The Art of Living

[43] Something is Off

After her talk with Lynn Ellie felt a lot better about the entire situation. Whether it would be only for the moment only time could tell, but all that mattered to her was that she felt better in that moment. When she stepped through the door into the living room, she could see that Brian was sitting on an arm chair beside the couch on which there were Mike, Freddie and Mary.

Only for a moment though, because as soon as Ellie was inside the room, Mary jumped up from the couch. "Ellie! I feel like it's been forever."

Ellie only managed to smile at Brian shortly before Mary tackled her in a hug.

"How are you? How was Truro? How has your week been? I'm sorry I've been so busy.." She glanced over her shoulder to where Freddie was sitting quickly before looking back at Ellie with a big smile on her face. "Lynn said you probably had a really good week, but she didn't want to tell me why she thinks that."

"Of course.." Ellie shook her head a little and smiled. "Yeah, I've had a really good week. I'm good, and Truro was good too, it was a lot of fun and I took some pictures of your man I think you will really like." Ellie smirked at Mary. "You're just going to have to come over again soon. Trust me, you won't want to miss those photos. I know you're a very lucky woman."

"What are you talking about exactly?" Mary asked, not really getting what Ellie was referring to.

Ellie just smirked. "Wait and see, my dear, you will love me even more after you see those pictures."

Mary laughed softly. "Alright then, now I'm curious. What else have you done? How are things with.. y'know? How was spending so much time with him?"

"It was .. uhm.." She glanced at Brian and smiled. "It was good. Yeah.."

"You're not telling me something.. Did something happen between you two? Something good?" Mary gasped a little and widened her eyes.

"Shh.. just.. Yeah, okay? But you have to come over so I can tell you about it and show you the pictures and everything.. It's not a big deal." Ellie couldn't help but smile widely at Mary's reaction.

"It's a huge deal," Mary whisper-yelled. "I'm so happy for you. Whatever it is that happened is clearly something good and that is wonderful. I can't wait to hear all about it." She hugged Ellie tightly and smiled at her. "Go join him then. I'll get something to drink."

Ellie nodded and walked over to where the three guys were sitting. "Hey," she greeted them casually and sat on the arm rest of the arm chair Brian was sitting on. "How have you two been?"

Her question was directed at Mike and Freddie, but both of them were apparently a little confused by the fact that she was sitting where she was sitting. That probably meant Brian hadn't told them that he had spent the night at her place, and that kind of got Ellie wondering why. Was he embarrassed? Who knew.

Eventually Freddie caught himself. "We've been good, and you? Had a good week?"

"Yeah, I got a lot of stuff done this week, and I developed the pictures from last weekend. You'll like them." Ellie smiled at Freddie and Mike.

"She's really talented. I told you guys she would be a great choice for a photographer for us." Brian smiled widely and reached for Ellie's hand.

And Ellie fought every part of her that told her to pull her hand away because she knew that wouldn't end well. She even did something big and reached for his hand as well. So that he knew he wasn't the only one who wanted that. When his fingers wrapped around her hand gently, Ellie smiled widely, partly out of happiness, partly out of relief over that she hadn't messed up.

"Thank you.. That's so sweet of you to say." She gently squeezed his hand and tried to ignore the astonished expression on Mike and Freddie's faces. "I didn't really know you all would be here, but how about I come to your next practice? Then I can show them all to you and you can make a selection or .. y'know, whatever."