Degrassi- Moving Forward (4/?)
Title: Moving Forward
Rating: PG (slight language)
Word Count: 3,193
Pairing/Characters: Ellie, Manny (eventual Ellie/Manny), Emma, Marco, Ashley, Sean, Darcy
Summary: After Craig left town, Ellie and Manny both try to move on with their lives, and they're good at it. But neither can really move forward and find what they're looking for.
Disclaimer: I own nothing mmk?
Spoilers: Everything up until Rock This Town. Specifically the Manny/Ellie/Craig Triangle. Oh, and I've taken some liberties with this fic, Damien does not seem to exist, for example.
Other: This fic requires dialog, and I cannot write dialog to save my life, so hopefully it's okay. And, I seem to be promoting Advil, like woah, but I didn't mean to, really.
Previous Chapters: Chapter one | Chapter two | Chapter three
Manny digs her spoon into the creamy chocolate frosting, scooping the sugary substance onto the silver crevice of her utensil. She brings the frosting to her mouth, inhaling it and immediately chugging some milk. She grabs the remote and begins flipping through the channels, not paying attention to all the different programs she is passing by. Settling on some soap opera she has never watched before, the dark-haired girl goes for another spoonful of frosting.
“Manny, I’m not going to sit here watching this and watching you stuff yourself with sugar.” Emma gestures towards the television set and then towards the plastic cylinder situated in her best friend’s left hand.
For the past week, the blonde has put up with Manny’s wallowing, but now she thinks it’s getting ridiculous. There is only so much ice cream, overdramatic shows and sitting beside a girl who has not showered in days that Emma can take. And after all, this is about Craig and Ellie, and the brunette should be over it by now, the initial wallowing took place months ago. Another round is fine by Emma, but she is not okay with it lasting this long.
“You can go then.” Manny states, her voice soft and low. She wraps herself up in a blanket, quickly glancing at Emma to see if she is leaving or not.
“I’m not just going to leave you like this. You need help.” The blonde nods her head resolutely, getting off the couch and turning off the TV.
“Hey, I was watching that!”
Sighing, Emma places her hands on her hips, snatching the remote before Manny can, “Not as much as you were watching that container.”
Blinking at her best friend, the brunette doesn’t say a word. She is slightly annoyed by the blonde’s attempts to stop her from wallowing any longer, but she is far too exhausted to take any defensive action. She hasn’t slept more than three hours a night all week and the dark circles under her eyes are solid proof.
“How about you take a shower and then we can go out and get some healthier food for you?” Emma tilts her head a little, studying the bundle of sadness sitting in front of her.
“Can’t.” Manny devours another helping of chocolate frosting and rests her eyelids for a moment, they’re feeling heavy and keeping them open is too much work.
“Yes, you can and you will.”
“No, she could be there.”
The blonde snatches the half-eaten container of frosting and stares sympathetically at her best friend. She hates seeing Manny like this, and normally the dark-haired girl would have been able to pick up the pieces by now. “Could you at least shower honey?”
“Do I get the frosting back when I get out?” The brunette runs a hand through her knotted, greasy hair, pulling through the tangles and feeling slightly disgusted.
“Sure.” Emma sighs, a small victory in a very large battle, but at least she is getting somewhere.
---
“Elle, there is no way I’m watching the sixth season of Gilmore Girls again.” Marco gently pats the girl’s calf and looks at her wearily.
“But it’s so sad. Lorelai and Rory were best friends.” The redhead rubs her head and stretches a little. She has been lying on the couch all week, crying occasionally, and watching the same episodes over and over again.
“But you don’t even like this show.” The dark-haired boy whispers softly to his best friend. He’s worried about her; she is not acting even remotely like herself. Ellie has also taken an Advil every chance she gets, but she vows the pounding is still present. Marco does not know what to do to make her feel better.
“I was crazy.” Ellie presses play on Marco’s DVD and pulls her blanket up higher. She never feels comfortable anymore, it’s either too hot or too cold and the flannel of the blanket is itchy against her skin. Yawning, she looks at the screen, enthralled with the fake drama.
“Can we talk about it instead?”
“Why would we talk about it if we can just watch it?” The red-haired girl turns her head and gives her best friend a puzzled look. It’s times like these that she figures he should try focusing more time on himself and less worrying about her current state.
Marco sighs slightly, “not about the show, about Manny.”
“There’s nothing to talk about.”
“How about why she has you spread out over our couch crying over a show you hate?”
Ellie just ignores his response, focusing on the images flashing in front of her on the screen. Part of the redhead wishes that she would just get up, put on nicer clothes and go out, but the other part, the bigger, sadder part, wants her to use the return of her headaches as an excuse to lie on the couch desolately. The latter is winning. The red-haired girl is very aware that she is growing angry with herself for being weak and crashing like this. After working so diligently to be strong and not let herself break, she’s shattering harder and into more pieces than she ever has. Ellie knows she’s being stupid, but some part of her realizes she was stupid all along to think that she could be friends with Manny Santos.
“Fine,” Marco groans, “But we’re going to watch another season if you insist on this show.”
“I like this one.” Ellie expresses her opinion in a monotone way, her voice void of any emotion.
“But it’s the worst one!” The dark-haired boy sighs and gets off the couch, leaving his best friend in her dismal state of misery.
---
Hearing the doorbell ring that annoying high-pitched song, Ellie moans and slowly stands up, pushing herself off the couch. She feels a little wobbly on her feet, so she stretches some, one hand on the arm of the piece of furniture. When the person outside grows impatient and rings the bell again, Ellie clutches the back of her head. The girl wants to scream and tell whoever it is to stop and just go the hell away. But, to her own dismay, she’s much too kind to do that.
When the red-haired girl reaches the front door, she grabs the knob, relishing the cold feel of the medal for a second, and takes a deep breath. Closing her eyes briefly, she tries to mentally prepare for whoever is outside. Finally, when the sound of yet another push of the doorbell hits Ellie’s ears, she flings open the door, surprised to see Ashley standing in front of her.
“Well it took you long enough.” The brunette marches into the house and looks the redhead over, shaking her head disappointingly at her friend. She waits for some snarky remark from Ellie, but when the red-haired girl just rubs at her tired eyes, Ashley goes to the kitchen for a glass of water.
Ellie decides to follow her friend, this way in twenty minutes when she can safely take another Advil she’s already in the kitchen.
Taking a small sip of her ice water, Ashley leans on the counter and stares at Ellie. “What’s wrong? I haven’t heard from you in forever.”
“Nothing, I just have a headache.”
Ashley nods disbelievingly. She knows slightly what happened with Manny and she hates the girl even more for how she has affected Ellie. “Please explain the Manny ordeal to me. I can help if you do.”
As the red-haired girl begins to shake her head no, Ashley shakes her head yes. Resting her head on the counter, Ellie sighs loudly, knowing the brunette will not stop unless she has some details.
“Come on Ellie, we tell each other everything.”
“We were getting along,” Ellie begins, murmuring, her forehead still pressed against the countertop, “She seemed to get me, really understand without even saying a word. It was nice, not to have to explain everything for once.”
Ashley listens intently, drinking her water. She’s trying her best not to grimace at her friend’s kind words about Manny Santos. Thinking that she is very lucky that Ellie is not looking at her right now, Ashley just nods along silently.
“And then we had to talk about him.” She paused for a second, remembering the blank look on Manny’s face. Tears begin to well up in the back of her eyes and Ellie tries to push them back, stopping them from falling. She knows that Ashley’s reaction won’t be good if she cries. “I was honest with her and it was stupid since I don’t love him anymore. It’s my fault.”
The brunette can’t help herself anymore, she chokes a bit on her water, coughing. “It’s not your fault. You were just telling the truth. If anything it’s Manny’s fault. She overreacted.”
Taking her head off the counter, Ellie looks at Ashley in utter disbelief, shaking her head a little, but not too much due to the pounding the action induces. “She can’t help how she feels.”
“Since when do you care how that slut feels? She never should have had him anyway.”
“She’s not a slut Ashley. Manny’s just made some mistakes, we all do.”
“Okay, I’m sorry,” Sarcasm drips from the brunette’s lips, “She just slept with Craig while I was his girlfriend.”
“And knowing how that made you feel you started seeing Alistair while with Craig. A little hypocritical don’t you think?”
“I can’t believe you’re defending her!”
Both girls are yelling now, their breathing labored. They glare at each other, each being too stubborn to back down.
Ellie breaks the staring contest, marching for the door, “Get out, you don’t you even know her.” The redhead opens the door and watches bitterly as Ashley leaves in a huff. Slamming the door shut, Ellie looks at the clock and ambles into the kitchen for another pill.
---
“Hey Manny.” Sean enters into her dark living room, offering a small wave and sitting down next to her.
She doesn’t take her eyes off the television as she reaches over and lightly slaps the boy’s arm.
“What was that for?”
“Emma put you up to this didn’t she?” Manny brushes some fringe from her eyes as she looks suspiciously at the boy sitting beside her. The dark-haired girl is in no mood to be tricked into her discussion about Ellie by the redhead’s ex-boyfriend.
“Okay, fine. You caught me. But if she asks, I was helpful.”
“Fine.” The brunette pops a piece of popcorn into her mouth and sighs, “Tell her that I’m good and not to worry, she really doesn’t have to.”
“But you know she will anyway.”
Manny does not reply, and they watch a new soap opera in silence for a couple of minutes. It feels comfortable and she is pleasantly surprised that Sean is not still attempting to get her out of the house. “I miss her you know. I miss getting to see her smile and hearing her laugh. They were contagious.” The younger girl whispers during a commercial, her eyes never leaving the flashing screen.
Taken aback by Manny’s sudden confession, Sean falters for a moment before trying to keep the conversation going. He never thought that if the dark-haired girl was going to open up, it would be to him. “Yeah you get used to her.”
“Ellie just had a nice quality, I can’t really explain it.”
“Her personality makes you feel like you want to be a better person, yet, like you’re good enough already.” A smile slips onto the boy’s lips as he speaks.
“Yeah. I wish I could still be friends with her.”
“You can.”
Manny chuckles a little at the simplicity of his statement. If everything is that easy she is sure that life wouldn’t be as rewarding. But this is one situation she really wants to be simple, but it’s not. Maybe she’s crazy, but she had grown to trust the redhead in the past weeks and she never thought that Ellie would hurt her. But it hurt to know that the older girl loved Craig when she did. And that shocked Manny; she didn’t want Ellie to have ever loved Craig, or anyone else for that matter. And she could not figure out why.
---
She just looks curiously at him, studying his face, trying to figure out if he has any alternative motives. Finally, deciding that Sean is just trying to make her feel better and become more like herself again, Ellie nods in agreement. “Okay, I’ll go to The Dot. Just let me change first.” She makes a disgusted face as she looks down at her stained sweats.
Sean grins happily as he watches the redhead amble up the stairs to get dressed. Emma and Marco are both going to be very pleased with the progress he has made with both girls.
A few minutes later, the red-haired girl walks steadily into the kitchen, she is not smiling, but she doesn’t look miserable either. Opening the cabinet she takes the bottle of Advil and drops it into her purse.
“You have a headache?”
Ellie frown a little, “Yeah, It doesn’t ever completely go away anymore, but it is worse without the pills, so…”
“I see, I just thought they had gone away for a couple weeks?” Sean is curious about the red-haired girl’s health and he thinks it might have something to do with Manny, even though the idea sounds insane in his head.
“They came back about a week ago.” Ellie shrugs, resting her elbow on the counter.
“Like when you and Manny stopped talking?” The light-haired boy raises an eyebrow, waiting for a response.
Ellie takes a moment to comprehend the idea, closing her eyes, trying to remember if what Sean is suggesting makes sense. “Uh, yeah, yeah.”
“Okay then, let’s go.” Sean begins to head out the door, but he looks back when he realizes that Ellie isn’t following.
She’s leaning against the counter, a look of awe on her face and she is lightly rubbing her forehead. The red-haired girl is having a very difficult time accepting that instead of the pounding being caused by Craig or just random things, it’s now Manny. And even though it adds up, she really, really hopes that it is just some freaky coincidence.
---
Looking understandingly at the dark-haired girl, a sympathetic smile graces Darcy’s lips. She shakes her head a little and pats her friend’s knee. When Manny finishes her tale, Darcy bounces a tiny bit on the couch, pulling lightly on the brunette’s wrist. “Lets’ go out!”
Manny scrunches up her nose and eyebrows, snapping her wrist away. “I’m gonna kill her.”
Putting a fake frown on her face, the auburn-haired girl tilts her head to the side, speaking gently, “You can kill her at The Dot. Everyone misses you. This way it’s win-win.”
The brunette is not convinced; she glares off into the direction of her front door and pushes her legs against her stomach, wrapping her arms around them. She bites her lip, contemplating the suggestion before shaking her head in a negative response.
“Please Manny.” Darcy grins energetically, knowing that if she keeps trying she’ll break down the girl who is huddled next to her.
“Uh, no.”
“Come on! You have to live life. You can’t spend it bottled up in this room, I won’t let you.”
“Darcy, I’m not going anywhere.”
The auburn-haired girl raises an eyebrow while simultaneously rolling her eyes. She’s not giving up that easily. “Okay, fine, but you don’t think I’m just going to let you sit here like that, do you? Get up.”
“What?” Manny runs her fingers through her hair, chuckling nervously at Darcy.
“Get up. We’re going to cheer.” Darcy jumps happily off the couch, a victorious smirk covering her face, eyes sparkling with joy.
“Please get out of my house.” The dark-haired girl points her finger towards the door exhaustedly. She really is planning on killing Emma at this point.
“Ready, Okay!” Clapping her hands together, Darcy giggles, “Manny get off you couch! Stop being such a slouch! Everybody misses you; I’ll go on for an hour or two! If I have too, woo!” She screams at the end, jumping up and down.
Getting quickly off the couch, Manny glares at Darcy, “Fine, I’ll get ready.”
“Good.”
“Oh, and I hate you.”
Darcy rolls her eyes and sits back down on the couch, pleased with her performance. Manny gave in sooner than she had expected.
---
“Look! Grumpy’s smiling!” Marco smirks happily at Ellie, hugging her while she hits him with a French fry.
“Thank you for not giving up on me.” Ellie slurps her water before hugging her best friend back. Sure, she fought everyone’s attempts to get her to leave the house, but she’s glad she did get off the couch. The red-haired girl likes feeling happy of course, and she missed the cheesy fries.
Sean squints at the two, shaking his head. “Why does he get all the credit?”
“Because he’s the one who told you to talk to me.” Ellie smirks at the boy, rolling her eyes like it is completely obvious.
The door to The Dot opens and Darcy and Emma march in determinedly, each girl pulling one of Manny’s arms. They’re laughing under their breaths while the dark-haired girl shakes her head, trying to act annoyed, but the small smile on her lips betrays her feigned frustration.
Turning her head, Manny spots Ellie looking their way and the grin leaves her mouth instantly. Her friends stop pulling her and after a moment of shock, Emma glares at Sean and Marco.
“I, I should go.” The brunette takes a deep breath and tries to stumble out of The Dot. She is halted though, so she grumbles quietly, “Emma, please.” Her voice is fragile and weak as she begs to get away.
“Can we please just talk? Ellie releases her light grip on the younger girl, her voice equally as whispered and sad.
Manny spins around slowly, looking at the ground before staring straight past the redhead, “No, I don’t really-“
“Please?”
The desperation in the older girl’s voice breaks the dark-haired girl’s heart a little, so she nods and follows Ellie’s feet to a secluded table in the corner.
Breathing out deeply, Ellie pushes a lock of red hair behind her ear before looking at Manny for a long time. After making the brunette girl squirm for a while under her gaze, Ellie whispers, “I’m sorry. And I know I’ve said that a lot and it probably doesn’t change anything, but it’s true. I didn’t want to hurt you, I was just being honest.”
“I know.” Manny chokes out, looking up and smiling a little. “I miss you.”
Surprised at the gentleness in the younger girls’ voice, Ellie looks away, her heart beating rapidly in her chest. “I miss you too.”
“And I’d really like it if we could be friends.”
“Okay.”
Manny reaches a hand across the small table, palm open for Ellie. And they both stop breathing for a moment when Ellie places her hand on top of Manny’s.
Rating: PG (slight language)
Word Count: 3,193
Pairing/Characters: Ellie, Manny (eventual Ellie/Manny), Emma, Marco, Ashley, Sean, Darcy
Summary: After Craig left town, Ellie and Manny both try to move on with their lives, and they're good at it. But neither can really move forward and find what they're looking for.
Disclaimer: I own nothing mmk?
Spoilers: Everything up until Rock This Town. Specifically the Manny/Ellie/Craig Triangle. Oh, and I've taken some liberties with this fic, Damien does not seem to exist, for example.
Other: This fic requires dialog, and I cannot write dialog to save my life, so hopefully it's okay. And, I seem to be promoting Advil, like woah, but I didn't mean to, really.
Previous Chapters: Chapter one | Chapter two | Chapter three
Manny digs her spoon into the creamy chocolate frosting, scooping the sugary substance onto the silver crevice of her utensil. She brings the frosting to her mouth, inhaling it and immediately chugging some milk. She grabs the remote and begins flipping through the channels, not paying attention to all the different programs she is passing by. Settling on some soap opera she has never watched before, the dark-haired girl goes for another spoonful of frosting.
“Manny, I’m not going to sit here watching this and watching you stuff yourself with sugar.” Emma gestures towards the television set and then towards the plastic cylinder situated in her best friend’s left hand.
For the past week, the blonde has put up with Manny’s wallowing, but now she thinks it’s getting ridiculous. There is only so much ice cream, overdramatic shows and sitting beside a girl who has not showered in days that Emma can take. And after all, this is about Craig and Ellie, and the brunette should be over it by now, the initial wallowing took place months ago. Another round is fine by Emma, but she is not okay with it lasting this long.
“You can go then.” Manny states, her voice soft and low. She wraps herself up in a blanket, quickly glancing at Emma to see if she is leaving or not.
“I’m not just going to leave you like this. You need help.” The blonde nods her head resolutely, getting off the couch and turning off the TV.
“Hey, I was watching that!”
Sighing, Emma places her hands on her hips, snatching the remote before Manny can, “Not as much as you were watching that container.”
Blinking at her best friend, the brunette doesn’t say a word. She is slightly annoyed by the blonde’s attempts to stop her from wallowing any longer, but she is far too exhausted to take any defensive action. She hasn’t slept more than three hours a night all week and the dark circles under her eyes are solid proof.
“How about you take a shower and then we can go out and get some healthier food for you?” Emma tilts her head a little, studying the bundle of sadness sitting in front of her.
“Can’t.” Manny devours another helping of chocolate frosting and rests her eyelids for a moment, they’re feeling heavy and keeping them open is too much work.
“Yes, you can and you will.”
“No, she could be there.”
The blonde snatches the half-eaten container of frosting and stares sympathetically at her best friend. She hates seeing Manny like this, and normally the dark-haired girl would have been able to pick up the pieces by now. “Could you at least shower honey?”
“Do I get the frosting back when I get out?” The brunette runs a hand through her knotted, greasy hair, pulling through the tangles and feeling slightly disgusted.
“Sure.” Emma sighs, a small victory in a very large battle, but at least she is getting somewhere.
---
“Elle, there is no way I’m watching the sixth season of Gilmore Girls again.” Marco gently pats the girl’s calf and looks at her wearily.
“But it’s so sad. Lorelai and Rory were best friends.” The redhead rubs her head and stretches a little. She has been lying on the couch all week, crying occasionally, and watching the same episodes over and over again.
“But you don’t even like this show.” The dark-haired boy whispers softly to his best friend. He’s worried about her; she is not acting even remotely like herself. Ellie has also taken an Advil every chance she gets, but she vows the pounding is still present. Marco does not know what to do to make her feel better.
“I was crazy.” Ellie presses play on Marco’s DVD and pulls her blanket up higher. She never feels comfortable anymore, it’s either too hot or too cold and the flannel of the blanket is itchy against her skin. Yawning, she looks at the screen, enthralled with the fake drama.
“Can we talk about it instead?”
“Why would we talk about it if we can just watch it?” The red-haired girl turns her head and gives her best friend a puzzled look. It’s times like these that she figures he should try focusing more time on himself and less worrying about her current state.
Marco sighs slightly, “not about the show, about Manny.”
“There’s nothing to talk about.”
“How about why she has you spread out over our couch crying over a show you hate?”
Ellie just ignores his response, focusing on the images flashing in front of her on the screen. Part of the redhead wishes that she would just get up, put on nicer clothes and go out, but the other part, the bigger, sadder part, wants her to use the return of her headaches as an excuse to lie on the couch desolately. The latter is winning. The red-haired girl is very aware that she is growing angry with herself for being weak and crashing like this. After working so diligently to be strong and not let herself break, she’s shattering harder and into more pieces than she ever has. Ellie knows she’s being stupid, but some part of her realizes she was stupid all along to think that she could be friends with Manny Santos.
“Fine,” Marco groans, “But we’re going to watch another season if you insist on this show.”
“I like this one.” Ellie expresses her opinion in a monotone way, her voice void of any emotion.
“But it’s the worst one!” The dark-haired boy sighs and gets off the couch, leaving his best friend in her dismal state of misery.
---
Hearing the doorbell ring that annoying high-pitched song, Ellie moans and slowly stands up, pushing herself off the couch. She feels a little wobbly on her feet, so she stretches some, one hand on the arm of the piece of furniture. When the person outside grows impatient and rings the bell again, Ellie clutches the back of her head. The girl wants to scream and tell whoever it is to stop and just go the hell away. But, to her own dismay, she’s much too kind to do that.
When the red-haired girl reaches the front door, she grabs the knob, relishing the cold feel of the medal for a second, and takes a deep breath. Closing her eyes briefly, she tries to mentally prepare for whoever is outside. Finally, when the sound of yet another push of the doorbell hits Ellie’s ears, she flings open the door, surprised to see Ashley standing in front of her.
“Well it took you long enough.” The brunette marches into the house and looks the redhead over, shaking her head disappointingly at her friend. She waits for some snarky remark from Ellie, but when the red-haired girl just rubs at her tired eyes, Ashley goes to the kitchen for a glass of water.
Ellie decides to follow her friend, this way in twenty minutes when she can safely take another Advil she’s already in the kitchen.
Taking a small sip of her ice water, Ashley leans on the counter and stares at Ellie. “What’s wrong? I haven’t heard from you in forever.”
“Nothing, I just have a headache.”
Ashley nods disbelievingly. She knows slightly what happened with Manny and she hates the girl even more for how she has affected Ellie. “Please explain the Manny ordeal to me. I can help if you do.”
As the red-haired girl begins to shake her head no, Ashley shakes her head yes. Resting her head on the counter, Ellie sighs loudly, knowing the brunette will not stop unless she has some details.
“Come on Ellie, we tell each other everything.”
“We were getting along,” Ellie begins, murmuring, her forehead still pressed against the countertop, “She seemed to get me, really understand without even saying a word. It was nice, not to have to explain everything for once.”
Ashley listens intently, drinking her water. She’s trying her best not to grimace at her friend’s kind words about Manny Santos. Thinking that she is very lucky that Ellie is not looking at her right now, Ashley just nods along silently.
“And then we had to talk about him.” She paused for a second, remembering the blank look on Manny’s face. Tears begin to well up in the back of her eyes and Ellie tries to push them back, stopping them from falling. She knows that Ashley’s reaction won’t be good if she cries. “I was honest with her and it was stupid since I don’t love him anymore. It’s my fault.”
The brunette can’t help herself anymore, she chokes a bit on her water, coughing. “It’s not your fault. You were just telling the truth. If anything it’s Manny’s fault. She overreacted.”
Taking her head off the counter, Ellie looks at Ashley in utter disbelief, shaking her head a little, but not too much due to the pounding the action induces. “She can’t help how she feels.”
“Since when do you care how that slut feels? She never should have had him anyway.”
“She’s not a slut Ashley. Manny’s just made some mistakes, we all do.”
“Okay, I’m sorry,” Sarcasm drips from the brunette’s lips, “She just slept with Craig while I was his girlfriend.”
“And knowing how that made you feel you started seeing Alistair while with Craig. A little hypocritical don’t you think?”
“I can’t believe you’re defending her!”
Both girls are yelling now, their breathing labored. They glare at each other, each being too stubborn to back down.
Ellie breaks the staring contest, marching for the door, “Get out, you don’t you even know her.” The redhead opens the door and watches bitterly as Ashley leaves in a huff. Slamming the door shut, Ellie looks at the clock and ambles into the kitchen for another pill.
---
“Hey Manny.” Sean enters into her dark living room, offering a small wave and sitting down next to her.
She doesn’t take her eyes off the television as she reaches over and lightly slaps the boy’s arm.
“What was that for?”
“Emma put you up to this didn’t she?” Manny brushes some fringe from her eyes as she looks suspiciously at the boy sitting beside her. The dark-haired girl is in no mood to be tricked into her discussion about Ellie by the redhead’s ex-boyfriend.
“Okay, fine. You caught me. But if she asks, I was helpful.”
“Fine.” The brunette pops a piece of popcorn into her mouth and sighs, “Tell her that I’m good and not to worry, she really doesn’t have to.”
“But you know she will anyway.”
Manny does not reply, and they watch a new soap opera in silence for a couple of minutes. It feels comfortable and she is pleasantly surprised that Sean is not still attempting to get her out of the house. “I miss her you know. I miss getting to see her smile and hearing her laugh. They were contagious.” The younger girl whispers during a commercial, her eyes never leaving the flashing screen.
Taken aback by Manny’s sudden confession, Sean falters for a moment before trying to keep the conversation going. He never thought that if the dark-haired girl was going to open up, it would be to him. “Yeah you get used to her.”
“Ellie just had a nice quality, I can’t really explain it.”
“Her personality makes you feel like you want to be a better person, yet, like you’re good enough already.” A smile slips onto the boy’s lips as he speaks.
“Yeah. I wish I could still be friends with her.”
“You can.”
Manny chuckles a little at the simplicity of his statement. If everything is that easy she is sure that life wouldn’t be as rewarding. But this is one situation she really wants to be simple, but it’s not. Maybe she’s crazy, but she had grown to trust the redhead in the past weeks and she never thought that Ellie would hurt her. But it hurt to know that the older girl loved Craig when she did. And that shocked Manny; she didn’t want Ellie to have ever loved Craig, or anyone else for that matter. And she could not figure out why.
---
She just looks curiously at him, studying his face, trying to figure out if he has any alternative motives. Finally, deciding that Sean is just trying to make her feel better and become more like herself again, Ellie nods in agreement. “Okay, I’ll go to The Dot. Just let me change first.” She makes a disgusted face as she looks down at her stained sweats.
Sean grins happily as he watches the redhead amble up the stairs to get dressed. Emma and Marco are both going to be very pleased with the progress he has made with both girls.
A few minutes later, the red-haired girl walks steadily into the kitchen, she is not smiling, but she doesn’t look miserable either. Opening the cabinet she takes the bottle of Advil and drops it into her purse.
“You have a headache?”
Ellie frown a little, “Yeah, It doesn’t ever completely go away anymore, but it is worse without the pills, so…”
“I see, I just thought they had gone away for a couple weeks?” Sean is curious about the red-haired girl’s health and he thinks it might have something to do with Manny, even though the idea sounds insane in his head.
“They came back about a week ago.” Ellie shrugs, resting her elbow on the counter.
“Like when you and Manny stopped talking?” The light-haired boy raises an eyebrow, waiting for a response.
Ellie takes a moment to comprehend the idea, closing her eyes, trying to remember if what Sean is suggesting makes sense. “Uh, yeah, yeah.”
“Okay then, let’s go.” Sean begins to head out the door, but he looks back when he realizes that Ellie isn’t following.
She’s leaning against the counter, a look of awe on her face and she is lightly rubbing her forehead. The red-haired girl is having a very difficult time accepting that instead of the pounding being caused by Craig or just random things, it’s now Manny. And even though it adds up, she really, really hopes that it is just some freaky coincidence.
---
Looking understandingly at the dark-haired girl, a sympathetic smile graces Darcy’s lips. She shakes her head a little and pats her friend’s knee. When Manny finishes her tale, Darcy bounces a tiny bit on the couch, pulling lightly on the brunette’s wrist. “Lets’ go out!”
Manny scrunches up her nose and eyebrows, snapping her wrist away. “I’m gonna kill her.”
Putting a fake frown on her face, the auburn-haired girl tilts her head to the side, speaking gently, “You can kill her at The Dot. Everyone misses you. This way it’s win-win.”
The brunette is not convinced; she glares off into the direction of her front door and pushes her legs against her stomach, wrapping her arms around them. She bites her lip, contemplating the suggestion before shaking her head in a negative response.
“Please Manny.” Darcy grins energetically, knowing that if she keeps trying she’ll break down the girl who is huddled next to her.
“Uh, no.”
“Come on! You have to live life. You can’t spend it bottled up in this room, I won’t let you.”
“Darcy, I’m not going anywhere.”
The auburn-haired girl raises an eyebrow while simultaneously rolling her eyes. She’s not giving up that easily. “Okay, fine, but you don’t think I’m just going to let you sit here like that, do you? Get up.”
“What?” Manny runs her fingers through her hair, chuckling nervously at Darcy.
“Get up. We’re going to cheer.” Darcy jumps happily off the couch, a victorious smirk covering her face, eyes sparkling with joy.
“Please get out of my house.” The dark-haired girl points her finger towards the door exhaustedly. She really is planning on killing Emma at this point.
“Ready, Okay!” Clapping her hands together, Darcy giggles, “Manny get off you couch! Stop being such a slouch! Everybody misses you; I’ll go on for an hour or two! If I have too, woo!” She screams at the end, jumping up and down.
Getting quickly off the couch, Manny glares at Darcy, “Fine, I’ll get ready.”
“Good.”
“Oh, and I hate you.”
Darcy rolls her eyes and sits back down on the couch, pleased with her performance. Manny gave in sooner than she had expected.
---
“Look! Grumpy’s smiling!” Marco smirks happily at Ellie, hugging her while she hits him with a French fry.
“Thank you for not giving up on me.” Ellie slurps her water before hugging her best friend back. Sure, she fought everyone’s attempts to get her to leave the house, but she’s glad she did get off the couch. The red-haired girl likes feeling happy of course, and she missed the cheesy fries.
Sean squints at the two, shaking his head. “Why does he get all the credit?”
“Because he’s the one who told you to talk to me.” Ellie smirks at the boy, rolling her eyes like it is completely obvious.
The door to The Dot opens and Darcy and Emma march in determinedly, each girl pulling one of Manny’s arms. They’re laughing under their breaths while the dark-haired girl shakes her head, trying to act annoyed, but the small smile on her lips betrays her feigned frustration.
Turning her head, Manny spots Ellie looking their way and the grin leaves her mouth instantly. Her friends stop pulling her and after a moment of shock, Emma glares at Sean and Marco.
“I, I should go.” The brunette takes a deep breath and tries to stumble out of The Dot. She is halted though, so she grumbles quietly, “Emma, please.” Her voice is fragile and weak as she begs to get away.
“Can we please just talk? Ellie releases her light grip on the younger girl, her voice equally as whispered and sad.
Manny spins around slowly, looking at the ground before staring straight past the redhead, “No, I don’t really-“
“Please?”
The desperation in the older girl’s voice breaks the dark-haired girl’s heart a little, so she nods and follows Ellie’s feet to a secluded table in the corner.
Breathing out deeply, Ellie pushes a lock of red hair behind her ear before looking at Manny for a long time. After making the brunette girl squirm for a while under her gaze, Ellie whispers, “I’m sorry. And I know I’ve said that a lot and it probably doesn’t change anything, but it’s true. I didn’t want to hurt you, I was just being honest.”
“I know.” Manny chokes out, looking up and smiling a little. “I miss you.”
Surprised at the gentleness in the younger girls’ voice, Ellie looks away, her heart beating rapidly in her chest. “I miss you too.”
“And I’d really like it if we could be friends.”
“Okay.”
Manny reaches a hand across the small table, palm open for Ellie. And they both stop breathing for a moment when Ellie places her hand on top of Manny’s.