Redefine Me, Redesign Me

“Get up, Ellie!” Lisa called walking into Ellie’s room. She had been in such a deep sleep that she didn’t even recall dreaming.

“What do you want?” Ellie groaned sitting up in the bed. She rubbed her face trying to wake herself up. She found Lisa at the end of her bed smiling widely at her. Lisa was wearing an awful lot of purple and Ellie had no idea what was going on.

“You’re coming with me,” Lisa said pointing to Ellie and then to herself. “You need to get up!” Lisa said yanking the covers off of the bed and exposing Ellie’s legs.

Ellie was just glad that she had chosen to take a shower the night before. She grumbled something unintelligible at Lisa walking into her closet to find something to wear.

“It’s over cast and chilly today,” Lisa called from her room. Ellie pulled out an off white oversized sweater and a pair of skinny jeans that probably could qualify as jeggings. Lisa came into the closet looking over Ellie’s outfit before grabbing a pair of gray boot socks and her brown knee high boots.

Ellie was glad that Lisa was approving of comfortable clothing choices because she really wasn’t in the mood for dressing up. Ellie couldn’t have been happier that her hair had managed to stay tame overnight as she walked into the bathroom to brush her teeth and let Lisa pick out what eye shadow she should wear.

Lisa had decided to borrow Ellie’s curling wand so she went down stairs to wait in the living room. Ellie didn't make it to her seat before she spotted the dark gray beanie sitting on the back of the couch closest to the stairs. She picked up the garment and rubbed the fabric between her fingers wondering if she’d see Alex again not that she really cared. Lisa came bouncing down the stairs interrupting her thoughts.

“Is that what I think it is?” Lisa asked coming up beside Ellie.

Ellie rolled her eyes at the excitement in her voice. “Alex’s hat?” Ellie said asking if that was what Lisa was referring to.

“You should wear it,” Lisa suggested, “It goes with your outfit.”

Ellie shrugged her shoulders it was probably a good idea anyway. If her hair decided it wanted to go crazy she’d have something to cover it up.

“Where are we going?” Ellie asked pulling the hat over her hair and following Lisa out her front door.

“You’ll see,” she promised grinning at Ellie and motioning for her to get in the passenger seat.

Ellie didn’t like the sound of that. She had never really been one for surprises. She liked to know where she was going especially if she wasn’t in control of the situation. But Ellie also wasn’t one to question her friends’ motives, so she climbed into the passenger seat of Lisa’s car and went along for the ride.

As soon as they turned into the neighborhood Ellie knew where she was headed. She remembered these nice houses that lined the street and she definitely remembered the stone front house that Lisa was pulling into the driveway of. Ellie sighed loudly looking over to Lisa with what she had hoped was a menacing glare.

The grin that she received in reply told her that she was in no way menacing. Lisa laughed at Ellie opening her door and getting out leaving her alone in the car. Lisa had already started towards the front door when she turned around obviously expecting Ellie to be right behind her. Lisa pouted at her but she didn’t care. She could be quite stubborn when she wanted to be.

But Lisa was just as stubborn. She marched over to the passenger side door yanking it open before Ellie had the chance to lock it.

“Get out of the car Ellie,” Lisa demanded giving her a stern look. Ellie sighed, she already knew how this was going to play out despite how short a time she’d known Lisa. She slowly got out of the car frowning at Lisa in the process. Sure she’d go along with what Lisa wanted but she wasn’t going to like it.

She reluctantly followed after Lisa up the stone path that led up to the front porch. She had expected to have a little time to prepare herself before going inside, but Lisa just walked straight through the front door obviously having done this several times before now. Ellie only sighed quietly walking into the house behind Lisa.

“Lisa!” a male called out loudly as she closed the door behind herself. The sounds of dogs barking followed soon after and Ellie found herself faced with two very excited looking dogs.

Ellie held out a fist for the dogs to sniff though they both ended up licking it to death. She sunk to the floor laughing at the dogs and petting them both. She had never been able to resist a dog no matter what kind it was. The smaller of the two dogs was basically in her lap while the bigger one hovered over the little one.

“Payton! Baz!” Ellie heard Alex’s voice call, both of the dogs backed up almost immediately. “You guys know better than that,” he scolded the two and they quickly ran to the living room where Ellie could see there were a few people gathered.

“Elle,” Alex breathed smiling at her clearly pleased that she’d come, “I didn’t think Lisa would be able to talk you into coming.” Alex was just being honest. Ellie had seemed so set on never seeing him again.

Ellie stood up and straightened her clothes, “If we’re being honest she didn’t tell me we were coming here,” she said making a face.

“So she didn’t talk you into coming, she kidnapped you,” Alex said smiling at her.

That made her chuckle, “Yeah that’s pretty much how it happened,” she said nodding.

Alex leaned in kissing her cheek softly before pulling away, he gave her shirt an odd look. “You can’t wear that,” he said shaking his head.

Ellie rolled her eyes, what gave him the right to tell her what she could and could not wear. Alex didn’t know that the situation needed to be explained instead he grabbed her hand and began pulling her towards a set of stairs.

“I’ll let you borrow something,” he insisted as towed up the stairs.

“I like this sweater,” Ellie griped behind him. She was getting tired of everyone telling her that her clothes were wrong.

Alex grinned over his shoulder at her as he drug her down a hallway. “You’re sweater is nice for any other day, but it’s game day!”

“Game day?” Ellie asked trying to get some sort of explanation out of him as she followed him into what she guessed was his bedroom.

Alex chuckled and let go of her hand leaving her to stand in the middle of the room while he went to his closet. Ellie was giving the room a once over when she heard a scoff from behind her. Ellie turned around raising an eyebrow at Alex quizzically.

“Nice hat,” Alex complimented her, smirking cockily. Ellie just grinned and shook her head while Alex kicked himself for not remembering that he’d worn it to the party. He held out a black blob of fabric obviously waiting for her to take it.

Ellie took the material from his hands and held it out in front of her. It was a black hoodie with a purple bird on the front. She recognized the symbol from many football game days back home; the Ravens. Ellie had always had a bit of a soft spot for the team… mainly for their mascot.

Alex gave her an expectant look waiting for Ellie to change. “Turn around you pervert,” she commanded.

Alex almost commented on how he’d already seen her shirtless but he figured it wouldn’t make much of a difference to Ellie and it might make her hate him even more than she already did. So instead of making the snide comment he turned around to face the wall.

Ellie made quick work of changing into the hoodie, afraid that Alex might turn around before she had gotten fully dressed again. Ellie didn’t bother letting Alex know that she was ready, instead she just walked passed him towards the door leaving him to scramble to catch up to her.

When they made it back down stairs Ellie was met with a lot of faces that she didn’t know.

“Guys this is Elle,” Alex said coming up behind Ellie and wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

“Elle?” Jack said walking out of the kitchen giving her a strange look, “You told me your name was Ellie.”

Ellie chuckled at the slender raven haired man, “It is, Alex is just being obnoxious.”

“You guys know each other?” Alex asked a hint of jealousy in his tone.

“We danced at the party,” Jack explained winking at Ellie causing her to roll her eyes. She definitely remembered Jack. He was a lot of fun at the party and had been the one to take her away from Lisa.

“You didn’t tell me it was her that you met at the party,” Jack said smiling at Alex. Jack was clearly enjoying teasing Alex.

“I didn’t know that you had met her,” Alex said pouting slightly at the fact that his best friend had met her first.

“Well,” one of the guys that was gathered in the living room said clapping his hands together, “Ellie, we’ve all heard loads about you.”

“Yeah,” another of the boys piped up, “Alex just won’t shut up about you.”

“They’re over exaggerating,” Alex said coming up beside her.

“Well since Alex is going to be rude,” Lisa began, “I’ll introduce you to everyone.” Lisa pointed to the first guy who had spoken to Ellie who had a buzz cut, “This is Rian. Rian, Ellie. Ellie Rian,” she said motioning between the two of them. Rian stood up and held out his hand and Ellie stepped closer taking his hand and shaking it. “And this,” she said pointing to the short blond haired guy with a nose ring, “is Zack. Zack, Ellie. Ellie, Zack.” Zack also hopped up and shook Ellie’s hand.

“I wasn’t being rude,” Alex defended himself offering Ellie a beer, “I just got distracted.” She took the beer from Alex’s hand smirking a little to herself before going to take a seat next to Lisa. It wasn’t long before Sebastian had jumped into her lap begging to be petted.

Ellie was happy to indulge the dog considering she was thoroughly missing Milo after being away for so long.

“Baz,” Alex scolded the dog, “You can’t just go around sitting in ladies’ laps,” he said speaking to the dog as if he were human. “Show some respect,” he demanded Sebastian quickly got off of her lap only to sit next to her on the couch. “That’s better,” Alex congratulated the dog for a job well done smiling at him.

Lisa chuckled at Alex knowing that he was just showing off for Ellie. “This is supposed to be game day right?” Lisa asked reaching for the remote and turning up the TV as the some guys were gathered around a table talking about the upcoming game. Lisa then decided that the chips and dip needed to be in the living room so she left to go get them from the kitchen.

Jack plopped down in the space that Lisa had vacated, “So,” he said throwing an arm around Ellie’s shoulders, “You took Alex home with you.”

“Jack Barakat,” Lisa scolded from the kitchen, “That is none of your business.”

“Move it, skunk,” Alex said to a chuckling Jack as he kicked his shoe gently.
Jack took Alex’s hand letting his friend pull him to his feet before moving out of the way so Alex could take the seat.

“Lisa, you’ll make him move right?” Ellie asked eyeing Alex. She wasn’t going to be able to take Alex’s probing questions and inability to keep his hands and lips to himself.

“Don’t be mean,” Alex said pouting and reaching over her to pet his dog.

Ellie pushed herself further back into the cushions of the couch while Alex purposefully invaded her space. Sebastian was clearly enjoying the attention putting his front paws on Ellie’s thigh so that he was closer to both of them. Alex turned his face towards Ellie grinning at her.

“You should know that I bite,” she threatened leaning her face away from his. Alex’s smile spread wider if that was possible.

“Oh I remember,” he told her.

Ellie blushed knowing that he was referring to her inability to not bite someone’s lips when she was making out with them. Alex wasn’t trying to embarrass her so he didn’t say anything about it. Payton decided he would join the party on the couch jumping on Alex’s lap. Alex laughed at his dog straightening himself and petting the much larger dog. Ellie returned to petting Sebastian as she watched Alex.

From what she could tell Payton was a pit bull or some sort of mix of one, and he was much too big to be a lap dog. Alex didn’t seem to be fazed by the dog being in his lap and Ellie could only guess that this happened all the time.

She was expecting for Lisa to come over and kick Alex out of her spot but instead she made Jack make room for her in an oversized chair across the room.

Ellie frowned at Lisa who just blew her a kiss and sent her a wink. Alex threw his arm over the back of the couch behind Ellie as Payton settled down laying across his lap while Sebastian did the same to her.

“You didn’t tell me you had dogs,” She commented to Alex as she stroked Sebastian’s fur.

Alex shrugged, “I was busy trying to get any information out of you,” he told her petting Payton’s head.

The game had just started when Ellie felt the need to get another drink, maybe one that didn’t have any alcohol content given that she was with Alex. Ellie didn’t want to get carried away and end up making out with Alex again.

“Need something?” Alex whispered leaning into her ear.

She resisted the urge to roll her eyes at him when she nodded, “just thirsty that’s all,” she replied lifting her empty drink.

Alex took the empty bottle from her hands and gently moved Payton off of his lap so he could stand up. He offered Ellie a hand clearly asking her to go to the kitchen with him. She didn’t even give herself time to deny him because if she was being honest with herself she knew that she wanted to go with him. She moved Sebastian off her lap in much the same way Alex had done with Payton before taking his hand and letting him help her up.

“What would you like?” Alex asked opening the refrigerator and showing her an array of drinks ranging from beer to every soda imaginable. Ellie chuckled because only a guy would stock their refrigerator like that.

“I think water would be best,” she said pointing to the section of the refrigerator that was all bottled water.

Alex grabbed two bottles before shutting the door and handing her one of the bottles. He opened the second bottle and took a sip as he leaned against one of the counters. Ellie stood in front of Alex as she opened her own taking a long drink from the bottle before replacing the cap. When she looked back to Alex he was smirking.

“What’s so funny?” she asked.

Alex sat his bottle down on the counter behind him before pushing off of them and taking a step closer to Ellie and pushing her hair over her shoulder, “They’re still there,” he said running his fingers across the marks that were now much lighter than they had been.

“They don’t heal overnight, Alex,” she said pushing his hand away and replacing her hair over her shoulder.

“Trust me I know,” he said putting a hand to his shoulder.

Ellie gave him a questioning look pulling her eyebrows together. Alex didn’t say anything he just pulled out the collar of his shirt exposing the two crescent shaped bruises on his shoulder.

“I didn’t do that,” Ellie said feeling her face grow warm.

Alex smirked letting go of his collar, “Trust me you are the only one who could have done that,” he told her.

“That wasn’t there the other day,” she said trying to remember the mark when she’d found him passed out on her couch.

“Oh it was there,” he promised her.

“Something wrong?” Jack asked passing the two as he made his way to the refrigerator grabbing himself another beer.

“Nope,” Ellie said popping the p and walking out of the kitchen and back to her place on the couch.

Alex followed soon after her putting his arm behind her and leaning in and pressing a kiss just underneath her jaw bone. Ellie pulled away from him making a face. Alex only chuckled swiftly kissing her shoulder before sitting up straight.

They hadn’t even made it to half time and Ellie could tell that she already needed a way out of this.