Redefine Me, Redesign Me

Alex woke up early the next morning and called the cab service to be sure he still had a car to take him to the airport. Ellie rolled over stretching and watching Alex run around the room grabbing his last minute things.

“I could have taken the day off to take you to the airport, ya know?” Ellie pointed out hugging Alex’s pillow.

Alex shrugged, “Why get up early to take me to the airport and then have nothing to do for the rest of the day?” he countered walking into his bathroom to pack his toiletries.

Ellie pushed herself out of the bed and wandered over to lean against the bathroom doorframe. Her thoughts mulled over what it would be like to only be able to talk to Alex over the phone. Would he even have the time?

“So tour, how busy does that get?” Ellie asked tugging at Alex’s shirt that she was wearing as a nightgown.

Alex shrugged his shoulders, “Pretty busy, I guess, why?”

Ellie pulled at the hem of the tee shirt trying to make it hang a little lower on her thighs. She was afraid that they would grow apart while he was gone, but how was she supposed to voice that?

“Just wondering. I mean, I don’t want you to feel obliged to call me and then never have a minute to yourself, ya know?” Ellie tried to play it cool as Alex walked past her to put his things in his suit case.

Alex nodded as if he understood, but in reality he felt like Ellie was trying to make excuses for him not to call her while he was gone. How was that supposed to work?

His cab would be here any minute and Ellie was already trying to get rid of him. Maybe he should have just let their fight yesterday end things. Maybe he should have just told her to go home when she showed up.

They could have just grown apart and not ever had another thought about each other, never looking back.

The sound of a car honking outside made Alex focus on the task at hand as he zipped his suitcase.

“The home town show isn’t that far off,” Alex told Ellie hoping that would get across how much he wanted to keep this going. That he wasn’t going to let this tour keep them apart if she would let him.

All Ellie could think was that he was trying to make excuses not to call her insisting that he would be seeing her in a couple of weeks so what good would a phone call do?

Ellie nodded not sure what to say. If he wasn’t willing to make this work what could she do?

“Lisa said she’d take the dogs off your hands whenever you wanted a break,” Alex reminded her before kissing her cheek.

Ellie followed him down to the front door.

“I’ve got the dogs they’ll keep me company,” Ellie insisted, “The only time I’ll need her to take them off my hands is thanksgiving.”

Alex gave her a halfhearted smile but to Ellie it just looked like a grimace.

He hugged her tightly kissing her hair before walking out the front door.

Ellie stood there for a minute feeling like Alex had basically ended things. She thought about their conversation wondering what she could have said to make herself clear and then it hit her.

The only way to really make herself clear would be to tell him exactly what she meant.

She yanked open the door over joyed to see that he was still loading his suitcase in the trunk. She ran out to him grabbing him by the front of his shirt.

“Call me every chance you get,” she demanded not mincing her words. The more direct the better, it was freezing out here and she probably should have put some pants on. “I don’t even care how clingy that sounds because I mean it. A five second call is better than nothing,” she insisted. “And fuck I should have at least put some shoes on,” she exclaimed shrinking a bit closer to Alex and soaking in his body heat.

Alex chuckled wrapping his arms around her.

“I will call you so often for pointless shit that you will start ignoring my calls with lame texts,” he joked.

“Good it would only make sense for you to be just as annoying away as you when you’re here,” she teased.

“Go back inside and get ready for work,” Alex insisted giving her a tight squeeze.

Ellie nodded hugging back before letting go and bolting for the door.

Not even five minutes after Ellie had gotten back inside did her phone beep with a text message from Alex saying that the neighbors were going to talk about the trampy tee shirt girl outside the rock star’s house.

She couldn't really bring herself to laugh at his text because she was alone again... for the second time in Blatimore and this time she didn't want to be.

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After Ellie got off work she immediately whipped out her phone to call Alex. Her project proposal had been accepted and she was now the head of her very own team for it. Alex had been right about her being capable and naturally he was the first person she wanted to tell.

She counted the rings after each tone eager for Alex to answer. She was beginning to think that he was too busy to answer when a ring was cut off before it had gotten the chance to finish.

“Hello?” Alex asked sounding extra chipper.

There was some yelling in the background that Ellie couldn’t quite make out.

“My proposal was approved!” She shouted glad that she was already in her car and pulling out of the parking lot. She wasn’t able to contain her excitement.

“That’s great!” He exclaimed, “I told you, you would get it.”

There was a shout in the background from someone demanding that Alex get off the phone.

“Lay off guys!” Alex shouted back at them making Ellie laugh. She felt like she was a teenager calling a boy whose family wouldn’t leave him alone.

“How was your flight?” Ellie asked deciding to ignore the fact that Alex needed to get off the phone.

“Well if you checked your text messages you would already know how my flight went along with a detailed account of my lunch,” he replied Ellie could hear the smile in his voice.

“My apologies for having a job,” She retorted, “But I am now on my way to pick up your dogs and take them back to my place.”

“And I’m about to go on stage for sound check,” Alex said sounding reluctant and Ellie knew that meant they had to get off the phone.

“Well you have fun with all of that,” she told him trying not to sound so down, “I’ll let you go.”

“Cuddle the puppies for me?” he asked.

Ellie rolled her eyes, “Sure thing.”

They said their goodbyes and Ellie pulled into Alex driveway.

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Ellie hadn’t expected her house to be so quiet without Alex. It wasn’t like he talked all the time, in fact they often spent their time in complete silence just enjoying each other’s company. Alex had texted her after they got off the phone suggesting that they FaceTime later that night, so at least Ellie had that to look forward to.

Ellie went to the kitchen in search of something to make for dinner. She wasn’t much of a cook, but now was as good a time as any to take up a new hobby. She found some chicken and she figured seasoning it and throwing it in the oven would work well enough and she was sure she had some kind of rice laying around. That was a meal right?

The dogs circled her feet as she moved around the kitchen purposefully taking longer than necessary just to waste some time. Seven o’clock rolled around and she wondered if Mallory would call. Her phone rang moments later with a new text message. It was Mallory, and unfortunately she had made plans for the night and wouldn’t be able to talk… So much for that plan.

Ellie sighed sinking into the couch waiting for her food to be done. Payton was curled into her side and Sebastian hogged her lap. Maybe she should start watching a TV series on Netflix. There’s bound to be a good one on there somewhere.

When her phone finally rang signaling that Alex was FaceTiming her she was already curled up in bed with the dogs.

“Hey,” She croaked sleepily at Alex’s chipper smiling face.

“You know that I can’t see you right?” Alex asked raising an eyebrow at her.

Ellie hadn’t even thought of that. She reached over and switched on the lamp on her bedside table.

“Better?” she asked squinting at the light. Sebastian stepped into the view of the camera and cuddled into Ellie’s neck.

Alex chuckled at her sleepy appearance and his silly dog, “I can let you go back to sleep if you want,” he suggested.

“Yeah do that!” she heard someone on Alex’s end shout.

“Shut up you dingus!” Alex called back chucking a pillow at whoever it had been.

Ellie chuckled, “If you need to go you can,” she told him.

He gave her a pained look. “No,” he insisted, “I want to talk to you and see you, it feels like it’s been ages since I’ve seen your face.”

Ellie rolled her eyes, “I saw you this morning,” she reminded him.

“I thought you took a cab to the airport,” she heard Jack’s voice ask from somewhere in the room Alex was in.

“She slept over last night,” Alex told him in an exasperated tone. Ellie got the impression that Jack had been the one shouting earlier.

“I know that I saw you this morning,” Alex replied turning his attention back to Ellie, “but that doesn’t mean that I don’t miss your face.”

“Alex you promised that we could go out tonight!” Jack complained in a whiny childlike voice.

Alex groaned and Ellie laughed.

“Go have fun with Jack I’ll talk to you tomorrow, yeah?” Ellie suggested.

Alex frowned and Jack was celebrating in the background.

“Just call me when you can tomorrow,” Ellie insisted, “It’s Saturday and I won’t have anything to do anyway.”

Alex sighed and nodded, “Fine but tomorrow we’re talking for a very long time and hopefully I can get some privacy,” he added glaring at Jack.

Ellie chuckled at his expression, “I’ll talk to you tomorrow,” she said yawning.

“Maybe on skype?” he suggested.

Ellie nodded before saying her goodbyes and hanging up the phone.

She sighed turning off the light and getting comfortable again. It was going to be hard getting used to being alone at night. At least she had the dogs, even if they did move around a lot.

A couple of minutes later she received a text message from Alex.

Don’t let me forget to ask you a question that has been nagging at me for a while when we talk tomorrow.

Ellie sighed. What could he possibly want to talk to her about? And why did he have to send her a text like that when all she wanted to do was sleep? Now she was going to be awake for hours wondering what he could possibly be talking about. Couldn’t have just let her waste some time unconscious? She did have a whole month to waste after all.