𝐢 𝐝𝐨 ; s.c.

𝚟𝚎𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚍𝚘𝚜

"i hope so. it'd be a shame if you married some other guy..." sodapop trailed off.

ellie didn't want to face him. was she hearing that correctly? it was quiet. too quiet in ellie's ears. it's as if the silence was louder than the nature they were surrounded by. the cicadas went silent, the birds stopped singing.

the wind seemed to move slower, as did everything else. the squirrel climbed the tree at an obnoxiously slow speed, and the only things that seemed quick was ellie's overanalyzing thoughts, and of course, her racing thoughts.

the silence

was deafening

.

but we all know none of that went down. it was all in ellie's head, displaying another illusion in her youthful mind. what felt like an hour to her was only five seconds.

soda took a deep breath and finally completed his thought. "...and we drifted just because of that."

oh.

ellie didn't know why that upset her so much. it wasn't anything out of the ordinary.

sodapop didn't see what ellie felt. the disappointment on her face was easily hidden, she wasn't ever very expressive.

besides, it's not like she had a real reason to be disappointed.

although he mentioned its beauty, sodapop curtis never looked back at the sky to admire the clouds or look at the scintillating sun. within his vision was just elizabeth mathews and that's all that mattered to him at the time, despite the negativity clouding the girl's mind.

so when ellie turned her face to look at his once more, she was a little surprised to find their faces mere inches apart, noses nearly touching.

but she didn't mind.

she never did mind when it was sodapop.

sodapop flashed her a movie-star grin and sat up. his eyes twinkled as he looked heavenward, absently picking weeds and such from the soil.

a small little daisy he plucked from the ground caught his attention and he placed it behind ellie's ear before standing up. he brushed off his jeans and looked down at her. "i'm gonna go home. you comin'?"

ellie shook her head. "i think i'll stay here a little longer. i might go over there later, though."

sodapop nodded and walked away, leaving ellie to her thoughts. she grabbed the floret from her hair and twirled it between her fingertips.

the gifting of that flower was really a simple gesture from a complex person.

₊⋆☁︎₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆₊☁︎⋆₊

may 26th, 1964.

a little over three years ago was that day of laying in the grass and having a conversation with sodapop about what their futures held for them.

it all seemed so nostalgic now.

"ellie, are you even payin' attention to what i'm tellin' you?"

ellie shook her head and looked at melissa. "not really. what were you sayin'?"

melissa sighed and tucked her hair out of her face as the wind persistently blew it everywhere. "i said ferris totally likes you."

"no he doesn't," ellie said quickly.

"elizabeth mathews, do i have to go and ask him myself? because it's pretty dang obvious if you ask me. what was it his brother said? oh, yeah, 'if ferris brought you here, then you're not insignificant.' there's no way he'd just make that up."