"Your smile says it all."
Luke's P.O.V
"Hey, has anyone heard from Ellie today?" Michael asked Calum & I as we were standing by his locker in the morning. Usually she'd be here by now but the bell was about to ring & I hadn't seen her yet.
"Maybe she's running late." I suggested.
"Yea. I'll see if she comes to class late then or something" Calum told us since he had first hour with her. "I'll let you guys know."
"Yea cause I was texting her last night & she didn't mention feeling sick or anything so I don't know where she is."
"God, you like her too much Luke." Michael laughed at me.
"What?"
"It's so obvious that you're into her. You're so concerned just because she's five minutes late. I was just asking if anyone had heard from her & now you're all worried she's sick."
"Stop. I mean, just, never mind."
"But do you like her, right?" Calum asked me. "You're into her, yea?"
"I guess it's pretty obvious so I don't even have to answer that." I hadn't exactly told the lads how I felt about Ellie but they knew me well enough & I talk about her all of the time so I bet it was very obvious.
"Your smile says it all." Michael punched my arm.
& with the bell, we all went off to class.
-
Calum-
nah, she isn't here.
Luke-
okay, i'll text her to see if she's alright.
-
Luke-
hey ellie! are you not coming to school today? is everything okay?
By lunch, Ellie still had not replied to me. Calum had texted her as well but neither of us had a reply.
"She's probably sleeping." Michael spoke up as he took a sip of his soda. "If I had a day at home, I'd be asleep."
"True." I nodded. I shouldn't worry about it. I bet Ellie caught something over night or maybe she was too tired & so her parents let her take the day off to sleep. We didn't have any assignments due or tests today so it was an easy day to miss.
I kind of had wished she would have sent me a text just to let me know though. I would have let her know if I was missing a day, I usually let the lads know.
But then again, if she ever did miss a day of school before, she never had any friends to tell so it probably didn't cross her mind to let me know.
Later in the day, right before my last class, I saw I had a Facebook message from Trevor.
Trevor-
hey luke! i would have texted you but i don't have your number. but have you talked to ellie at all today??? just wondering.
Luke-
hi. but no. she didn't come to school & she hasn't answered mine or calum's texts.
Trevor-
got it, thanks.
Trevor-
when did you last talk to her?
Luke-
we texted last night for quite a bit as we watched the same episode of himym.
Trevor-
& she seemed good?
Luke-
yea.
Luke-
should i be worried?
Trevor-
no, sorry to bother you. go back to school! we can talk after.
Luke-
okay.
-
But for the entire last period all I could think about was that I did have a reason to be worried. There's no reason Trevor would have messaged me if all was good.
"Wait so does Trevor seemed concerned?" Calum asked me as we were walking to the locker room since he had practice after school.
"Yea I mean why else would he message me, you know?"
"I'm sure it's okay."
"But like how does he know Ellie isn't at school today? Do they talk that often that he'd notice something was up if she didn't talk to him on a Wednesday morning? Do you see what I'm saying?"
"Maybe." Calum shrugged his shoulders. "Wish I could help but I gotta go."
"I know. I'll figure it out. I'll see you later."
& then I went to my car where I saw I had another message from Trevor.
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Trevor-
okay i lied. we should be a little worried.
Luke-
i could only assume so....what do we do?
Trevor-
i'm gonna call her dad & see what's up.
Luke-
okay. keep me updated.
-
I caught a ride home with my neighbor & as I was unlocking my front door, I saw Trevor had messaged me again.
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Trevor-
okay so she did stay home from school. her dad said she told him not to tell anyone to come over...but i'm not listening & he said i can go over. i'm gonna head there now just to check on her. i can explain some other time, or she can too, but she's done this before & i don't want to leave her alone right now.
Luke-
is she okay?
Trevor-
she could be better but yea, i just need to go make sure she's good. want to come? i can come pick you up. i'm stopping on my way to work.
Luke-
yea, that'd be great.
-
"So Ellie has done this before?" I asked Trevor as we were on the way to hers. "I don't get it."
"Sometimes she just has a rough day & she disconnects from the world but I need to make sure she's okay."
"She seemed fine last night when we were texting."
"She hides well."
"Is she going to be mad we're here?"
"Probably." Trevor said with a laugh. "But she'll get over herself. Her dad said the door should be unlocked otherwise I know the code to unlock their garage door."
Once we arrived at Ellie's, the door was unlocked so we went inside & we went straight up to Ellie's room. Her door was cracked open so Trevor knocked before opening it a bit more.
"Hey Elle. Luke & I came to check on you."
I looked inside & Ellie was laying in her bed under five blankets. Her hair was up in a high bun & she had no makeup on.
She looked sad.
"Why did you guys come?"
"To see how you are." He said as he went inside. I followed & we both sat on the edge of her bed. "Are you okay?"
"I guess." She sighed as she played with the end fabric of one of her blankets.
"So no, then you aren't." Trevor said. "What happened?"
"It's just a mental health day." She answered Trevor. I was glad he was talking to her because I wasn't sure what to say.
"Why did you need it?"
"I just." She started but then she stopped herself as she shook her head. "Never mind."
"No, tell us." I told her. "What's up, Elle?"
"I hate going to school sometimes. Some days I wake up & I'm fine with it but other days I don't even want to go."
"But you have us there now." I smiled at her. "That helps, right?"
"Well yea but people stare even more now since you talk to me & sometimes I can't take it. I didn't want to deal with it today. I couldn't. I hate knowing everyone is talking about me & judging me. I didn't want to go & my parents didn't care if I stayed home."
It broke my heart that she had to deal with this all of the time.
"So what did you do all day?" Trevor asked her then.
"I'm on the second season of Pretty Little Liars so basically I watched that."
"Fun." I answered although that wasn't my type of show so I didn't actually think it was fun. "Are you feeling better now?"
"Yea. I needed a day away, that's all. I'll be fine tomorrow."
"Well I need to get to work so I only wanted to stop by. Luke, need me to drive you back home or -?"
"You can stay." Ellie answered before he could finish. "I mean if you want to."
"Uh sure, yea I can stay with you. Thanks though, Trevor."
"Not a problem. I'll see you both later then."
& then Trevor left us.
"I can stop watching this now." Ellie told me as she pointed to the Pretty Little Liars episode paused on her laptop. "I know this isn't your type of show."
"You can do what you want. I don't mind watching it if you want to continue the marathon."
"You'll be very confused. We can watch How I Met your Mother instead?"
"I'm down for that." I laughed. "Always good with me."
"Then come get more comfy. I don't plan on moving for awhile."
I slipped off my shoes before I moved to the top of Ellie's bed & I put a few blankets over me as I sat up beside her. It was insanely comfortable actually.
"I have some cookies in here somewhere." Ellie laughed as she began pulling the blankets apart, revealing a bag of cookies & also some gummy bears. "Help yourself."
"Well you've got quite the stash."
"My mom came home during her lunch break with this stuff for me. She said there isn't anything cookies can't fix."
"Did they help?"
"Oh duh. Especially these sugar ones." She lifted a box up. "Try one."
"Thanks."
"Mhm. & thanks for coming by, Luke." She said to me as she took a bite of her cookie. "It's cool you came."
"Of course. I was concerned when you didn't show up or answer my text so then I talked to Trevor & he said he was coming over & yea."
"I turned my phone off, that's why. I'd never intentionally ignore you."
"Got it. But uh, how did Trevor know you weren't at school? Like how did he know? Cause he's the one that messaged me first, actually."
"Oh, right. Uhm, we sort of have this thing where we text each other good morning every day & he usually has some type of like inspirational quote for me or I tell him my stupid dream from the night before & yea, he didn't get the text today so he knew. I mean it has happened before so he knew. I knew he'd show up at some point today too, he always does."
"That's really cute. It's nice he checks in on ya."
"I can explain it more some other time. But seriously, thank you for coming."
"It's not a problem."
"Shall we get started then?"
"Yea." I smiled at her before she put the laptop in between us as we began what became four hours of Barney & Robin.
By the end of the seventh episode, the laptop was now on my lap as Ellie was laying right by my side, my arm around her. It happened naturally. The food between us had been eaten & then it was sort of hard for both of us to see the screen so I had her move closer & I felt like I had to protect her today. She seemed so out of it & vulnerable that I had to put my arm over her, to let her know I was there. & she didn't seem to mind at all.
Her parents had come home from work & they brought home Indian food, it was her favorite comfort food apparently, & so we ate that in her bed as well. I ended up having Ashton pick me up on his way home from his job because I didn't want to make Ellie leave to drive me home & it's too far to walk.
-
Ellie-
thanks for coming over again :) it really meant a lot.
Luke-
:-) *** but it was no worries. it was pretty relaxing for me too to be honest. & thanks for all of the food!
Ellie-
anytime :-) if i have another mental health day i'll let you know & you can skip too!
Luke-
sounds perfect, i will :-)
Ellie-
okay! but i'm pretty tired so i'm going to sleep. i'll see you tomorrow morning, kay?
Luke-
of course :-) goodnight elle. sweet dreams.
-
Just two months ago I never really thought twice of Ellie but now, she was all I could think about.
I wanted to know everything about her. Her story, her interests, her childhood dreams, her biggest fears. I wanted to know every single thing about her.
& I also wanted her to be mine.
Two months ago, I knew nothing of her & now I simply wanted her.
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A/N hi!
here's a little update for ya. luke is cute. i want a luke to lay in bed with me & eat cookies all day.
my birthday is on tuesday but my birthday party is tomorrow night so i can do the whole go out at midnight thing & order a drink the second i turn 21 so wish me luck, my friends plan on getting me trashed but i'm going to try to resist it.
i'll try to update by wednesday!
have a lovely week
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cathy