Falling Effect

21. Lover Boy

Love is Strange - Mickey & Sylvia

Rolling over to snuggle into Ellie I find her side of the bed empty. Slowly opening my eyes I see a small amount of light seeping in from the bottom of the door. My feet hit the carpet as I make my way to the hallway, padding into the living room I see her curled up on the couch scrolling her phone, a book sitting in her lap.

"Babe.." I say as she slightly jumps, pressing her hand to her heart as she closes her eyes and takes a deep breath.

"Evan, you scared the shit out of me." I lightly chuckle as I sink into the couch. Spotting a mug on the coffee table with steam coming off of it.

"Why are you up? It's.." I pause to look at her phone screen, "Jesus, it's four in the morning." I say, wrapping my arm around her waist.

"I couldn't sleep." She says resting her head on my shoulder.

I felt so helpless it was almost killing me.

"Do you want to talk about it?" I ask, running my fingers along her side.

She sighs, staying silent for a minute before she speaks up. "I don't even know what to say, if I'm being honest. I mean, he's my father- or at least he was. I don't even think I could look at him after what he did."

"I always knew he had anger issues, but I didn't think it would come to this. Maybe I was just too naive to see it-"

"Hey. Don't talk about yourself like that." I say cupping her face with my hands. "I understand what you're feeling. I know what it's like to push past the bad days just because when you had the good ones, it erased every bad thing that ever happened. But you can't let him control you still. I know it hurts, and it will for a while, but just think about how amazing it will feel once he's gone. How he won't be breathing down the back of your neck anymore, telling you what clothes you can wear, what you can eat, who you can or can't date." A tear escapes her eye, running down her cheek to land on my thumb.

"You get to be free now. Free to be who you want to be, and love who you want to love." She wraps her arms around my neck as she jumps into my lap, crying on my shoulder.

I wrap my arms around her, holding her like my life depends on it, as she lets out heart wrenching sobs.

After a couple of minutes she stops shaking as I kiss her head. "I love you, okay?" I whisper as she nods her head. "I love you so much, and I'm never going to let anything happen to you." I say grabbing her face so she's looking at me.

"I love you too." She says, a smile appearing on her face.

"And I love that smile." She giggles before leaning in to kiss me. "And don't get me started on these lips." I groan as she pulls away, resting her forehead against mine.

"You're gonna be okay, you hear me?" I rub her sides underneath her shirt. The feel of her skin against my rough palms.

"Yeah." She whispers. I kiss the top of her nose before my hands move to the backs of her thighs, "Let's go to bed."

"Okay." She says softly, reaching over to turn off the lamp before I stand up with her in my arms, walking back into my bedroom.

I sit her down on the bed, "I have to go to the bathroom, now that I'm up." I say as she chuckles.

Once I'm done, I walk back into the room to find her already laying down. I walk over to my side of the bed, pulling back the comforter I slide in. She puts her arm out, wanting to rest it on my waist like she does a lot, but instead I grab her arm and pull her on top of me. She lets out a little yelp as I chuckle, "That was cute." I say sarcastically.

"Thank you. I tried real hard." She mumbles against my chest. Absentmindedly tracing the 1999 tattoo on my collarbone.

We lay in silence for a couple of minutes before she speaks up, "I think I'd be lost without you."

I open my eyes to look at her, she pushes off of my chest with her hand, her light brown hair falling her in her face before she tucks it behind her ear. A grin spreads across my face as I pull her down to kiss me. Wrapping my arms around the back of her neck she laughs into the kiss. She pulls away, her forehead almost touching mine, a soft smile resting on her naturally pouty lips. "You're so beautiful." I mumble as she intertwines our hands, her fingers messing with one of the rings on my hand, that I apparently accidentally fell asleep with on.

"Who knew hands could be so attractive." She says and I softly chuckle, staring at our hands, her's fitting perfectly in mine as it always does. She was meant for me, I knew it the moment I met her.

"Do you wanna move in?" I blurt out before I could even process what I was about to say.

Her finger stops spinning the ring as her eyes widen. "Evan..." I swallow thickly when she doesn't say anything else.

"It's four in the morning, are you thinking rationally?" She asks, raising a perfectly sculpted brow.

The answer was, yes. I'd been thinking about it for a while now. This wasn't how I planned to ask her but, it works.

"Yes..." I say as she sits up, still holding onto my hand.

"Okay."

"Okay, what?"

"Okay, I'll move in." A grin spreads on her face as I sit up, grabbing her face and kissing her hard. Her soft hands come up to my forearms as she moves to straddle me.

"Are we about to have sex at four in the morning?" She asks, pulling away for a second.

"Yep."

I know this chapter is short, so that's why you're getting a double update. Just thought you may want to see what's going on over in Ellie's world with all that is happening. Also, isn't Evan freaking amazing?!

Word Count: 1,098