Careless

Ella woke up bright and early the next day. She made up her mind that today was the day that she would go job hunting. She was hoping to find a job close to her temporary home so that commuting there wouldn't be such as hassle.

Taking out her clothes from her suitcase, she pulled out a pair of dark blue skinny jeans and paired with a white stripped t-shirt and black suede biker jacket. Making her way downstairs, she saw that her grandparents were already in the kitchen.

Her grandfather was reading the newspaper, a coffee in front of him and Norma was cooking breakfast and whistling to the music on the radio. "Good morning dear," Norma greeted her, being the first to notice Ella's presence.

Ella walked over to her grandmother and gave her a kiss before making her way to her grandfather.

Frank looked up and smiled warmly at her. He folded his newspaper and received her hug and kissed her on the cheek. "How was your sleep, my dear?" he asked her warmly.

Ella smiled. "Good, good. Oh! Before I forget, could you tell me what bus to take to get downtown? I want to go job hunting," she explained and sat in front of Frank. Norma smiled and placed her husband and granddaughter's plate on the table.

"You don't have to use the bus. Why don't you just use the Comet?" Frank offered.

Eyes widening, Ella's jaws dropped. "Are you serious? You're kidding me right?" she asked excitedly leaning on the table.

Frank laughed jovially. "Of course I'm serious," he replied and took out his keys from his pocket and handed them to Ella.

Ella's smile widened. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" she exclaimed and got up from her chair to attack her grandfather with kisses on the cheek.

*

Driving slowly around the small downtown area of Cole Harbour, Ella kept her eyes peeled for any wanted signs. She decided to park the car at a nearby parking lot and to just walk and ask around.

Slipping on her sunglasses, Ella walked around, her heels clicking with every step she took. The town was rather friendly. Every time she passed people, they would smile at her and greet her a good morning. Ella felt rather out of place in a town like this, she was after all used to big cities full of rude people.

She entered a small looking diner and was greeted by the waitress wearing a pale yellow uniform.

"Hello, welcome to Rudy's Diner, how may I help you?" she asked. The waitress seemed nice, she had curly brown hair, a little bit on the plump side and in her late thirties, maybe early forties.

"Hi, I was wondering if you guys are hiring," she smiled politely to the woman. "I'm Ella, Ella James."

The waitress eyed Ella and then smiled. "You ever busted tables before, kid?"

Ella shook her head. "Yes, yes I have," she tried to convince the woman.

The waitress nodded. "My husband owns the place. Why don't you give us your number and we'll call you when you can start working." She handed Ella a piece of paper and pen. "I'm Jen."

Quickly scribbling her number and name, Ella thanked Jen and went on her way. She walked around aimlessly and smiled at the people who gave her weird looks for her choice of clothes in a small town.

Ella felt so out of place in Cole Harbour, it was as if she was a fish on land. Even though she was born here, she always considered New York her home. The people were nice, but she wasn't used to their niceness. She would get the occasional weird looks, for the way she dressed, who on earth wears God know how many inches heels on a nice sunny day, where everyone dressed so conservative.

"Aw Sid, come on. Why can't you just take me to the mall, I really want to hang out with my friends." A young female voice whined.

"Not if your friends include that boy," a familiar voice responded.

Ella turned her head and to her surprise, she spotted Sidney and a blonde girl unloading things from a white car. She walked over to them, placing her sunglasses back onto her face. "Well, well, well, if it isn't my favourite help. You know, I'm a little sad that I haven't heard from you," she joked.

Sidney and the girl turned their attention to her. The girl looked at Ella weirdly; it wasn't common to have girls randomly come up to them like that in Cole Harbour, where everyone knew everyone, maybe somewhere else, but not here.

"Sid, who's this?" she asked her older brother.

"Tay, this is Ella James. She's Frank and Norma's granddaughter. Ella this is my little sister, Taylor," he introduced them.

Ella smiled widely, removing her sunglasses, and waved at Taylor. "It's good to meet the better Crosby. Your brother here has a little crush on me," she teased him and winked.

Taylor stood awkwardly. She too, heard about Ella James from Norma, her mother and her mother's close friend and Norma's daughter, Melissa.

Sidney chuckled nervously. "So, uh, what are you doing here?"

Shrugging, Ella spoke in bored tone. "Job hunting, I don't want to be mooching off of Grandma and Grandpa forever. Besides, I got bored staying in the house for too long."

Sidney remembered Norma asking him to befriend Ella during her stay here and decided to invite her to watch him practice. "Great, you can join Taylor and I for practice. Well if you have time," he said and mouthed 'what' to Taylor when she shot him an angry look.

"Practice?" she asked, tilting her head in a confused manner. "Practice what?"

"Hockey, don't you know who Sid is?" Taylor spoke up.

Ella looked taken aback. Was she supposed to know who he was? Did he save children from a burning building or something? "Um, I can tell you who Yo Yo Ma is, but other than that, no. Should I?"

About to speak, Taylor was cut off by Sidney. "I'm no one. I just play hockey for a living," he responded, trying to downplay everything.

"I see. Sorry, it's really not clicking. I don't watch a lot of sports. My family wasn't into sports when I was growing up," she explained. "But I'd love to watch. I really have nothing else to do. I mean if its okay with you guys"

Sidney nodded and the three made their way into the community centre. They were greeted once more by more friendly people. Most of them though said their hellos to Taylor and Sidney.

"Well, you guys seem to be hometown heroes. Maybe I should save a few children from rapists to be noticed," Ella joked.

Taylor snorted. "Its more Sid, that's the hometown hero. I'm just the little sister, so they're obligated to acknowledge me."

"Well then, we can both sulk in a corner and have our own little party while Sid basks in all the glory."

"Hey," Sidney protested. "It's not my fault they love me," he said cockily in a joking manner and flexed his arms.

Ella faked gasped and Taylor laughed. "He jokes! Mr. Serious jokes. We should document this moment!"

Sidney rolled his eyes as he watched Ella pretend to take pictures. "I'm going to go change into my gear. Tay, why don't you show our new comedian to the seats," he instructed and adjusted his heavy bag.

Taylor nodded. "Sure, come on Ella."

Following her, Ella began to talk about hockey and how Taylor needed to teach her about the sport. They took a seat close to the rink and chatted about almost everything as they waited for Sidney to come out.

"So, what's it like here in Cole Harbour? Is everyone really so nice?" Ella wondered as she leaned on the chairs and tapped her foot. "It's like Stepford or something."

Taylor just shrugged and kept her eyes on the immaculate sheet of ice before her. "The people here are just really nice," she replied simply. "By the way, are you going to the carnival this Saturday?"

Turning her head sideways in a confused manner, Ella gave Taylor a confused look. "Carnival?"

"Every summer we have a carnival that comes once a year and they're only here for a week. It's some traveling carnival."

"Maybe, sounds like fun. I've only been to a carnival once when I was little, when mom and I visited here often," Ella reminisced.

Ella was born in Cole Harbour but when she was two her mom and dad moved to Halifax because her dad got a better job there. So she would visit her grandparents every chance she got because of the close proximity. Eventually, her mother and grandmother's relationship became more and more strained and Ella was only allowed to visit every summer, until she was nine and moved to New York.

Her thoughts were broken when she heard Taylor scold Sidney for taking too long changing. She watched, amused, as the two siblings started to lightly argue about Sidney taking as long as a girl. Ella smiled genuinely and then frowned when her head went to the person she left behind in New York.