Begin Again

Ellie let out a rather loud sigh, rolling her eyes playfully. "You're such a pain in the ass sometimes!" She said elbowing him lightly in the stomach. She didn't really mean it, she was still joking around with him just as he was with her. It was just what they'd always done."You're serious about not letting me go inside then?" She punctuated her words with a raised eyebrow.

The reaction to Ellie elbowing was overdramatic, when in fact she'd barely touched him. He gasped and moved with her elbow, a hand coming down over his stomach as he tried to fight back the laughs. "Gosh, you're so violent these days, Ellie!" He teased, a grin still prominent on his face. "I'm not letting you go inside until you admit you love me." Sebastian shrugged, his smile reaching his eyes now as he looked at her. "Just admit it."

Ellie let out a quiet laugh, rolling her eyes once more at how dramatic Sebastian was being. She really wouldn't expect any other type of a response from him though. He had a tendency to be a bit overdramatic at times, he used to anyway, and she was glad that that seemed to be something that hadn't changed with time. "Please, I didn't hit you that hard! Stop overreacting and man up." Her tone was light and teasing. "I have nothing to admit to. I don't know what you're talking about."

"Eleanor," He sighed after a moment, stepping around so he could stand in front of her. He brought his other arm up, resting them on her shoulders now as he held his coffee cup behind her. "I can stand here all day and hug you all day. Eventually, someone will notice me for the big shot I am nowadays, and snap a picture of me hugging you... Just make it easy on yourself and confess your undying love for me." Every word he softly spoke was laced with sarcasm, and humour. Sebastian had always remained grounded in his recent success, frequently acknowledging where he came from, and why he was successful... But if there was anyone he could have a laugh with about being an actor, it was Ellie.

Ellie watched him with raised eyebrows, and a slightly amused expression on her face, waiting to see what he was going to do next. "Well, it appears as though we've reached a stalemate then. You've clearly forgotten just how stubborn I can be. I have nothing to confess or admit to, and I'll stand here all day too if I have to." She said, smirking ever so slightly. "Why don't you make it easier on yourself and just give up already, Stan?" She'd missed joking around like this. She'd missed Sebastian, maybe even more than she realized. Until now.

"If I gave up so easily, I wouldn't be where I am today." He smirked down at her, remaining where he was. If anyone did see them, it would probably spark an entire rumour mill alight. But he couldn't quite bring himself to care. He had missed Ellie, and he missed having someone who understood his sense of humour as well as she did... To an extent, Sebastian even missed winding her up. When he was acting, there was a close knit community that were almost like family... But they weren't Ellie. If there was one thing he regretted, it was losing contact with her. "So... Come here often?" He joked after a few moments of silence, barely able to contain his own laughter as he questioned her.

Ellie rolled her eyes once more. "You're such a pain. I don't know why I ever became friends with you." She said, obviously joking. Sebastian was, and probably would always be, one of her closest friends. Sure, until today, they hadn't seen each other in about a decade, but it seemed as though they were capable of just picking up straight from where they'd left off. And that was something that she was really thankful for. She let out a quiet laugh of her own. "Yep, definitely a pain in the ass."

Sebastian took a moment to look as though he was really thinking through why Ellie was his friend in the first place. He blew out a long sigh, shaking his head slowly. "Because... I'm Romanian, and you were into vampires, and you thought I was a vampire, so..." He joked, the confused look on his face changing to a bright smile again. It had always been a joke between them, that Sebastian was clearly a vampire. It was possibly one of the lamest attempts at bullying he had experienced in secondary school. That he sounded like a vampire, and apparently even looked like one. Even he had laughed about it at the time.

"Oh yes, how could I possibly forget about that? I was so into vampires back then and I definitely thought that you were one as well." Ellie said, sarcasm dripping from her words. That had been an ongoing joke of theirs. She never really understood why any of their classmates thought that it would actually get a rise out of Sebastian. Calling someone a vampire wasn't exactly something you heard every single day. It was actually a really lame attempt at bullying, the worst even. "I hate to break it to you, but you don't have that accent anymore...so I'm not into you anymore, sorry." She shrugged her shoulders.

"Damn..." Sebastian laughed, finally dropping his arms from her as though he admitted defeat. His accent had always been something he was self-conscious about when they first moved over to America. He'd even gone through a phase of outright refusing to speak any language but English. It had been the one thing that high school bullies had really gotten under his skin about. It singled him out, and made him stand out, and not in a good way. He was glad that Ellie was able to look past all of that, and that she didn't just follow the rest of the kids at school. "Ah, but you were into me?" He teased giving a small nudge with his elbow "I knew it. You couldn't resist me forever."

Ellie never had a problem with Sebastian's accent. It made him stand out, sure, but that's honestly what she liked about it. He was different, and she really didn't think that that was a bad thing in the slightest. She never understood why so many of their classmates used to tease and bully him the way that they did. She always used to say that the only one allowed to tease him was her. She rolled her eyes in response to his words. "I'm really starting to regret inviting you back to my apartment. You're more of a pain in the ass than I remember..." She said, though the smile on her face showed that she was still only joking around with him.

Sebastian mustered the most upset face he could in that moment. It took every fibre of his being to push down the temptation to laugh... But even then, he didn't look upset. If anything, he looked more like a disheartened puppy than genuinely offended by anything they had joked about. He was only able to keep the expression up for a moment though, before a large grin burst out on his face, and he laughed, his arm around Ellie's shoulders again so he could pull her close into his side. "Yeah alright, whatever trouble. Lets go inside before anyone thinks I'd ever actually date you."

Ellie couldn't help laughing at the ridiculous expression on Sebastian's face. She knew that he was trying to look offended, but he really just resembled a puppy dog when he looked at her like that. It was way too amusing to say the least. She rolled her eyes in response to his words. "You make it sound like I'm the embarrassing one in this friendship." She said as she finally started towards the building. "I think we both know who that actually is though." She grinned slightly, pushing open the door to the building and walking inside.

Following her in, the grin on his face was still ever present. There was no one who seemed to make him smile as much as Ellie did. She had always been so easy to get along with... As soon as she had punched out Joey Andrews for making fun of him, he knew he had made a friend for life... Whether Ellie actually liked it or not. With the language barrier constricting their communication for a while, Sebastian was unsure if Ellie was actually okay with him sticking by her side. He mostly went on body language, the way she would always smile when she saw him, and how she would always choose the seat nearest to him in class. "Oh, I forgot to tell you," He spoke again after a moment, finishing off his coffee. "Joey Andrews turned up at a comic con I was appearing at."

Language barrier or no language barrier, it didn't matter. Ellie and Sebastian had been good friends ever since she punched that asshole Joey Andrews in the face. She didn't know why, but from that day forward, she'd kind of just made it her job to tell any kids off who made fun of Sebastian. And she was glad that she had, because Sebastian ended up becoming her best friend. Sure, she had a couple of girlfriends over the years, but she'd always been closer to him than she was to anyone else. "Is he as much of a narcissistic asshole as he used to be?" She asked as she started up the stairs. The landlord never felt the need to get an elevator installed, so she was stuck walking up and down several flights of stairs every single day. She didn't mind too much anymore though, she'd kind of just gotten used to it.

It was the rumours towards the end of their high school years that really made Sebastian laugh. Ellie was his closest friend, but they never dated... So of course, the immature boys in their year who never stood a chance with Ellie speculated, and labelled Sebastian as gay. His response was to play it up, to make a point of learning how to braid hair and embrace any femininity that he showed. Nothing wound his bullies up more than knowing he was closer to Ellie than any of them ever came over the years. "No, he's desperate now... Balding." He shrugged casually, following her up the stairs. He paid no attention to the fact there wasn't an elevator. "Called me 'Seb' when he came to the signing table, like I was an old friend." It was a jarring experience, but one he should have prepared for. Admittedly, it made him slightly smug... That someone who had tormented him was now eating their own words. More than anything, he felt sorry for Joey.

"Serves him right." Ellie mumbled as she continued up the stairs. She'd never liked Joey, and that wasn't just because he'd always been a total jerk to Sebastian, though that certainly was part of her reason for disliking the guy. "What'd you say to him?" She asked. Personally, she would have had some choice words for him, but Sebastian had always been the more levelheaded of the two of them. Ellie kind of had a bit of a temper at times. "I'm on this floor." She said, starting down the hall towards her apartment.

"Serves him right." Ellie mumbled as she continued up the stairs. She'd never liked Joey, and that wasn't just because he'd always been a total jerk to Sebastian, though that certainly was part of her reason for disliking the guy. "What'd you say to him?" She asked. Personally, she would have had some choice words for him, but Sebastian had always been the more levelheaded of the two of them. Ellie kind of had a bit of a temper at times. "I'm on this floor." She said, starting down the hall towards her apartment.

"Honestly?" Sebastian wished he had something witty to tell Ellie, but in the moment, he had panicked. It was an uncomfortable situation all together, but he couldn't exactly rant at the guy in front of everyone. He was better than that, and he had a reputation that he needed to maintain. "I just pretended I didn't recognise him..." It seemed like the most sensible thing to do at the time, to pretend that he didn't remember him. It made Joey seem like the kind of guy who hadn't impacted his life, or left an impression on him at all. "Thank God, I thought my legs were gonna cave in." He teased as he followed her, smile one his face once more.

[So, I updated the software on my laptop to OS X, and apparently it reset the parental controls on it, and it just tried telling me that I couldn't access this role-play because of "adult content" I guess calling Joey Andrews a narcissistic asshole was deemed inappropriate ]

"Well, you're clearly a much better person than I am. That's much better than what I would've done or said to him." Ellie said, letting out a quiet laugh. She just had a tough time keeping her temper in check sometimes. Although, when she really thought about it, it was that temper of hers that had kind of started her friendship with Sebastian. After all, it had all started when she socked Joey in the face. "Yeah? Remind me to give your personal trainer a call and tell him to amp up your workout routines then." She teased lightly as she stopped outside of her apartment. "I wasn't expecting company, so enter at your own risk." She grinned slightly, pushing the door open once she'd unlocked it. It really wasn't that bad, there just a few things scattered around on the floor here and there.