Meant to Be

September 9th - September 16th

September, and hence the start of school, rolled around in the blink of an eye. Everyone was simultaneously excited and terrified for the next few months. They had one more year. One more huge year before all their lives were upheaved and they headed in separate directions.

Although most of them, including Ella, had picked up part-time jobs to save for college, they'd all still managed to make the most of summer. The group saw each other nearly every day once they were all home from their holidays. They spent days at the lake and took a trip out to the beach, where Ella finally swam in the sea without freaking out every time a piece of seaweed touched her foot. They also enjoyed countless Rogers' barbecues and trips into the city to watch movies and go out for food.

No one said it, not in as many words, but they were all trying to squeeze in as much time together while they still could. Nat and Wanda especially were trying to make the most of being with their friends, having accepted the realities of their far-flung college choices.

After their first few college visits, the uncomfortable air between Ella and Bucky had dissipated. They spoke constantly about college choices, both running ideas by each other and spent endless amounts of time looking at maps to figure out the distance between every possible combination of the colleges they were going to apply to. Ella was still set on Brown, although Dartmouth had almost swayed her and she decided to apply, she and Bucky also took a trip down to visit NYU and that had made her list. Bucky had Yale top of his choices, but New York had grown on him during his second visit, so he'd decided to go for NYU and Columbia for good measure. And then there was their mutual back-up: Boston College. The worst and best-case scenarios, therefore, looked dramatically different. They were looking at a maximum of 5 hours versus a minimum of about 5 minutes.

Although they both acknowledged it and had contingency plans in place should it work out that they were faced with 10-hour round trips to see each other, they were both quietly confident of getting into their top choices. However, they were even more confident in each other.

Their senior year had gotten off to a great start, having celebrated Ella and Steve's 18th birthday the day before school started. Okay, maybe it hadn't gotten off to a great start. They were all incredibly hungover on the first day after their night in as just the six of them. But by the second week, they were well into the swing of things. Their grades were high and their SAT scores had come in, which called for another night of heaving drinking - in celebration, of course.

On Friday lunch, the six of them sat in the library, commandeering an entire table to themselves with their laptops and books spread out between them. All of them were working simultaneously on their applications, honing them to perfection. Well, except Sam, who had a distinct air of smugness about him. He'd opted not to go to college, but to join the army instead. He'd been set on it for years, but now he was truly reveling in his decision and was getting a huge amount of enjoyment out of watching his friends squirm as they wrote applications and essays.

Nat was the first to get her application ready for proofreading. She slid her laptop across the table and Ella read every line thoroughly. When she was done she handed the laptop back.

"It's perfect, Nat. You're good to go," she said with a reassuring smile, watching her friend try not to crumble under the nerves.

"I need someone else to read it, just to be sure," she said, looking around for any takers. Steve volunteered and took his turn scrutinizing the application and attached essay.

"It's great," he confirmed.

"You're both positive?" Nat asked.

"100 percent," Ella replied. "They'll love it. They'll love you."

Nat took in a huge breath. She didn't see any point in waiting around. She gave everything one final once-over before pressing submit. She slammed her laptop shut and let out a sigh of relief.

"It's done, it's over. Now we wait."

"I still can't believe how early you have to apply," Wanda said, her eyes not breaking contact with her own laptop screen. She was particularly stressed as her deadlines were looming.

Nat shrugged, "I didn't have to, but the earlier you apply the earlier you might hear back."

It was one week later when Nat came running out into the car park. Ella and Bucky were walking hand-in-hand to his car, chatting away about their days when Nat came skidding to a halt beside them.

"Ella, I can't do it," she said, panting.

"More words. I need more words," Ella laughed.

Nat held out her phone in frustration. "I got an email, the first one, but I can't bear to look," she explained.

"No way! I can't do it," Ella quickly replied, swatting Nat's phone away. She was thrown by her friend, her usual brash confidence was faltering, and it wasn't something Ella had seen too many times before.

Steve appeared beside them and huffed, "give it here, I'll do it."

Nat gave him a grateful smile before handing him the phone. He clicked on the email and his eyes scanned the lines of text.

"Holy shit, Nat, you got it, you got in!" He grinned, looking up from the phone in his hands. Nat lept over to him and flung her arms around his neck.

"You're serious? Oh my God, let me see!"She read it over, confirming what Steve had said. "I actually got in, I can't believe it!"

The two of them jumped up and down in excitement as Ella and Bucky laughed out of pure joy for their friend.

"Congrats, Nat," everyone chorused.

"Which one was it?" Ella asked.

"University College London," Nat replied, her grin still spread from ear to ear. "It's not my top choice, but it's probably second. So this is huge."

Ella nodded and wrapped her arms around her friend, "it really is huge."

"Oh my god, I can't wait to tell my parents," she squealed, "Yelena is going to freak out."

Sam and Wanda had watched the scene unfold as they left the school, and quickly made their way over.

"I'm going to go out on a limb and say congratulations are in order?" Sam said with his signature grin on his face.

Nat nodded enthusiastically and went in for another round of hugs.

Five minutes of excitement later and the group of them finally calmed down enough to hop into their cars and head home.

Ella was staying at Bucky's for the evening, she hadn't seen much of his family over summer so was trying to make up for it. She had a growing soft spot for Becca, to say the least. Plus she needed a break from Steve's stressed pacing up and down the hallway as he wrote and re-read his essays.

Once the two of them were inside they dropped their bags in the hall, kicked off their shoes, and sprawled out across the couch. Ella laid her head in Bucky's lap and he quickly started playing with her hair, it had become somewhat of a habit for him.

"That's made it seem very real," Bucky said as he twirled a strand of Ella's hair around his finger.

Ella hummed in agreement. "Are we still good?" she asked. They checked up on each other frequently, they both wanted the other to know that they were happy to talk about any of their worries, even though Ella had never gotten to the bottom of Bucky's Brown freak-out.

"We're very good," Bucky replied.

Ella turned over, lifting the hem of Bucky's top and pressing a kiss onto his tanned abs. One hand ran up his torso while she propped herself up with the other. Her eyes flicked over to the clock and Bucky quickly caught on to what she was thinking.

"Becca has some club after school, mom picks her up at 5. We have time," he said, the words falling out of his mouth in a rush.

"You read my mind, Barnes," Ella laughed as Bucky scooped her up in his arms and carried her upstairs to his room.