This Means War

Homecoming

Ellie hadn't been on set in a few days. Not because no one wanted her around or anything, she just didn't have any scenes to film. It was far from quiet, however. Anthony was still around to keep the noise level to at least a dull roar.

That didn't mean she wasn't missed by her friends, though. Being around her wasn't constant misery. She could actually be a lot of fun. She was even capable of carrying on an intelligent conversation if there was call for it. After a week of not having their third wheel, Anthony and Sebastian started to miss her.

"Wonder what our girl has been up to." Anthony sighed, shoving another handful of fries in his mouth.

"I don't know. Tried stopping by her place Friday for movie night and she wasn't home." Sebastian admitted.

"That's weird. She always keeps her date nights with you."

"It's not a date night." Sebastian protested.

"Can I come too?"

"No."

"It's y'all's date night." Anthony repeated.

"Fuck off."

"I'm texting her." Anthony decided, pulling out his phone and typing away on the cracked screen. It was only a few minutes later that it went off, alerting him to her reply.

"What the hell?" He mumbled, staring at his phone.

"What?" Sebastian asked, worry settling in the pit of his stomach.

Rather than reply, Anthony just flipped his phone around, showing Sebastian what she had sent him. It was a picture of a black sand beach, the sun just rising with one simple word to answer Anthony's inquiry of where she was. "Paradise."

"What the hell?" Sebastian echoed his friend, staring at the picture in confusion. She hadn't mentioned any plans to go anywhere during her time off and he knew there weren't any beaches like that nearby.

"Probably another prank." Sebastian concluded.

Anthony nodded and typed something back to her, locking his phone again to keep shoving food in his mouth while they waited. "She probably just downloaded it off the internet or something." He agreed.  A few minutes later his phone went off again.

He quickly snatched it up, unlocking it and barking out a laugh. "No, man, she's actually there!"

"What?" Sebastian yelped, taking the phone from his friend. She had just sent another picture, this one of her unimpressed face with the beach still in the background.

"Aww, someone upset his girlfriend didn't tell him before leaving?" Anthony teased.

"Not my girlfriend." Sebastian mumbled, staring intently at the picture. "What the hell?"

"So you really didn't know she was going somewhere?" Anthony asked.

"No, she never mentioned it." Sebastian confirmed, handing Anthony his phone back.

That Tuesday night, both Anthony and Sebastian stayed late preparing a surprise for their wandering friend. Anthony insisted the entire time he had nothing to do with their stupid prank war, but he helped out anyway. He was less invested in their childish back and forth and more upset that his friend had vanished to parts unknown without a heads up.

Sure, it wasn't like she had to tell them every tine she went somewhere, but disappearing in the middle of filming seemed odd.

Ellie should have expected some sort of shenanigans to take place while she was away, but she wasn't expecting the extent they went to.

As per usual, she went straight to the guest trailer once she was on set to wait until makeup or costuming were ready for her. The guest trailer rarely had streamers and a huge sign plastered on it, however.

Welcome Back, Roaming Gnome!!!

Lovely. She shook her head and went to the door, pulling it open only to have glitter rain down on her head and a pile of balloons to come tumbling out.

"What the hell?" She groaned, pointlessly trying to wipe away the sparkles. That was when she noticed the rest of the balloons. Hundreds of them littering the trailer, completely blanketing the floor. She took the time to take a picture of the chaos, posting it to her own Instagram.

EllieLabetteOfficial: I left him unsupervised. Never leave him unsupervised.

It wasn't long after she had forced her way inside and vanished beneath the flood of balloons, resigned to her current fate, that her friend commented on her post.

Imsebastianstan: NEVER leave me unsupervised 😈