Their lips are touching, but only so very slightly. Ellie is scared - they have long since waited for another kiss or anything intimate since that one kiss at the airport in Los Angeles. She's worried that they've perhaps waited too long, or even that there's no spark anymore.
She's always scared about them - because lord knows their relationship is delicate and fragile, and it couldn't handle another falling out - she probably couldn't handle it, either.
There is always fear for Ellie, though, knowing that at times like this, scars from her cuts - though that happened years and years ago - might still be there, no matter how pink and faded they looked back when she went to support group with the man that is kissing her.
So when she checks the underside of her arm - she's so lost in that fear that the scars are still there, and though she knows Craig won't care, regardless, she's still nervous about it. Others have been repulsed, though she's tried time and time again to make sure she has her scars hidden. She hasn't thought about them in years, and she's not sure why she's thinking about them again, here, at this moment.
But it's okay, because for all that fear that she has bottled up that is releasing itself in little, tiny fragments at this moment, Craig seems to get it. His lips leave hers, and she's curious. But then she feels his hand trace the faded, pink scars - that should have left her skin long, long ago - gently with his fingers.
Her smile has always been a rare sight. But such a pretty one.
It's exactly what he tells her too, with that small whisper of, "Your smile is really beautiful," and a kiss to the scars he had recently traced with his fingers. It seems to be his promise of 'I won't let you get hurt anymore, and especially by me.'
When he looks up, she smiles again, and when he nods, she nods back, because his stare is burning into hers.
His eyes are soft, and he seems to be telling her things without talking.
Ellie understands too, and with their moment of peace and utter understanding, her fear simply floats away. She hopes it will never come back. She doesn't want it back, especially in Craig's presence. He makes it go away, kind of like how he used to cause it.
She knows that he won't do that to her again, because for the first time in her life, Craig doesn't replace the pain he makes go away with more pain. He replaces it with actual requited feelings of love that they, especially Ellie, have long awaited.
uhhh, a lot of sap, but I tend to get ridiculously sappy with these two. Crellie was always one of those pairings I liked, but never quite that much, since Craig didn't always treat her very well. Regardless, I do like them quite a bit, and I haven't written for this fandom since 2011, and I was thinking about writing for it again.
I don't own Degrassi, nor the song that inspired this. "Hey September" by Anthony Amorim, from his debut EP. Give it a listen.