invisible string

five.

"my drawing," you spoke, breaking the silence. you turned to look at ellie once more, waiting for her response. instead her face paled, almost as if she had been caught.

shit. was she embarrassed? you felt horrible for thinking it, but it made you feel better. equal. brave.

"i have yours on my wall too," you confessed. ellie's lips parted in surprise but she was so good at catching herself. her smile was crooked as a laugh escaped her lips. "no way," she remarked. flustered. proud. relieved.

"it's true," you played into it. "signed by the artist herself and everything. it's real valuable."

scoffing, ellie took a few steps closer so she stood just behind your shoulder as you turned back to peer at her wall some more.

"real funny," she grumbled, but you could hear the smile in her voice anyway.

she had some of her own drawings on the wall too, you could tell because it matched ellie's art style from her doodles.

"these are really good," you breathed, taking in every detail sketched by her pen.

"yeah?" ellie glanced at you sideways, watching you take in her artwork.

your heart seized, feeling lucky to have doodles done by ellie williams on your wall. you wanted even more. you wondered suddenly if any other girls had drawings done by ellie on their walls too, and you scrunched up your nose. it was a weird thought, and you forcibly shoved it away by moving on to the pictures.

some of the pictures looked recent, while others were obviously much older. the majority of the pictures featured her alongside other people. some were photobooth strips, with ellie making ridiculous faces at the camera. they looked old. other pictures were like that too, goofy faces and bunny ears with an older man and people who were most likely her friends. some of them were sweet, smiling photos and a few candids of small groups together.

it made your heart feel warm as you took them in, getting a peek at ellie's life while unveiling another layer. you felt soft for the girl and you wanted to hear stories, but you were weary of being invasive.

a lot of pictures featured dina and a guy, who you assumed to be jesse. they seemed to be a close trio, and you wanted to confirm it.

"that's dina," you pointed her out in one particular photo. ellie hummed, confirming. you only met her once, and it was pretty dark, but she was nice.

you pointed the guy out now, looking to ellie. "is that jesse?"

ellie nodded, giving you a small, encouraging smile.

you hoped that it was sweet, thoughtful that you had remembered the important people in her life. you moved your gaze back to the several photos that included the older man. they were younger in some of the pictures, both him and ellie victim to the bunny ears in seperate photos. there was a picture of them smiling at what looked to be a museum, with huge dinosaur bones behind them. they were both wearing silly hats and your lips lifted into a smile. in another, a much younger ellie was wearing an astronaut type of helmet, grinning wildly at the camera.

the recent photos were cute too. a lot were of them smiling together with varying backgrounds. in one picture you spotted a massive banner from your college, the one that was set up on move in day from freshman year. so many parents had pressed for photos, incoming students smiling through tears or grumbling about being embarrassed while posing. you stifled a laugh, leaning in closer.

ellie was stood in front of the banner, an awkward smile that looked more like a grimace was plastered on her face. she weakly held a thumbs up, while the man at her side was grinning proudly.