Redefine Me, Redesign Me

Ellie wasn’t one to dwell on people that she just met and never planned to see again, but something about Alex kept drawing her back in. Throughout the rest of the day and well into that night she often found herself staring off into space letting her mind wander back to Alex and the racier events that ensued after she brought him home with her.

She’d recovered most of the memories from that night and at times wished she hadn’t. She couldn’t be sure if she’d be able to look at Alex, if she ever came across him again, without the images popping to the forefront of her mind.

Ellie was frustrated by all of this, to say the least. She wanted to forget about Alex. She didn’t want to see him again; he would simply get in the way of her self-discovery. And, after all, that is what she was in Baltimore for. She had come here to see what kind of person she could be without the influence of her mom, not to see what sort of influence she could let someone else be on her.

The thought of Alex was alluring; he was a very attractive and confident guy. It certainly didn’t help that her mom would disapprove of him, because that simply made her want him all the more. She never really did grow out of wanting to piss her mom off with rebellious behavior, and Alex was definitely suitable to get the job done.

Ellie shook the thoughts from her mind; she had to focus her attention on something else. The only problem was finding something to do that would completely consume her, so she decided that the living room needed a deep cleaning.

She started by removing all of the decorative items from the shelves and tables around the room and lining them up on the breakfast bar to be wiped down. She then broke out the pledge wipes and began to polish every smooth surface the room provided; sometimes going over it a second or third time before she was satisfied with the shine. After finishing with the furniture she returned to the breakfast bar to wipe down the decorations before returning them to their designated places.

Ellie then moved on to the couches, dragging the vacuum behind her. She tossed all of the pillows off to the side and started removing the cushions. However, she didn’t make it very far, seeing as she found a dark gray piece of cloth sticking out from under the second cushion she was about to remove. Ellie pulled the fabric loose to find that it was a beanie with a logo tag stitched into the side picturing a pink pig with wings… she recognized it as a glamour kills logo but she knew for a fact that she’d never purchased a hat like this one from the clothing company.

Then it hit her where she’d seen this hat before. Alex had been wearing a dark grey hat at the party and must have lost it in the cushions sometime during the night. She plopped herself down on the opposite couch glaring at the hat. How dare Alex leave something of his in her home just so she could find it while trying to keep her mind off of him!

Ellie shook her head; she knew the thought was irrational. How could he have known that she would find it? How could he have planned such a thing?

He had simply left his hat by mistake and it was such a meaningless article of clothing that it would probably go unmissed anyway.

---------------------------------------------------

Alex had no problem with letting thoughts of Ellie consume his mind. He knew that he had just met her but there was something about her that made her interesting. He found her absolutely fascinating. Maybe it was because she was so stubborn. Or maybe it was because of her lack of interest.

Alex stared at his phone with her number pulled up; he’d stolen it from her phone when she’d driven him home. He’d put his number in her phone while she was driving him home; he had halfway expected to get a call from her yesterday but here he sat twenty four hours later and still no call. He wondered if she would answer if he called. He smiled at the picture he used for her contact, the picture he’d taken of her neck to show her the pink and purple blossoms he’d left there.

He had almost talked himself into calling her when his best friend, Jack’s, picture took over his screen signaling that he was calling. Alex sighed in defeat sliding to answer the call.

“Hey man what’s up?” Alex said into the phone running a hand through his messy hair that he’d yet to style for the day.

“I haven’t seen you since the party bro!” Jack called out sounding like he was only half paying attention to the conversation.

“Are you driving, Jack?” Alex asked knowing that it was better for his best friend to keep all of his attention on the road rather than calling him.

“Yeah man I’m on my way to pick you up,” Jack said like it was obvious, “I’ll be there in like two minutes.”

Alex stood up and started making his way to his room. He hadn’t planned on going out today. Alex’s dogs, Payton and Sebastian, trailed after him just happy to be near him and not really requiring any actual attention from him.

“You forgot, didn’t you,” Jack accused his voice full of mock menace.

Alex chuckled and shook his head at his friend despite his not being able to see him. “I’ve just had a bit on my mind today,” he said going to his bathroom as both of the dogs jumped onto his bed making themselves comfortable as they watched over Alex.

“Zack would never let you live it down if he found out you forgot that we were picking him up from the airport today,” Jack said. Alex could hear the sound of a car door closing and knew that Jack would be inside and in his room in a few seconds so he chose not to justify Jack’s threat by hanging up his phone and shoving it in his back pocket.

“Not cool,” Jack called from the hall already on his way to Alex’s room.

“You weren’t being very cool yourself,” Alex said frowning at his hair; it didn’t want to do anything he wanted it to.

Jack chuckled jumping onto Alex’s bed and cuddling the two dogs cooing at each of them as if they were small children rather than animals.

Alex gave up on his hair and made his way to his beanie drawer looking for something to cover the God awful mess on his head. He had a particular beanie in mind, it was from glamour kills. He’d worn it at least a hundred times, simply because it went with anything. He had sifted through every beanie in the drawer and still hadn’t come across the dark grey knit fabric.

His eyebrows pulled together in thought. When was the last time he wore it? He couldn’t remember. Alex made his way to the bed searching along the sides; maybe he had been too lazy to put it away and had just let it fall off to the side.

No such luck, the beanie was nowhere in sight.

“What are you looking for?” Jack asked pulling Sebastian to his face kissing the smaller dog.

Alex rolled his eyes at Jack and shook his head, “Nothing it doesn’t matter,” he said going back to his drawer and pulling out a black beanie instead but not all together happy about it.

Jack hopped off the bed ready to start heading for the door as Alex shoved his feet into a pair of his shoes. Alex walked over to the dogs kissing each of their heads and ruffling their fur before he followed Jack out to his car.

“I’ll take those,” Alex said snatching Jack’s keys from his hands as he unlocked the vehicle.

“Hey,” Jack whined only to receive a grin from Alex as he opened the driver side door. Jack simply pouted as he made his way to the passenger seat knowing that there was no way he would win in this fight; he never could.