Love Island

Chapter 43 - You've Got A Friend In Me

"What was his name?" Polly asked.

"Waldo."

Ella passed by our group quickly, and my internal conflict grew louder in my head. Primarily, I didn't want to risk the potential of making her feel worse. But I knew that the right thing to do would be to talk to her; if I were in her shoes, I would want the same thing. So, I dismissed myself from the group once more and followed Ella into the kitchen. She grabbed grapes from the fridge and began the process of destemming them into a bowl.

"Hey, Ella," I said as I sat down on a stool across from her.

Ella looked up in slight surprise but kept preparing her breakfast. "Oh. Hi, Maddie."

"I wanted to talk about last night. I'm sorry about how things went down. This was sprung on you at the last minute, and it wasn't fair." I tapped my fingers nervously against the bare skin of my leg.

She nodded down at her food, then looked up with a small smile. "Well, thanks. I appreciate you coming to apologize. To be honest, I had the slightest idea. Charlie was never over you, even when he thought you cheated. When we came back to the villa, I knew our couple was a ticking time bomb." She tucked a straight brown strand of hair behind her ear. "It's okay, though. He's a great guy, and you're really kind. I'm sure you're great together."

Her kindness only grew my guilt. "Thanks... how's it with David?" I asked.

Ella looked out the kitchen window and saw David across the garden, showing Mason something by the pool. "He's nice, but that's all I think of him as. I'm still looking at my options."

"Who else do you have your eye on?" I asked.

She thought for a second, her eyes scanning the garden. "Mason, honestly. Maybe Anthony, too."

She'd picked two guys who were currently happily coupled up with my friends, so I kept quiet. "How do you feel about Connor?"

Ella made a discouraging face. "Not into it. I heard him say that he dislikes dogs. I have three of them."

"Yeah, may not be the best match," I laughed. "What breeds?"

"Oh, they're all shelter mutts: an Australian shepherd mix, a chihuahua, and what we think is a lab mixed with a beagle. I work at an animal shelter, so all three of them were dogs that I just loved so much, I didn't want them to ever leave." Ella smiled fondly at her fruit as she remembered her life back home. "Do you have any pets?"

I shook my head. "Not yet. I'm still living in an apartment by my college, and pet rent is crazy-expensive. But whenever I move to wherever I move to, I'd like to get a bunch of animals. Turn my house into my own zoo."

Ella smiled and nodded. "That's really cool, I'm glad I met a fellow animal lover. Do you know what you want to do with your degree?"

"I've got a few ideas, but nothing that super sticks out. I could see myself working in an aquarium," I said.

"I think working in an aquarium would be cool." Ella offered the bowl of grapes to me and I took a few. "So, I'm good with you if you're good with me."

"We're good?" I summarized.

"We're good," Ella confirmed with a large smile. "You didn't do it out of maliciousness, you did it out of love."

"Well, I don't love him. At least, not yet. It's been a lot to process."

Her eyes slanted in confusion and her head subconsciously tilted. "Oh? Charlie said something about love to me last night. You don't feel the same?"

Heat rushed to my cheeks. "Not yet, I don't think. I really care about him, I just think he's a little ahead of me there. But I'm not afraid to catch up." I offered a soft smile, which she graciously returned.