The Art of Living

[30] Different and yet So Similiar

"How long does the pizza have to be in the oven?"

It wasn't really a change of topic because they didn't have a topic, but it still made Ellie chuckle a little. "Uhm, about 25 minutes..." She turned on the oven and placed the tray inside before she set an alarm clock. "Oh, I completely forgot that, what do you want to drink? You can say if I forget stuff like that. Like I said, I only have people over who feel at home so feel free to just take anything you need."

"It's fine, don't worry. I'll take some water for now, and then maybe some beer later. If that's okay."

Ellie nodded. "Of course, of course, that's perfectly fine. Whatever you want, you just tell me. You can have anything you want." She got them both a glass of water, giving Brian his. "Do you want to go sit in the living room until it's ready? It's more comfortable and we have more space there."

"Oh yeah, yeah that sounds good with me." He smiled and took a sip of his water.

Ellie showed him the way to the living room and sat on the couch, inviting him to sit next to her, which he very gladly did. Rather close to her too, but she didn't mind that at all. She actually found herself leaning a little closer to him. "So..." Her eyes wandered across her living room and she spotted the concert photos on the coffee table. "Oh. Do you want to see the concert pictures? I've developed most of them already." She sat up and placed her water down before she got the pictures.

"You developed them?" He sounded surprised when he asked that. He also put his water on the coffee table and took the pile of pictures Ellie was holding out for him.

"I develop all my pictures myself, that's part of my study program," she told him proudly. "I have my own dark room actually, I turned Lynn's old room into a dark room. I can show you later if you want. I spend more time alone in a dark room than most people think."

Brian chuckled and continued to look at the pictures. "It certainly seems to be worth it. I'd love to see the room later." There was a moment of silence before Brian held up a picture. "Let me guess. You didn't take this one, am I right?"

Furrowing her eyebrows a little, Ellie looked at the picture in his hands. He was right. It was the only picture that she was in, it was the only picture that she hadn't taken. Feeling her cheeks growing warmer, she shook her head. "No I didn't take that one..."

"But you still kept it?" He asked, smiling as he looked back at it. It seemed as if his smile grew wider the more he looked at it.

Ellie shrugged a little and watched him, unable to keep herself from smiling. "It would be like wasting film if I just threw it out..." That wasn't actually the reason why she hadn't thrown out that picture. She found it incredibly cute, she really liked it. But somehow she didn't want to admit that out loud.

It was the supposedly sneaky picture Freddie had taken of her and Brian on the first morning in Truro, when Brian had ended up cuddling close to her. She found it hard to admit to herself that she had actually really enjoyed that, but it was the truth. And that picture and looking at it reminded her of how nice it had been to cuddle with him, which was why she kept it. But she couldn't tell Brian that. Because that would be like telling him that she liked to cuddle with him and that was something she wasn't ready for.

That was something Brian seemed to catch on to without her having to tell him. He just nodded and glanced at her for a moment, a smile on his face, before he looked back at the picture. "I really like it though if I may be honest.."

Hearing that made Ellie smile. Of course he could be honest, especially if he said something cute like that. "Maybe... I mean, if you want to, I could make you a copy..." She bit her lip and glanced at him for a very short moment before she looked at the photograph that he was still holding, unable to stop herself from smiling. They did look adorable.