Some Love was Made for the Lights

3: Pilot

A/N: Second chapter in less than two weeks?! I, too, am shocked. I'm aiming for a chapter every 1-2 weeks now. We'll see how that goes! 

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The music in the club was pounding against Ellie's skull as she squeezed between the masses of people crowding the stairs and finally pushed through the heavy metal door onto the rooftop patio. The music immediately cut away, and Ellie breathed a sigh of relief as the night air cooled her skin. The patio was practically empty, at least compared to the throngs inside, and she easily made her way to the picnic table furthest from the door.

"Hiya, my little country mouse!" Ruby practically shouted, getting up to give Ellie a messy, drunken kiss on the cheek. "You're back just in time," she said happily before dragging Ellie down onto the narrow slice of wooden bench between her and Owen.

"Hi, Owen." Ellie smiled. "So glad you could make it! Sorry about this," she added, shoving Ruby over a bit so that she was no longer half sitting on Owen's lap.

"That's okay, I can—" Owen moved over to give her more space.

"Come on, it's fine, we can squish," she said, tugging him back towards her so that his butt wasn't hanging off the end of the seat. He smiled a little and then turned his attention back to pulling the label off his beer bottle in tiny little strips.

"What am I back just in time for?" Ellie asked Ruby, but she was busy handing out drinks from the tray Arlo had just brought back from the bar. 

"Hey, Barnes," Arlo said, smiling across the table and placing a shot directly in front of her with a challenging eyebrow raise.

"Hey, yourself," she said back. He must have arrived with Owen while she had been in the bathroom. Not one to back down from a challenge, Ellie returned his stare and downed the shot.

"Heeey, we haven't started yet!" Ruby complained, uselessly placing her hands on Ellie's wrists, presumably to stop her from drinking any more. She didn't have another drink to start in on yet, anyway.

"Haven't started what?" Ellie asked again.

But Ruby clunked a tall, dark drink down in front of Ellie and just said "wait this time." 

 "Never have I ever," Owen said, on her right. 

"Pardon?" Ellie asked, leaning closer to hear him. 

"That's what you're just in time for. They want to play Never Have I Ever," Owen said neutrally.

"Oh," Ellie said, making a face. 

"I know," Owen said. He seemed a bit relieved to have found an ally, and made the same face right back. 

Judging by the conversation Ruby forced Ellie to have while they pre-drank at her place earlier, Ellie knew exactly where Ruby was likely to steer the game: towards Arlo, and his admittedly very kissable lips (among other body parts). She glanced at Arlo across the table and snuck a gulp of her rum and coke.

"Okay, okay, I'm starting!" Ruby announced. "Never have I ever...had a crush on Arlo Fletcher-Pine," she said, and looked pointedly at Ellie. Next to her, Ellie felt Owen tense. 

Despite what was perhaps advance warning on how this night would go, Ellie still felt her whole face heat up as she blushed. May as well brazen through it, she thought. She rolled her eyes and primly took a sip of her drink. Someone at the table snickered.

"Whatever, it's just a harmless crush!" she said, maybe a bit too defensively, and carefully avoided making eye contact with Arlo. 

Remembering him tense up, Ellie turned to look questioningly at Owen as the game started up again, but he was totally focused on brushing his label scraps into a tiny mountain.