Ass(ets)

the second coming

It was a tale of boy meets girl. Girl meets best-friend of said boy. All hell began.

Three lives became intertwined over and over again. Three lives blurred the lines between love, friendship and hatred. Three lives became inextricably linked until there came a breaking point. Each life began to break away until only the memories of what they once shared linger.

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Time: sometime later
Location: University - Ella eventually attended after encouragement from both the hot coastguard she'd met in Greece and a female stripper she'd met in Vegas (she'd given her this, and other, life advice while upside down on a pole and Ella had never forgotten it)

Ella is in a lecture hall heading for a door. She lets the professor through the door first and as she steps through into the hall a voice pulls her back. She's standing in the frame of the door. She's standing in the in-between. She looks back at a boy she'd noticed on the first day of class. He asks her if she'd like to grab a coffee together. Pre-James she would have jumped at the chance to do so, but now she is more hesitant and cautious with her heart.

"How platonic is this coffee?" She asks.

"So platonic that the milk and sugar won't even hold hands." He quips back.

"And if I wanted it to be more than platonic?" Ella asks smiling.

"I'm sure they could be coerced into a little scandalous hand holding." He says with an outstretched palm.

She reaches for him and they stroll hand in hand.

There's a moment where he's a pace ahead of her and he turns back to look at her. It's a gesture that he cares before he slows to match her walk.

The moment reminds her of a boy she once knew. A boy who cared about her almost a lifetime ago. But now he is a distant memory.

She has begun again and is slowly finding her way forward. The boy beside her could one day mean almost the world to her. Or he could simply be a boy she once drank coffee with.