So this was how she ended up alone with Nate Archibald again— by telling him she had to use the bathroom. Not that that was a lie. She really, really did. The facilities upstairs had been jam packed with a line that extended twenty-some feet, so it only took one look at Ella's desperate expression and Nate had immediately suggested trying the restroom on the Spectator's floor.
Now, the operator that usually manned the controls being on his night off, they were in an elevator alone together, the first time they'd been so since the dinner party. It would have made Ella nervous if she could have stopped bouncing up and down.
"God damn it," She muttered. "I have the world's tiniest bladder."
Nate laughed. "Poor thing."
"It's a curse, Nate!" She insisted. "Is it just me or is this elevator slower than usual?"
"That's just you... and your bladder."
"Oh, hush," Ella rolled her eyes. "Tell me something interesting to distract me."
"Uh...the Patriots beat the Vikings 25 to 8 yesterday," he supplied. It had been a hell of a game too, but he doubted she actually cared. From what he knew, she was more of a basketball fan.
"Fascinating," She replied dryly.
"Don't be such a snob," Nate rolled his eyes. "My fantasy league has never been in better shape..."
"Is it? Gosh, and I was so worried about your financial well-being..." Ella looked up at him through her eyelashes, all innocence.
Nate narrowed his eyes at her, but was not able to control the grin on his face.
"Haven't you ever been told that if you don't have anything nice to say, you should say nothing at all?" He asked.
"But then I'd basically be mute," She said thoughtfully. "And I can't even imagine how boring your life would be."
"Oh, please," Nate scoffed. The elevator doors dinged open.
"Thank God!" Ella rushed out without hesitation, running to the nearby bathrooms. Nate made his way to the men's room at a more leisurely pace, so she was waiting for him when he exited, leaning on one of the desks. Her honest-to-goodness stilettos lay at her feet, the sore pink soles of which she was rubbing together.
"All better?" He asked, after a brief pause.
"All better," She smiled in response, pushing off her perch. She turned a moment to take in the deserted newsroom, while she stepped back into her shoes. "It's so quiet, isn't it?"
"Yeah, it's strange," Nate agreed, looking over at her turned figure. He was suddenly thankful that dresses and heels were not what she usually wore. People already couldn't shut up about how attractive she was, but this... He usually tried to stop himself from looking, feeling like a creeper whenever he couldn't help himself. But not looking didn't always help-- she had that mouth of hers, running a mile a minute, making everything funnier. And now here she was, wearing that dress Serena had lent her. It looked so good on her he couldn't imagine it on anyone else. The way it hugged her waist, floating around her with every move she made... All of it was just so fucking distracting. A sigh escaped him.
Ella turned to him, brows furrowed a little with concern. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing, I just..." He tried not to but couldn't help looking her in the eye. "I kind of wish I wasn't throwing this after party. I feel exhausted."
Not the whole truth, but at least part of it. That had to count for something, right?
"I can understand that..." It was her turn to sigh, feeling that same weariness in her very bones.
"Unfortunately, I don't think I can skip out on my own party," Nate chuckled. "But you guys deserve to celebrate what we've accomplished."
Ella gave him an appreciative smile that made him feel warm all over.
"We couldn't have done any of it without you," She assured him, noting the tiredness in his voice and, not knowing why exactly, but feeling that he needed to hear something kind. "You know... you have the love and respect of everyone who works for you, Nate. It's a rare thing, you should be proud of yourself."
He returned the comforting smile with one of his own, looking down in sudden, unfamiliar sheepishness. He felt like a boy again, receiving hard-earned praise from his parents and grandparents. All of those people, with the exception of his grandmother, had come to disappoint him eventually. But Ella— she had that same genuine heart that his grandmother had, offering kindness without the expectation of anything in return. Compliments from her meant something.
"I appreciate you saying that," He replied sincerely. "But you're the one who should be proud of yourself. You've only been here— less than a year? Christ, such a short time, and I can't imagine The Spectator without you. You really... You've got a bright future ahead of you, El."
Ella's eyes were round as discs. If Nate couldn't handle praise, Ella was overwhelmed by it.
"I wouldn't be here at all if you hadn't believed in me," She gave him a shy little smile. He was making eye contact with her now. He hadn't realized how hard he'd been avoiding that, but now that he was, it was like he couldn't stop. Her eyes were such a dark brown they looked black, two twinkling voids staring back at him.
He opened his mouth to say something-- anything-- but then he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket, tearing him from this strange, exhaustion-fueled moment of sincerity. He pulled it out-- a message from Chuck.
Aurora, Ella and you are nowhere to be found... threesome?
Nate rolled his eyes-- but then realized he had an opportunity. If Aurora wasn't at the party anymore...
"Who is it?" Ella asked, already moving back towards the elevator.
"Just Chuck being Chuck," He told her, his thumbs frozen over his phone. He couldn't just... leave, could he? Ella noticed how he stayed unmoving as he thought.
"Everything okay?" She frowned. Nate's thumbs rapidly typed out a response before he looked back up at her.
"You want to go grab some coffee?" He asked.
Upstairs at the party, Chuck received a message:
With Aurora. Don't know where Ella is, be back ASAP.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"This is exactly what I needed," Ella snuggled the steaming hot cup of coffee to her chest with one hand and clutched a huge buttered pretzel in the other. The air was very brisk now, the first real signs of winter having crept over the city. The pair shivered even with their coats on over their formal clothing.
"Now we won't fall asleep during the after party. Cheers," Nate raised his cup to hers and they both drank gratefully. Without really talking about it, they started walking along the sidewalk away from the coffee stand and away from the Spectator. They both figured they would go inside once they were done with their drinks.
"I don't know about not falling asleep, this isn't exactly strong coffee..." Ella scoffed.
"Should have gotten it black then, this tastes pretty strong," Nate sipped on his own dark beverage.
"You have to understand I was raised on Cuban coffee. You have to drink that stuff out of itty bitty cups because it's got so much kick."
"...You mean like espresso?" Nate asked, raising an eyebrow.
"No... well, yeah. Actually, I guess it really is just espresso," Ella laughed. "Still, imagine! I've been drinking that since I was in middle school. My caffeine tolerance is very high."
"Addict..." Nate muttered into his cup. Ella rolled her eyes.
"You're one to talk," With her pretzel, she gestured at the very cup he was clutching to his lips.
"Hey, it's not a problem until I start dripping it straight into my veins, okay?" He insisted.
Their chuckles came out in streams of steam in the cold air. They'd turned the corner off the block where they Spectator was located and now, tucked between two high rises, was a tiny little park, full of naked trees, a path and some benches. Ella stopped in her tracks.
"...When did this get here?"
"This? It's always been here..." Nate told her. "I come here to have lunch sometimes when the weather is good."
"And you never invited me? How very fake of you," Ella pushed the little gate open and walked onto the path. She looked back at him impishly. "Have you ever read The Secret Garden?"
"No, I haven't," Nate admitted, following her in.
"I was obsessed with that book when I was younger," She confessed to him as they ventured further in. "I always had this fantasy I'd be poking around outside and find the door to a hidden garden... This place doesn't look anything like the book described, but still."
Nate raised his eyebrows and took in the park full of bare trees-- a far cry from a lush, magical garden.
"Maybe if it were snowing..." he mused out loud. She looked at him and then back up at the bare branches.
"It would definitely be a little more enchanting if it were snowing," She agreed, laughing.
Nate followed her gaze back up to the skeletal trees and the warm orange lamps that lined the path. For a moment, he saw it as she did. It really would look like an enchanted place lightly dusted in snow, and Ella was the perfect protagonist for the winter fantasy, the hem of her silver skirt swishing beneath her coat as she walked down the little path with wide-eyed wonderment.
She came across a bench and took a seat.
"Let's sit for a little while, it's nice out here."
Nate obligingly took a seat. He noted the little tremor that ran through Ella as she sipped her coffee and couldn't help but laugh.
"Nice, she says," He scoffed. "You're shivering, how can you say it's nice out?"
Ella gave him a look.
"I can't control my physical reaction, but it really isn't that cold! I'm fine!" She insisted.
Nate shook his head as another involuntary shiver ran through her.
"Whatever you say, I guess. Don't you dare die of hypothermia," He told her sternly.
"Exagerado," She muttered in the musical tones of Spanish. He had no idea what it meant, but he assumed she was brushing him off again. He watched as she took the top off her coffee, frothy with cream. She broke off a piece of her pretzel and dipped it in the sweet liquid before popping it in her mouth with a contented sigh. "You want some?"
"Sure," He nodded, taking the little nugget of bread. Their hands brushed. They pointedly acted like it didn't happen. He dipped it into the coffee as she had. He hesitated.
"Go on," She encouraged him. He tasted it.
"Wow. That's delicious," he exclaimed.
"Right? Have some more, this pretzel is huge!" She laughed. Their knees were touching now, but neither moved as they quietly snacked. It felt a little silly, honestly, because the knee touching thing? It was impossible not to be aware of it but they were both pretending so hard it wasn't happening, neither one acknowledging it or moving to change it. Both wondering when the other was finally going to do something about it.
Ella wasn't sure how long they sat there, but eventually, when the pretzel was gone, the conversation paused and she shivered again, pressing her hands to her face. "Damn it, I take it all back. It's freezing."
Nate wanted to laugh at her, but, because of some physical impulse entirely disconnected from his thought process, he reached out a hand instead. He touched the hand pressed to her cheek. She froze a little, staring at him. But then her fingers moved to cover his, slender and icy compared to his warmth. She leaned into his touch, eyes watching him. Her skin was so soft under his fingertips it hurt.
"Your hands are warm," She whispered, eyes flickering to his lips. Nate didn't know what to say, but he opened his mouth as though to speak anyway. Her eyes flickered back up to his. Had they been leaning forward this whole time? They must have been, because they were suddenly so close it was almost like it happened by accident.
Almost.