Lexington And Fifth

Chapter 2: Theft

Ella was in good spirits when she entered her dorm room with her best friend in the whole world, Nina Thompson. The holidays had arrived, which meant soon she'd be leaving the campus and spending her time on vacation in Hawaii with Nina and her family. Ella's parents had been absent for most of her life, having thrown her to the mercy of her nannies as a child and eventually alone when she was a teenager. Having made their fortune in several startup internet companies, Ella's parents had been genius's with finances but were clueless as far as parenthood was concerned.

So having been alone most her life, she'd found herself thriving in college, having befriended and bonded with people like Nina and her other friends, Kate Saunders, Greg Simpson, and Raymond Decker. However, the most incredible relationship she'd developed in college had been with Andrew Ingram.

Andrew had stirred feelings up inside of her that she never knew existed before. She didn't know it at that moment, but she felt like she was falling for him. They shared so much in common, shared pieces of themselves that no one else could possibly understand, and were practically inseparable. Yet her affection for him had yet to stir him into action. She knew he was shy, yet she was getting ready to finally take the initiative and pursue him herself, shedding the gender norms and opting to ask him out herself.

Ella was thinking about this when she and Nina plopped onto her bed, talking about their last Creative Writing class of the semester and making plans for the holidays.

"When we get to Hawaii, we have to get some shaved ice. There's this place in Honolulu that is just delicious," Nina was saying now.

"That sounds great. Then we have to hit the beach. I've hear the waters there are as blue as the sky itself."

"It's more beautiful than you can imagine."

"I can't wait," Ella exclaimed, standing up and walking over to where she'd thrown her purse. She began to rummage through the bag, and then a puzzled look spread across her face.

"Hey Nina, have you seen my phone?"

"You're phone? No, why?"

"I wanted to text Andrew and see if he wanted to meet up for dinner tonight. There's something I wanted to ask him."

"Ooh, that sounds ominous. What's so important it can't wait till after the break?"

"I think...I think I'm going to ask him out," Ella blurted, hardly able to contain her excitement.

"You're kidding? Andrew?" Nina asked, dumbfounded and unable to comprehend who Ella intended to ask out.

"Hey, I know you guys tease me a lot, but he's the most kind hearted, intelligent and like-minded person I've ever met. I think I'm falling for him, but he's too shy a person to make the first move, so I want to let him know how much he means to me. I can't do that without my phone though, so have you seen it?"

"Um..." Nina began to squirm on the bed, clearly uncomfortable.

"Nina, what's wrong?"

"Nothing, nothing's wrong."

"Nina, you are a beautiful and intelligent person, but you are a terrible liar. Spill it."

"They made me promise..."

"Who? The other guys? What'd they do now?"

"I'm sorry Ella. I told them it wasn't a good idea, but if I'd known you liked him this much, I would have fought harder."

"Oh god, what'd they do?"

"They took your phone...and they set Andrew up on a fake date with you. They're going to humiliate him as a prank."

"Where?"

"At that Mexican restaurant on Lexington and Fifth."

"Come on, we need to stop them. This'll crush Andrew."

Too worried about Andrew and what might happen to him if she didn't stop this cruel joke, Ella pushed her feelings aside and bolted out of the room with Nina, determined to stop her asshole friends from ruining Andrew's life.