Bus Ride (ON-HOLD)

Seven: Ellie's Happy Heart

Ellie's POV - Continuation from Chapter Five

Where am I? Something is hitting me. Wait, ouch! What's that?

"Ellieeeeeeeee!"

My eyes shoot open and all I see is hair. Then someone pushes me up and people are giving me weird looks as they walk by.

"Where am I?" I ask to no one.

"You're at the interchange, buddy. Get up. It isn't nice to lie on the ground for 10 minutes with people staring at me like a weirdo." I hear Kim's voice.

"Kim?" I call out.

She squats down in front of me and confirms to me that she is indeed my cousin.

"Now kiddy, can we go home now?" She says patiently and I roll my eyes at the way she treats me.

"Are you really okay?" An angelic voice asks me.

I am not in heaven yet, am I? Wait. That voice sounds familiar..

"Hey! She's talking to you." Kim scolds me and turns me around to face a girl.

She looks at me with a worry look and waits for me to respond.

I am like dead log and all I do is to stare at her face. I see her lips move again but nothing processes in my brain.

I feel a hard smack at the back of my head and I immediately spin around to glare at Kim, the culprit.

"What do you want??" I ask in anger.

Kim exhales sharply and rolls her eyes at me before she smiles at the girl and says, "I am sorry, Monique. This kiddo here is not at her best condition. I might have to bring her home now and thank you for staying with me for the past 10 minutes so that I don't feel so awkward fanning a dead body."

I look at them back and forth as I have no idea what Kim is talking about.

Who is Monique? What ten minutes? Who was she fanning? Wait, why am I at the interchange?

"Uhm, Kim..can I ask you something?" I whisper to her.

She bobs her head once to ask me to go on.

I swallow my spit and glimpse at the girl who I assume is Monique before I whisper to Kim again, "Who is Monique? And what was I doing here?"

Kim burst out laughing and the girl looks at us in amusement.

She arches an eyebrow up and keeps rolling the papers in her hands as she could be feeling a little awkward.

I nudge Kim against her stomach and she stifles her laugh. She looks at me with a constipated look and I narrow my eyes at her.

She is not trying to make me feel embarrassed, right?

"Ellie, this is Monique." She introduces the girl to me.

How does she even know her name?

Monique smiles at me with a hint of shyness and I force myself to give her my brightest smile.

My heart is beating wildly against my ribcage and I am feeling rather out of breath. I can't believe I know her name now.

"Do something, Ellie." Says Kim as she nudges my arm.

I give her an I-don't-know-what-to-do look and she sighs in frustration.

"Say hi to her." She mouths at me.

I nod quickly and hold out my hand in the mid air, "Uhm..Hello Monique. I am E-Ellie."

I hear Kim stifling her laughter and excuses herself further away from us. I guess she is informing the others about my progress.

"Nice to meet you, Ellie." She says with a sweet voice and accepts my handshake.

Her hand feels warm. Her touch is so soft and I shake it with so much care. I am afraid of hurting her. Just when I was about to let go, she holds it tighter and then let go after a millisecond.

I stifle a smile and scratch the back of my head as I am feeling a little shy.

She stands there quietly as she looks around, waiting for me to say something else.

I cough a little before saying the words I don't wish to say so soon, "Uhm, Monique..I think...I might have to go now. It's getting quite late n-now."

She makes an "o" shape with her lips and nods lightly. "Well..then I guess I've to go now." She smiles with her teeth but that's not a genuine smile. I can tell.

Her eyes wander around but not looking at me. She's not moving except that she is constantly swaying her body a little.

"Uh.. Monique?" I call out after observing her for a while.

She looks back at me with her eyes gleaminh a little. Her eyes are beautiful.

"Yes?" She asks me softly.

"Have you had your dinner yet? Maybe.. w-we can have dinner t-to-together. If y-you don't m-mind." I stutter. This is rather embarrassing. I hope she doesn't find me weird.

Her eyebrows arch up and her eyes open a little wider than before.

She looks surprised. Is this too fast for us? I mean, we have barely known each other but I am asking her out for dinner.

"Well, sure. I...guess?" She replies cutely with her right shoulder lifts up slightly.

Did she just say yes? Oh my! I need a round of applause guys. Please.

"Really?" I ask a little too excitedly.

She chuckles girlishly and nods as she blinks her eyes a little longer than usual.

"Well...let's go to..uhm.. do you like burgers?" I ask her as an idea pop in my head.

All she does is giving me a firm nod and that is to die for. I grin widely and wave Kim to come over.

She gives me a teasing smile. I assume she kind of knows what is going to happen since she was standing rather close to us just now.

"My treat anyway, Monique." I smile as we stroll to take the bus to our destination.

"You're really nice, Ellie." She says as we walk side by side.

I peep at her when she is not looking at me. She's really beautiful. I hope we can be friends.

"Is there something on my face again?" I jump up when she asks me. I can see that she is stifling her smile.