hello. im back. so sorry.
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SPRING BREAK
friday ¬ march 25, 2016
There was another party.
It was Spring Break; a party, or two, was inevitable. This time, the party was at an apartment. And once again, Ella made the mistake of attending—just to ease out everybody's thoughts of her being the 'mysterious' girl who disappeared for a whole year with no traces left behind. She was keen on the drinks, though, making sure that she wasn't going to get drunk again.
"Are you sure you don't wanna...go meet a guy?" Alice asked, her attention on the boy at the other side of the room instead of her best friend, who had hung onto her side since they both walked through the door. "Like, don't you want to have fun? Meet some new people? Play some beer pong, or make out with—"
"You're free to leave me." Ella said, rolling her eyes at her best friend's obvious want for the boy at the other side of the room. She decided to free Alice, just because she had been restricting her friend for over an hour already. She felt bad.
"Oh, thank god. Thanks, Ella!" Alice left, quickly getting lost in the crowd of people. Ella was alone—feeling awkward and out of place. She wasn't the same person she was a year ago; she matured due to reasons of having to set a good example, and her party animal shut down.
She wanted to leave.
"Hey, Cameron." Ella greeted tentatively as Cameron passed by her. To her surprise, he stopped walking and turned to her. The scowl on his face didn't surprise her, though.
"Ella Rose," he said, stepping towards her. The music wasn't too loud, but they had to raise their voices a little. "You know, Shawn has been telling me and the other guys about your guys' encounters; he's been telling us everything that goes on between you two. Let me just say...you're pathetic."
Her chest ached. "I-I know, Cameron," she said, avoiding his eyes just in case she was going to she tears. "But you have to believe me when I say it was for a good reason."
"You left him on New Years with a note—and you didn't even explain why!" Cameron raised his voice. "He loved you so much, Ella. You broke him...bad. Of course he feels nothing but hatred now, and so do we, but he was in love with you. And I don't know what your plan is, for showing up in his life all of a sudden and trying to fix things, but you have to stop. All you're doing is making things worse."
With that, Cameron gave her one last stink eye before leaving her alone, joining the party with a frown upon his face.
Suddenly feeling chilly, Ella hugged herself tightly. She felt sick, hating the song playing and the volume it was playing at. So she turned on her heel, heading out the door.
A cool breeze hit Ella immediately when she exited the apartment building. She walked down the nearly empty sidewalk, still hugging herself. She came to a halt at a bus stop bench, sitting down on it—since she rode with Alice to the party, and she didn't want to end Alice's fun by wanting to go home.
Once Ella sat down, she began to cry. She had been strong ever since she showed up in Shawn's life—only having her eyes brimmed with tears, never really crying—but the painful feeling in her chest was too much to bear.
Her tears were steady, and she didn't sob, but the pain was still depicted. She cried for a while, ignoring the world around her—until her surroundings weren't so safe to ignore.
A few moments later after she sat down, a man slowly approached her premises, his attire plain black. Due to the darkness, Ella couldn't identify what he looked like—but the vibes he gave was enough to make her shiver in fear and scoot a little bit away, stiffening in her seat.
"Excuse me, little girl," the man said, as he approached Ella.
Red flag, A thought struck Ella's mind. He called you "little girl" when you're not a little girl.
By then, the tears on Ella's face dried up, a new feeling struck her body. Fear.
She looked around, but to her misfortune, the sidewalk was empty—no one was walking close by. She was technically alone with the stranger.
"Yes?" Ella replied to the man, voice wavering.
The man grinned, stuffing his hands into his large coat. "I heard that the bus wouldn't be stopping by until about three hours from now."
"O-oh?"
"Yeah. So...you know, I don't want you to stay out here alone waiting for the bus to drive you home."
Ella swallowed. "How nice of you, sir, but I'll be fine."
The grin on his face vanished, and he furrowed his eyebrows. "I don't want you to wait three hours for the bus to arrive. How about I drive you home instead, yeah? My car is right over there, and you wouldn't be a trouble—"
"Excuse me, sir," Someone else interrupted the stranger—someone familiar. Shawn. He was behind the man, and he tapped him on the shoulder, pushing him to the side slightly so Ella was in his sight. "Sorry to interrupt, but she's with me. Now come on, Ella."
Shawn sent Ella a grim look—one that made Ella stand up immediately and gather her belongings quickly. With one final look towards the disappointed man, Ella followed Shawn down the road, towards his parked car in front of the apartment.
Without a word, Shawn opened the passenger door, and Ella hopped in, watching Shawn go to the driver's side and hop in, as well. He started the car and began driving.
Ella tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear. "Thank you, Shawn."
Shawn shifted in his seat. "No problem." He grumbled, glancing at the girl beside him. He noticed her dried up tears and the fear in her eyes, and he quickly turned back to the front before his anger rose to the point where it was shown. "You should be careful next time. Predators like to use their victim's tears and fear as a motivation."
Briskly, Ella wiped any more evidence of her crying from her face. "That wasn't because of the ma—" She shut up, knowing that she would have to explain herself further if she claimed that she wasn't crying because of her almost-kidnapped situation.
Although Shawn felt obliged to ask what had bothered her, he kept silent, his jaw clenched.
"So, where am I dropping you? Home?" Shawn questioned, not noticing Ella tensing up in her seat.
"Home?" She repeated, shaking her head. "Uh...no, actually. My parents aren't home. They're, uh, out on a date. I was supposed to have a sleep over with Alice, but she's still at the party I left."
"And you left her, why?"
"Because, uh, I wasn't feeling well, and I wasn't going to ruin her spring break for my problems."
Shawn nodded, staying quiet for a while. Then he spoke again, "Was the party nice?"
"Didn't you see it for yourself?"
He shook his head. "The moment I parked, I saw you and went to you. Wasn't able to even enter."
"Oh. I'm sorry."
"Don't apologize, Ella. You don't have to. Like I said before, I have morals. I'm not going to allow someone to kidnap you." Shawn asserted, and after a couple seconds of no one saying anything, he said, "I'll take you to my place. You have nowhere else to stay."
Ella thought about it, not minding the plans at all, but Cameron's words hadn't left her system yet.
You have to stop.
"No, Shawn, it's fine. Really. There's a Starbucks close by here. You can drop me off there, and I'll wait until Alice is finished partying there." Ella assured, and Shawn didn't reply.
After a while of silent driving, they were nearing the Starbucks Ella was talking about. She readied for him to park, but all Shawn did was drive past it nonchalantly, as if he never heard Ella's plans come out from her mouth.
"My place." He only stated, and this time, Ella didn't respond with a protest. She only sighed quietly, pulling out her phone and texting a brief message to Alice about her leaving the party and getting a ride from someone.
The ride to Shawn's place remained silent. Instead of trying to strike up a conversation, Ella sat quietly in her place, resting her head on the window for support of her tired self.
"C'mon." Shawn mumbled, nudging Ella out of her sleepy state once he parked his car on the driveway of his house.
Ella followed Shawn into his house, suddenly feeling awkward and tense. She followed Shawn's actions and removed her shoes, as well, placing it neatly to the side. She looked around the dark area as Shawn, who was behind her, shut the door closed and locked it.
When she turned around to ask a question, she was suddenly shoved against the wall by a strong force, and the strong force pushed his body against hers. Ella's eyes were wide, surprised—but the more shock was heightened when she suddenly felt familiar lips on hers.
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oh shite.