Ellie sat towards the back of the Ecology classroom, staring intently at her book entitled, "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince". She was always the quiet college freshmen, reading an average of 5 books every week. No one really batted an eyelash about it though... Not even her teacher.
Ellie's home life was just like any other young adult... Working hard to get a college degree to hopefully score herself a well paying job, inviting Riley over to play video games every once in a while, then going to sleep and repeating the same thing the following day.
Her life with her divorced parents, Anna and Joel, wasn't very pleasant, but it had quickly become second nature to Ellie by now. It had been 5 years since the divorce came to be, Ellie lived on her own now in a good sized house for a college student like herself.
She had a German shepherd puppy named Cooper, who was a gift from her mom for her 19th birthday. Ellie absolutely adored her new furry friend. Besides Riley, he was Ellie's best friend.
The way he would always greet her every day after college would bring a smile to Ellie's face, no matter how bad her day was. It was such an incredible thing to come home to. Maybe next would be a nice warm body to cuddle with... That is, if Ellie didn't have such bad luck with love.
As Ellie sat at her desk, daydreaming about the ticking clock getting closer to the time she could go home, she overheard her professor ask, "Ellie, are you listening?"
Ellie looked up and rolled her eyes, hiding the eye roll behind the pages of her book. She marked her page with her "Savage Starlight" bookmark and placed the book on the left side of her desk.
With a goofy smirk appearing on her face as fast as lightning, Ellie replied, "No. I already know this sh*t".
The teacher, named Mrs. Blake, shook her head, while crossing her arms out of disappointment, "Ellie, why are you in this class then?" She asked, walking over to Ellie's desk.
Ellie sighed, the smirk now nonexistent, "I don't know... To get my degree in Ecology and move on with my life. At least I won't have a low paying job like you do".
Mrs. Blake stared deeply into Ellie's eyes, her serious expression turning to embarrassment, "What are you implying, Ellie?" She asked, progressively getting close to kicking Ellie out of the lecture.
Ellie crossed her arms to mock her professor and replied, "If you don't want a sarcastic answer, don't ask a stupid question. I wouldn't be here if I didn't wanna be an ecologist one day, but it's people like you who make me question that decision".
Mrs. Blake took a split second to glance at everyone else in the classroom, who were all either on their phones, sleeping, or reading a book.
She glanced back at Ellie and tried to proceed with her "You shouldn't have said that" speech, but Ellie had already grabbed her backpack, textbooks and her phone and was headed towards the door to leave.
Ellie walked into the wide hallways of the University of Washington in its rainy capital of Seattle. She usually showed a lot of appreciation for the school because it was her dream to go to college there, but teachers like Mrs. Blake were the types of people who made her skin crawl... Now she REALLY wanted to go home.
As Ellie made a beeline for her car, her best friend, Riley, ran up to her, "Of course... Can I go ANYWHERE without her asking me what just happened?" Ellie thought, sighing and stopping dead in her tracks, "Ellie!"
Ellie sighed deeply, placing her car keys in the back pocket of her black jeans. She couldn't stand this side of Riley, but then again... She liked it too. After all, they were friends with benefits...
Ellie forced a smile, turning her head to face Riley, "What?" She asked, knowing exactly what Riley was about to ask her.
Riley was all sorts of giddy, the way she was every time Ellie's sarcastic side kicked in during class, "What the h*ll happened in there?"
Ellie sighed deeply. In reality, despite her angered ways, she couldn't stand having to act that way. Out of all of her teachers throughout her years of school, Mrs. Blake was by far the worst. She made Ellie want to drop out.
With a long sigh of frustration and mild anger, Ellie whispered, "As much as I wanted to go to college here, this is bullsh*t. I hate it here, Riley, and I wanna go home"...
The sensitive, vulnerable side of her best friend rarely ever showed, but Riley was no stranger to seeing it. She pulled Ellie into a comforting hug, "Hey now... Go ahead and head home. Play with Cooper and get some rest. Call your parents if you so desire. It's okay to feel an overwhelming amount of stress, but I feel that you need a break. Call me tomorrow if you're feeling better and I'll take you out to lunch. How does that sound?" Riley asked, pulling away from the hug and giving the slightly shorter girl a sympathetic smile.
Ellie smiled back, nodding, "That sounds great. Thanks, Riley!" Ellie replied, pulling away from the hug as well. Riley lightly laughed, "Hey, I know we're friends with benefits, but sometimes, my best friend just needs me and my job is to fix that".
Ellie nodded once more, walking away. She did still love Riley as more than just a friend, but she knew from past experiences with Riley that a relationship wasn't the way to go. She knew deep down that it was best to remain friends and knew that Riley felt the same way. They had been friends for years, but Ellie was notorious for saying that "Losing a best friend is worse than a girlfriend". Her relationship with her ex girlfriend, Kat, was a perfect example of that, considering that Kat became jealous every time she saw Ellie and Riley together. It didn't matter anymore... Her relationship with Kat was no longer relevant. Kat could be jealous all she wanted, but Ellie wasn't going to let her ruin her chances at finding someone else... Someone who actually loved her and didn't only want sex.
As Ellie made her way to her black Ford Escape, she opened the passenger side door, placing her backpack and textbooks on the seat. She slipped her phone into her back pants pocket, pulling out her car key lanyard as she did so.
Ellie headed to the other side, opening the door to the driver's side and sitting in her seat. She placed the car key into the ignition and turned it on, pulling out of the driveway of the college campus.
Instead of turning on quiet music like she usually did on her daily venture back home, Ellie yanked her phone out of her pocket, opening up her list of contacts once she had stopped at a stop sign.
Ellie plugged her phone into the USB port on her cars radio and pressed the speaker option on the phone, as she drove down the streets of Seattle.
She listened to the compulsive ringing sound the call made, waiting for her mom to answer, "If there's one thing that I like more about dad compared to you, it's that dad always answers my calls!" She thought, tapping all 10 fingers on the steering wheel out of impatience.
Finally, as if 10 minutes had gone by, she heard her moms voice fill her ears, "Hey, kiddo!" Anna replied, with a big smile apparent in the way she spoke.
Ellie exasperated a long sigh of relief, glad to hear the voice of her favorite parent, "Hey, mom! I need to talk to you"... Ellie replied honestly, knowing thar lying was bad and that doing so wouldn't do her any good.
Ellie heard her mom flop down onto the couch, "Of course, sweetheart. Talk away! That's what I'm here for". Anna answered, remembering the talk she had with Ellie before college, explaining that she could vent at any time.
Ellie smiled, "Uh, I was just in my Ecology class like always and Mrs. Blake is just getting worse and worse by the day. She asked me if I was listening, I told her that I already knew what I was doing and she asked me why I was in there in the first place. I said that I wouldn't be in that class if I didn't want a degree in Ecology. She tried to tell me that I shouldn't have said that in front of her, she got p*ssed, so I left. I wanna drop out, mom"...
Anna sighed sadly, wanting only what was best for Ellie. She knew that Ellie very badly wanted a degree in Ecology because it had always interested her, but knew exactly why Ellie felt that way.
Anna combed her fingers through her hair, before speaking directly to Ellie, "I understand, honey. Tell you what... Would you like to come over tomorrow morning? I'll let you talk about your feelings and make you some breakfast, if you'd like".
Ellie loved visiting her parents, her mom more than her dad though. So, naturally, she loved the idea of that, "Yeah. I can stay for a few hours. Riley's taking me out for lunch, so I'll have to leave around noon".
Anna nodded, absolutely loving and cherishing every moment she had with her daughter who was growing up right in front of her eyes. It had been quite a while since she had seen Ellie physically because they were both busy. She always remembered to cherish those moments though, "Okay, sweetie. I'll see you tomorrow morning. Don't worry about your dad, by the way. I'll deal with him so you don't have to".
Ellie loved when her mom was willing to talk to her dad about that kind of stuff. It was never easy to approach Joel about anything. He was very stern, but also very overprotective of her. It was never fun or easy to talk to him about serious situations, especially this one.
Ellie giggled, "See? This is why you're my favorite parent. I love you, mom". Ellie replied, excitment evident in her voice. Anna giggled too, "I love you too, babygirl". She replied, before hanging up the phone.
Riley was most definitely correct... Ellie did feel way better after talking to her mom, which wasn't really that surprising. Ellie was always closer with her mom to begin with...
Ellie pulled into the driveway of her kinda small house, pulling the car key out of the ignition and shoving her textbooks into an open slot of her backpack.
She hiked her backpack onto her back, grabbing her phone off of the USB charger and heading up the stairs leading to the front door.
She pulled the house key off of her lanyard, placing it into the doorknob lock. She twisted it to unlock the door, "Hmmm... Cooper must be sleeping. He's usually barking as soon as he hears my car pull into the driveway". Ellie thought, smiling at the thought and pushing the front door open.
Ellie pulled the house key out of the lock and saw Cooper make his way over to her. Ellie laughed, taking her backpack off and setting it down on the floor by the door.
She kneeled down in front of him, "Awww, hey, buddy!" She said, patting her legs for him to come see her. She giggled incessantly, feeling him lick her face, "Awww, good boy! You hungry?" She asked, knowing that the answer was obviously yes and that dogs couldn't give a verbal response.
Ellie headed over to his food and water bowls, filling both up completely full and dropping two ice cubes into his water bowl. She stood up, watching him eat for a few minutes, before grabbing some leftover pizza from the fridge and eating it. She sighed, while grabbing a soda from the fridge, "You know... Sometimes I wish that I was of legal age so that I could buy beer. Just saying". She whispered, making herself comfortable on the couch while she scrolled through her phone and ate her dinner.
With nothing interesting going on with any social media, Ellie had ultimately decided to take a shower before she had to take Cooper outside.
Ellie walked over to Cooper on her way to the bathroom, giving him a treat for finishing his food and water, "Good boy. I'm gonna go take a shower real quick, buddy".
Cooper licked Ellie's right hand, causing her to wipe the surface of the top of her tattoo, "Ew... Dog saliva"... She thought, shaking her head and internally laughing at her own thoughts.
Ellie made her way into the bathroom, that was connected to her room by another door. She used her square shaped bathroom mirror to take her shoulder length dark auburn hair down.
Ellie almost always wore it in a half up half down bun style, however, when she was 14, she wore it in a low ponytail every day. That was before she got a haircut, of course.
Ellie headed back out to her closet, where she had all of her shirts and pants hanging up, her pajamas in a three drawer unit and her bras, underwear and socks in the last drawer of the unit.
Ellie picked out her favorite matching set of pajamas with giraffes printed on them and a pair of white underwear. She closed the closet door, flopping down on the end of her bed to take off her shoes and dirty socks.
She placed her shoes down underneath the side of her bed, before standing up and taking her shirt and bra off. Ellie tossed them into the dirty clothes basket that was in front of her closet door and headed back into the bathroom. She unbuttoned her jeans as she walked, kicking them off. She threw them into the dirty clothes basket as well, along with her dirty undergarment.
Ellie neatly folded her pajamas, setting them on top of the toilet seat and walking over to the shower. She bent down, turning on the shower nozzles and turning the shower head on.
Ellie stepped inside, closing the shower door behind her. She took down the removable shower head and used it to get her hair wet enough to wash it.
Once she had spent a few minutes dampening her hair, Ellie grabbed her bottle of shampoo and conditioner. She tipped the bottle upside down into the palm of her hand, scrunching her fists up and digging it into her scalp.
After spending several minutes washing out the mix of shampoo and conditioner from her hair, Ellie moved on to her body.
She placed the shampoo and conditioner bottle on the shelf above her head, pulling the bottle of body wash down. She began to use her bath puff by pouring body wash on it and running it across every square inch of her body.
After 5 minutes of rinsing her body off, Ellie bent over to turn the water nozzles off. She opened the shower door long enough to grab the towel off of her hook, wrapping it around her waist and carefully stepping out of the shower.
Ellie closed the shower door behind her and moved her pajamas off of the toilet seat to sit down. She gently dried off her stomach and her legs, putting her pajamas on after she was done.
She grabbed the hairbrush and began to run it through her hair, while brushing her teeth at the same time. If there was anything that Ellie was good at... It was multitasking.
Ellie placed the hairbrush back on the sink, putting her toothbrush and toothpaste away too. She ran her fingers through her slightly damp hair, making her way out to the living room.
The first thing she saw was Cooper rolling around on the floor, with a dog bone in his mouth that said, "I'm my humans favorite" on it. Ellie had gotten him that the day she brought him home, so she was glad to see that he was enjoying the toy.
Ellie took the toy out of Cooper's mouth, which caused him to whimper because he wanted to continue playing with it. Ellie pat his head gently, "It's okay, buddy. I'm taking you outside so you can use the bathroom before bed, then you can have this back and sleep with it if you want!"
Cooper barked happily, following Ellie outside. It was starting to rain, which Ellie adored about living in Seattle. It didn't rain much where she used to live in Boston, Massachusetts, but now that her and her family had lived in Seattle for several years, she got used to the drastic changes in weather patterns.
She watched Cooper like a hawk to make sure he wasn't scared of the rain. Ellie watched him go into the bushes to use the bathroom and run around for a few moments.
When the rain had gotten heavier and more severe, Ellie whistled just loud enough for Cooper to hear, "Let's go, buddy. I don't want you getting too soaking wet!"
Cooper ran up the stairs, with Ellie following suit and closing the front door. She grabbed her phone and her "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince" book from her backpack, heading into her room.
Ellie allowed Cooper to hop onto the bed with her like she always did and plugged her phone into the charger. She laid there with her book, reading it and watching her furry companion fall asleep. She leaned over, scratching behind his ear and whispered quietly, "Goodnight, buddy. I love you"...
After 20 minutes of reading, Ellie closed her book and placed it on her bedside table after marking her page. Her head sunk into the neat arrangement of pillows, as she allowed the quiet sounds of rain and thunder lull her to sleep.