Degrassi- Moving Forward (5/?)
Title: Moving Forward
Rating: G
Word Count: 3,067
Pairing/Characters: Manny, Ellie, (eventual Manny/Ellie), Jesse, Emma, Sean, Marco
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.
Previous Chapters: Chapter one | Chapter two | Chapter three | Chapter four
Snuggling into her boyfriend’s side, Ellie rests her head lightly on his shoulder and sighs contently. She feels good again, happy.
“So, tell me about this Manny who had you so depressed last week.” Jesse closes his eyes, breathing in the redhead’s perfume, a smile gracing his lips.
“What do you mean?”
“I’m just curious.”
Ellie sits up a little. “Well, it’s a really, really long story.” She shakes her head, red locks gently brushing against his chin.
“We have time.” Jesse sighs; he’s getting tired of this. It seems that the red-haired girl is always avoiding conversations that relate to her friends. He knows that his friends don’t like her (he cannot fathom the reasoning behind this), but it does not mean that he won’t want to know hers.
Placing a quick kiss on his mouth, Ellie moves away, just barely out of the older boy’s reach. She thinks about Manny enough during the day, sometimes she just wants to forget about the dark-haired girl. She hates that she can’t. Being prompted and prodded about her relationship with Manny by her boyfriend, who she’s suppose to love, is no where near the redhead’s idea of fun conversation.
“It would ruin the mood.” She states firmly, locking eyes with her boyfriend, crawling closer, tracing a trail down his jaw with her fingertips.
He groans at the contact and pulls Ellie closer, placing a strand of hair behind her ear. “Oh yeah?”
“Yep.”
He kisses her, deeply this time. And she lets him, because she knows it’s the only way to distract him from his probing questions. Ellie kisses back, because if she doesn’t he’ll notice and ask her what’s wrong. More unwanted questions. Being happy and being utterly confused seem to go hand and hand these days, Ellie does not like it.
It seems like the only thoughts flooding her mind our thoughts of headaches suddenly fleeing away, happy, excited butterflies in the pit of her stomach, seeing the younger girl smile and hearing her laugh, knowing the joy Manny is exuding is because of her.
Ellie has learned to despise these thoughts.
Because at this very moment, with Jesse’s hand pressing gently against her back, pushing her closer to him, she should not be able to think. Her mind shouldn’t be somewhere else. The red-haired girl should be thinking about her boyfriend, not what movie she should go see with Manny tomorrow.
She gasps a little for breath, leaning her head against Jesse’s shoulder. “I love you.” The boy mumbles, his hand rubbing circles into her back. She can hear the smile in his voice and it makes her sick. She makes herself sick.
“I love you too.” She whispers, choking down the vomit in her throat.
“Hey, do you think I could meet Manny?”
“What?” Ellie lifts her head and runs a hand through her hair, pulling softly at a knot that has formed with the day.
“Yeah, then you wouldn’t have to explain the whole long story and I can just get to know her.”
The redhead bits her lower lips, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, “Sure.”
”Great.” He smiles widely, and she forces a grin. She’s beginning to hate herself.
---
“I hate English! What’s so important about punctuation anyway, people should just know when to pause. It’s like breathing or something.” The brunette hits her head on the table, making a soft thud noise and sighs exasperatedly. “I give up.”
A smirk spreads onto the older girl’s lips and she tries to stifle a giggle, but it escapes anyway and she glances briefly at the ground.
“Hey, how about you just write if for me?” Manny lifts her head off the table and smiles hopefully.
“No.” Ellie shakes her head, “You can do it.”
The younger girl sighs, shoving the paper towards Ellie, “I hate tests.”
“I know.”
Manny studies the paper and tries to combine the sentences glaring up at her. “How’s that?”
The red-haired girl examines the new sentence, frowning, “Not quite.”
Running a hand through her hair, Manny pushes the paper away, slowly smiling at Ellie. “So, what’s new?”
“You’re not going to distract me for long.” The redhead smirks, biting her lip and staring just past Manny’s head before speaking again, “Do you want to have dinner with Jesse and me?”
“Huh?”
Ellie sighs, “He wants to meet you.”
“Oh,” The dark-haired girl begins to fiddle with her fingers, tugging on them softly. She doesn’t know what to make of the situation. Finally, she locks eyes with the older girl, and agrees.
“Good.” Ellie nods her head, letting out a long breath, “Now, your English test.”
---
Cautiously, Manny raises her hand to knock on the wooden door, dropping it at the last moment and checking the sheet of paper with the room number one more time. Taking a deep breath, she softly hit the wood three times before pulling lightly on her fingers.
A minute later the door swings open and Ellie smirks nervously at the younger girl. “Hey.”
“Hi.” Manny replies, her stomach churning, mind racing.
The redhead moves aside and motions for the dark-haired girl to enter. “Come in, um, Jesse’s just getting some dip. You like guacamole right?”
“Yes.” Smiling at the older girl’s recollection of her favorite dip, Manny steps into the apartment. Looking around, she notices a picture of Jesse and Ellie. The brunette steps closer to it, studying the look in her friend’s eyes. She looks happy, but it isn’t the way she used to look with Craig, or even Sean. And that seems to release a little of the tension in Manny’s shoulders.
Ellie shakes her head a little, “You know, I can’t even remember when that was taken.” She pauses momentarily, “Come on, Jesse’s excited to meet you.” The red-haired girl rolls her eyes a tiny bit at her own statement.
The brunette follows Ellie into the living room and smiles a little when she sees Jesse.
“Manny, this is Jesse, Jesse, Manny.” The redhead gestures to the two as she introduces them and watches them shake hands when the greet each other.
An awkward silence envelops the small group and Ellie looks around anxiously, she knew this was a bad idea.
“How about we sit down?” Jesse motions to the opposite facing couches, taking a seat for himself as Ellie and Manny sit across from him.
“Um, Jesse, Manny was one of the people I interviewed for that article, you remember, about the, uh, seniors.” The older girl gestures an absurd amount with her hands as she speaks. It dawns on her that she’s nervous for Manny as well as herself. The redhead wants Jesse to like the brunette, to approve.
“Oh, right. Did you quote her?”
“I don’t know, Manny, did I quote you?” Ellie smirks when she turns to the dark-haired girl situated next to her, remembering Manny’s excited reaction as she read the article.
Manny turns to the redhead, a grin plastering itself to her face. “You did. And I’m still excited about that.”
“It really isn’t a big deal.” The red-haired girl shrugs nonchalantly, a sparkle evident in her brown eyes.
“Yes it is! I was quoted in a newspaper.”
“A college newspaper,” Ellie interjects.
“It’s a big deal to me Ellie, okay?” Manny begins to feel more at ease when the older girl just rolls her eyes again, a smile gracing her lips. The brunette can feel that Ellie’s holding in a laugh.
Jesse watches the exchange uneasily. He is not sure what to make of the quick banter, but amusement plays in his eyes. “It was a great article.”
“I agree.” Manny nods, glancing quickly at the brown-haired boy before focusing on the soft pink rising in the redhead’s cheeks. “Ellie hasn’t shown me any of her other articles though.”
“Really?” He questions, standing up. “I save all the papers, I’ll go get them.”
When the boy leaves the room, Ellie elbows the younger girl lightly. “I think he keeps them because as editor he is a little cocky.”
“Or maybe he’s just proud of his work.” Manny laughs a little, running a hand through her hair. This night will be better than she expected, she can feel it already.
“Yeah, okay.”
---
“Bye Manny. I’ll call you later.” Ellie hugs the younger girl tightly, letting the aroma of Manny’s shampoo surround her.
“Okay, sounds good. Bye guys.” Manny smiles before turning and leaving, pulling her purse over her shoulder.
Softly shutting the door, Jesse grins. “Well, I’d say that was a success.”
”Yes; so what do you think?”
“She was nice.”
“Nice?”
“Yeah.” Jesse sighs, seeing Ellie’s questioning look, “I liked her okay? Are you happy with that?”
“Yes. Thank you for being so nice.” She emphasizes the last word, a smirk playing on her lips.
“I’m always nice.” The older boy smirks back and kisses Ellie quickly. “I’m going to start the dishes. I’ll be done soon.”
“I can help.”
“No, no, I’ll do it.” He kisses her once more before turning to get started.
Ellie smiles after him, tilting her head a little. She sighs contently. The meeting seems to have gone well and she enjoyed herself, a lot. But somewhere in the back of her mind, she felt more like she was introducing Manny to an older brother, or a friend. Ellie felt like the brunette had been meeting her family.
The vomit rises up in her throat again and she swallows it down, grimacing.
---
Emma sips her soda, listening intently to her best friend’s retelling of the previous night. She nods along, smiling and laughing at the appropriate times, but as the story progresses, the blonde becomes more observant of Manny’s expression. She notices the way the dark-haired girl smiles when she mentions Ellie, how Manny’s eyes seem brighter, shinier today. Emma can’t help but entertain crazy ideas when she notices these things.
“So, I had fun.” The brunette concludes, popping another fry into her mouth. “Uh, no, we’re out. I’ll go buy some more.” She pushes herself off of her chair, using the table as leverage, and walks to the counter.
When Emma is sure her best friend is out of earshot, she turns to the boy sitting besides her. “Sean, did you notice anything unusual about Manny while she was telling us about her great adventure?”
Sean raises an eyebrow at his girlfriend, “No, not really.”
“Nothing?” Emma probes, resting her elbow on the table and her chin in her palm.
“I don’t know. Did you notice anything?”
The blonde bites her lip and looks at Manny, who is still waiting at the counter having a conversation with Spinner. “It was probably just my imagination, never mind.”
“Tell me.”
“Just forget it.” She shakes her hand in a dismissive manner as she sits back up in the booth.
“Come on Em, you brought it up.” The older boy squeezes her side gently and looks curiously at her.
“I, um, I think Manny likes Ellie.”
Looking at his girlfriend like she may have lost her mind, Sean responds as neutrally as possible, “Did you miss the two of them becoming friends or something?”
“No, I mean like like.”
Sean doesn’t answer; he just glances at the brunette who is obviously flirting with Spinner.
“See, it was idiotic, of course she doesn’t”
“I don’t know.” The older boy shrugs, unsure.
---
Staring intently at her textbook, Ellie sighs. She doesn’t seem to be retaining any of the information and she has been attempting to study for a couple of hours now. The redhead flips the page, highlighting yet another section of text.
The doorbell rings in her ears and she moans in frustration. Lifting herself off the couch, Ellie shuffles to the door, opening it with ease.
“Peace.” Ashley smiles nervously, holding up a cup of coffee for the red-haired girl.
Ellie eyes the girl for a moment before accepting the coffee and moving aside, allowing Ashley entrance into the house.
“So…” The brunette looks around anxiously, her eyes never settling on Ellie. She removes her jacket carefully, hanging it on a nearby coat rack.
“Hi.” The redhead takes a sip of the hot beverage, relishing the path it burns down her throat.
Ashley finally looks at Ellie, waiting to speak until her friend locks eyes with her own. “I’m sorry I freaked out. Manny’s not exactly my favorite person in the first place, and I love you.” She brushes some brown hair out of her face, taking a deep breath. “I just hated that you were hurting and I just blamed her and well, you know.”
Nodding in understanding, the redhead takes one more gulp of her coffee before smiling. She begins to lead Ashley into the kitchen. “Come on.”
Both girls sit on a stool, hands pressed lightly to their paper cups, feeling the warmth on their skin.
“I understand.” Ellie speaks, a grin tugging at her lips. “I’m sorry I got so worked up when I knew in some way you were just trying to protect me.”
“Good.” The brunette smiles back, letting out a relieved sigh.
They sit in a comfortable silence for a while, sipping their coffees and thinking about the situation. Both girls happy and relieved to have stopped fighting with one another.
“So, I hear that Manny and you made up?” Ashley breaths, the question has been on the tip of her tongue for a couple of minutes while her mind debated with itself.
Ellie’s eyes seem to sparkle instantly at the subject, “Yeah, she met Jesse last night.”
“Okay.” The brunette tilts her head, studying the red-haired girl’s smile and the way she seems to frown a little at the mention of her boyfriend. “Is everything okay with you and Jesse?”
Sighing a little and tapping her nails lightly against her cup, Ellie feels vomit churn in the pit of her stomach. “I don’t know.”
“Oh.”
“I mean I still like him, but I feel comfortable.”
Ashley squints oddly at the redhead and inquires, confused, “Isn’t that a good thing?”
“How do you feel with Jimmy?” Ellie watches intensely at her friend’s grin.
“Safe, but excited too. I still get butterflies.”
The red-haired girl frowns, bowing her head, examining the counter.
“Ellie, what is it?”
“I feel comfortable, like I do with you, like friendly comfortable.”
“Oh.” Ashley nods in understanding, moving around the kitchen to hug her friend in solace.
---
“How did you do?”
Manny holds up the test in her right hand, grinning excitedly. “I got a B!” She’s practically jumping up and down, the paper crinkling slightly due to her tight grip on it.
“That’s amazing.” Ellie laughs, squeezing the brunette’s wrist in congratulations.
“Yep, and it’s all thanks to you.”
The older girl shakes her head, biting back more giggles at the joy occupying Manny’s features. “You did this.” She snatches the paper, absently running a finger over the large red letter.
Manny nods resolutely, “Yes, I guess I did.”
“We should celebrate.” Ellie smiles, handing back the paper, her hand brushing the dark-haired girl’s lightly, causing her to pull back, quickly placing it in her jean pocket.
“What should we do?”
“Whatever you want.”
“Hm,” the younger girl taps a finger against her chin, a smirk slowly spreading across her face. “We should go bowling.”
“We need more people though.” Ellie bites her lip, thinking, “Because bowling with two people isn’t as fun.”
“Right.” Manny nods, “Who should we invite?”
“You got the B, you invite people.”
“Okay, Emma, Sean and Marco.”
“Sounds great.” Ellie smiles again, getting up and yelling once she reaches the stairs. “Manny got a B; we’re going bowling!”
A moment later, Marco’s faint voice floats down the stairs, “One minute!”
---
The black ball rolls heavily down the aisle, crashing loudly against the pins. In a collage of dark and light seven of the pins go down, quickly being swept off the lane.
Manny ambles back to her friends, pouting, “I can’t get a spare.”
“Looks like the boys win.” Marco and Sean cheer, high-fiving each other.
“Just take your second ball.” Ellie reaches out, lightly pushing the younger girl forward, glaring at her competitors across the table.
As the dark-haired girl carefully places her fingers in the wide holes, cheering from Ellie and Emma reaches her ears. Swinging her arm back, she allows the ball to gain momentum as she releases it.
Watching the black sphere tumble down the lane, it veers slightly to the left, knocking down two of the remaining pins.
Immediately, she skips back to the table, giggling proudly to herself as she accepts high fives of her own from Ellie and Emma.
“You still lost.” Marco waves a finger at the three smiling girls, a self-satisfied smirk on his lips, “Ow, Ellie!”
“What?” the redhead asks innocently.
“You kicked me!”
She shrugs in response before standing up and lacing her arm with the brunette’s. “Come on Manny; let’s go buy the losers some fries.”
“Let’s, come on Em.” She motions for her best friend to get up.
“Emma can I have a fry?” Sean looks at his girlfriend, a glimmer of hope in his eyes.
“Sure.”
“Uh, no.” Manny raises an eyebrow at the blonde.
“What?”
“He taunted me.”
Sean stands up, glaring at Marco. “That was Marco.”
“Pick a side bestie.” Manny gestures towards the boys and then Ellie and herself.
Emma wraps her arm around Manny’s and frowns at Sean. “Sorry, I want fries.”
“Good choice.” The dark-haired girl smiles and begins the trek to the concession stand with the redhead and blonde both by her side.
---
Pulling the covers up to her chin, Manny rolls over, closing her eyes, trying to breathe steadily. After a couple of minutes, she opens her aching eyelids and glances at her clock: 1:33. Sighing tiredly, the brunette turns back over.
She lets her mind drift and it quickly ends up on the redhead. Manny attempts to think about something else, anything. A couple of moments later, her mind is back on Ellie.
The dark-haired girl hates how she cannot seem to stop herself from focusing on the older girl. The way her hair frames her face, falling on Ellie’s shoulders perfectly.
Manny groans frustrated, trying to convince herself that this is normal.
But she can’t. And that scares her.
Rating: G
Word Count: 3,067
Pairing/Characters: Manny, Ellie, (eventual Manny/Ellie), Jesse, Emma, Sean, Marco
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.
Previous Chapters: Chapter one | Chapter two | Chapter three | Chapter four
Snuggling into her boyfriend’s side, Ellie rests her head lightly on his shoulder and sighs contently. She feels good again, happy.
“So, tell me about this Manny who had you so depressed last week.” Jesse closes his eyes, breathing in the redhead’s perfume, a smile gracing his lips.
“What do you mean?”
“I’m just curious.”
Ellie sits up a little. “Well, it’s a really, really long story.” She shakes her head, red locks gently brushing against his chin.
“We have time.” Jesse sighs; he’s getting tired of this. It seems that the red-haired girl is always avoiding conversations that relate to her friends. He knows that his friends don’t like her (he cannot fathom the reasoning behind this), but it does not mean that he won’t want to know hers.
Placing a quick kiss on his mouth, Ellie moves away, just barely out of the older boy’s reach. She thinks about Manny enough during the day, sometimes she just wants to forget about the dark-haired girl. She hates that she can’t. Being prompted and prodded about her relationship with Manny by her boyfriend, who she’s suppose to love, is no where near the redhead’s idea of fun conversation.
“It would ruin the mood.” She states firmly, locking eyes with her boyfriend, crawling closer, tracing a trail down his jaw with her fingertips.
He groans at the contact and pulls Ellie closer, placing a strand of hair behind her ear. “Oh yeah?”
“Yep.”
He kisses her, deeply this time. And she lets him, because she knows it’s the only way to distract him from his probing questions. Ellie kisses back, because if she doesn’t he’ll notice and ask her what’s wrong. More unwanted questions. Being happy and being utterly confused seem to go hand and hand these days, Ellie does not like it.
It seems like the only thoughts flooding her mind our thoughts of headaches suddenly fleeing away, happy, excited butterflies in the pit of her stomach, seeing the younger girl smile and hearing her laugh, knowing the joy Manny is exuding is because of her.
Ellie has learned to despise these thoughts.
Because at this very moment, with Jesse’s hand pressing gently against her back, pushing her closer to him, she should not be able to think. Her mind shouldn’t be somewhere else. The red-haired girl should be thinking about her boyfriend, not what movie she should go see with Manny tomorrow.
She gasps a little for breath, leaning her head against Jesse’s shoulder. “I love you.” The boy mumbles, his hand rubbing circles into her back. She can hear the smile in his voice and it makes her sick. She makes herself sick.
“I love you too.” She whispers, choking down the vomit in her throat.
“Hey, do you think I could meet Manny?”
“What?” Ellie lifts her head and runs a hand through her hair, pulling softly at a knot that has formed with the day.
“Yeah, then you wouldn’t have to explain the whole long story and I can just get to know her.”
The redhead bits her lower lips, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, “Sure.”
”Great.” He smiles widely, and she forces a grin. She’s beginning to hate herself.
---
“I hate English! What’s so important about punctuation anyway, people should just know when to pause. It’s like breathing or something.” The brunette hits her head on the table, making a soft thud noise and sighs exasperatedly. “I give up.”
A smirk spreads onto the older girl’s lips and she tries to stifle a giggle, but it escapes anyway and she glances briefly at the ground.
“Hey, how about you just write if for me?” Manny lifts her head off the table and smiles hopefully.
“No.” Ellie shakes her head, “You can do it.”
The younger girl sighs, shoving the paper towards Ellie, “I hate tests.”
“I know.”
Manny studies the paper and tries to combine the sentences glaring up at her. “How’s that?”
The red-haired girl examines the new sentence, frowning, “Not quite.”
Running a hand through her hair, Manny pushes the paper away, slowly smiling at Ellie. “So, what’s new?”
“You’re not going to distract me for long.” The redhead smirks, biting her lip and staring just past Manny’s head before speaking again, “Do you want to have dinner with Jesse and me?”
“Huh?”
Ellie sighs, “He wants to meet you.”
“Oh,” The dark-haired girl begins to fiddle with her fingers, tugging on them softly. She doesn’t know what to make of the situation. Finally, she locks eyes with the older girl, and agrees.
“Good.” Ellie nods her head, letting out a long breath, “Now, your English test.”
---
Cautiously, Manny raises her hand to knock on the wooden door, dropping it at the last moment and checking the sheet of paper with the room number one more time. Taking a deep breath, she softly hit the wood three times before pulling lightly on her fingers.
A minute later the door swings open and Ellie smirks nervously at the younger girl. “Hey.”
“Hi.” Manny replies, her stomach churning, mind racing.
The redhead moves aside and motions for the dark-haired girl to enter. “Come in, um, Jesse’s just getting some dip. You like guacamole right?”
“Yes.” Smiling at the older girl’s recollection of her favorite dip, Manny steps into the apartment. Looking around, she notices a picture of Jesse and Ellie. The brunette steps closer to it, studying the look in her friend’s eyes. She looks happy, but it isn’t the way she used to look with Craig, or even Sean. And that seems to release a little of the tension in Manny’s shoulders.
Ellie shakes her head a little, “You know, I can’t even remember when that was taken.” She pauses momentarily, “Come on, Jesse’s excited to meet you.” The red-haired girl rolls her eyes a tiny bit at her own statement.
The brunette follows Ellie into the living room and smiles a little when she sees Jesse.
“Manny, this is Jesse, Jesse, Manny.” The redhead gestures to the two as she introduces them and watches them shake hands when the greet each other.
An awkward silence envelops the small group and Ellie looks around anxiously, she knew this was a bad idea.
“How about we sit down?” Jesse motions to the opposite facing couches, taking a seat for himself as Ellie and Manny sit across from him.
“Um, Jesse, Manny was one of the people I interviewed for that article, you remember, about the, uh, seniors.” The older girl gestures an absurd amount with her hands as she speaks. It dawns on her that she’s nervous for Manny as well as herself. The redhead wants Jesse to like the brunette, to approve.
“Oh, right. Did you quote her?”
“I don’t know, Manny, did I quote you?” Ellie smirks when she turns to the dark-haired girl situated next to her, remembering Manny’s excited reaction as she read the article.
Manny turns to the redhead, a grin plastering itself to her face. “You did. And I’m still excited about that.”
“It really isn’t a big deal.” The red-haired girl shrugs nonchalantly, a sparkle evident in her brown eyes.
“Yes it is! I was quoted in a newspaper.”
“A college newspaper,” Ellie interjects.
“It’s a big deal to me Ellie, okay?” Manny begins to feel more at ease when the older girl just rolls her eyes again, a smile gracing her lips. The brunette can feel that Ellie’s holding in a laugh.
Jesse watches the exchange uneasily. He is not sure what to make of the quick banter, but amusement plays in his eyes. “It was a great article.”
“I agree.” Manny nods, glancing quickly at the brown-haired boy before focusing on the soft pink rising in the redhead’s cheeks. “Ellie hasn’t shown me any of her other articles though.”
“Really?” He questions, standing up. “I save all the papers, I’ll go get them.”
When the boy leaves the room, Ellie elbows the younger girl lightly. “I think he keeps them because as editor he is a little cocky.”
“Or maybe he’s just proud of his work.” Manny laughs a little, running a hand through her hair. This night will be better than she expected, she can feel it already.
“Yeah, okay.”
---
“Bye Manny. I’ll call you later.” Ellie hugs the younger girl tightly, letting the aroma of Manny’s shampoo surround her.
“Okay, sounds good. Bye guys.” Manny smiles before turning and leaving, pulling her purse over her shoulder.
Softly shutting the door, Jesse grins. “Well, I’d say that was a success.”
”Yes; so what do you think?”
“She was nice.”
“Nice?”
“Yeah.” Jesse sighs, seeing Ellie’s questioning look, “I liked her okay? Are you happy with that?”
“Yes. Thank you for being so nice.” She emphasizes the last word, a smirk playing on her lips.
“I’m always nice.” The older boy smirks back and kisses Ellie quickly. “I’m going to start the dishes. I’ll be done soon.”
“I can help.”
“No, no, I’ll do it.” He kisses her once more before turning to get started.
Ellie smiles after him, tilting her head a little. She sighs contently. The meeting seems to have gone well and she enjoyed herself, a lot. But somewhere in the back of her mind, she felt more like she was introducing Manny to an older brother, or a friend. Ellie felt like the brunette had been meeting her family.
The vomit rises up in her throat again and she swallows it down, grimacing.
---
Emma sips her soda, listening intently to her best friend’s retelling of the previous night. She nods along, smiling and laughing at the appropriate times, but as the story progresses, the blonde becomes more observant of Manny’s expression. She notices the way the dark-haired girl smiles when she mentions Ellie, how Manny’s eyes seem brighter, shinier today. Emma can’t help but entertain crazy ideas when she notices these things.
“So, I had fun.” The brunette concludes, popping another fry into her mouth. “Uh, no, we’re out. I’ll go buy some more.” She pushes herself off of her chair, using the table as leverage, and walks to the counter.
When Emma is sure her best friend is out of earshot, she turns to the boy sitting besides her. “Sean, did you notice anything unusual about Manny while she was telling us about her great adventure?”
Sean raises an eyebrow at his girlfriend, “No, not really.”
“Nothing?” Emma probes, resting her elbow on the table and her chin in her palm.
“I don’t know. Did you notice anything?”
The blonde bites her lip and looks at Manny, who is still waiting at the counter having a conversation with Spinner. “It was probably just my imagination, never mind.”
“Tell me.”
“Just forget it.” She shakes her hand in a dismissive manner as she sits back up in the booth.
“Come on Em, you brought it up.” The older boy squeezes her side gently and looks curiously at her.
“I, um, I think Manny likes Ellie.”
Looking at his girlfriend like she may have lost her mind, Sean responds as neutrally as possible, “Did you miss the two of them becoming friends or something?”
“No, I mean like like.”
Sean doesn’t answer; he just glances at the brunette who is obviously flirting with Spinner.
“See, it was idiotic, of course she doesn’t”
“I don’t know.” The older boy shrugs, unsure.
---
Staring intently at her textbook, Ellie sighs. She doesn’t seem to be retaining any of the information and she has been attempting to study for a couple of hours now. The redhead flips the page, highlighting yet another section of text.
The doorbell rings in her ears and she moans in frustration. Lifting herself off the couch, Ellie shuffles to the door, opening it with ease.
“Peace.” Ashley smiles nervously, holding up a cup of coffee for the red-haired girl.
Ellie eyes the girl for a moment before accepting the coffee and moving aside, allowing Ashley entrance into the house.
“So…” The brunette looks around anxiously, her eyes never settling on Ellie. She removes her jacket carefully, hanging it on a nearby coat rack.
“Hi.” The redhead takes a sip of the hot beverage, relishing the path it burns down her throat.
Ashley finally looks at Ellie, waiting to speak until her friend locks eyes with her own. “I’m sorry I freaked out. Manny’s not exactly my favorite person in the first place, and I love you.” She brushes some brown hair out of her face, taking a deep breath. “I just hated that you were hurting and I just blamed her and well, you know.”
Nodding in understanding, the redhead takes one more gulp of her coffee before smiling. She begins to lead Ashley into the kitchen. “Come on.”
Both girls sit on a stool, hands pressed lightly to their paper cups, feeling the warmth on their skin.
“I understand.” Ellie speaks, a grin tugging at her lips. “I’m sorry I got so worked up when I knew in some way you were just trying to protect me.”
“Good.” The brunette smiles back, letting out a relieved sigh.
They sit in a comfortable silence for a while, sipping their coffees and thinking about the situation. Both girls happy and relieved to have stopped fighting with one another.
“So, I hear that Manny and you made up?” Ashley breaths, the question has been on the tip of her tongue for a couple of minutes while her mind debated with itself.
Ellie’s eyes seem to sparkle instantly at the subject, “Yeah, she met Jesse last night.”
“Okay.” The brunette tilts her head, studying the red-haired girl’s smile and the way she seems to frown a little at the mention of her boyfriend. “Is everything okay with you and Jesse?”
Sighing a little and tapping her nails lightly against her cup, Ellie feels vomit churn in the pit of her stomach. “I don’t know.”
“Oh.”
“I mean I still like him, but I feel comfortable.”
Ashley squints oddly at the redhead and inquires, confused, “Isn’t that a good thing?”
“How do you feel with Jimmy?” Ellie watches intensely at her friend’s grin.
“Safe, but excited too. I still get butterflies.”
The red-haired girl frowns, bowing her head, examining the counter.
“Ellie, what is it?”
“I feel comfortable, like I do with you, like friendly comfortable.”
“Oh.” Ashley nods in understanding, moving around the kitchen to hug her friend in solace.
---
“How did you do?”
Manny holds up the test in her right hand, grinning excitedly. “I got a B!” She’s practically jumping up and down, the paper crinkling slightly due to her tight grip on it.
“That’s amazing.” Ellie laughs, squeezing the brunette’s wrist in congratulations.
“Yep, and it’s all thanks to you.”
The older girl shakes her head, biting back more giggles at the joy occupying Manny’s features. “You did this.” She snatches the paper, absently running a finger over the large red letter.
Manny nods resolutely, “Yes, I guess I did.”
“We should celebrate.” Ellie smiles, handing back the paper, her hand brushing the dark-haired girl’s lightly, causing her to pull back, quickly placing it in her jean pocket.
“What should we do?”
“Whatever you want.”
“Hm,” the younger girl taps a finger against her chin, a smirk slowly spreading across her face. “We should go bowling.”
“We need more people though.” Ellie bites her lip, thinking, “Because bowling with two people isn’t as fun.”
“Right.” Manny nods, “Who should we invite?”
“You got the B, you invite people.”
“Okay, Emma, Sean and Marco.”
“Sounds great.” Ellie smiles again, getting up and yelling once she reaches the stairs. “Manny got a B; we’re going bowling!”
A moment later, Marco’s faint voice floats down the stairs, “One minute!”
---
The black ball rolls heavily down the aisle, crashing loudly against the pins. In a collage of dark and light seven of the pins go down, quickly being swept off the lane.
Manny ambles back to her friends, pouting, “I can’t get a spare.”
“Looks like the boys win.” Marco and Sean cheer, high-fiving each other.
“Just take your second ball.” Ellie reaches out, lightly pushing the younger girl forward, glaring at her competitors across the table.
As the dark-haired girl carefully places her fingers in the wide holes, cheering from Ellie and Emma reaches her ears. Swinging her arm back, she allows the ball to gain momentum as she releases it.
Watching the black sphere tumble down the lane, it veers slightly to the left, knocking down two of the remaining pins.
Immediately, she skips back to the table, giggling proudly to herself as she accepts high fives of her own from Ellie and Emma.
“You still lost.” Marco waves a finger at the three smiling girls, a self-satisfied smirk on his lips, “Ow, Ellie!”
“What?” the redhead asks innocently.
“You kicked me!”
She shrugs in response before standing up and lacing her arm with the brunette’s. “Come on Manny; let’s go buy the losers some fries.”
“Let’s, come on Em.” She motions for her best friend to get up.
“Emma can I have a fry?” Sean looks at his girlfriend, a glimmer of hope in his eyes.
“Sure.”
“Uh, no.” Manny raises an eyebrow at the blonde.
“What?”
“He taunted me.”
Sean stands up, glaring at Marco. “That was Marco.”
“Pick a side bestie.” Manny gestures towards the boys and then Ellie and herself.
Emma wraps her arm around Manny’s and frowns at Sean. “Sorry, I want fries.”
“Good choice.” The dark-haired girl smiles and begins the trek to the concession stand with the redhead and blonde both by her side.
---
Pulling the covers up to her chin, Manny rolls over, closing her eyes, trying to breathe steadily. After a couple of minutes, she opens her aching eyelids and glances at her clock: 1:33. Sighing tiredly, the brunette turns back over.
She lets her mind drift and it quickly ends up on the redhead. Manny attempts to think about something else, anything. A couple of moments later, her mind is back on Ellie.
The dark-haired girl hates how she cannot seem to stop herself from focusing on the older girl. The way her hair frames her face, falling on Ellie’s shoulders perfectly.
Manny groans frustrated, trying to convince herself that this is normal.
But she can’t. And that scares her.