Chapter 5
Monday arrived a lot quicker than most of the girl’s would have liked – well, that was only because they had pretty much slept the whole Sunday away, so it was practically one of the most uneventful days they have experienced by far.
Ashlyn was the first to wake up, she took her time getting ready and then made her way into the kitchen, noticing that she was the only one up. Letting out a small breath, she made her way to the refrigerator and opened it to see what she could whip up for breakfast. She ended up deciding to make scrambled eggs with spinach through it, bacon and toast, with a side of orange juice or coffee, as well as some chocolate chip pancakes if they wanted them. Once the food was completed, she placed the food on the table and then began to make her way to retrieve her two best friends. Stopping at Whitney’s door, she lightly knocked on it.
“Come in,” was the quick response she got from her friend, so the blonde opened the door and stuck her head in to see that Whitney was already up.
“Hey, I made breakfast,” she began as she tilted her head backwards. “It’s on the table.”
“Ah, sweet,” Whitney smiled as she began to head towards the door. “I was just about to come out and make something.”
“Well, saved you the trouble.” Ashlyn grinned as she stepped back out into the hallway.
“You’re the best,” Whit responded as she headed out of her room after the blonde.
Ashlyn chuckled lightly. “Duh, I already know that,” she teased.
“Smartass.”
“You know it,” she continued not missing a beat as she began to head towards Ella’s room, Whitney just shook her head in response and walked the other way to the dining room table. Once again Ashlyn knocked on the closed door in front of her, but this time she didn't get a response, so opening the door slightly, she poked her head in and saw Ella still asleep. Letting out a smile, she swung the door open a little more and entered the room to make her way over to her best friend’s bed to sit down.
Raising her hand, she reached over and gently placed it on the girl’s shoulder. “Hey, Ella… you gotta wake up,” she let out calmly.
Ella woke up almost instantly but all she could reply with was a groan as she rolled over and tried to go back to sleep.
Ashlyn chuckled as she shook her head. “Nah, come on, Els. You need to wake up, have
breakfast and then get ready for work,” she tried again.
Another groan escaped Ella as she raised her hand to her eyes and began to rub the sleep from her eyes. “Mkay, ’m awake,” she mumbled out.
The blonde only chucked that little bit more as a grin took over her face. “Good! I made breakfast, so hurry up and get up, Sleepyhead,” she voiced with amusement as she playfully pushed the girl’s arm and got up to leave.
As soon as she left the room, Ella rolled onto her back as a yawn escaped her. She then dragged herself out of bed, standing up she stretched out her tired limbs before sleepily making her way towards the table where her two best friend were.
“Morning, Sleepy,” Whitney smiled and then took a bite out of her toast.
Ella gave her a tired grin as she sat on the seat next to her. “Morning,” she replied as she reached over to grab some food for herself. “This smells so good, Ash,” she mused as she went straight to shoving a piece of bacon into her mouth.
Ashlyn laughed as she took a sip of her orange juice. “Thought so,” she smiled as she placed a forkful of scrambled eggs in her mouth.
Both Whit and Ella shared a look as they rolled their eyes at their best friend, not caring about replying to her as they continued to eat.
After breakfast, they cleaned up and Ella quickly rushed off to get ready for the day ahead of her. Once she was dressed, she made her way back into the living room to tell the others and after they all got their stuff together, they left their apartment and began heading towards the music store.
“Hey, Boss!” Ella let out happily as she walked into work and saw Christie sitting at the front counter.
“Ahh, if it isn’t my favourite employees and you’re all even here earlier than you need to be,” Christie smiled as she looked up at the trio walking into the building, technically they were the only employees she had – except for Thursday where she had a few others as it was the girl’s day off – they were the only people she pretty much trusted to look after the shop.
“Duh, of course! We love work oh so much,” Ella grinned as the other two laughed in amusement.
Christie let out a small breath as she gathered the papers she was going over before they had walked in and got up from the chair. She then chuckled as she rolled her eyes at what the girl had said. “Right, yeah. I am sure you do,” she challenged as she walked around the counter and towards them. “Well, there is stock in the back as per usual that you may go through. We are expecting a delivery sometime today for the store that any of you are more than welcome to sign for and then there is one that I am expecting which I need to sign for, so If I am not out here, please come and get me,” she smiled.
‘Sure, thing,” Ashlyn was quick to let out before the other two could even begin to open their mouth, so they just smiled and nodded as a response.
“Perfect, I will be in my office going over last week’s figures and ordering a few more things I know we have to get if you need me,” Christie began as she waved the papers in her hand and then turned to make her way towards her office.
They all nodded and hummed as a sign they had understood what their boss had said. As soon as the older woman disappeared into her office. Whit and Ella, placed their belongings behind the counter and made their way into the back room to suss out what was in there. Ashlyn on the other hand stayed out the front to get ready for when they opened.
The day went as it normally would go. Quiet morning where only a few people here and there would come into the shop, most likely those who have a late start to work, college students or just those who were passing by on an early start to the day. Then there would be the lunch time rush, which would see quite a lot of people coming and going which would quiet down for a few more hours, only to start back up in the afternoon with the school kids dropping in to check out the place for about an hour where it would finally settle down to only a bunch of people.
Finally the afternoon rush was coming to an end in which Ella let out a breath of relief as she fell onto the stool she had placed next to the counter and picked up the guitar which she had left leaning against it when the school kids came flooding in. She turned to Whitney and Ashlyn behind the desk and gave them both a weary smile. “I will never get used to the rush hours,” she chuckled lightly.
“You and me both!” Ash quickly responded as she sat back in the chair and stretched her arms out as far as they would go as she let out a long yawn.
The other two couldn’t help but laugh at that but Whitney also agreed with the both of them. Ella began strumming her guitar as the chime of the bell went off, she raised her gaze and saw Carm heading towards them and although it wasn’t the face she wanted to see, her heart still began to speed up because there was still the chance that the other woman would be with her.
“Hey, Girls,” Carm smiled as she stopped in front of the counter.
“Hey,” Whitney replied as she turned back to the computer screen.
“Hello,” Ella responded as well as she sneaked a peek over Carm’s shoulder only to see that Karina was with Carm this time and she let out a small frown, which she quickly caught onto before smiling again so no one would ask questions.
KK greeted them as well until her gaze fell onto the drum set and she got a little excited. “Can I?”
She motioned towards it and Ashlyn’s gaze followed her before laughing lightly.”
“Yeah, come on, I’ll keep an eye on ya,” she smiled as she got up off her seat and walked around the desk and towards the drums where the other woman had begun to head into.
Ten or so minutes went by and the three at the front turned their attention to where Ashlyn and KK were situated, the girl was playing outrageously on the drums while a few kids surrounded her and cheered her on, Ashlyn was seen laughing her head off at the situation and the other girls couldn’t help but laugh as well.
“Your friend's a riot,’ Ella chuckled out towards the curly haired girl.
Carm laughed as she nodded her head in agreement. “Yeah, she’s like a big hyperactive kid most of the time. She keeps us entertained that’s for sure.”
“Ella is like that for us as well, except the embarrassing kind,” Whitney began as she shot a look to Ella and winked. “Like for example this one time we were walking down the street doing some shopping and she noticed a pair of boots that she wanted and kind of stared for a little bit longer that by the time she decided to turn to watch where she was going she walked straight into a pole,” Whitney stated with a laugh in which Carm returned.
“Seriously!” Ella whispered out embarrassed as her face began to turn red.
“Or there was this time we were at an ice cream shop, Ella arrived a little later than all of us and when she came back to the table with her ice cream, she misjudged the seat and fell flat on her ass while Ice cream went everywhere.”
Raising her hand, Ella covered her eyes as her face heated up even more. “Kill me now,” she let out as she chuckled even more in embarrassment.
“Oh and my favourite…” she began as she looked to Ella and grinned. The girl removed her hand and shook her head as she glared at Whitney.
“I’m going to kill you!” She quickly let out and Whit laughed even more which caused Carm to laugh as well.
“My favourite was when we were out shopping for groceries and she went to get a can of… actually I can’t quite remember what it was she wanted but anyway when she grabbed it, the rest of the cans followed because they weren’t stacked properly and tumbled over onto the floor causing everyone's attention to turn towards her, she fumbled trying to pick them up and put them back where they belonged but they just continued to fall. I think Ashlyn and myself were dying of laughter for days after the incident.”
“Sleep with one eye open!” Ella glared before she just busted out laughing, half in embarrassment and half because it actually was pretty funny as she once again brought her hand up to her face to cover her eyes.
At this point Erin was making her way into the store when she noticed Ella in mid laugh, she could also tell the girl was probably embarrassed by something because of the red of her cheeks that flushed so bright. Her heart began racing inside of her chest at the site and the sound as she abruptly stopped her way in causing Kaylyn to run into her and it startled the blonde.
“What is it?” She let out confused as she took a step back quickly and looked towards Erin, she then followed her friends gaze and saw Carm talking to Whitney and of course Ella. A smirk instantly found it’s way onto Kaylyn’s face. “Right, now I know,” she whispered out barely audible but still loud enough for her best friend to hear.
Erin quickly shook her head as she turned to look over her shoulder at the blonde, she rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah,” she sighed as she turned back around and made her way over to Carm.
“Hey Erin!’ Whitney was quick to say in which Ella lowered her hand straight away and turned her gaze straight to the girl, her eyes widening only a little as she felt that funny feeling spread throughout her body once more.
“Hey,” she smiled to Whitney and then turned to Ella. “How’s the both of you?” She asked curiously but it was more obvious that she was asking Ella as she didn’t take her eyes off her when she asked.
“Uh… good,” Ella mumbled out as she stood from her chair. “I should go restock the shelves,” she rushed out quickly as she began to walk towards the back room.
Whitney eyed the back of her head weirdly with a raised eyebrow and then she shrugged as she turned back to the other girls.
Erin however frowned a little as the girl walked away because she was yet again trying to avoid her and it was most likely to do with what happened Saturday night. One thing she couldn’t stand was Ella ignoring her because that hurt the most.
The Canadian’s stayed a little longer chatting about the bonfire and a bunch of other questions about their lives. Erin stole a few glances towards the back of the store in hopes that Ella would resurface, but she never did and that just confused her even more, she was a little unsure of what she had done to make the younger girl ignore her, although she did have somewhat of an idea of what the issue might be about. She’d have to ask her the next time she saw her however because
Carm suggested that it was time to leave, they were going out to dinner with the rest of the gang. They said goodbye to Whitney and Ashlyn as they headed out of the store, saying they should definitely hang out again soon.
Ella stayed in the back room for a little longer after she heard the girl’s leave, she didn’t want to make it obvious that she was trying to avoid Erin or something like that. Once she did leave the store room with a stack of CD's, she made her way to the shelves and began restocking them with what was in her hands.
Whitney saw her leaving and quickly made her way over to stop beside her. She gave her a questioning look for a moment before actually speaking. “What was that?”
Ella turned and faced her with a confused look as she quirked a brow at her. “What was what?” She asked slowly causing Whit to sigh.
“You disappeared into the store room as soon as Erin arrived and then you come out after she leaves.”
“Yeah… I was sorting through the CD's… I didn’t know they had left,” she half lied.
“Right,” Whitney said slowly as she nodded her head unconvincingly and squinted her eyes. “So you weren’t trying to avoid Erin?”
Ella’s eyes widened only a fraction and luckily it went unnoticed by her friend. She coughed to clear her throat. “I have no idea what you are talking about. So, no… I wasn’t.”
“Whatever you say,” Whit responded with a shrug and then turned to walk back to the front to begin to pack away her stuff so they could close up. Christie usually left around the afternoon rush to go pick up her children from school.
The final customer left the shop and the trio quickly packed up. They made their way out and closed up.
----
The next two days went exactly the same way for Ella. First she woke up, then got dressed before heading out to get some breakfast. She then made her way to work with the other two, spent the day helping customers, closing the store up and then heading to the café for a coffee and to listen to the annoying open mic. One thing she did notice though was that nearly every single new comer to the stage was as bad as the next, some were a little better than others but none were as good as Erin. Erin… The girl who had stolen her thoughts even more as each day went by.
Now there she was lying in bed Wednesday night or you could say early Thursday morning wide awake staring at the darkened ceiling above her, her mind was in overdrive with thoughts – thoughts of the Canadian and it scared the hell out of her, she hadn’t officially spoken properly to her since the bonfire. Because she had ignored her at her work and had ignored the few phone calls and texts that she had received from her.
As each day and night went by, images of the older woman filled her mind, her thoughts and now even her dreams which were becoming more frequent and feeling more realistic than ever before. “Fuck…” she sighed into the quiet room as pieces slowly fell into place. Pieces she was incredibly nervous to figure out and put together, but now that it was slowly happening, she knew she couldn’t escaped them. She couldn't fight them off no matter how hard she tried because the harder she tried the more they would fall into place – the more she found herself thinking about the gorgeous woman with the most angelic voice she has ever heard.
Bringing her hands up, she rubbed her face as a sigh echoed into the room, swinging her legs over the edge of her bed, she slowly got up and made her way as quietly as she could towards the kitchen to get a glass of water, once she had the water, she practically downed it all at once and then lowered the glass back into the sink with slightly shaky hand. Turning back around, she headed out of the Kitchen and back towards her room. Only she stopped and turned to look down the hallway, she closed her eyes and let out a breath as she opened them and made her way a few doors down. Knocking lightly, she heard a faint groan and opened the door.
“A- Ash are you awake?” Ella asked a little shakily.
“Yeah, what’s wrong?” The blonde muttered out with sleep heavily evident in her voice.
Ella sighed as she slowly moved further into the room as best she could with the amount she could see, she reached out for the bed and once she found it she sat down on the edge of it, but she stayed silent.
“Ella?” Ashlyn spoke out a little in concern as her best friend didn’t reply.
The room fell silent again.
“I think…” Ella’s voice suddenly sounded to break the silence. “I think I like Erin…” she continued slowly. “Mo- more than a friend….” She mumbled out.
Ashlyn quickly sat up in her bed and reached over to turn her side lamp on, cursing slightly at the bright light and then she turned to Ella. “Seriously?” She said in complete shock.
“What no teasing?” Ella tried to joke but she just frowned and nodded her head slowly as she fiddled with her fingers in her lap, not daring to look at Ashlyn.
“Of course not, Ella! I was only teasing you before because I thought there was no chance in hell you would like her. It was just a playful tease, like how you tease me with Ali, I know that it’s a little different because I actually have a damn big ass crush on her that even a complete stranger would know. It’s just the way you were acting around Erin it seemed like you liked her, but I knew you didn’t and there was no harm in just teasing you a little about it, plus you didn’t really seem to mind, it was... I…just I didn’t know,” Ash began as she felt guilty for teasing the poor girl, she also didn't know if she had made any sense.
Ella just continued listening to her speak. A small smile began forming on her lips. “Ash… it’s okay. It seemed like I didn’t mind the teasing because … I didn’t mind it and that scares the hell out of me.”
“Why?” Ashlyn asked curiously.
“Because… because I’ve never felt this way before … about anyone really. But now I am and the fact it’s about a girl… I just.. I am worried about losing family and friends…” she mumbled out. “I am worried about what people will think. It’s new and it's strange and it’s completely fucking scary... but… I like this feeling and that just sends me into complete confusion because I don’t understand this at all!”
“Ella… it doesn’t matter what people think about you because it’s…”
“I know!” Ella quickly cut her off. “I shouldn’t really care what people think because it’s my life not theirs.” She sighed. “I just… I don’t want to lose anyone…”
Ashlyn mimicked the sigh as she ran a hand through her hair, trying to think of what to tell Ella, but she was half asleep and wasn’t exactly thinking with a complete brain, so she knew that whatever she said would have been a hell of a lot better when she was properly awake, but she needed to let the girl know that it was alright to feel the way she does. “Els… I’m going to be honest with you,” she began as Ella turned her complete attention to the blonde.
“It’s going to probably be one of the hardest things you experience because people who don’t have one slightest damn idea who the hell you are will judge you and they will call you names and they will tell you that it’s wrong, that it’s disgusting and whatever else they can think of because I suppose it makes them feel better or whatever, they will feel the need to become apart of your life for that split second to share their opinion, when in reality they probably might not even see you again. You will lose people – some friends that you thought were really close and would stand by you no matter what and yeah even family,” She paused for a moment as she saw the brunette move her gaze back to her hands in her lap.
“But Ella…” she drew out waiting for the girl to look at her and once she did, she saw the slight tears welling up in her eyes and it broke Ashlyn’s heart knowing her best friend was upset about all of this. “The only thing that really matters is that you are happy and I mean one hundred percent happy, if people can’t be happy for you then screw them, because you will feel a lot better being true to yourself rather than hiding away and faking something you don’t want. You’ll only feel like shit and being true to yourself and loving who you want to love is the best feeling in the world. In the end, the people you should care about are the ones that stand by you no matter what, because it shows they care about you. And you know that Whit and I will be by your side no matter what you do and no matter who you fall for, basically as a whole damn summary of what I just said; you should be damn proud of who you are and it’s more than okay to have feeling for her,” she finished with a smile in which Ella returned as she slowly nodded.
“Is this why you were avoiding her?” Ashlyn asked after a beat of silence because she could tell Ella didn’t have a clue what to say.
Letting out a sigh, she slowly nodded her head. “Yeah, partially. I mean… we… we almost… uh… kissed on Saturday night,” she mumbled and Ashlyn’s eyes instantly widened in surprise.
“What?” She questioned.
Ella blushed as she nibbled on her lower lip. “When we went for a walk, we were sitting watching the sunset talking about stuff and then we almost kissed. Carm came by just before it happened and I realized what we were about to do and quickly rushed away because it freaked me out completely, but I kinda…uh…” she stopped not sure of what to say next.
“So you wanna kiss her?” Ash said in a teasing tone, hoping to ease the tension that had built up in the room.
Ella blushed even more and Ashlyn nodded her head slowly as a smirk formed on her face.
“Stop,” she mumbled out embarrassed.
“You so do,” she laughed.
“Ugh… maybe, but not anytime soon. I need to figure out what’s going on with me first,” Ella said as she rolled her eyes.
Ashlyn smiled softly. “Okay, but don’t shut her out anymore, Els. Believe it or not, you ignoring her does hurt her, I can see it.”
“I know…” she let it roll out with a sigh as she shook her head. “I need to talk to her. But for now
I am going back to bed,” she smiled as she turned to the blonde. “Thank you, Ash.”
Ashlyn smiled with a small nod as she leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss to her best friend’s forehead. “It’s no problem, babe. If you need to talk, I am always here for you,” she assured the
girl.
Ella nodded and got up from the bed. “I’m sorry for waking you,” she whispered with a guilty tone.
“It’s fine, really. Now go get some sleep.”
“Goodnight, Ash.”
“Goodnight, El.”
---
After the talk with Ashlyn, Ella was able to find sleep for a few hours before she woke up again. Looking at her clock, she groaned but got up anyway, she knew there was no use going back to sleep. She got changed and made her way out, the house was once again dead, so she made her way to the café for a coffee, which as fate would have it, Erin was also there. After ordering her coffee, she slowly made her way to the Canadian.
“Hey,” she whispered out softly.
Erin quickly raised her gaze and an instant small smile fell upon her face. “Hey…”
“Can I sit?”
“Be my guest.”
Ella smiled as she sat done, an awkward silence fell around them before Ella finally broke it.
“Look, I’m sorry for…uh… ignoring you.”
Erin quirked an eyebrow at her. “Okay, but why exactly were you ignoring me?” “Because we almost kissed on Saturday and it freaked me out.”
“Oh…”
“Don’t get me wrong, it would have been fine… I think. I just… I’ve never been or thought about being with a girl until you showed up and now it’s sending me for a massive loop.”
Erin chuckled lightly as she tiled her head back. “Ah,” she let out at the same time. “It’s fine, Ella.
I get it and I pretty much had an idea that that was the reason why you were avoiding me.” “I’m sorry,” Ella said once again with guilt.
“Honestly, it’s fine.”
“Okay…” she began. “But can we please just forget about the last couple or so days and go back to getting to know one another and on the road to being friends?” She asked hopeful.
Erin laughed this time. “Of course we can,” she nodded.
Ella blushed lightly. “Okay, cool,” she mumbled as she nervously rubbed the back of her neck.
Erin grinned at the blush and was glad they were back to talking again. They stayed in the café catching up with how the other was until Erin’s phone buzzed with a message from Carm saying that her and Kaylyn were hungry and asked to bring them something to eat. Of course Erin reluctantly agreed and then said goodbye to Ella to go grab the girl's some food. Ella was left in the café with a small smile playing across her face and her thoughts still running through her head, but they were getting resolved piece by piece.