Our Goodbyes

"Tell me about your relationship with Sidney."

Ella James looked at her therapist unsurely and twiddled her thumbs. "He's great. I probably wouldn't be where I am right now without him. He's been taking care of me and he's my best friend," she told her therapist happily.

"He sounds like a great guy. Are you guys just friends?"

Pausing for a moment, Ella blushed and looked at her lap. "Y-yes, why would we be anything else?" she stammered.

Her therapist, Dr. Mallory Daniels, uncrossed her leg and looked up from her paper. "The way you talk about him and the way you look when you talk about him say otherwise."

Ella looked thoughtful for a moment, sure she loved him but she was also sure that she loved him as a friend. He was always there for her and he always said that he loved her, but she assumed it to be a platonic sort of way.

"We're just friends," Ella confirmed again.

Dr. Daniels nodded and wrote something down on her paper. "Now can you tell me about your relationship with your mother?"

There was a moment of silence before Ella said anything.

*

It was an uneventful day; Ella sat on the chair of the island counter typing busily on her laptop as Taylor slept on the leather couch. She was looking for a job so that she was seen as stable and she would finally be able to adopt Wyatt before someone else did.

Taylor sprang from the couch, drool falling from her mouth as she grunted. Ella just looked at her friend with raised eyebrows and snickered when Taylor wiped the drool from the corner of her mouth in disgust.

"Did you have a nice dream?" she teased. "You seemed to enjoy it with the face you were making."

"Are you kidding me? I had a dream, no nightmare, about Geno stripping for me" Taylor shuddered.

Ella rolled her eyes. "You know, the quicker you admit that you want to jump his bones, the easier it is," Ella advised.

"Kind of like you and Sid?" Taylor asked rhetorically, with a raised eyebrow.

Looking away from her friend, Ella blushed and cleared her throat. "Shut up," she mumbled in a defeated manner and went back to her laptop.

"Whatcha looking at?" Taylor wondered and got up from the couch. "You're looking for a job?"

Nodding, Ella looked at Taylor. "Yeah, in order to get my son back, they said that I need a stable income as to even be at least considered. To be honest, I'm scared. What if I lose him?"

Taylor pulled up a chair beside Ella and sat down. "You just have to do everything in your power to get him, and I know Sidney would do everything to get him too," she reassured the young mother. "And I have good news for you. So the Pittsburgh Philharmonic is looking for a new Violinist and they're holding an open audition in two weeks."

Ella looked at Taylor hopeful. She knew she was good at the violin. To get into Julliard you had to be exceptional, and for Ella, who didn't have the grades, to get in on talent, she knew she was good, but she was still worried. She was worried that they would see her as a Julliard dropout and judge her solely based on that.

"Yeah, that would be amazing."

Nodding, Taylor got up. "Well, as much as I love talking to you and sleeping in your couch, I have to go. Dad wants me home," she groaned at the mention of having another one of her mother's emotional family dinners. "Wish me luck," she said sarcastically.

Ella laughed and followed Taylor to the door. "Good luck."

Just as she was about to open the door, Sid walked in with a smile on his face. "Hey Taylor, El," he greeted them and kissed Ella on the cheek.

"Hey Sid," Taylor greeted the hockey player and left.

"Hey," Ella said, wrapping her arms around his waist and resting her head on his chest. "How was your day?"

"It was good," he replied, wrapping her tiny body in a hug and kissing the top of her forehead. "How was your therapy?" he asked, breaking the hug and looking at her fondly.

Ella stepped back from Sidney and blushed. Dr. Daniel's words about her and Sidney crossed her mind. She wondered if anything could come out of their relationship, if the could really become a couple. Then she realized there was no way Sidney would be interested in her, she had way too much baggage and problems.

He could do so much better than her. He could have Mandy, someone that was actually going somewhere with their life. He and Mandy had history. She knew more about him than Ella does, and his friends love her. Mandy was the perfect and smart choice, not Ella.

Sidney looked at Ella worried. "Hey are you okay? Did something happen in therapy?" he was her worriedly and put a hand on her arm.

Faking a smile, Ella just shook her head. "Its nothing, I was just thinking. Therapy was great," she lied. "I, um, I'm going to go out for a bit," she said and walked out of the apartment before Sidney could say anything or protest.

Walking out of the building, Ella made her way to a nearby Stabucks. She was so into her thoughts that she didn't realize that the person walking in front of her had stopped until Ella bumped into the person.

"I am so sorry," she apologized. Her eyes widened when she realized the person she bumped into was Mandy.

Mandy grinned, remembering that the girl in front of her was Ella James, the girl that had been living with Sidney. She knew that the guys didn't like her, explaining that she was a gold digger and a whore, but really, Mandy didn't see it.

She seemed like a nice girl that made Sidney happy. As long as Sidney was happy, that was all Mandy cared about. He deserved it. Mandy knew that Max and Geno were trying to set her and Sidney up again, in hopes that they would get together again and he would forget all about Ella, but that ship had sailed a long time ago. She could tell that Ella was the only thing Sidney could think about and she was willing to let him go, despite her having feelings for him still.

"Hi, Ella right?"

Nodding, Ella shifted her feet. "Yeah and your Mandy. Sid's rather fond of you."

Mandy laughed airily and flipped her long red hair. "Yeah, Sid and I go way back," she said, noticing Ella's defeated look. "But that was a long time ago. He doesn't look at me that way anymore," she said somewhat sadly. "Anyways, I was just about to head over to Sid's to say goodbye."

"Goodbye? Are you leaving already?" Ella asked curiously.

Mandy nodded. "Yeah, I have midterms and then a couple of my friends want to go to Cabo or our Christmas break, and since I go to school in Arizona, I won't get to see Sid or the boys anytime soon." Mandy looked at her watch. "And my plane leaves in an hour. Could you, could you tell Sid I said bye and take care?" she asked. Her flight didn't leave until later that night, but she knew that Ella was a little tense with her relationship with Sidney, so she decided to step back a bit.

"Yeah, yeah sure. Um, take care and have a safe flight."

"I will. It was great meeting you," she said happily and hugged Ella tightly.