Against All Odds (Completed)

Chapter Twenty-Four

The sun had already set and the sky was darkening as Ellie and Ashton sat quietly in their drive back to campus.

They had been delayed for almost an hour after the show by Mrs. Ofori and other caretakers at the orphanage who thanked them for honouring the show.

Ellie had for a moment thought they might not be able to return when their talks grew longer and boring. It was a relief when Ashton finally made an excuse to cut them off.

Seated in the backseat of the uber with Ashton, she was pleased to be finally on her way to her hostel, and back in her bed. With a smile on her face, she was glad Ashton had gone out of his way to please her, which was something he usually did. That’s, even when she usually tried so much to push him away. He was a pain in the neck, yeah, but in a cute way.

Ellie pursed her lips and glanced her right at Ashton who had his head rested against the seat with his eyes closed. He was muttering something she couldn’t quite grab and smiled to himself. Ellie chuckled. Was he sleep-talking or lip-syncing along the track that was booming from the driver’s radio? It was the only sound in the car, playing the latest Mr. Eazi and King Promise’s Jealous.

She leaned in her seat and sighed, enjoying the song until her stomach churned and rumbled. With a frown, her hands flew to rub on her abdomen. She was hungry and looking at the time, it was nearly 5:30 and she couldn’t wait to quickly get to her room and munch on something.

Her phone buzzed and she fished it from her purse.

Where are you? Are you back? It was a message from Lily.

Ellie gulped and glanced at Ashton before replying. On my way! I’ll be there soon.

Where are you? Ellie rolled her eyes at the repeated message and grunted.

Make sure there’s something to eat by the time I get there. I’m starving!

She replied, hoping to ignore Lily’s question. She shoved the phone back into the bag and sighed. She’d give her the gritty details when she gets there and hoped she wouldn’t roll on the floor laughing at her for been stood up by Michael.

She glanced down at the fancy Pandora charm on her wrist and wrapped fingers around it. Slowly, she caressed the beautiful squirrel charm dangling on the silver bracelet and furrowed her brows.

The gift was accompanied by a bouquet of red roses, which was something she couldn’t fathom; Michael had never bought her flowers when they were together. Had he realize girls loved red roses like Ashton said? Ellie shook herself. There was no need to think about Michael at the moment. Not when she wasn’t clear on his reason for sending her the gifts and flowers.

“Lily?”

Ashton's voice interrupted Ellie's thoughts. She turned to look at him as he brought his phone against his ear. Wondering why he seemed uncomfortable on the phone, Ellie lifted her chin and stared at him.

“I’m sorry, Lillian. It actually skipped me.” Ashton went on, caressing his temple. “I’m here with Ellie.” He glanced at Ellie.

Ellie frowned as she looked at him.

“Yeah, she’s fine. We’ll get there soon.” Ashton said and hang up.

“You were supposed to go with Lily to the show, right?” Ellie asked.

“Not really. She’s at the hospital. I need to go there.”

Ellie’s heart slammed. “Is she alright?”

Ashton smiled and nodded. “She’s okay. Just an appointment with her mother’s doctor I was supposed to escort her to.”

“Oh. But she didn’t tell me, I would have gone with her.” Ellie said and then bit her lip.

Why would Lily tell her about the appointment when she was busy screeching over her date with Michael? She knew Lily had been a lot secretive since they returned from Accra and Ellie didn’t know whether to blame it on the fact that she’d been busy herself.

“I can go with you.” She looked at him.

“Don’t bother. I’m sure she’s done. I’ll just go and get her before she gets mad at me for abandoning her.” He smiled. “I'll take you to the hostel. You need to rest.”

Ellie nodded. “Sure.”

The cab pulled in front of the hostel and Ellie reached to unbuckle her seatbelt. She looked at Ashton who swiftly hopped down from the car and walked to her side of the door. She smiled when he opened the door for her. Ellie grabbed her purse and got out of the car.

“Thanks for today.”

Ashton nodded and smiled back. “My pleasure.” He reached to cup her face and looked into her eyes, “I don’t like seeing you upset, Ellie. All I want is to see you smile every time. Can you do that for me?”

Her heart raced, beating insanely against her ribcage as he held her gaze. Feeling his thumb caress her cheek, she shuddered and parted her lips slightly. “I wish could do that, Ashton. If only life was fair enough to me.”

“You’ll be fine. Don’t overthink things.” His hands slowly slipped away. “Go and get some rest, Ellie.”

She nodded. “Sure. Get her home soon.”

He nodded. “Get going. I want to see you enter that gate before I move from here.” He gestured with his chin towards the hostel.

“The driver...” Ellie began as she glanced at the uber driver leaning on his window and staring at them.

“I’m sure he wouldn’t mind.” Replied Ashton.

Ellie smiled and turned to leave. Feeling Ashton’s eyes on her with every step she took, she doubled her steps. She looked over her shoulder and saw him still watching her. She waved and entered the building.

Standing by the gate for a while until she heard the cab driver away, Ellie sighed and smiled before heading to the stairs to her room. Clutching her purse as she climbed the stairs, she soon reached the second floor. Her stomach churned and rumbled when she stood on the landing. As soon as she started to continue her journey to her room, she stopped in her tracks at the sight of Oliver approaching her.

She pursed her lips and took in a deep breath. Hoping to ignore him, she hang her head and walked past him.

“Be careful, Ellie. It’s not safe to be hanging around these guys.”

Ellie quickly turned to look at him. “Excuse me?”

Oliver nodded and took steps closer to her. “I can see he got you a gift. That bastard!” he glared at the Pandora charm and lifted his head to look at Ellie.

Ellie flinched at the look of disgust on his face and watched his nose flare in rage as he scowled at her.

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” Oliver hissed and stared at Ellie before turning to walk away.

Perplexed, Ellie stared after him as he descended the stairs. Without turning to look at her, he swiftly disappeared.

Ellie brought her wrist to her face and furrowed her brows as she eyed the charm bracelet. What the heck was Oliver talking about?

She tried to ignore him. After all he was a creepy fellow and there was no need paying attention to him. She walked to her room, unlocked it and entered to get something to eat and rest.