Love Always, Ella

Chapter Seven

Patrick

I'm trying to help Drew set up for the party, but he's being completely useless. I've been setting up the drink table for the past thirty minutes while he's been on the phone with some random girl from our school. It shouldn't surprise me that I'm the one doing all of the work though.

"Yeah?" Drew asks seductively into the speaker. "And what would you like me to do to you?"

"Come on, man." I grumble, finally seeming to get his attention. "The party starts in an hour. There's still a lot of shit to do."

A couple of guys from the team come through the door with a keg in hand, and Drew stuffs his phone back into his pocket before he tells them to put it in the backyard.

"I'm so glad my parents went to go visit my sister." He grins, grabbing some plastic cups from my hand. "Are a lot of people coming?"

"Yeah. I invited everyone you asked me to."

"Jess?" He asks.

I roll my eyes as I form the pyramid structure on the table for beer pong. He's been obsessed with her since freshman year. It's kind of pathetic. "You do realize that she's completely into girls, correct? Like, she's bringing her girlfriend tonight." I tell him. "You're insane if you think you've got a chance."

"I still feel like she could be bi." He laughs louder before he goes over to the stereo and grabs the aux cord. "As long as she stops bringing that fat chick with her then I'll have a decent chance. That girl is the biggest cock block."

"You mean Ella." I state, becoming irritated. "Jess already told me she was bringing her."

"The girl that was with her at practice the other day?" Brett, one of my other teammates, comes back in from placing the keg outside and lets out a groan. "Dude, that's not the look we're going for. You should have just told her to stay home."

I have no idea why they all make it seem like she's the worst thing to ever exist. Ella is so cool, but they'll never give her the time of day to get to know her just because of how she looks. That's so messed up.

Drew begins to play a rap song loudly through the speakers and sets his phone on the table, turning to give me a sideways grin. "You know what we should do?" He says. "We should do seven minutes of heaven tonight and put her in with someone. That shit would be hilarious."

I ignore the anger that's beginning to brew inside of me, praying and hoping that the rest of the guys won't agree with him. Of course, they all erupt into laughter when they hear this idea though, and that's when I know that I have to think of something quick to fix this. The only reason Ella is coming tonight is to see me. I'm certain of that. If she ends up getting made fun of tonight then she's never going to want to go anywhere with me ever again.

"Dude, I'm so down." Brett chimes in. "I bet you anything I get her to take her clothes off."

I drop the cups suddenly, and everyone turns to look at me. I'm so angry that I feel like I'm beginning to shake, but miraculously nobody can sense that I'm upset. The thought of any other guy seeing her without her clothes on for the first time without having the right intentions makes me want to throw up.

"Why don't I do it?" I finally speak up, clearing my throat. "I mean, she already knows me, right? It'd be perfect."

Drew claps me on the back, the rest of the guys giving me a silent nod of approval. I'm not doing this for them, I'm doing this for Ella. The last thing she needs is to be embarrassed again here because that will probably destroy any ounce of self-esteem she has left.