The Sun Always Sets in Paradise

Max had dropped me off at Ellie's after I managed to retrieve all the needed essentials. We had been sitting in her room not really doing anything. I was painting my nails and she was texting a bunch of people. Fun, right?

I sighed, unable to really take the silence anymore. "You're still mad at me, aren't you?"

Her eyes flicked up from her phone screen before returning back to whatever she was reading.
I sighed again. I didn't know how to fix it this time. I had apologized when we first started to not talk when I got to her house but that didn't seem to help. I put the nail polish away and walked out of her room. I continued my way down the sort hallways to the stairs that led to the second floor.

Ellie's room was one of three rooms on the third floor. There was her room, her sister's room (who was currently in college), and then a huge, full bathroom. The second floor was her parent's master bedroom along with the master bathroom, a guest room with a bathroom , and then her dad's office.

I trudged down the sets of stairs so that I would be able to rob their kitchen. Ellie's mother was an amazing cook who always had sweets made, so it would be silly to not give into such an enticing temptation.

As I was munching on a piece of chocolate cake, Ellie walked into the kitchen. I looked up at her but she avoided my gaze.

"Ellysa... please talk to me." I whispered, using her full first name.

She sighed deeply before meeting my eyes. "I just wish that you would have told me the truth."
I froze, trying to act like I was only calmly confused. In reality, I was horrified because I thought that she had found out what Haden had been doing to me.

"What truth?" I questioned lowly, trying to keep the fear out of my voice.

"About Haden threatening you even more and beating you at the same time. I mean, I already knew that he would lay a hand on you every now and then because you told me before, but seriously? Why didn't you tell me that he was doing it even after you two broke up?

"Plus, there is the subject of Maxim. The, ever-so-attractive, Russian. You never told me that you two were so close so suddenly or that you liked him." There was this underlying agony in her voice that took me a moment to catch.

"First off, Maxim and I just have become close friends. Why do you believe that we like each other?" I wasn't going to bring her hidden agony to the forefront of the conversation quite yet. I just wanted to wait to be positive that it was there.

"I can tell by the way you two were when I showed up. And I can tell that he likes you." She got quiet on that last part.

Then realization hit like a ton of bricks being swung at me. "You like him."

Her eyes got wide and she blushed redder than a red, velvety rose. "W-well yeah. Who doesn't?!"

"Don't try to cover it up that way. You. Like. Him!" This emotion started to swell up in my chest but I pushed it away. I let guilt and excitement course through me instead. They were much familiar than that weird emotion.

I felt the guilt because the fact that I didn't know and was ignorantly making her jealous. Excitement was for, well, that they would be a cute couple. And plus, Ellie had only one boyfriend and that was a stupid little elementary fling.

"Yes, okay, yes! I like him. Satisfied!" She threw her hands up in the air before sitting heavily into the chair next to me.

"Oh my gosh... I'm so sorry if it looked like we were a thing the other day!!! I'm so sorry!" Everything that had been going on recently with me was forgotten and I cherished the moment whole-heartedly. "When did this infatuation begin?" I leaned closer to her in interest.

"Well, it was like the second day at school. You weren't really talking to me and skipping lunch, which was understandable given the current circumstances... But anyways! He came up to me and sat at the table and we just began to talk. We mainly talked about school and whatnot that first day but we got closer and stuff."

I nodded, watching her intensely.

Ellie stared off into the distance for a moment before looking back at me and continuing on. "I'll admit, that we talked about you a lot. All good stuff, though. I promise." I smiled, still staying silent so that she would keep talking. "I told him about all the memories I had with you. How we would get in trouble with the neighbors and when we would go visit my aunt. I told him about my family... but he didn't really say much about his life, come to think about it."

I was almost nodded in agreement but decided to keep it at bay. I didn't want jealousy to become another rival in our friendship so I decided to keep all the stuff that he and I did and talked about a secret.

"Why do you think that was such a small topic for him?" I questioned, gently probing her to get back to being comfortable to talk to me about anything, again.

"I'm not sure..."

"Ask him about it the next time you two hang out. I'll even avoid sitting at our lunch table." I winked, trying to play off the last remark as a joke when I was secretly being serious.

"Yeah, no. I miss your presence. No matter how glum you may seem some days."

I smiled widely at her. "Does that mean that I'm forgiven?"

She returned the smile. "For now."

My cake was forgotten about as we embraced.