A Thousand Words

11.

Ella

"We're going out. C'mon. You can't work yourself to death. Get up!" 

Maddie gripped my wrist tightly, attempting to pull me off the bed. 

"Let me go!" I groaned. "I can do what I want. I'm an adult and, may I add, it's a free country!"

"So? I'm tired of seeing your mopey ass walk through the door, only to plop yourself on your bed," she stated bluntly. "Let's. Go."

I frowned, standing my ground. I could feel the tension between my shoulder and my arm from her constant pulling. I wouldn't last any longer in this position. 

"Ella!"

"Maddie!" 

"We are doing something fun!" She huffed. Maddie's grip on me tightened. With one more pull, she had me on the floor of my room. 

"Maddie!" I repeated her name in annoyance. 

"C'mon. My friend is throwing a small get together," she grinned. She returned to her innocent self in a split second. "There will be cute boys," she added with a wink. 

I rolled my eyes at her comment. "I don't want to meet 'cute' boys and I don't want to go to a party, either." 

"A get together, Ella! Not a party!" 

She made her way to my closet, rummaging through my clothes. 

"What's the difference?" I retorted. 

Maddie disregarded my question as she pulled out crop top and black jeans. "This'll do," she said as she tossed the clothes at me. 

"Why are you making me do this?" I pressed. I stood up and grabbed the clothes. I knew that there was no use in arguing with her because she'd eventually get her way. If not, I'd never hear the end of it. 

The girl crossed her arms and looked at me with a deadpanned glare. 

"Because the last time I took you out, you ran off with some guy. A guy, may I add, that dated Jenna. For once, you and I need to spend some quality time together. You owe me this." She looked at me with puppy dog eyes, pleading for my attention. 

As much as I wanted to deny it, she was right. I felt bad for running out on her. What I didn't understand was why I had to spend time with her at a 'get together.' I would much rather spend one on one time with her, and not with other people around us. 

"Fine," I muttered as I pulled off my sweatshirt.

"Yay!" The girl squealed. "We leave in an hour!"

She quickly ran out of the room, presumably to get ready herself. As soon as her figure was out of sight, I changed out of my pajamas and put on the outfit she gave me. My hair was already straightened from having gone to work earlier today. My makeup, on the other hand, needed a little work. 

I padded on foundation and ran my mascara through my lashes. I didn't care to do anything more than that, considering I didn't even want to go on this outing to begin with.  

Looking at the clock, I saw that I had 45 more minutes before I was dragged out of the door. So to pass the time, I laid down on my bed. 

My mind wandered to the events that took place earlier this week. I replayed the last interaction I had with Tyler and how disappointed I was when he pushed me away. I was confused. I was hurt. I was hurt because I thought he finally enjoyed my company. Besides Maddie and my other coworkers, he was the only one that I actually spent time with. Out of the rest of them, he was the only one that I looked forward to seeing.