NELL'S POV
"Just try it." "I don't want to," I tell Scarlett. She invited me to her place to get ready and a few people were meeting us there. She hated me for a few minutes when I got back to New York but then I explained what actually happened and then she understood. She trying to get me to swap my trouser and crop top combo for a dress of hers. "Please." "Scarlett," I whined back. "For me? You ignored me for three weeks." "I thought we decided to blame Lizzie for that." "We did but you still have to make it up to me." She held the dress out again. "Fine but I'm not wearing it." I slip off the clothes I was planning on wearing and lay them neatly on the bed before slipping in the dress. I hold it up and turn to Scarlett and she zipped me in easily without my having to ask. "It fits perfectly." She gushed. "No." "Please." "No."
"I'm letting myself in," Lizzie called. Scarlett smiled widely. "In the bedroom!" She called back and Lizzie bad her way in as I tried to unzip myself whilst arguing with Scarlett. "You look amazing." "Too bad I'm not wearing it," I say going to Lizzie for help and she unzipped me. "Why not?" She asked as she did, she held the dress up. "This isn't even your size." She accuses Scarlett. "That's because I brought it for Nell and she's refusing to wear it." "Why would you do that." "It's your birthday and you refused to accept gifts." "Because I don't need them." "Well you need to wear something and the dress is a gift. It's rude not to wear it." Lizzie zipped me back up. "It looks good." She assured me.
I liked the dress, it was a nice dress it just felt expensive. And I don't want to ruin or break anything with a price tag that I can't afford to replace.
"You look good too," I tell Lizzie after having a second to pout. "Thank you for the dress Scarlett it's lovely." People started to arrive so Scarlett went downstairs. "I don't want to go." "Why?" "Because I don't know them." "But you'll get to know them." She tried. "It'll be like the thanksgiving party." "With a boy that Scarlett is trying to set me up with." "Yes but if it gets so bad just tell him your gay as you told me. It was pretty convincing." "Lizzie I am Bi." "See." "No, I'm serious." She froze. "Is that a problem?" My heart began to pound against my chest as I waited for some kind of response. "Of course not, I just thought you were teasing at the coffee shop." I shake my head. She smiled at me. Okay, we're fine. "Hunters coming." "Okay." "And I'll be there, the twins will be there." "Who else?" "Florence and she's bringing her sister she's your age." "Okay and?" "You'll like her I think. And then there's Becca coming." "What?" "We, MK, messaged her." "And you didn't tell me. No." "Nell." "No, I can't see her." "You was going to borrow her boyfriend's car." "Clearly I was lying so I could leave. I don't even think she has a boyfriend." "Well, she's coming." "Shit." "Hey, what's wrong?"
"It should have been me." "What?" "Who died it should have been me." "No, it shouldn't have." "We were in my car." "So." "I was meant to drive but I was on the phone with a Dad so she drove and then it happened. It was meant to be me driving I was the one it was meant to hit not her she should be here and everyone knows it including her sister." "Nell you can't think like that." "Ria hates driving, she hated it I drove everywhere. But that one time I didn't drive we got hit by a car that slipped on ice and it killed her. It should have been me." "Stop listening to what your brother said." "I'm not it's the truth so go tell her she can't come." "Nell, she wanted to come to see you."
"NELL! Becca is here." I closed my eyes and did a prayer that she would vanish and all will be okay. "ELEANOR! Get your but down here!" Scarlett called again. I left a hand on my forearm. "It's going to be okay." "What if it's not?" "I'll be there." I shake my head. "Trust me." I chewed my lip. "You're ruining your lipstick quit it." She scolded so I did and she tidied it up for me. "Eleanor Hastings! I know you can hear me." "We're coming," Lizzie called back. "It's going to be okay." She assured me again leading me out of the bedroom and down to where Becca is.
We stood looking at each other for a few minutes her eyes were glassy. This was a bad idea. I haven't spoken to her in years. "You grew up." She says with a shaky breath. I nodded. "I guess I did." And then I had a body thrown against me. I tensed for a few seconds not computing what was happening before realising she was hugging me so I held her loosely for a while. "I've really missed seeing you around, Eleanor." "Missed you too, Becca." We pulled apart. "You look amazing. I love the dress where did you get it?" "It was a gift," I say looking towards Scar. "You have good friends." "Yeah, I guess I do."
As more people arrived the music got turned up and we had a few drinks. Becca freaked out to me when the girls left us alone about how Scarlett Johansson and Elizabeth Olsen were throwing me a party. And How she was stood in her house. I didn't have the heart to tell her this place was a rental because Scarlett didn't want everyone ruining her house. I guess a few lamps got broken on ThanksGiving.
"Nell, this is my sister Raffie." "Hi." I greeted. "Hi." "You want a drink?" "Sure." I took her from Flo. "Do you find it crazy standing in a room full of celebrities and like important people." "Yeah." "Do you kind of hate it?" I looked at her and we both nodded chuckling. "I like you already." She says confidently. "I like you too." I make us both a drink and we go to the lounge to dance a little. "You having fun?" Lizzie asked me. "Yeah," I say still swaying my hips to the music. "Hi, Raffie," Lizzie said happily she's had a few to drink, if she was sober she would have either not come over or been a million times more awkward. "Hi. It's good to see you again."
"When are we heading out?" I asked Lizzie. As much as I was enjoying dancing in the lounge I wanted the whole club atmosphere to dance in. "Hunter is ordering cabs now. Trying to work out how many we need." She says I looked around.
"5," I say simply. "How did you." I shrugged Lizzie held up 5 fingers and I saw hunter nodding.
"I'll ride with you and your sister." "Yay, that means we can keep the party going." "Unfortunately cab drivers are extremely rude here so probably not." "In England, they so used to our drunk antics it doesn't even matter it's like a mini club on the way to the club." "Sound so much fun." We all gathered our things and headed out for the cabs that were pulling up.
"See you in a few." I hugged Lizzie and got her in a cab before jogging in heels to get in mine. "We good to go?" Flo asked and I nodded adjusting my dress as the cab pulled off. On the ride to the club, I found out that Raffie is as crazy and chaotic as her older sister and I was living for it. All the cabs pulled up at the same time and Hunter helped us out. "Thank you." "Happy Birthday." I smiled in response. "Tipsy?" "Maybe a little." We walked inside and was led to the VIP area. "Don't kill me." Scarlett defend as I took in the space, she had dressed it all for my birthday and there was a cake and champagne. "I'm 22," I say pointing at the balloons. "I know, I just thought since last year you didn't celebrate that this year we could rewind." "Make new memories." Lizzie chimed in. "Thank you." I smiled shyly.
The music was already loud and people were dancing and drinking already. I stood by the wall watching it all happen taking it in for a moment. Last year I was depressed and alone worried about a stranger and how she was doing and this year I'm with the goofy stranger at my birthday party with a bunch of important people. Who were my friends and I wasn't so sad? I watched Lizzie dance with her sisters completely carefree. I felt warm when I looked at her and her smile was enough to turn my day from a bad one to a good one.
"Hi. I'm Tom." "Nell." I shake the young boy's hand that he held out to me. "I've had a few to drink to get the courage to come over here so I hope you excuse the messiness of this greeting." I chuckled. "We're all messy here don't stress," I tell him he was still shaking my hand. I thought I had, had enough to drink. "Um, Tom?" "Yeah?" "Could I have my hand back?" I asked him and he stopped and looked down. "So sorry." "It's chill." "You have really soft hands." "Thanks." He blushed. I looked around to get someone to come over to break the tension everyone was too busy dancing. "How are you?" "I'm good thank you.' "Are you enjoying your party? This is super lowkey compared to our normal parties. Wait until you go to RDJ's parties then you'll really know what a party is." This is lowkey? We hired the top floor of a club and I'm in a prom dress. "I'm enjoying myself thank you. Are you having fun?" "Yeah, was a little nervous about it." "Don't be. I'm not scary. I'm the one that should be nervous meeting all of you guys." I point out. "I was the same when I met them too. Pretty girls make me nervous." I blushed he thought I was pretty. That's sweet.
"I didn't realise how tall you were from the pictures Scar showed me." "Scarlett showed you pictures?" "Yeah, to show me who you was. She also said you're super lowkey so I was surprised when you wanted to come here." "I mean Scarlett planned it all. With Lizzie, I believe. It was nice of them." He stumbled over nothing, we weren't even moving. I caught his hand so his drink didn't spill on my new and expensive dress. Good save, Nell. "RDJ is on his way." "What?" I felt all the warmth from my body float away. "Yeah, he's in town. He's going to come in with his wife." "Hold that thought," I tell Tom handing him my drink.
"I'm borrowing her," I tell the twins pulling Lizzie into the bathroom. "Woah are you okay?" She asked. "ROBERT DOWNEY JR is coming!" "Yeah." "I'm freaking out." "Why?" "Because I'm me and he's, he." "Oh my gosh! This is your no chill celeb moment." "Lizzie you have to tell him not to come. I've had way too much to drink for this. I can't do this. He can't come here. I'm freaking out. I need to go home. Yeah, go home before he gets here that way won't make a fool of myself." "Breathe!" She interrupts the string of words flowing streaming from my mouth. I breathe as she told me to. "I've never seen you like this." "Well with Scarlett it was internal and I was sober so I could keep it that way. And now I can't. Lizzie fixes it." I whined like a child stomping my foot a little. "Okay, okay. But you would have been fine." I shake my face. "He might already be on his way." There was a knock on the door. "RDJ is here." I slid down the wall onto the door. "Angel you will be fine." "I'm not moving from right here." "He's really sweet." "Nope." "Nell." "Lizzie, this is like the biggest deal to me, okay. He was my dad's favourite actor. Iron-man has been part of my life since I could see, ironman comics were my bedtime stories. You don't get it." "I get that you're tipsy and emotional." "Oh dare you." She just laughed at me.
"You will be fine." "Nope." "I'm going to say something stupid." "He's just another normal person." "The literal king," I say mocking Cassie and she laughs again. "Come on, you'll get your dress dirty down there." She pulled at my wrist but I made my body relax so she couldn't pull me up. "Nell, come on." "No, I'm scared." "I'll be with you." "What about Tom I completely abandoned him mid-conversation?" "We'll go fix that too." I let her pull me to my feet and she dusted my dress off fixing it.
"You ready?" "Do I look okay?" I asked her. "Perfect as always." "That's a lie because I look like a homeless teenager most of the time." "Still perfect to me." "Okay well is this homeless teenage perfect or real-life supermodel, RDJ meetable perfect?" She pecked my cheek. "Perfect." She whispered to me sending shivers down my spine. "You can't leave me okay." "Okay." She laced our fingers together.
"Finally what took you so long?" Scarlett asked pushing off the wall beside the door. "She had a moment but she's good now." Lizzie fills in. "Okay come on." Scarlett pulled my other wrist. "Robert, this is Eleanor Hastings." I internally cringe at the use of my full name. "I've heard a lot about you." He says and I smiled and shift on my feet. "It's nice to meet you. Thank you for coming." "Happy Birthday. Susan has your gift." "Oh, you didn't have to do that. We don't even know each other." "Well, a friend of the girls is a friend of mine." A weight hit my back and I stumbled forward his hands were the only reason I was still standing right now. He's holding me up. Oh my gosh. I stand up adjusting to the weight on my back. Who the hell is this? I look over my shoulder and see Raffie. "That's Robert Downey Jr." She says. "Yeah," I say also having the same freak out like her. "Oh my gosh. Hi. I'm-" "Florence's sister." "Yeah." "I could tell." "He knows who we are... I'm so sorry about that. I didn't think it was anyone important in front of her." She rambled. I wanted to dissolve into the floor. "Would you like a drink?" I asked pushing Raffie off my shoulders. I felt hands on my dress and I went to swat them away but I saw the tattoo and realised it was just Scarlett. "Scotch." "I'll get it," I said turning.
I kept mouthing 'oh my gosh' on repeat all the way to the bar. Tom! "Hi." I greet. "Hi, where did you go?" "Freak out by RDJ. He's like here at my birthday with his wife and I'm starstruck." "Not as bad as my first interaction with him. "A scotch and a sex on the beach please," I order when it was my turn. "Are you calm now?" "No." We both laughed. "Raffie jumped on my back without me knowing and I flew into him and he was the only reason why I didn't hit the floor." "Wow, saved you from embarrassment then." "And Raffie from a beating." We laughed some more. "You seem calmer yourself" "Two more drinks since your bathroom break." "Nice." I take the drinks and we walk over together.
"Here you go." I hand it over to him. "Bug?" I hand Lizzie the cocktail. She smiled widely. "You remembered." She praised. I just smiled at her. "Bug?" "I call it everyone." "Why?" Scarlett questioned. "My dad called it me, Lovebug, or cuddle bug and then it was shortened to Bug and we called it Cassie and then it got extended as a pet name to people we care about," I explain and then blushed and then got sad thinking about my dad before putting a smile on my face to hide it. "Oh, Tom found you." "Yeah." We both say sheepishly. "And?" Scarlett pushed. "She's super pretty, and funny. Her hands are soft when I first went over to her I was shaking her hand for like a solid minute and I didn't even realise I think my hands were sweaty but besides the point, hers were super soft. She's taller than I thought she would be. Like super tall. Did you say she was a model? She should model. Oh no, you said she took the photos a photographer right. Yeah. Want to go on a date when we're both sober and alcohol isn't affecting our freaking out brains?" He turned to me and I was stunned. "Um." She took RDJ's drink and downed it before pulling a face. "That is gross. How do you drink that? I'll go get you another one." He walked away.
"Nell?" "Um... What the hell just happened?" I asked. Everyone laughed. "I'm going to find MK." I walked away quickly. "We need to talk now!" I say firmly. "Sure, sure."
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LIZZIE'S POV
Nell went off with my sister for like an hour. I think they went up to the rooftop. When they came back down they went straight to the bar did a lot of shots before going to dance. She danced with Tom and with Raffie and I couldn't work out who she was interested in. I told her I would stay with her and she left me. How does that one work? I was with Scarlett and Ash though and still having fun. I just thought maybe I would be with the birthday girl more than I am now.
Most of the girls had dumped their heels in a pile in the corner and were now dancing bare feet but Nell kept hers on. I don't know how because she was complaining when we were at the house about how much her feet were hurting and that was hours ago. Maybe they're numb now. "You okay?" Ash asked. I nodded. "Stop watching her." She tells me spinning me around away from her. "I like her Ash." "I know, Lizzie." "When will it stop?" "I'm not sure. But you should be honest with her" "I freak out and I hide away and I hurt her. I can't just tell her." "But that's your choice to do that. Tell her and stay. Tell her you understand, she doesn't feel the same way and you don't want this to change." "But what's the point of telling her if I don't expect anything from her." "So she can spear your feelings." "What?" I turned and saw Raffie and her kissing. "Lizzie wait." I didn't think it would hurt so much. Ash pulled me back. "Look." "I don't want to watch that." "Just look." They were laughing at each other and the looking over Nell's shoulder, some creepy guy was trying to dance with her. "They were doing it to warn him off." She explained. "He shouldn't even be up here," I say not recognising him. He reached under Nell's skirt and she immediately jumped away and I went over there and shoved him.
"What the fuck!" A hand wrapped around my waist before I could go at him. I was fighting the grasp. "Hey, calm down. I'm okay." It was Nell. "Thank you for defending me." She whispered. I leant back on her chest and she kept her arms in place loosening them slightly as I relaxed. The guy was being escorted out and security was placed on the stairs. Her lips pecked my shoulder and I wanted nothing more than to freeze at the moment and relive it forever, it was a simple gesture but it felt so loving so calming. "Come dance with us." She turns me easily. "I think I'm going to head home." "No, you can't do that." She pouted. "Why?" "Because it's my birthday." "Technically." She gave me a warning look. "I'm tired and Ash's house is like 45 minutes away from here." "Then stay at the rental with Scar and me." 'Dance." Raffie whined resting her head on Nell's shoulder from behind. "I'm dancing." Nell chuckled leaving me once again and dancing.
"Where are you going come on." She said looking over her shoulder at me and making a grabby hand reach out to me. Tom gave me a little nudge and I was dancing with her. But only 30 minutes later she had, had enough and was sitting at the table swinging her legs back and forth. Robert and his wife were sat talking to her and she had this goofy smile on her face with a light blush. I admired her from afar for a while before going to get her to tell her we were leaving. She agreed easily and went to find her purse.
"She's a lovely young girl isn't she." Susan gushed. "She's great," I say smiling. "I like her. Are you bringing her to the annual charity ball?" Robert asked me. "Um. I haven't really thought about it." "Well it's not until November and she seems to carry herself well around us all." "She freaked out in the bathroom when she found out you were coming." "Better than screaming in my face." He noted and I chuckled.
The room was clearing out and Nell came over to me with my shoes and purse. "These are yours right?" She asked holding them out to me. "Yeah." I slip them on using her for my balance. "I'll think about it," I say to Robert. "The more the Merrier." He sings back to me before leaving whilst I put my shoes on.
A slower song came on the room was completely empty at this point, the lights were still off and the spotlight was moving around the dance floor. "I love this song." She says listening. "One last dance for the birthday girl." She takes my hand and leads me to the dance floor agreeing with me. She wrapped her arms around my waist and I rested mine on her shoulders and we swayed slowly to the song. It was by The 1975. It was a peaceful way to end the night. It was nice to have a moment of her undivided time too.
She took my hand and spun me out before pulling me back in so our chests were flushed. I slide my arms around her neck resting my head on her shoulder. This is what I wanted with her forever. She started singing "I think I'm falling." I look up at her. "I'm falling for you." I swallowed the lump in my throat as I gazed into her eyes slowly lifting my head up. I can't do this. I can't pretend this is platonic on my part. Was she leaning in? I felt her soft lips against mine and responded immediately, it was a slow kiss matching the pace of the song. We pulled away slowly our noses brushing against each other before she rested her forehead against mine keeping the proximity. My cheeks were no doubt bright red right now. I opened my eyes and she still had hers closed swaying us to the music. "Nell?" I whispered. "I'm sorry." She whispered back. "What was that?" She opened her eyes and leant up straight. "Exactly what it was." "A drunk kiss?" "No." "Then what?" I asked as we pulled away the song coming to an end. "You're the person I have feelings for." She wouldn't look at me. "What?" "Don't make me say it again." She begged finally looking at me. "You're drunk." "I stopped drinking two hours ago after the shots with MK." She noted. I saw her drinking after though... must have been water. Have I drank too much and now I'm hallucinating? I walked away from her confused as hell. "You're doing it again." She called. "What?" "Leaving." "I'm confused." "Sorry." She looked so vulnerable right now. "Hey, where were you? Cab's waiting." Scarlett said going over to Nell. "Lost my purse." She lied and let Scar link their arms together. "Are you staying with me?" She asked looking at me her eyes glazed over. "I'm going with my sisters tonight." "Okay." She let Scar pull her away she looked back at me before looking ahead again. I walked silently behind them and got in the cab with my sisters.
"So?" MK asked. "What?" "How was your evening?" "Good." She frowned. "Did you and Nell get a chance to talk?" Ash asked. "No." "Oh." "I'm really tired," I tell them not wanting to talk anymore. I had too much to figure out right now. The second we got in I went to my room and climbed in bed not even taking my dress off. I had too much shit to figure out. And fast.
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A/N- There second kiss and way more confusing feelings. Do you think they'll be able to figure out their feelings for one another? What will happen between Scarlett and Eleanor?