A Breath of Fresh Air - e.w.

19

Winter came and left and Lia was excited for spring to bloom. Lia didn't like winter. It was cold, dark and fucking sucked. Although, Lia did admit that she found it amusing to see Ellie head out for patrol in her converse.

Lia was heading to the church for a community event with Leo. It was movie night in Jackson - the community gathered together and watched it. Lia found it fascinating and the children loved it.

Leo and Lia sat next to Jesse and Dina as they leaned against the bar. Sadie quickly spotted them and took the vacant spot next to Lia.

"Where's Ellie?" Lia asked Dina who let out an annoyed sigh, pointing a few rows down. Lia furrowed her eyebrows, turning her head to see Ellie and Cat sitting next to each other. Lia nodded her head slowly, but she didn't move her eyes away from the pair.

"What movie are they playing?" Sadie asked the group.

"Something called Scooby Doo," Jesse shrugged as he wrapped an arm around Dina.

"That one's cute!" Dina said happily as Jesse chuckled.

"You think they're all cute."

"Well, movies are cool," Dina shrugged, "We only have a limited amount."

Lia stayed quiet as she rested her head against the side of the bar. She watched as the movie lit up on the projector screen they had. Lia had a small smile on her face as she glanced over at Cassie to see the girl excitedly watching the movie with Kate. Her eyes then drifted to Joel, Tommy and Maria who were overseeing everything.

But as the movie kept going, Lia found herself consistently glancing over at Ellie and Cat. She didn't know why. Although, her eyebrows furrowed at Cat who continuously brushed her arm against Ellie's, earning a blush from the auburn-haired girl.

Lia twisted her head back to the screen when her eyes made contact with Ellie's. She let out a small sigh, turning her eyes away quickly as she bit the inside of her cheek. Ellie furrowed her eyebrows watching the girl.

When Lia finally started to pay attention to the screen, she frowned when she realized that she had no idea what the fuck was going on. There was a talking dog and... ghosts?

"I'm gonna head back," Lia whispered to Leo who looked at her with a confused frown.

"You okay?"

"Yeah," Lia nodded, "I zoned out. Don't know what's going on."

"Okay, I mean, I could explain it to you. I think."

"It's cool," Lia chuckled, "I'll probably just go to sleep."

"Alright... I'm sleeping over at Marley's tonight if that's cool with you."

"Yeah. You don't need my permission for that. But, why are you staying over?"

"We-uh, we're sorta dating now."

Lia paused, her face staying neutral before she smiled softly at her brother and nodded, "Cool. If you want, we can have her over for dinner. Get to know each other?"

"Thanks, that'd be cool," Leo grinned at his sister. Lia sent him a small smile, waving bye to the rest of the group and leaving the church. Lia wrapped her arms around herself as she walked back to her place, a confused frown planted on her face.

Lia stopped when she heard footsteps following her. She turned to see Ellie running after her, "Hey. You're missing the movie?"

"So are you?" Lia questioned, not sure why Ellie followed her, "I just zoned out. Didn't really know what was going on."

"Oh," Ellie deflated slightly, "I can tell you what's going on?"

"It's alright, Leo already offered. I guess I'm not in the mood for the crowd today," Lia said slowly. She bounced on her feet as she tried to look anywhere but Ellie. Even Lia wasn't sure why she was creating some distance.