Ellie & Quinn ❄️ || WLW (Eng)

CHAPTER 20

I'm just a shell of myself
And I've never felt so empty
Everything's spinning out of control
And I can't breathe
- Not ready to say goodbye, Leah Nobel

Things slowly went back to normal — or at least as normal as possible. The two of them could not fully enjoy their last day alone together but it still felt good to have this time to themselves.

They did talk about the last night a little bit, even though doing so made Quinn cry again. She explained to Ellie that she was just so scared of the future and the events of the day had been overwhelming her so she had started panicking. For her, it felt like her life was spinning out of control and crumbling to pieces right in front of her eyes and she could not do anything to stop it. And that, while she initially had not wanted Ellie to see her like that even though she was never mad at her, it had felt good to have someone comfort her. Ellie hugged her again and assured her that she would always do it again.

After their serious conversation, they kissed again for the first time that day. This time, it was just like a first kiss: tentative, unsure, testing the waters. However, Ellie noticed with relief that it felt just the same. They felt just the same.

When their parents came home early in the evening, there were no things unsaid between them, no problems left unsolved.

All of them went out for dinner to the restaurant of Fiona's parents and it seemed like even Quinn was able to enjoy it. After talking about the trip for the whole evening and looking at lots of pictures, it was weird not to share a bed anymore.

Around noon on Monday, it started snowing heavily. Quinn, who had been restless the whole day, pressed her face against the window in Ellie's room and then turned around to her, an enthusiastic smile on her face.

"Hey, if we wait an hour or so, we can go skiing in deep snow!"

"And why would I want that?" Ellie looked up from where she was currently searching the internet for a movie they could watch.

"Because it's fun!" Quinn got up from her place on the desk and stretched her long legs. Her sweater rid up and exposed a small strip of the skin of her stomach. When Quinn noticed Ellie staring, she smirked.

"I'll tell you what:" she began, inching closer to Ellie, "you go skiing with me now and I'll do something for you later."

"Anything?"

"Hm... yes, anything."

Now it was Ellie's turn to smirk.

"Then I want you to make me tea."

"Seriously?" Quinn chuckled, "That's all you want?"

"Maybe I can think of something better once we're back," Ellie pushed herself up from the bed and gave Quinn a quick peck on the cheek, "come one, we wouldn't want to miss all this snow."

Giggling and bickering, the two girls got ready downstairs and then took their skis up the mountain. The loose snow on top of the skiing tracks already reached their ankles when they made their way over to the ski run they wanted to go down.

"It's quite unusual, having this much snow at the end of march," Quinn shouted over to Ellie. It was also rather windy so they had to raise their voices.

"Maybe this was a sign for us to go skiing again," Ellie yelled back, "So let's go!"

"Let me go first," Quinn looked down the mountain, "I'll carve a way into the snow for you so it'll be easier for you!"

It turned out that Ellie really needed Quinn to do this for her. Skiing in deep snow was difficult enough but the ongoing snowflakes falling down from the sky made it even more difficult to see anything properly. When they had almost reached the bottom of the mountain in Lone Pine, Ellie tried making her own way through the snow and promptly tumbled down the mountain a few feet. Luckily, the soft snow did not hurt.