// two //
Needless to say, Ella found it difficult to sleep that night.
It didn’t help that she’d been so busy thinking about what Ryan Hunter had been doing in her basement that she hadn’t been able to focus on studying, either. Ella had stared at the psychology notes without truly seeing them for well over three hours, replaying the events from the basement over in her head as though she could somehow make sense of them. Her family had returned home around ten o’clock, and Ella had to pretend that the evening had been far from exciting and she’d merely studied while she had the house to herself.
As both her parents and Rosie went to bed, Ella couldn’t quite understand why she hadn’t just told them someone had broken into their home. There was nothing to gain from keeping it hidden from her family, but something inside Ella kept her lips pressed together when her mother came into her bedroom to kiss her goodnight. Her family went to bed that night without knowing a teenage boy from Ella’s school had tried to steal their safe only hours earlier.
A boy that Ella had known for three years, yet never spoken to.
She finally gave up her attempt at studying around 2 a.m., but even after the notebooks had been stuffed inside her brown leather backpack and the lights switched off, Ella still couldn’t stop herself from thinking about Ryan Hunter. The darkness of her bedroom and the silence of her house that came with nighttime were soothing, but she continued to turn the event over and over in her head despite her need for sleep. She’d been thinking about it for several hours, and yet she still couldn’t understand why.
Even when she managed to drift off into unconsciousness, Ella’s dreams were haunted by an icy pair of blue eyes, always staring up at her from the bottom of a staircase.
Ella woke to the blaring sound of her alarm at 6:30 the next morning, taking great effort in prying open her eyelids and blinking several times just to focus her vision. The murky light of dawn filtered through the clouds outside her windowpane, her entire room filled with a dull sort of lighting that made it even more difficult to keep her eyes open. Ella rolled over on the mattress to face the alarm clock that continued to beep painfully in her ear, and she removed her arm from the warm depths of her blankets to switch it off.
Under the new silence of the bedroom, Ella flipped onto her back and stared at the off-white popcorn paint. Her eyelids felt heavy and her entire body ached from lack of sleep, but with the blurry fog of morning, she couldn’t recall why she felt as though she’d only gotten two hours of sleep.
Then she remembered that she had, in fact, only slept for two hours, and the memories from the previous night suddenly came flooding back in a rush of cold realization. All at once, she remembered catching Ryan sneaking through her basement, chasing after him down the steps and watching him sprint off into the night. Her stomach lurked with nerves as she thought of what might happen when she saw him at school in just a few hours.
The clock on her bedside table glowed green with numbers that only continued to change, and Ella knew she needed to get up before it was too late. She could hear her father downstairs starting the coffee, the sound of spoon against ceramic resonating up the stairs and under the crack of her door; her mother was probably getting ready for work across the hallway, and Rosie was certainly still sleeping at this hour. Her school didn’t start until later in the morning.
Filled with a sharp envy towards her sister, Ella forced herself to throw the duvet cover back, and the cool air of the bedroom washed over her bare legs as she struggled to sit up. She swung her legs over the side of the bed, finally pulling herself off the mattress and rubbing her eyes hard in an attempt to wake herself up only a little more. It was going to be a very long day, considering how long it was taking her just to get out of bed.
Ella sleepily got dressed, and she still had to fight to keep her eyes open, making sure everything was matching and not being put on backwards. By the time she managed to brush her hair and gather her school things, she was very close to being late.
The kitchen smelled strongly of coffee grounds, and Ella headed straight for the pot, giving a half-hearted wave to her mother at the center counter. She poured the steaming liquid into a metal travel mug, turning her head when her mother said from across the kitchen, “Morning, Ella. You look exhausted.”
Rolling her eyes slightly, Ella returned the pot to its place on the stove and replied dryly, “Thanks, Mom, that’s really what I needed to hear.”
But her mom was laughing and Ella couldn’t hide her own tiny smile, pouring a bit of cream into her coffee and stirring the pale clouds away into a smooth light brown. She could hear the television from the living room, her father watching the 7 o’clock news at a soft volume so as to not wake up Rosie.
“I’m kidding, honey,” her mom grinned. “Quick, eat something. We should’ve left five minutes ago.”
Ella was anything but hungry, so she reluctantly took a slice of toast from the small stack on the counter just to please her mother. She balanced the toast along with the coffee mug in one hand as she wrestled the second strap of her backpack onto her other shoulder, tugging the hood of her thick sweatshirt out from under it and nearly dropping the breakfast altogether. As her mother stood to grab her own jacket, Ella rounded the kitchen counter and peeked inside the living room at her father, giving him a small wave goodbye.
He waved in return over the back of the maroon colored couch, calling to her in a low voice, “Have a good day, kiddo. You’re getting a ride home with Talia, right?”
“Yeah, she drives every Friday,” Ella told him from across the living room. Talia lived only two miles from Ella’s house, and she was lucky enough to own a slightly run-down Volkswagen that she was only permitted to bring to school once a week. Ella had been able to worm her way into rides home from her more than once. “I’m all set. See you.”
She stumbled back into the kitchen tiredly, her mother already starting for the door. Ella hurried after her as quickly as her sleep-deprived legs would allow, and without meaning to, she glanced to the left at the basement stairs as she passed them. Her stomach did an odd twist as she suddenly remembered what she had to do at school today.
She needed to find Ryan Hunter and ask him what the hell he’d been doing in her house.
~*~
Ella was certain she’d done poorly on the psychology exam.
Of course, she’d been attending high school long enough to know that being certain of how you did on a test really meant nothing; she could have just as easily received a D, or if she was lucky, a C-. Considering how little she’d studied, Ella would be perfectly content with a C.
Normally, Ella would have spent the rest of the school day feeling drained and upset about the first period test that had gone so badly. But now it was well into fourth period lunch, and she had already forgotten all about the psychology exam. Ella had more important things to worry about – like figuring out a way to get Ryan alone so she could interrogate him.
She could see him now, from her place across the lunchroom. He was sitting with his friends towards the back of the cafeteria, and she was sitting with hers more towards the front. Ella had never glanced his way at lunch before, and she attempted to inconspicuously watch him talking and laughing with the other lacrosse players around him. Did Ryan even play lacrosse?
That doesn’t matter, Ella snapped at herself. What matters is getting him alone.
Ella was seated beside Nina and Mindy, two of her closest friends, and the rest of the table was filled by people that she was only ‘kind of’ friends with. As Ella glanced back across the lunchroom for the thirtieth time, she wondered if Ryan was close friends with any of the other guys at his table. Maybe if she went over to him now, he wouldn’t have a problem leaving them to go talk with her.
Ella frowned and shoved aside her fork, piercing somewhat violently through several pieces of lettuce and tomato. Why was she worrying that he might not be okay with leaving to talk to her alone? She’d been the one who had caught him sneaking around in her basement, not the other way around. Ryan was lucky she hadn’t called the police the minute she saw him on those stairs.
The lunch period had to be over soon, so Ella forced a small grin across the table towards Mindy as she stood quickly. She slung one strap of her leather bag over her shoulder, reaching down for the half-eaten plate of salad to throw it away.
“Wait, where are you going?” Nina asked cautiously, twisting slightly in her seat and pausing her conversation with Talia on her right.
“I’ve got to talk to someone,” Ella told her easily, but neither of them seemed convinced. In a quieter voice, she added, “Tell you later.”
Except she wouldn’t – this was something she wanted to deal with on her own.
Ella turned away from the lunch table and tossed the paper plate into the trash beside her, pulling up the strap of her backpack as she started across the cafeteria. She squared her shoulders and kept her head high, swallowing back the inevitable nerves. Ryan was on the other side of the table facing her, and his face was turned slightly as he told something that must have been very amusing to the boy next to him.
Don’t be nervous, just figure out what he was doing in your house. You have the upper hand.
She was only fifteen feet from the table when Ryan finally noticed she was headed straight for him.
Ella could see more details of him at this distance that she hadn’t had time to notice last night. His dark brown hair was swept up off his forehead, as though he had just run his fingers straight through it to move it out of the way. She resisted the urge to blink away as he turned his gaze to her, and she watched as his smile faded and a dreaded expression clouded his features. He stood quickly from the table as Ella took a single step closer.
The bell rang then, loud and piercing even over all the loud chatter from the cafeteria. The room was suddenly filled with chairs being scraped back, students standing from their tables to start for their next class. Ella tried to close the distance between her and the table, but Ryan was already disappearing through the growing crowds – his backpack was slung haphazardly over one shoulder as he hurried away from her.
Ella watched with frustration as Ryan deliberately avoided her, her eyes eventually losing sight of him completely among all the people. She’d missed her chance.
She rolled her eyes and angrily continued on, following the crowds of students out of the cafeteria for fifth period. There was nothing more she could do now; she’d have to wait and find him sometime later before she could attempt to get answers from him. Worst case scenario, she would have to wait until next week to try and get him alone.
However, Ella must have had some sort of luck on her side.
The school day ended, and Ella was feeling particularly defeated that she hadn’t managed to speak with Ryan about what had happened the previous night. As she fought her way through the crowds of departing students to head for the parking lot, she worried that waiting all weekend to try again was only going to result in him pretending he had no idea what she was talking about.
But Ella didn’t end up having to wait until the next week.
She was standing outside the entrance to the school, students pouring out into the open behind her and heading for the buses, as she tried to spot Talia’s green Volkswagen among all the other cars. But her eyes fell instead on the back of Ryan Hunter’s head as he reached his deep blue colored truck on the other side of the parking lot, one hand raised in farewell to one of his friends.
Ella was starting forward before she could talk herself out of it. She hurried past a group of giggling sophomore girls, accidentally bumping against one of their bags in her haste. She was long gone before any of them could complain, her brown boots squishing against the mud as she rushed towards the far end of the parking lot. Ryan was finally alone, and she wasn’t going to let the same thing happen twice.
The driver’s side window was rolled down in the warm afternoon sunlight, and he had only just closed his door. Ella darted past a few other students as she got closer, realizing she only had seconds left. Through the angle of the open window, she could see he was pushing the key into the ignition.
She reached the driver’s side door just as the engine rumbled to life, and Ella was breathless as Ryan finally turned his head and saw her. His blue eyes widened and he automatically pulled the gear into drive, getting ready to pull out of the spot and get away from her as quickly as he could.
“Wait,” Ella blurted, both hands on the rim of the door to try and stop him. “I have to talk to you, don’t leave –”
“Get off my truck,” he stammered in a hard voice, both hands on the wheel and looking straight ahead as he prepared to drive away.
Ella was desperate now, blindly shoving her right foot to the side and sticking it in front of the rear tire. “Wait, you can’t drive away, my foot’s near the tire. Just wait, please wait – ”
“I don’t give a damn about your foot,” Ryan seethed, completely avoiding her gaze. “Get away from the door. I’m leaving.”
“I have to talk to you about last night –”
He squared his jaw, both hands wrapped tight around the weathered steering wheel. Ella’s hazel eyes were wide as Ryan finally turned his head towards her, his eyes piercing straight through her. Strands of his hair had fallen over his eyes, and they trembled slightly in front of his irises as he said in a much quieter voice, “I didn’t think anyone was home. I really didn’t.”
Her lips parted, but she forced out without pausing, “What were you doing in my house?”
Ryan winced only a little at her words, but it was so brief that Ella didn’t notice. He shook his head angrily and turned his gaze away from her again, telling her shortly, “Doesn’t matter. It won’t happen again.”
And then the engine revved slightly and Ella jumped back, the rubber tires screeching as Ryan pulled out of the parking space. Her golden-brown hair was buffeted by the motion as the truck whipped past her, the tires narrowly avoiding her toes.
She watched the taillights helplessly as he drove away from her, turning left out of the school’s parking lot without even pausing at the red stop sign.
please tell me what you think so far? sorry haha I just want to know if I should keep writing this or not. lemme know! xx