𝐅𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐆! ✰ ✰ ✰ 𝙝𝙨𝙢𝙩𝙢𝙩𝙨!

7

"HEY!" Ellie smiled, pulling her cheer bag over her shoulder before seeing Ej's car parked outside of East high's main entrance. She grinned, peaking her head into Ej's car from the rolled down passenger window. "No Ashlyn today?" The petite girl questioned, wondering where the senior boy's cousin was.

He shrugged, an unhappy expression spread across his face. "She's mad at me, once again, I've managed to disappoint one of the few people that cares about me," he sighed, dropping his hands from his steering wheel in apparent frustration.

Ellie frowned, feeling bad for him. Everyone gave Ej such a bad rep, but he had such a good heart. He always felt guilty for his mistakes, which didn't entitle him to continue making them, but nonetheless. "Anything I can help with?"

Ej focused his blue eyes downward, fidgeting with his slender fingers in his lap before unlocking the passenger-side door with a clicking sound. "Can we go somewhere, to talk maybe? Maybe grab coffee? Unless you're busy, you're probably like, so, way busy right now-"

Interrupting his words with a small laugh, Ellie smiled towards him. Seeing the normally confident teen the tiniest bit nervous humanized him, not to mention it was adorable. "I'm not, like, any kind of so way busy, I promise." As she slid into the passenger seat of the senior boy's Jeep, she couldn't help but feel slightly nauseated by the aggressive thundering of her heart beating strongly within her chest.

—

ELLIE

"I think EJ puts up a really good, confident façade in front of other people but..." the girl trailed off, letting out a familiar sigh. "He seems really lonely."

—

"DO YOU WANT, LIKE, A MUFFIN OR SOMETHING? IT'S BEEN A LONG TIME SINCE LUNCH."

Ellie shook her head quickly, focusing on stirring around the ice cubes in her cup with her metal straw as the older boy led the conversation. "No thanks, I..um, I had a big lunch," she sent him a tight-lipped smile, hoping for the conversation to return., mind wandering back to sitting alone in her car eating her salad in the school's parking lot.

Ej nodded, taking a moment to allow his eyes to scan the cafe they were sitting in.  There was the usual afternoon traffic flooding in and out, and the scent of freshly brewed coffee wafted throughout the small shop. "I wish I could just go back to summer, everything was so much less complicated."

She nodded, trying to pay as much attention to her friend as she could. "Summer was already complicated, school just...makes everything worse," she admitted, mumbling to herself.

The male sitting across from her frowned, brows furrowing in confusion. "What do you mean?"

Ellie's face flushed pink, not realizing she had spoken loud enough for the other to hear her regretful words. With a forced shrug, she put on a falsified smile, in an attempt to bring back her 100% happy front. "Nothing! I'm all good," she insisted.

Ej looked across at her, taking in the small details of her outwards self. The way her waves of hair had started curling with the day's increased heat, the quiet nervous tapping of her short white-painted nails on the cafe table.  She was seemingly nervous, but the older boy couldn't exactly pinpoint why. "Not to be, like, overly straightforward but you seem really on edge. Is everything actually okay? You don't have to talk about anything if you don't want to."

Ellie swallowed, feeling like she had been transparent as her heart plummeted within her stomach. Part of her felt like it was okay to be vulnerable with him, as he had already done so over the phone the night prior. "I really appreciate it, seriously, I do. But this session has been called to order to talk about you so...maybe we can unpack my baggage on another day?"

Sitting down his coffee cup, Ej let out a huff. "I just don't understand. This summer everything was so genuine, but now that Ricky's entered the equation... I can't help but question everything.  She told him she loved him, she's never told me that-"

"You've got to keep in mind, her and Ricky just... have more history.  They've known each-other basically since they were born. When they started dating they already had this...foundation, of love and respect and just knowing one another."

—

EJ

"Everytime she says anything it just... makes so much sense," he laughed kindly, an unidentifiable sparkle in his eye. "I really want to help her get out of her shell, I think."

—

He groaned in irritation.  "I just wish things were different. The only good thing that's come out of this musical for me is...meeting you, I guess," he admitted, chewing into his lower lip.

Ellie let out a breathy laugh, feeling her blush intensify across her face.  She fiddled with the sleeve of her white cardigan, trying to calm her persistent nerves by focusing on the feeling of the fabric between her finger tips. "I really didn't expect to for you to like me, to be honest." 

"Why wouldn't I? You're literally, like, an angel or something."

—

hehe hey guys, i'm still alive...just sucky at updating. for anyone that reads this story still, hiii 😂💞