It was an unshockingly common situation where Dina would be stopping at Ellie's small home, ready to complain about Jesse, gossip about the commune drama, or just watch shitty movies and attempt to make their corn pop. It started as a monthly thing, but now Dina felt weird if they went a week without a designated "girls night", as Jesse called it.
They weren't fans of that name, so told him it was actually a "we hate Jesse" club, and they had a secret third member, which he was killing himself over trying to figure out.
This week Ellie had to provide the corn, and Dina the movie. She knew something was wrong when the other girl cursed in an absolutely fantastical fashion.
"So slight problem," she announced, leaning around her kitchen and rubbing her nose and eyebrow with her finger, clearly a little annoyed, "Joel stole my corn. So I'm gonna go get it back, beat his ass a little, you know the drill. You okay to wait here for a few minutes?"
Dina placed her hand over her heart.
"Why no, I'm not. Were you not aware I need your presence to breathe?"
Ellie snorted and shoved off the wall to pull on her shoes.
"Okay, dick, I'll remember that next time you ever ask a favor -"
Dina choked and flailed her arms in her direction, doing an uneasily convincing impression of someone choking.
"No- Ellie- too far!"
She fell limp with her tongue sticking out, and Ellie almost folded with laughter, in Dina's mind, anyway.
"You don't even deserve popcorn!"
"I so do."
"Oh, dead people speak now?"
She opened one eye and winked at her friend, who was almost out the door.
"Only the interesting ones."
Ellie rolled her eyes and stepped outside.
"I'll be five minutes!"
Dina waved her hand as the door shut, last about ten seconds before she got up to mooch around Ellie's home.
She found the usual suspects; the journal she would never read without her friend's permission, a toy robot she offered a finger gun to, a new tape she hadn't seen (and only recognised one song on) so she hummed along to what could be the lyrics.
Then she found herself in Ellie's room, laying across her bed with a large huff, tapping along to this song she had made.
"I don't think I've ever looked in that drawer." she announced to noone, sitting up and rolling across the bed, reaching for the shelf and pulling out the draw. At first she saw nothing, when she realized drawers aren't that short.
Low and behold, she found a false back, and without thinking, without questioning what she could find would be anything more than teasing material for her to use against her friend, Dina peeked.
It was a faded photo, long, and she was barely able to decipher who was in it, apart from in one of the four squares.
She looks so… innocent.
Ellie had been in Jackson for two years, and Dina could see how much she had aged from this photo alone. The shit she went through but could never talk about, the exhaustion in her eyes that she could still see even on a good day.
Dina felt like she had been burned, punched in the throat as tears welled up in her eyes. Why was this affecting her so much? Why did this horrid feeling of guilt press into her mind?
Shakily she turned it over, handwriting she didn't recognize faded on the back, a small stain of blood from years gone on the edges of the photo.
We lost our minds together. R+E
Ellie knew something had happened when she returned back to find Dina sniffling on the couch, staring with glassy eyes which latched to her as soon as she entered, bag of corn in hand.
"... What happened?" She asked, lip jutting out as Dina stood and latched onto her best friend, hugging as tight as she could.
"I just…" she tried, swallowing around her choked throat, "I love you, Ellie."
Ellie is thankful she doesn't see the bright red of her cheeks, and she hugged back.
"Yeah, I love you too, weirdo. Wanna go pop this corn?"
Dina laughed and the tears were gone, wiped on the back of her hand and forgotten. She grabbed the bag and stole it away, being chased by Ellie who cursed her name.
On the side of her bed, a firefly pendant rattled in a nonexistent breeze.