Falling In

“Can we stop by Carson?” Ethan asked me as we came closer to our destination. We’ve just been talking about nothing at all throughout the entire trip. He held my hand as I drove, and he didn’t even sleep, keeping me company no matter how much I insisted that he take a nap.

“Yeah sure, I’ll get some gas and we can switch. Don’t know where to go,” I told him as I took an exit. We then switched off and he began driving to wherever we were to make a stop.

“Hey can you check my backpack for the directions?” he asked me.

“I thought you knew where to go?”

“No,” he frowned.

“Oh, okay. To where?” I asked reaching for his backpack.

“To your heart,” he winked at me.

“Holy shit,” I laughed as I began a laughing fit. “ Seriously, where are we going?” I asked as we approached a neighborhood, and my laughter had died down a bit.

“My parents wanted me to get something before I went home,” he explained as he parked in front of a gigantic house.

“Is this yours?” I squeaked.

“Yeah,” he frowned. “C’mon. Take avalanche,” he said and stepped out.

“Avie, keep me sane,” I told my dog as I opened my door and opened his as well.

“Come on,” Ethan said as he took my hand and pulled me towards the huge ass door.

“Damn, hella fine house with hella fine people,” I mumbled.

It was Ethan’s turn to start laughing. “Are we gonna use corny pick up lines on each other now?”

I laughed with him. “Maybe,” I said with a wink.

“Ethan!” I heard the familiar voice behind me.

“Elizabeth!” he smiled as he pulled the little girl into his arms.

“I missed you,” she pouted.

“Awww. I’m sorry. I missed you too,” he cooed.

“Oh! Who’s dog is that?!” she smiled with a twinkle in her eyes.

Ethan laughed as he set her down. “That’s Avalanche. Stella’s dog,” she said.

Her face contorted in confusion for a second before she turned around and saw me. “Stella!” she squealed and hugged me. “Sorry, I didn’t see you,” she said.

“It’s okay,” I laughed.

“Where’s mom?” Ethan asked her

“She’s in the study,” the little girl said as she reluctantly put her hand on Avalanche’s head. “He’s friendly,” she smiled as she became more comfortable.

“Come on Stells,” Ethan said as he took my hand.

“Can Stella stay here?” Elizabeth said quickly.

“Only if she wants to,” he said as he looked at me.

“I’d love to,” I said to him with a smile.

“I’ll see you in a little bit,” he said putting his arms around me and kissed my forehead before walking out of the room.

I looked down at Elizabeth who looked at me and giggled. “My brother so loves you,” she said.

“How would you know that, little girl?” I laughed.

“Simple. He looks at you like daddy looks at mommy. And he speaks to you really softly as if he didn’t, you might break,” she said her eyebrows furrowed. “Well, can we go to the backyard? Can I play with Avalanche?” she asked hopefully. I chuckled as I nodded and followed her who lead the way.

I sat on the side as Avalanche chased the adorable little girl around. After awhile she came back next to me, and Avalanche laid down on my feed. “My brother has this big stuffed animal like Avalanche. He never let me play around with it though,” she frowned.

“Why not?” I asked.

“I asked mommy, and she told me that it was because you gave it to him,” she smiled brightly. “I sometimes see him cuddling with it,” she giggled. “Shhh! Don’t tell him I told you!”

I laughed at the adorable child. “I won’t tell him,” I grinned. “But I’m sure he would let you play with it if you asked him. I gave it to him 5 years back.”

“Elizabeth?” I heard a female voice from behind me.

“Hi Elle!” the girl grinned and ran towards the voice from behind me, my eyes following her.

I turned around and saw Elegance Versace. My eyes widened as I quickly stood up.

“Who’s your friend, Liz?” Elegance asked her.

“Oh! That’s Stella. Stella Grace, Ethan’s special friend,” she giggled. I blushed as I smiled awkwardly at her.

“Hi,” I said as I approached them. “Stella Grace,” I introduced.

“Elegance Versace. I know, it’s dumb. You can call me Elle,” she grinned.

“It’s an honor to meet you,” I smiled.

“Likewise,” she smiled at me. “Elizabeth, go inside and play with Avalanche, yeah?” she suggested. I was suddenly nervous. When Elizabeth was out of sight, she looked at me. “I don’t know what your intentions are Stella, but my brother had been hurt before, and I’m not gonna let that happen again. Seeing that you know of our family and are here right now, then I assume that my brother’s sincere about you.”

My eyes widened. “Ethan and I are just friends,” I assured her. “If you’re thinking I’m going after him because of your family’s money, then you’re wrong. I just want to make it clear to you. I’m in no way going after the money,” I told her.

She then eased down. “Okay then that’s out of the way,” she nodded.

“Hey,” Ethan greeted as he came up to us, giving Elle a hug, and then came up to me, wrapping his arms around my shoulder and gave me a kiss on the side of my head. “So, I see you’ve met my sister?” he asked me.

“Sister?!” I scoffed.

“Sadly, yeah,” she nodded, rolling her eyes at her brother.

“That’s sad. You have to be related to this ugly thing,” I said pushing Ethan away playfully.

“This ugly Greek God?” he laughed, rolling his eyes. “What were you girls talking about?” he asked.

“Oh, I was just getting to know her,” Elle smiled sweetly at me.

“Were you intimidating her, Elle?” Ethan asked.

She rolled her eyes at him. “Wouldn’t do that brother,” she smiled. “Let’s go inside,” she said and led the way to the kitchen. She pulled out some cups and offered us drinks. We sat down around the counter, and Elle continued with her questions. “So, Stella Grace, where are you from?”

“North Lake Tahoe,” I informed her.

She looked at Ethan, and furrowed her eyebrows. “Isn’t that’s where- Holy crap! You’re Stella Grace!” she exclaimed, covering her mouth.

“Uhh.. Yes, I am.”

“Holy fuck. I am so sorry!” she apologized. I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. She then engulfed me in a hug. “I’m finally meeting you!” she squealed.

“What?”

“You’re the girl that’s got my brother heads over heels!” she laughed.

“Uhhh… I am?” I asked, cocking my head to the side, looking at Ethan.

“Elle!” he scolded.

She waved him off and continued talking. “Yes! He called me a month ago and said he found the girl of his dreams, and he called me last night saying that he might actually have a chance with her. And I remembered him telling me that she was for North Lake Tahoe and that she snowboards. And now I remember her name was Stella Grace!” she grinned.

“Hey Ethan? Can you come up here for a second?” I heard a female voice say.

“I’m sorry, I have to finish some stuff. Can you call your brother and Deegan that we’ll be home a bit later?” he asked me.

“No problem,” I assured him.

“Thank you,” he said with a thankful smile and gave me a quick kiss on the cheek. “Elle, don’t say anything stupid please?” he begged as he reluctantly walked out of the kitchen.

She waved her hands around, dismissing him, and focused her attention on me. “Wow, you got my brother good.”

I blushed as I gave her a soft smile. “No, not really,” I chuckled.

“So, where were we?” she asked, tilting her head to the side. “OH right! I was apologizing,” she laughed. “I seriously thought you were Heather.”

I froze. “Oh I uhm. Heather’s from North Lake too,” I informed.

“Don’t care about that bitch,” she told me. “We totally got off on the wrong foot,” she laughed.

“It’s alright,” I laughed lightly.

“How did my brother find you?”

“I uhhh.. We were assigned to work together at your uncle Patrick’s thing. Photography stuff,” I explained.

She scoffed. “You’re the reason that Ethan even went into photography,” she smirked.

“No, he’s been good with cameras even before,” I smiled.

“Right,” she laughed. “So, what happened over the week? He seems pretty happy,” she told me.

“What do you mean?”

“He’s been different for the past three years,” she explained. “Four almost. You hurt him pretty bad.”

“He hurt me pretty bad too,” I said softly. “But, right now it’s just whatever. I mean, we just did the photography for the X-Games, and I just got sponsored and I don’t know wheter to take my photography or put a hundred percent on my snowboarding,” I said to her.

“You’re a professional snowboarder too?” she asked, mouth agape.

“I’m doing the signing next week. The official one,” I grinned.

“Who’s sponsoring you?”

“Red bull.”

“Get out of here!” she gasped.

I laughed. “My exact reaction,” I nodded.

“You and I should ride sometime!” she smiled.

“Elegance Versace? Snowboarding?” I gasped playfully.

“I’m not all celebrities and magazines,” she winked.

We just talked and laughed, and got to know each other. Eventually Elizabeth came in. “I’m hungry,” she frowned. “So is Avalanche,” she said to me.

“I’ll make you some food Lizzy,” Elle said, jumping off the stool.

“I’m gonna go grab some food for Avie,” I said and jumped off my own stood. “My butt hurts,” I mumbled as I limped towards the door. I grabbed the bag of food and my phone from the car, and quickly sent a text to Deegan telling him we’d be coming home later than planned.

“What’s Ethan doing?” I asked Elle after we fed Elizabeth and Avalanche and we were picking on our food as well.

She rolled her eyes. “He’s doing work,” she scoffed. “Mom and dad call him every other month to do some work, and usually he does it for 8 hours straight. It’s only been four, so I’m guessing you’re sleeping over,” she laughed.

“What work?” I asked.

“You know, go over stocks and sales, go over the designs, the lines. All that boring stuff. I get the fun part, I get the magazine,” she smiled.

“Wait, Elle magazine. Elle. Dude! You’re the editor of Elle!” I gasped.

“Really now, Stella?” she laughed.

“I’m sorry, but it’s my turn to be mind fucked,” I mumbled.

“Let’s go to the living room, I need to put Liz to bed anyways,” she told me. I nodded and she led me to the living room, then popped in a movie into the player.

“Liz, come on, we have to get you to bed,” Elle said as she led the little girl out of the living room.

“Wait Elle, I wanna say goodnight to Stella,” the little girl said softly.

“Okay, hurry up.”

The girl ran up to me and gave me a huge hug. “Are you leaving tomorrow already?” she asked me.

“Yes, I am,” I told her.

“Will I still see you tomorrow morning?” she asked hopefully.

“Yes, you will,” I assured her.

“Okay, goodnight Stella Grace,” she smiled and kissed my cheek before jumping off the couch and ran towards Elle.

She came back about 15 minutes later and sat down next to me on the couch. “So, can I ask you something?” she asked me after awhile.

“What’s up?”

“How much do you like my brother?”

I looked at her and squinted, not really knowing how to answer the question tactfully, so all I could do was blurt out what was in my mind. I chuckled sofly, and looked back at the TV. “I don’t think I like him,” I told her.

“What?!” she screeched.

I laughed as I looked at her. “I might actually be falling for him,” I said softly.

She giggled “Seems like my brother isn’t the only one that got hit by Cupid’s arrow!” she sang.