𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐲𝐨𝐮. 𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐛𝐲𝐧 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐧

◈ three ◈

[real life]

it was around eight o'clock at night when the ten teens were gathered around in ella's living room, debating on which show they should binge watch on netflix. this has been an ongoing battle for about fifteen minutes now.

"stranger things is superior," jack stated, leaning back in the recliner and grasping the handle on the side of the chair as the foot rest sprung out.

"that's riverdale," fayre claimed, taking a seat on the arm of the chair jack was sitting in. she barely leaned against him, letting her legs dangle off the side. neither of them seemed to mind sharing though, considering all of the other seats were taken.

jonah, alana, and zach were sitting on the couch. nova and kamilla were lounging in the two bean bags that ella had pulled in there from her bedroom. daniel was sprawled across the other recliner and corbyn was sitting on the floor beside ella.

"how about friends?" daniel asked the room, flinging his arms up in the air. "can't go wrong with friends."

"i'm not in the mood for friends though," zach replied, pinching his red fidget spinner between his index finger and his thumb as he watched it spin around.

"jesus christ," corbyn groaned, running his fingers through his blonde hair before standing up. "where's the bathroom, ella?"

"it's down the hall," ella pointed towards the area, "second door to the right." she watched as he stormed across the room and down the hall before entering the bathroom.

"what's his problem?" daniel mumbled, reaching over to flick zach's fidget spinner once it started to slow down.

"i think that's just his natural expression; irritation mixed with no patience whatsoever," jonah laughed, slinging his arm around alana's shoulders as she leaned against him.

"i can relate to that," jack grinned, pointing the television remote towards the screen as he turned on coco.

"let's not forget about his resting bitch face," daniel chuckled, pulling the black beanie off his head,  exposing his messy brown hair.

kamilla sat up, "let's also not be dipshits when we all know we're going through something. give him a break." her statement made the room fall silent as the teenagers realized that they were being rather rude. not another word was said as their focus was redirected towards the animated movie.

as for ella, her focus was swirling around something else; well, somebody else to be exact. she noticed the hot headed boy had been in the bathroom for a little while now and decided that she should probably go and check on him. 

"i'll be right back," ella whispered to nova as she stood up. nova nodded and smiled before resting her chin in the palm of her hand as her gaze landed on the film once again.

ella approached the bathroom, hesitantly raising her knuckles up to the wooden door before knocking three times. she heard the sound of something hitting the floor before corbyn muttered, "god damnit."

"are you okay in there?" ella asked quietly as she furrowed her brows and placed her hand on the door.

just as she was about to say his name, he opened the door. his facial expression was unreadable, as far as she was concerned. nevertheless, he did seem frustrated and maybe even a little bit nervous. he cleared his throat, "i'm fine."

"are you sure? because it didn't really sound-"

"i said i'm fine," corbyn repeated, a bit more harsh than before. then, he  walked right past her, back into the living room as he joined the rest of the adolescents.

ella was confused as to what had just happened but decided to drop it and go back to where she was sitting. she plopped down on the carpet, next to nova this time. she wanted to give corbyn some space. 

she figured he needed it.

◈◈◈

it was around four o'clock in the morning now as ella blinked her eyes open. it was in the middle of moana and everybody had fallen asleep. nova ended up sitting with daniel after he complained that it was cold and he was all alone. although, they all knew that it was because they had been watching the ted bundy tapes and daniel was scared to death. that left the bean bag open and ella instantly flopped into it at around midnight.

ella slowly stood up, carefully trying not to wake anybody up. she wandered towards the bathroom before walking in and closing the door behind herself. once she flicked the light switch on, she noticed something on the floor. she bent down and picked up three pills that were beside the toilet. she rolled the white pills around the palm of her hand and then redirected her gaze towards the medicine cabinet.

she raised her hand up to the wicker cabinet, pulling it open as she grabbed her dad's orange bottle of pain pills. she unscrewed the top and studied the medication.

it was a match. 

ella turned around and stared at her reflection in the mirror for a few seconds as her eyes widened at the sudden realization; corbyn was the one who dropped the pills. 

sky speaks!

thank y'all so much for the votes & comments!!! they truly mean the world to me and inspire me to keep writing as long as y'all wanna read <3