Life As It Is

It had been two years prior to when Ella had in some sort of way tried to get over Billie Joe.

Her relationship with Pete ended in a matter of a few months. It had ended badly as well because Pete was well—just a bad guy. From then on, she continued trying to date, but it seemed just useless.

She couldn't find the guy she was really looking for. Although she thought she was now over her first love, deep down she knew she wasn't. It was especially hard to forget when their specific anniversaries had come up. Or when she knew it was his birthday.

When she wasn't focusing on her love life, she was focusing on school or trying to find a decent social life.

Ella had now been definitely used to New York. If you were a native New Yorker, you'd think that she had lived in the city her whole life. But the fact of the matter was—she committed easily.

Through these two years as well, Holly and Ella had officially became best friends. They were there for one another no matter what.

One day, it had been Ella's turn to do the laundry. And so, with a bored expression, she went to the basement of their building to use the washing machines.

She sorted through Holly's shirts until she came across a Green Day shirt. Her stomach suddenly did a summersault. It was obviously a T-shirt from the current tour they were probably on.

But when had Holly gone to a Green Day show? And why didn't she tell her?

* * *
Holly had just gotten home from her shift at the restaurant. She looked through the refrigerator and randomly grabbed a snack. Then she heard the door slam shut.

"Hey," She said as she chewed and saw her best friend walk in with the laundry sack.

"Hey," Ella said and put down the sack.

"What's wrong?" Holly had grown to know her well and could tell when something was wrong.

"Oh nothing... " Ella went through the laundry sack and pulled out a Green Day shirt. Holly's eyes widened.

"Holly... what's this?"

"A... Green Day tee... "

"Correct. And whose is it?"

Holly gave a weak smile.

"Uhh... mine."

"Right. So explain yourself, Mitchell." Ella used her best friend's last name to show that she was serious.

Holly put down her snack and sighed.

"Ok... it was two weeks ago and well some people invited me to go see them and so I went to go see them."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because well... I thought maybe you didn't care anymore or that you'd get really upset. So... I just didn't tell you. I'm sorry El."

Ella nodded and sighed.

"Did he at least look happy?"

"Yeah. And you were right, they rock."

"Yeah I know," She said quietly.

Holly tried to get a smile on her best friend's face.

"And I saw Mike right in front of me!" She squealed which made Ella laugh.

"Did you make out with him or something?"

"No... " Holly said sadly. "He had too many damn groupies all over him."

"How about Al? Was he even there?"

"No... It was that other guy. What's-his-name Cool."

Ella's eyes widened.

"Tre?"

"There you go!"

Ella smiled. She was glad at least in those two years, Billie Joe and Mike were able to replace Al with their good friend Tre. Green Day even sounded better with Billie Joe, Mike, and Tre.

"So are you still pissed?" Holly asked.

She sighed.

"No," She said as she shook her head. "You had every right to go."

Holly nodded.

"I should've told you though."

"Yeah."

There was an awkward silence. All that could be heard was the quiet hum of the refrigerator.

* * *

The next day, Ella was slowly trying to get over the events of the day before. She was little jealous that Holly had seen Billie Joe and she hadn't. But the fact of the matter was, she didn't want to see him and pry open old wounds that she had been trying to close through these two years. Maybe if she didn't see him, it'd be for the best.

She had been caught up in her thoughts all day long as she served people coming in for Sunday morning breakfast. Ella liked being a waitress—especially in New York. There was always chatter around and everything happened quickly without a doubt.

On this particular morning, she was serving a family of four. She sighed inside and her thoughts trailed back to her parents. Of course, their birthdays and the holidays had come and passed but she had only visited once. Deep down, she didn't want to open those old wounds either. She wondered if her parents were even out of jail or were trying to track her down.

The only woman who even acted like a mother was Ollie. And she felt bad about not calling either.

Once again, she was caught up in her thoughts while she was walking to put the coffee pot back. Suddenly, she accidentally poured coffee on a guy walking towards her.

"Ahh shit!" He exclaimed. She gasped.

"Oh my god," She said suddenly. "I'm so sorry!"

She slowly looked up at the guy and his brown eyes met with hers.

"It's alright," He said smiling.

"Here, I'll give you some napkins," She said and raced towards the counter, then handed the guy a couple of napkins.

"Thanks."

"No problem."

She was smiling and kind of liked the guy a little. Holly was by the counter, slowly starting her shift and witnessed the whole incident.

"What was that all about?" She asked Ella.

"Nothing... just poured some coffee on him by accident."

"Yikes, that sucks. You sure you didn't do it on purpose?"

Ella laughed.

"Why would I do that?"

"You know the last few dates I've been on?"

"Yeah... "

"It started off when I spilled coffee on them."

Ella smirked.

"You're kidding right?"

"Nope."

She looked toward where the guy was now. He was sitting at an empty table, reading from a textbook.

"He's kind of cute... "She said and smiled a little.

"Aww... Ella has a cr-ush, Ella has a cr-ush!" Holly chanted. Her best friend nudged her in the elbow.

"Shut up."

"Meh, I have a bad feeling about him."

"Holly, you don't even know him."

"Yeah well my feelings like that are rare."

Ella laughed a little.

"Watch out, Holly Mitchell—psychic."

Holly stuck her tongue out.

"Fuck you."

"I love you too."

"Gosh that ex of yours did a number on you."

Ella smiled. She was right.

Over the course of a few weeks, the guy kept coming back mainly just to see Ella. She then learned his name was Dave. The name seemed familiar to her but she shook it off. By the end of the month, they started going out.

She hadn't felt that kind of spark since her first boyfriend. But their relationship was not going to be the same way.

It would be full of emotions and heartbreak. But she was yet to know that.