Between the Lines

Chapter 6

"I'm glad you could make it!" James tells Sutton as they walk up the long driveway.

"Me too!" She says, and follows him up the steps. 

The house that stands before them is enormous, it's white exterior is very modern and expensive looking, which makes Sutton look down at her outfit of choice, and hope to god that it is dressy enough. She wipes some hairs and lint off the front of her dress. 

"You look fine." James smiles, and Sutton instantly feels at ease, greatly appreciating James' kindness.

"Thank you." She tells him with a smile.

"These always start relatively small, but somehow word spreads like wildfire." James says, and Sutton nods.

There are few people conversing outside in the front yard, but when they step inside the house, Sutton feels her breath hitch at both the size of the house, and the amount of people that fill it. 

"Here, follow me, I want you to meet Ellie." He says, and as he requested, Sutton trails quietly behind him. She tries to shake the nerves of being at a party again, finally being in this type of environment after what feels like forever.

Sutton remembered James mentioning his long time girlfriend Ellie, and found herself excited to finally put a face to her name. 

They entered the kitchen, with out any kind of introduction, Sutton had a strong feeling she knew exactly who Ellie was. The woman she suspected has long dark hair, she wears a very flattering red dress with extremely high pumps, which makes Sutton momentarily wonder if she could even walk in shoes like those without falling. She looks very classy, while others who might attempt to wear anything similar could end up looking like a literal stripper, she some how pulls it off in an elegant manner. 

As Sutton predicted, they walk towards the beautiful brunette, who smiles when she sees James, her big green eyes were mesmerizing when they meet Sutton's blue ones. 

"El, this is Sutton, the one I was just telling you about. And Sut, this is my girlfriend Ellie." He smiles as he introduces her. 

"Nice to meet you!" Sutton smiles.

"Lovely to meet you too." She smiles in return. 

Sutton expected that they want alone time, or some kind of couple time, or honestly she just felt that maybe she should let them talk to their own friends. Either way, she was about to turn and leave the conversation, if you could even call it one, but to her surprise Ellie continued. 

"Is that an American accent I hear?" She asks, and Sutton smiles and nods. "Where from?" She asks, and seems truly interested in what she has to say. 

"I'm from California." Sutton smiles.

"Uh, I've always wanted to go to there. Where in California?" She asks. 

"Laguna Beach." Sutton says, and smiles.

"I keep telling him we need to vacation somewhere in California." She says, lightly hitting James in the chest. He laughs, and takes the opportunity to grab her hand. 

"I would recommend it, it's really beautiful. Seriously, even James could get some color." She tells them, and Ellie throws her head back in laughter. James shakes his head, a smile on his lips, and Sutton grins as well. 

"Then we really need to go sometime." She jokes, and briefly looks at James. "So why'd ya move across the pond?" She asks, her accent sounding heavy. 

"Well, a lot of reasons. I studied here for a while during university, and I just really liked it here." Sutton says, keeping her answer short as she always does, and smiles.