At Your Service

three - old memories

I stepped into the bathroom with my eyes half-closed, brushing my teeth with the overly nice hotel toothpaste and toothbrush. I turned the water on in the shower, shedding my clothes onto the floor carelessly and stepping onto the cool tile. It made me shutter, wrapping my arms over my chest before walking under the warm water that rained from the ceiling. I let my head fall back and my eyes close, feeling the water run through my hair and warm my skin. 

I kept thinking about going out with Louis tomorrow, reming myself that it was ok to open up to people as long as we weren't in a government building or on a task. It was ok to have friends. That thought brought me back to my old friends, specifically Kate. 

Kate and I had been friends since my family had moved to Maryland, so we could be closer to D.C. for my dad's job. I took her crayons from her in the first grade, the teacher having to separate us because she kept crying. We made faces at each other from across the room, and I thought we might duke it out on the playground until she brought her prized crayons with her to recess and asked what my favorite color was. She was very talented at art, showing me some of her pictures when we got in from playtime. I said I was sorry to her, and since that moment we were inseperable. 

We stayed that way during highschool, our other friends having come and gone but we still had each other. I remember us staying up all night applying to colleges together, both of us having our hearts on Baylor. When our acceptance letters came, I remember my palms sweating as I called her from my living room, my dad and brother having been out for the day as usual. 

She answered her phone and we were both silent, and then suddenly as if on cue we burst into laughter. "You got in?" She asked me, and I felt happy tears welling in my eyes, "You did too?" 

We both laughed and cried over the phone for at least an hour, all of our hard work had paid off. Kate wanted to go to school for anesthesiology, and I wanted to be a doctor in hematology. We had finally made it. 

We were granted the request of having each other as room mates, our families helping us move into the large dorm right by the quad on campus. Everything looked so prestigious, our room feeling like the only thing there that was relaxed and truly ours. My dad had told me of how proud he was of me that day, my brother carrying the rest of the boxes to my room while Kate's family was saying their goodbyes outside. Her mom had kissed me on the forehead, saying she'd mail us All Dressed chips from back home. 

"As long as this is what you really want," My dad had told me for the seventeenth time, and I nodded me head and wrapped my arms around him. He squeezed me, helping me set up the rest of my things before we said our goodbyes. 

I stayed there for two months, battling the weight of my classes and social life as college students do. And then the phonecall came. I told Kate I would be back in a few months, and I left all of my things there because that's what I really thought. My bed was made and my decorations still on the walls, the photos, paintings, everything. I didn't know that I wouldn't be able to have contact with any of my friends for five months, but I snuck in a few emails when I could. It broke my heart to think of my best friend in that room all by herself, not really knowing why I left except for me lying on behalf of my dad and saying 'family crisis'. So cliche. 

I wanted to go back and have the life that I had for two short months, and when Louis pressed me to talk more about what I 'wanted to be when I grew up' it made it that more apparent. I sighed with relief after I finished washing my hair and the soap stung my eyes, bringing me back to reality. I wanted to be a doctor when I grew up, and I knew that would displease my father in every way possible. I just had to find a way to get out of this and get back to school, hoping that my friend would forgive me and we could continue our lives together and be each others bridesmaids, and grow old after having our dream careers. I smiled at the thought, turning off the water and stepping out of the shower to wrap myself in one of the puffy white towels on the counter. 

I shut off the lights and walked to the bed in the center of the room, my hair slapping down on the pillow due to the water that was still in it. I swear I was asleep before I even shut my eyes that night. 

A/N ookkkkk so heres a little more of the backstory that I wanted to incorporate just because theres so much to this character and i really want to stick with that!! More will come obviously throughout the story but for now have this (: The gif at the top is mark harmon who I pictured as Elle's dad!!