Catch Me When I Fall

Last night, we all stayed at Emma’s house. Emma’s room is big enough to be filled by 8 loud girls. We stayed up until 3 AM, just talking and laughing. We also talked with Fay on Skype for an hour. Fay couldn’t make it here because she decided to focus on her college while the others and I decided to work and go on college at the same time. Actually, keep going college and working at the same time is tiring, so we decided to put our college on hold until next fall. But that wasn’t for Chloe and Serra. They didn’t even go to college after high school because somebody had signed them first.

I currently am already in my apartment and watching TV all alone. It’s nothing better than spending your Saturday all alone in your place after a busy week of working. Diana and David, her boyfriend, was out. They said they’re going to the library and book store while Ally was going to the beach with Chloe. I was sitting and watching the re-run of Glee when my phone went off.

“Hello?” I answered it without looking at the caller I.D.

“Hello, my oh so lovely little sister!” Matt’s voice, my brother, made me to roll my eyes. He wouldn’t say those sweet words if he didn’t want something from me.

“What do you want? Say it.” I said to him as I stood up from the couch and walked to my room.

“I’m kind of lonely here, so can you please come here to the studio? But before you go here, would you mind to stop at the Burger King and buy me and my 4 other friends a burger?” See? There’s must be something behind his sweet words.

“In English, please.” I had to tease him as I walked to my closet and grabbed a pair of jeans and a plaid shirt.

“Can you please buy me and my friends’ lunch so we can have lunch together in the studio?” he said with a huff and I smiled at the phone.

“Okay, big brother. Later.” I hung up the phone and changed my clothes. I shoved my phone into my pocket and grabbed my backpack with my notebook, laptop, and other stuffs in it before walking out of the apartment.

Before heading off to studio, I stopped at Burger King for a while to buy lunch for 6 people, including me. After getting the food, I drove to the studio and saw a few cars in the parking lot. I stepped out of my car and walked to the building.

As I stepped in to the studio, I could hear music blasting from the speaker and my brother had his back at me. I walked in and put the foods on the table before walking slowly towards him, “Hi, lil’ sis,” he greeted me as he continued to do his job.

“Hey,” I greeted back, “where are your friends? Aren’t they supposed to be here?” I asked and walked towards the couch, sitting on it.

“They’re out for a while. I think they’ll be back in 5 minutes.” I pulled out my laptop from my bag and turned it on. I checked my e-mail and got a new e-mail from Fay. I smiled as I opened the e-mail.

To: taylor_ella17@live.com
Subject: look what I’ve found!

Hey ya, girly!! So, I spent my whole day cleaning my apartment yesterday and I found some nice, cute, and interesting photos of us! The photos were taken when we’re still in junior high. Umm, the photos are so cute! And... guess what? I found some photos of you and your silly little crush! :D Don’t forget to show it to the others because I already told the others that I will e-mail the photos to you!! Xoxo

I grinned at the e-mail and found an attachment to the photos. But before I can click it, the door opened, making me to look up from my laptop screen.

“Guys, this is my little sister, Ella.” I smiled politely at them and turned to see Matt. His friends are the Big Time Rush guys. I never thought that my brother would work with them. They gave me a little smile and wave.

“We’ve met before. I went to their concert last week and I bumped into Kendall at the coffee shop yesterday.” I told Matt and they nodded their heads.

“Okay. That’s good. Now, lunch time!” Matt exclaimed and he tossed me my burger. I started to eat and clicked the attachment to the photos.

“Are you always eating while doing your job?” James asked as he chewed his burger.

“Not really,” I answered shortly and looked at my laptop screen again. I looked at the photo one by one and smiled. I was still wearing braces in all those photos. There is a photo where a guy and I were dancing and that guy was holding my hand. I looked at the guy and realized that this guy is familiar. I shut my eyes for a while and opened it, looking all around the room.

Then my eyes caught on Kendall. I looked back at him and the guy in the photo. They seemed similar. Both have blond hair, tall, and... They’re almost the same. But then a name under the photo caught my eyes. My eyes went wide and I suddenly choked up on my food.

“Whoa, whoa. Easy, girl,” Matt said and patted my back. I coughed uncontrollably and that made the others looking at me.

“You okay?” Kendall asked with a slight of worry on his tone and I nodded my head.

“You don’t. What’s up?” Matt asked and I shook my head eagerly, “You sure?” he asked again and I nodded my head at him. I smiled sheepishly at him before glancing at Kendall again. He still looked at me like he’s studying my face. It’s like he’s trying to say something but he couldn’t find a way to say it.

I closed all the photos and continued to eat my burger. As I finished, I turned off my laptop, putting it back on my backpack, and pulled out my phone. I excused myself and stood in the corner of the room, calling Fay.

“What’s up, El?” she answered my call.

“How did you find that photo of me and him?” I whispered to the phone, earning some odd looks from the others.

“Why are you whispering?” she asked with a chuckle.

“Fay, can you please just answer me?” I asked in a normal tone.

“I found it in the box under my bed. You know what, there are many pictures of you and him. Some of it are cute, and some are not,” I rolled my eyes, “I can send it to you if you want to.”

“Thanks for the offer but no. I don’t need it.” I said quickly and she groaned, “Fay, I gotta go, okay? I’ll call you later.”

“Okay. And remember, I’ll still send it to you whether you want it or not. See ya, Ella!” she hung up the phone before I can say anything to her. Oh, gosh. I shut my eyes for a while and grabbed my backpack.

“How’s your job going?” Matt asked, trying to pick up a conversation with me because I’m always the quiet and awkward ones.

“Good. I have to attend another concert on Tuesday and writer another concert review.” I answered him as I slung my backpack over my shoulder.

“Where are you going?” Matt asked again and looked at me curiously. Okay, I better make a good excuse so he won’t be curious again.

“Gotta go to the bookstore and supermarket. I’ll see you later, big brother.” I gave him a hug and kiss on the cheek before walking out from the studio and to the parking lot. I took a deep breath and shut my eyes for a while, thinking about the photo that Fay had sent earlier. It’s not him. It’s not Kendall Schmidt in that photo. There are many people with name ‘Kendall’ in this state. No, it’s not him. It couldn’t be him.

“Ella!” I heard Kendall’s voice from across the street, making me almost drop my car keys. I turned to see him jogging towards me and let out a small polite smile.

“Hey,” I breathed and tucked a strand of my hair into the back of my ear, “What are you doing here?” I asked him as he stopped and stood in front of me.

“Look, I wanna say sorry for the accident in the coffee shop. I spilled your coffee on your shirt and you just walked away from me before I could say anything besides ‘sorry’. I was thinking maybe we can have dinner together so I can make it up to you?” I thought about his words for a while. How can I have dinner with him? It will be awkward for me!

“When?” That word slipped from my mouth easily. I mentally slapped myself and blinked my eyes a few times.

“Umm.. Wednesday? Is that okay?” He asked and I nodded at him, “Great! Then, I’ll see you on Wednesday, Ella!” He gave me a quick hug and one last smile that could make any girl melt before turning around and crossing the street again. I stood there, freezing in my place and still thinking about Kendall’s words. After a minute, I got in to my car and waited for a while. I thought about his face, eyes, and look again before driving. I compared him and the boy in the photo. Their height, hair, and eyes. Mostly, eyes. How can I forget that eyes? Oh no, Ella, stop it! You can’t be thinking about him. No, you can’t. But then, I caught myself thinking about him again.