Nell looked super cute in her glasses, we were spending the day at her mum both of us clearing our schedule as much as we could to be here. She only had online classes to do and I had a few emails to answer. I had no clue she wore glasses until I rolled over this morning as she was laid in bed with her laptop with them on.
Currently, we were laid downstairs on the sofa we were laid in a Ying Yang symbol on the sofa both had our laptops rested on the other person's feet. Cassie was laid on the floor beside us doing her homework and occasionally she'd ask one of us for help. I was glad she was over being mad at me. I hated to think she hated me. I nudged my foot to get Nell's attention she was frowning hard at her screen and her lip was between her teeth as she concentrated. "Hmm?" She said not looking away from her screen. "You okay, Bug?" "Yeah, concentrating." She says softly.
Yesterday was the appeal and she had been a little quiet since coming out of court hence the reason we stayed at her mum's place. Despite her not liking hugs she walked straight into her mum's arms last night and stayed there for a long while. "Girls lunch." Her mum called us. "Two minutes," Cassie called back furiously typing on her keyboard. I finished up my email before sending it and Nell was still frowning at her screen. "Bug? Take a break." She looked at me and smiled the frown dissolving quickly. I smiled back at her and she closed the laptop and we both got up following Cassie into the kitchen to get our lunch.
Jr and Tony came in just as we were sitting down with our food so Anna got up to plate the boys some food and then we all sat down. "So how's life?" Jr asked when everyone was quiet. "I have a big gig," Nell says casually and I smirked already knowing what it was and I was incredibly proud of her for achieving this. "Any more information on that one Nelly?" Her mum asked looking at her with an almost proud smile gracing her lips as she shares things about her lifef unprompted. "Oh... Right." She tucked her hair behind her ear and sat up straight before putting more food in her mouth. Tony went to say something but her mum silenced him with a look giving Nell the chance to adjust to this sharing thing. We all ate. "I'm going to be a backstage Photographer at fashion week in Paris." She says as casually as she could but I caught the smile on her lips before she pushed more food in her mouth.
Everyone just paused not expecting her to say that, or anything. I think they half expected her to just ignore the requests she's probably done that before it wouldn't surprise me if I'm honest. "Nelly Bear!" Her mum exclaimed. "That's amazing!" She clapped her hands together. "The twins will be there so it'll be cool." "It's cool because you're there, Honey." She shrugged. "Proud of you sis." Jr and Tony said in unison. She looked at me and I took her hand knowing she was uncomfortable she scrunched her nose up at me cutely. "So Paris Fashion week! Can I come?" Cassie asked. "You can not because it's in term time and you've missed enough tie off school," Nell said teasing her. "When did you hear the news?" "Oh, Valentine's day." She says everyone laughed. "What?" "Thanks for holding out on us." Jr joked with her. "I was with her when she got the news and I found out last night when we were planning our schedules," I say.
"I was wondering if I could take Dad's camera." She says looking at her mum. "Of course honey." Her mum answered quickly. "Thanks." She says before going back to eating. "Lizzie starts filming soon." She says shifting the attention. "Where are you filming?" "What are you filming?" "Is Wanda going to die?" "Is Brie single?" "Brie is not single." Nell answers her brother. "I'll be in LA filming for a while but then Atlanta for the most part. It's for a Marvel project. Wanda is Wanda." I say answering the questions that were fired at me. "I got my job back in Washington." "What!" Nell says stopping what she was doing looking at Tony wide-eyed and with a proud smile. "I have to get my 30-day chip and I can go back." "That's amazing! You should've started!" Nell was proud of him, it was the first genuine smile she had given her brother in months. "Thanks, Nelly." "I got on the honour roll," Cassie says. "Yeah, you did!" Nell high five her. "I plagiarised your paper to get there though." "My paper?" "It was on the computer the one about The Scarlet letter." "I got a B on that paper." "Well, I got an A+." "Rude." "Stop stealing your sister's work." The girls giggled finding it funny. "My team looks good for winning the championship... Will you all be there?" "When is it?" I asked. "March 9th." "I'm in Paris," Nell says pouting. "I'm in Paris also," Cassie said. "You will not be in Paris and no sweet-talking your sister," Mum says firmly. "It's a once in a lifetime opportunity." "I'm sure your sister will have plenty of other opportunities for you," Annabella said dismissing her. "Lizzie if your free it would be great if you could make it." "I'm in Paris with your sister." "No, you're not," Nell said pulling a face. "I got an invite to a few of the shows. Plus my sisters show." I say to her. She smiled and then looked away from me. "Whipped," Tony says. Nell must have kicked him under the table as their legs started to fly around. "Ow, that was my leg," I complain. Nell kicked extra hard at Jr who lifted his leg up and held it. "Ow!" He complained. "Be more careful of my girlfriend then." "Ow Tony" Cassie complained holding her leg. Nell gave him a warning look before he quickly apologised to Cassie. She was only joking of course.
"Enough children. I thought you grew out of that." Annabella teased them. After lunch we lazed about in the lounge going back to our work, when I finished I moved Nell's Laptop and she looked up at me. "Lay with me," I say opened my arms she moved to lay against my chest and I sat her laptop back on her legs my arms resting on her upper stomach. I ended up moving them to under her jumper and rubbing her soft skin whilst she focused.
Jr and Tony were sat with Cassie now helping her and Anna went to the store to check on a few things before she starts with dinner. I was bored and I wanted attention from my insanely hot girlfriend. "Are you nearly done?" I whispered to her. "Almost, Princess." "I want kisses," I say before pressing my lips to behind her ear. "Soon, I promise." She says her fingers hesitated before she began typing quickly again. I planted kisses down her neck, knowing she wasn't finished when she closed her computer. "We're going to take a nap," Nell announced as she pulled me up. I looked down at my feet smirking to myself. We leave our laptops downstairs as we walk calmly to the stars once out of view we ran up the two flights of stairs completely out of breath when we reached her room but I still pushed her against the door and kissed her hungrily. Her hand rested on my hips squeezing slightly when I moved from her lips to her neck. "Baby." She said breathlessly. "Yes, Angel," I say back innocently she took her glasses off and threw them to the side before reconnected our lips and walking me back to the bed, when my knees hit it she pushed me to lay down.
She trailed kisses down my neck to my collar bones flashbacks from our first time running through my mind and I bucked my hips up at the thought. "We have to be quiet." She told me and I nodded understanding. I tugged at the hem of her jumper wanting it off. She allowed me to take it off her, she had a lacey bralette on underneath. "Your turn." She said flipping us over and pulling my top off. Her eyes ran up and down my body. "You're so beautiful, baby." She said looking me in my eyes. We continued to make out for a while my hands slipped into her waistband and my heart began to beat a little faster. I was about to make a fool of myself. Our hips were already rocking in sync with each other creating pleasure for ourselves. I could do this. Scarlett said it was like doing it with yourself. I know how to do that. Right?
Nell laid under me looking perfect her eyes fluttering slightly but before I could do anything she switched our positions and began kissing down my body. "OH MY GOSH! I'm sorry." Jr's voice pierced the air and we both froze our movements. Nell laid her body on top of mine her face hiding in my tummy my hands loosening their grip on her hair going to cover my reddening face. If we stayed upstairs he'd think we were still so we had to come downstairs.
"Cold shower?" Nell coughed sitting up. "Yeah," I say, letting her pull me up. We both showered and changed before going downstairs. I blushed immediately and put space between Nell and me as we walked into the room. We sat on opposite sides of the sofa eyes glued to the TV. I could feel Jr's gaze shifting between us and we made eye contact before looking down. You could cut the tension in this room with a knife. It was suffocating and I wanted to disappear. "Can we go to the beach? I want to go paddleboarding." "Is your homework done?" Tony asked her. "Yeah." "Then yeah, we can go. I'll get the boards out." "Yes!" "Nell, Lizzie are you coming?" "Um, yeah sure," I answer for us as Nell was stuck in a trance. Tony left and Cassie left to change leaving the three of us in the room.
"I'm so sorry," Jr says. "Knocking is a thing you know," Nell says. "I thought you were napping, I didn't want to wake you." He defended. "Why come up to my room at all?" I sat awkwardly as they spoke, Nell's cheeks were very red from embarrassment. "I just... I needed the speaker."
"Did I ruin the mood?" He says sheepishly. "Oh my gosh! Stop." Nell whined covering her face. "I didn't know you were a top." "ROBERT!" She scolded as he teased. "I had you down as a pillow princess." She threw a cushion at him. "Pillow princess?" I questioned out loud. "Nothing, sweetie," Nell says to me sweetly. "Did you-" "Finish that question or any other question then I'll tell mum where you still hide your pot." "Consider this over." She nodded and he left to change.
"Pillow Princess?" I questioned. She smiled at me. "You're so innocent. I love it." She said with an amused smile on her lips. "Tell me," I whined moving closer to her holding onto her arm. "A pillow princess is someone who enjoys receiving more than giving." She says not making me feel dumb as she explained the simple term to me. "Are you?" She shrugged, I chewed my lip. "I have been but I like making you feel good." She whispered leaning in sending shivers down my spine. "Hearing you was the best." She whispered kissing me. "Seeing you like that." She bit my bottom lip and my breath hitched as I chased her lips to connect them climbing on her lap keeping our bodies close. "I want to make you feel good too," I tell her. "I want to try." "Yeah?" I nodded looking at her. "I'd like that." She kissed me again. "Sorry." Jr interrupted us. "Nothing was happening." We both called at the same time. "Creepy." She said moving me from her lap to stand up.
We changed and then met everyone on the beach, the boards were laid out by the shore. "Can I come with you again?" I asked holding her forearm. "Yeah." She answered easily as she tied her hair up. I chased Cassie around with suncream and then Nell dove in the water to avoid me. "Eleanor!" I scolded. "Come get me." She teased swimming away. "You're dating a child, congratulations," Tony says as we watched Nell swim over to the rocks. "Nell! Careful!" Jr called to her when she pulled herself up on the slippery surface. She climbed to the ledge as I kept applying suncream to Cassie and then to myself.
"ELEANOR!" Jr warned her seeing her edging forward on the ledge. She was looking down at the water. "She looked over at her she was quite far away, fast swimmer. She backed up to the rock wall behind her before running and jumping off the edge, she flipped in the air before entering the water perfectly making a small splash. "I want to try." "No," I say holding her shoulder. "Why not? Nell did it?" "Nell is a psychopath," I say. "She's fun." "NELL! Can I try?" Cassie called out when Nell resurfaced. "No!" She swam back to us and I caught her and covered her exposed body in suncream she squirmed around under my touch. "Why not?" "The rocks are slippery you might fall and hurt yourself." "You did it." She protested. "I'm an adult and pay my own medical bills." "You're unfair." "No, I'm not, I'm keeping you safe." "Cant I go up with you?" I shot Nell a look and then she looked towards her old brothers. "Talk to them." She said backing up and getting the board ready for us pushing it into the water.
"You're not going up there, End of. Nell shouldn't have been up there in the first place." Tony says half scolding his sister. "Mums told her a million times." She pulled a face behind his back before waving me over. I knelt on the board and she pushed it out before climbing up and paddling us, the others joined, I laid down my legs in the water my fingers skimming it as we moved.
"Princess." I looked up shielding my eyes from the sun. "Angel?" I say back. "I love you." She said sweetly. "I love you," I say back to my cheesing girlfriend. "I want to go with Lizzie." Cassie requested. "Lizzie doesn't do anything, why would you want to be with her?" "Rude," I say back to Nell sitting up slightly to look at her resting on my elbows. "Well, why do you want to be with her?" "She's nice to look at." I kicked her legs and she fell into the water. She didn't resurface right away like she normally did and I sat up quickly looking around her for and then the board tipped and I was in the water.
I clung to her quickly. "You're okay." She said softly. "It's not that deep here." I still held her. "Trust me?" I nodded. "Hold your breath." I frown. "Trust me." She said again so I held my breath and she held onto me taking me under the water, I opened my eyes as we sunk down the water was clear and I looked down to see Nell's feet were on the sea bed, I unwrapped my legs still holding onto her and set my feet down. She bent her knees before kicking off and swimming to the surface, we weren't that deep at all. I took a deep breath when we resurfaced. "See, I wouldn't have pushed you off otherwise." I nodded readjusting my body against hers she kissed me before swimming me over to the board that Tony was holding on to so it didn't float away. I climbed up with her help, she was a really strong swimmer she never panicked as I did. I was a strong swimmer but I wasn't confident in deep waters. Plus other stuff. "Paddle floated away." Cassie points and Nell goes back under the water swimming away to get the paddle, when she got it she came right back and swapped Cassie onto my board and she climbed on her own board.
Cassie was just as good as Nell so I still felt safe. I would look over at Nell from time to time as she was paddling around talking with her brothers and us. She looked so strong stood there, her abs tensed helping her keep her balance her arms tensing every so often as she dragged the water. We were out here for a while and we probably would have stayed out longer if Anna didn't call us to shore for dinner. We sat on the large rocks and ate together. The sun would be setting soon. The others went inside. "Take these," Nell said to Tony holding out our dishes. "We can take them," I say to her. "No, we're going back out." I frowned. She jumped off the rock and helped me down before leading me over to the paddleboard she didn't put away when everyone else did. "It's going to get dark." "Don't worry about it." She says. I lay my arm over my stomach feeling bloated after dinner and being in a bikini when she still looked like a supermodel just wasn't fair. We went back in the water and the paddle lay beside her as she sat her feet in the water, I copied her and moved slowly sitting beside her, her arm wrapped around me and we watched the sunset as the sky erupted in beautiful colours we floated on the calm sea, small waves moving us around.
"This is lovely," I say laying my head on her shoulder. "Sorry about my brother." "It was my fault, I shouldn't have." "He should have knocked." She cut me off so I couldn't blame myself. "Nell?" "Yeah." "If I tell my dad, will you be there?" "Yeah, of course." "You have to promise not to leave me because he's not nice and he might say some things and I can't lose you because of that." "I promise." She didn't hesitate. I held her hand tighter spinning her ring around.
"Don't tell anyone." "I won't." I was embarrassed about how she found out well that she found out at all. I managed to hide it for years and no she knew and she just wanted to protect me from him. "It's not that bad." "He's your dad, it shouldn't be bad at all."
When the sun had completely set we paddled back to shore, I had ago but we went in the wrong direction so Nell took over and we got back quickly. She sent me inside so I would stay warm and she cleaned and put the board away.
I was getting out of the shower when she came up she seemed happier than last night which made me happy. "Showers free," I say holding my towel tighter. "Thanks." She pecked my cheek and went in. I went into her draw to grab some socks my feet were cold. There was a frame in the bottom of the draw so I pulled it out.
"What are you doing?" Nell asked and I jumped at the sound of her voice. "I was looking for socks." "That's not a pair of socks." She says taking it from me and pushing it back into the draw not even looking at it. "Nell, I didn't been to snoop." "It's fine." "Who is it?" "Lizzie." She grabbed clothes and left. I got it back out and looked at it. They looked like they were really close, both so happy. I don't see Nell smile like that all too often, she smiles she's happy but not like that. She came back into the room and I was still looking at the picture. She was going to be annoyed with me. She wouldn't come over to me. "Nell?" "I just don't want to see it." She said sitting on the bed. "Who is it?" "Ria... The day we moved into our dorm." She says softly not giving me any eyecontact.
"Do you have other photos?" She nodded. "Can I see them?" "Why?" "You're happy." "Yeah, I was." "Are you happy now?" "I am." "But you don't smile like that." "When Ria died she took a piece of me and I'm not the same person I was. I never will be. That girl in the photo doesn't exist anymore. She got out of bed and went to her desk and pulled out a scrapbook and handed it to me. I put the picture away and sat down with the book.
FOREVER Nelly Poo And Ria Pee-a
Was written on the front of it in unfamiliar handwriting. I opened the first page and it was of two toddlers, one brunette and one blonde. Wow. They were have been friends forever. The pages were full of pictures and writing from two different people. One was Nell's. It had stories and dates written beside the photos. And messages to each other.
She looked happy in every single one even when she was drunk I could see she was happy and having a good time. There were pictures of them on stage together in their ballet uniform. One stage for plays, they were photos from Christmas so professional photos. Some selfies. I went through the whole book. Ria was singing and Nell was playing the guitar. So that's packed away because it reminds her of Ria along with her dance stuff.
There was a photo of Nell's Dad and the two girls sitting on his lap they looked to be around the same age as Cassie and there was third handwriting underneath. My darling daughters, Ria and Nell you are my angels sent to brighten up my day. Your friendship is beautiful and the joy and happiness you bring to everyone's lives are so special. You are extraordinary people and you'll go far in life no matter what you decide to do. You are destined for great things. Keep the smiles on your faces, keep your bond strong. Stand by each other's sides hold each other's hands through testing times supporting and loving each other just as you have done since you were 3 and Nelly Poo was too scared to go into class for the first time. You're such kind souls and I can't wait to see what you do in the future. I'm proud of you both. Love Daddy AKA Papa Hastings. I smiled at her message from her dad, I turned the page and there was another message from her mum and on the next must-have been Ria's parent's messages all of the gloating about how amazing their friendship is and how happy they are and how smart and caring they both were.
I wipe my face dry after reading them. On the final page was graduation and the pair had written messages to each other expressing their sisterly love and endless support they had for one another, both of them excited about going to college and rooming together. How excited they were for the summer shows and their future. They had plans to set up a theatre school... They were both doing their degrees in it at college.
I closed the scrapbook and looked towards Nell who was ignoring me on her phone. I put it away where she got it from pulling the files over the top of it so she wouldn't see it when she opened the draw. "Nell?" "Yeah?" She said looking towards me. "I'm sorry you lost your person." She looked at me blankly I honestly thought she was going to ignore me. "Me too." She said simply before pulling the sheets back inviting me into the bed.
Tomorrow we were going home to pack and get my house ready to be left for a few weeks as I was going from NYC to Paris and then NYC for an extra week before I got to LA to start filming. "Thank you for showing me that," I whispered as I cuddled next to her. "She would have liked you." "You think?" I asked looking up at her. "Yeah, you were her celeb crush." She chuckled. "I was?" I asked shocked. "Well Ashley was and then when you got older you were." "Who was yours?" She smirked before scrunching her nose. "Do I know them?" "Very well." "Scarlett?" "You, you idiot." "Me?" "When you did the silent house. From then." She chuckled. "You watched that?" "Yeah. I am a fan you, dork." "I would never have guessed." "That's because I'm super cool." We both laughed loudly before covering our mouths as people were getting ready for bed. "You never told me." "Because it's weird." I shrugged. "You didn't show any signs." "I was more concerned about your wellbeing than telling you I was a huge fan." "Awe, aren't you considerate," I said teasingly. "Go to Cassie's room." She pushed me off her and I rolled back straight away. "So was you internally freaking out as you did with Scarlett." She shakes her head. "I was worried about you. I wanted to wrap you in a blanket and give you hot tea and comfort you." I pouted. "You're rare," I tell her. And she frowned. "Not everyone would care. You genuinely cared. People think I'm just happy all the time because I have this life." "You're human, I understand that. You're a normal person with a very public job that doesn't make you immune to pain or needing protecting and comforting." "I love you," I tell her. "I love you." "I got lucky with you huh." "And to think you could have gone into a different coffee shop that day." "I couldn't imagine my life without you," I whispered to her and she held me a little tighter in response not having the words to say anything. I laid my head back down and we enjoyed each other's proximity before falling asleep in each other's arms.