy, frustrated sigh. Naoki, like most of the people she talks to, is Ryo's brother.
"I really am a mess and I could really use a best friend right about now." Finally arriving home, I drop subtle hints for Ella to visit me and fortunately, she receives them.
"I'll be round in forty." I hang up and enter my room, pacing around and the last few tears make their way to the ground until Ella knocks on my bedroom door. Mum or dad probably let her in.
"You okay?" She asks me, pulling me in for a hug.
"Naoki told you what happened, didn't he? It was horrible, Ella!" I cry into her dark blue hoodie while she softly cradled me in the middle of the room the way a mother would to an upset child; to me, that's what we are in this moment.
"Emil kissed you." Is all she replied with, stating the obvious.
"Well, yeah but he knows about the whole 'I need me some Danish pastry' situation." She pushes me away and looks at me after my comment.
"The what situation?" She questions, quite obviously stifling hysterical laughter but it's okay; I miss making my best friend laugh.
"You know, Mathias?" I ask her, standing and sitting on the edge of my bed.
"How does Emil know about that?" She raises an eyebrow and sits besides me on the edge of the mattress.
"Well, it's a long story, really." I tell her but she shrugs, stating what kind of a best friend would she be if she didn't know and so I told her about everything. The phone calls, the day out, Emil asking me on a date and not really giving me a choice in the end and I finish with the kiss.

But the story is not to end there.

"Sounds like you had a riveting day!" She finally exclaims after minutes of listening. Her enthusiasm, which used to spread to me most of the time, doesn't affect me at all.
"I wish I could say that. Now Mathias thinks Emil and I are dating!" I flop onto the floor dramatically, covering my face with my hands.
"Well, I ship you two!" I prop myself up on my elbows, glaring at her and making her blood turn to ice.
"Like hell you do." Is my only response. "What if Emil likes me?"
"Well, he clearly does!"
"But he said he didn't!"
"Well Emil is like a newspaper. You can read him...but he's upside down....he's in a different language....and on fire but that's besides the point! It's still possible to read him!"
"How the hell can you read a newspaper that's upside down, in a different language and on fire?!" I protest, belligerent to any idea that comes from her mouth. Knowing Ella, there's some strange anecdote behind that saying she's used. I get up and pace around my room in thought, lost as to what I should do.
"Well, what if you just tell Mathias how you feel?" Though Ella is completely serious, I collapse onto the floor in a fit of laughter.
"Y-You can't be serious can you?!" I say through giggles.
"What's wrong with that?" She asks me, getting up and pulling me off the floor and back onto the soft bed. If only I could lay down and not get up for...well, ever!
"What's wrong with that? What's wrong with that?!" I chuckle. "He could say no: that's what's wrong with that!" She finally stands and claps her hands once. Just once.
"Well, I give up then. I don't know what to do."
"Same." I sigh an angry sigh. "I should've just followed my rule! My one rule!" I gently, though I am sure to bring out the anger, slam a fist onto the desk in my room.
"I know who to see about this." I utter to myself, but Ella overhears.
"Who?" She asks.
"That Ace guy." I suggest but her meyes widen.
"You mean Ace Rickman?!" She says through a gasp.
"Well I'm not talking about a plastic card am I?" I sarcastically reply, face palming soon after.
"What about Emil?" She questions, picking up her bag and both of us head to the front door; half an hour has passed already passed and it's getting late.
"Yeah? What about him?"
"Well, why don't you just forget about Mathias-"
"You can't just drop someone you like just because someone else likes you!" We both frown and cross our arms in a weirdly perfect unified manner but as we do, I notice my light glint off something on her cheek.
"Why are you crying?" I ask, pulling her in for a tight hug and she stays there, her soft sobs turning into weeps.
"You can because I have to too! We'll drop the people we like together!" Her words are muffled since she says them into my jumper but I understand her. Now turning serious, I decide to ask her about what she means.
"It turns out...Aya whatever-her-last-name-is has moved in with the Takagawa brothers and they're all falling in love with her. That includes Ryo!" I feel her tears soaking through the material and onto my warm skin. Not really knowing what else to do or how to react, I rub her back in an attempt to comfort her.
"Aya? Like, the orphan girl?" I ask her and she nods, crying even more into my shoulder. Who would've thought all the Takagawa brothers would like the same girl? And to think she had the unfortunate chance to move in with them... "Look, Ella, I know it's hard but you have something she doesn't." I exclaim.
"Parents?" She asks, seemingly cheering herself up with utter dark humour.
"Ella, no. You can't say that..." I start. "You have time." She pulls herself away from me, frowning in confusion.
"I'm pretty sure everyone has time?"
"No, you've known Ryo for way longer than she has. You have inside jokes, memories and more trust than Aya has with all of them combined!" Ella opens the door and looks out, not finding any of the stars out since they're hidden behind a thick blanket of grey clouds.
"He likes her for sure. I'm only a friend, Kaia," she turns to me, wiping away a single tear that falls from her eye. "And as a friend I need to help him get the girl he wants." She leaves and I watch from the door, her small body shivering in the cold night.
"It's his loss, Ella. Really." I yell but she turns.
"No. He's the one I've lost." And with the words colder than the night itself, she leaves.