A/N: The song used in this story is "Stronger (Back on the Ground)" by Nick Jonas & The Administration.
Happy reading!
angellwings
Ella-vention
By angellwings
Ella sighed as she threw the latest issue of Rolling Stone aside. This was bad. She could just imagine Nate's face as he read that review. She looked down at the issue of Billboard at her feet and shook her head. Stupid critics. What did they know? They certainly didn't know what the fans wanted. As far as Ella was concerned the professional critics thoughts on Connect Three's latest single didn't matter so long as their fans were satisfied.
Jason's ring tone blared from her phone and Ella quickly answered.
"Hey, Jase, what's up?"
"Nate needs an Ella-vention."
"A…what?" She asked in confusion.
"An Ella-vention. You know, it's kind of like intervention with your name in it," Jason told her.
She chuckled. "Yeah, I got that. Why do you think he needs an intervention?"
"He hasn't come out of his studio in like three days. We only know he's been eating because we leave food outside the door and then come back later to see that it's gone. Seriously, we haven't seen him since those reviews came out."
"And why would he listen to me if he won't listen to his brothers?" Ella asked curiously.
"Because…you're Ella."
Her brow furrowed. "I don't understand."
"I don't know," Jason huffed. "Ask him when you come down here to talk some sense into him."
"Fine," Ella said as she glanced at her watch. "I'll be there in an hour."
"An hour?" Jason asked. "You live like fifteen minutes away."
"I need to bring a bribe that will get me inside that studio with him. Trust me, Jase. I know what I'm doing," Ella told him. "See you in an hour."
"Bye, Ella! And thanks!"
An hour later she showed up at the house the Grey brothers shared with a Tupperware container in hand. Shane answered the door and immediately hugged her.
"You're here! Finally!" He exclaimed.
Ella chuckled. "Um, hi, Shane. Nice to see you too."
Shane shoved him toward the door that led to their downstairs studio. "Go, fix him!"
Ella gave him a stern look. "Excuse me?"
"I mean…go fix him, please?" He asked with an apologetic smile.
"Much better," She said as she opened the door and headed down the stairs. There was a second door at the bottom of the stairs and Ella knocked lightly.
She heard shuffling on the other side, but the door stayed closed. She rolled her eyes and knocked again.
"Nate? It's Ella. Open up, please?"
Nothing. She huffed and knocked more forcefully.
"Nate, come on!" She said with a little stomp. "Fine, I'll just take this three cheese macaroni with bacon bits upstairs and give it to Jason and Shane. I'm sure they'll appreciate it."
The door suddenly cracked open and Nate poked his head out. "Three cheese macaroni?"
Ella quirked a brow at him. "With bacon bits."
He bit his bottom lip before sighed and opening up the door to let her in. She smiled brightly at him and stepped inside. Her eyes widened.
"Oh my God, Nate. This place is a mess," Ella said as she looked around. "You never make this much mess."
There were clothes, dirty dishes, and balled up pieces of paper every where. She turned to look at Nate and noticed he was a mess too. His hair was unkempt and there were stains on his grey T-shirt. She looked down and winced.
"You're wearing sweatpants. Good lord, how depressed are you?"
"So glad I decided to let you in here, El. I can't tell you how much you're improving my mood right now," He said dryly. She took several steps toward the studio sound board and Nate rushed to stand in front of her. "Ah, let's stay over on the other side."
She glared at him suspiciously. "What are you hiding?"
"Nothing," He lied. Ella stood on her tip toes and glanced over his shoulder. There was a stack of magazines in the chair behind him.
"Oh, Nate. Are those what I think they are?" She asked him with a sigh.
"That depends on what you think they are…"
"The reviews about the new single?"
"Then…yep they're what you think they are."
"Why in the world do you have those?" She asked him as she shook her head. "Really, stop torturing yourself."
"I can't help it," He said with a huff as he picked one of the magazines up and flipped through it. "They're terrible. They all hate it."
She took the magazine out of his hands and tossed back on the pile. "Is that why you've locked yourself down here?"
He growled and kicked at a pile of discarded sheet music. "I locked myself down here to write a better song, but I can't-nothings coming. I'm blocked."
"Probably because you're wallowing in filth," Ella told him as she cleared off the table in the back of the studio and set down the container. She opened it and then set out the plasticware and napkins she'd brought with her. "Sit down and eat."
"I'm not hungry," He said with a pout.
Ella chuckled at him. "Liar. Eat, please? C'mon, I made this for you. The least you could do is sit and enjoy it."
He sighed and nodded before sitting down at the table. He looked at her questioningly. "Did you bring anything for yourself?"
"I've already eaten," She told him as she walked around and picked up the clothing spread across the studio.
"Ella, what are you doing?" He asked with an amused smile as he picked up his fork.
"Nate, seriously, you can't work like this. A clutter free environment just might unblock you," She told him as she placed the clothes back inside his duffle bag and then got work on picking up the dirty dishes.
"You don't have to do that," He told her.
"Yes I do," She said as she smiled at him. "You're obviously not going to."
She found an empty grocery bag on the floor and started to place all the dishes inside of it so they would be easier to carry up the stairs. Nate watched her buzz around the room as he ate with a small smile. She didn't seem to want to keep him from writing. She wasn't really even trying to get him out of the studio. Even though he knew that's why his brothers had called her and asked her to come over. He finished eating just as she threw away the last piece of sheet music that was on the floor. She walked over to the chair by the sound board and picked up the stack of magazines.
His brow furrowed. "What are you doing?"
"I'm throwing these away."
"What? No, don't do that!"
"Nate, you don't need these around. I'm sure you've read them enough to know what they say. It's one thing to want to read them, it's another to let yourself become obsessed with them. Reading them over and over will not help you write a new song. Besides, these critics don't know what they're talking about. The single is amazing."
"You seem to be the only one that thinks so."
Her brow furrowed. "What are you talking about?"
"It's like I said, Ella, everyone hates it."
"How can you say that?" Ella asked in confusion. She picked up the latest issue of Billboard and threw it at him. "Did you happen to look past the review and get to the charts?"
"No, what's the point?"
"Trust me, Nate, flip to the Top 100 chart. You'll want to see it," Ella told him as she threw the rest of the magazines away.
She grabbed the bags of dishes and took them upstairs as Nate began to flip through the magazine. His eyes widened when he got to the chart. He reread it three times to make sure he had it right. Ella came back downstairs and Nate gave her a confused look.
"It's in the top five," He said in shock. "How is it in the top five? The critics hate it."
"The critics don't often agree with the listeners, Nate. You should know that by now," Ella told him with a light laugh. "I mean you've been involved in this industry longer than I have, and if I know that then you definitely should."
He continued to stare at the charts for several more minutes as he processed this.
Ella looked him up and down and sighed. "You know what else might help you with your block?"
"What?" He asked absently.
"A shower and a change of clothes. Go upstairs and groom yourself, please?" She asked with a soft teasing smile. "You can come right back down here and work some more once you do that, I promise."
He laughed as he looked down at his clothes, and then he looked back up at her. "This must really be driving you crazy, huh? Seeing me in a horribly stained shirt and ratty sweatpants?"
"Honestly? I'm having a hard time focusing on anything while you're looking that sloppy. The sweatpants I could care less about. Those are fine, but the stains…oh my God, please go change so I can attempt to save that shirt."
He laughed and shook his head at her. "Fine, fine. I'll go clean up a bit. Happy?"
"Yes I am, and maybe after you shower you could put on a bit of cologne. Just in case the shower doesn't get rid of your hermit stink," She suggested. "And, you know, maybe cause your cologne smells pretty heavenly."
"You like my cologne?" He asked with wide interested eyes.
Ella blushed and cleared her throat. "Maybe."
He smirked at her. "Right, well, I guess I'd better go groom myself, as you so elegantly put it."
"Leave your t-shirt outside of your bedroom door so I can put some spot cleaner on it. It probably won't work, but it's worth a shot," Ella told him. He smiled and nodded as he left. Her cheeks had still been flushed while they talked and she avoided looking at him at all. Ella cursed herself as Nate turned and headed up the stairs. "Your cologne smells pretty heavenly? Idiot."
As Ella finished cleaning up the studio she listened to the commotion upstairs as Nate walked through the living room. She laughed quietly to herself while she listened.
"DUDE! You're ALIVE! Thank God!"
"I knew Ella would get you out of there. You owe me five bucks, Shane."
Ella got to work on Nate's shirt while he was in the shower. She'd gotten most of the stains out by some miracle with the exception of one that was too deep set. But it looked like it was a grease stain so it didn't look too terrible. And it was just a t-shirt so she wasn't really worried about it. She threw the shirt and some of the other items she'd picked up off the studio floor into the washer, and then started putting dishes in the dishwasher.
Jason and Shane had walked in and out of the kitchen several times to get food. Shane was on the phone with Mitchie and Jason was preoccupied with his new guitar. Ella rolled her eyes at them every time. If she didn't know any better she'd think they thought she was their maid. She got the last of the dishes in the dishwasher just as Nate came back downstairs.
"Ella, did you…just do our dishes?" Nate asked in disbelief.
"I was bored," She said with a shrug. "No big deal."
He walked into the laundry room and then back at her knowingly. "You were bored enough to do the dishes and the laundry?"
"Okay, that's different. Dirty clothes nag at me until they're washed. I can't let dirt and stains sit for any longer than I have to."
He smirked at her. "Well, you could have at least left the dishes for us to do. You're not our maid."
Her eyes widened and she threw her arms around his neck. She patted his chest as she pulled away. "I always knew you were the smart brother."
He laughed at her. "Obviously."
She smacked his arm and pointed a finger at him. "Don't let it go to your head, mister."
"Brother entering the kitchen," Shane said loudly as he entered with a hand over his eyes. "Cease and desist all making out."
Both Ella and Nate glared at him.
"We're talking, Shane," Nate sneered.
He hesitantly pulled his hand down. "Oh, I thought I heard flirting. Usually flirting leads to kissing…so I just wanted to make sure."
Ella blushed and Nate rubbed a hand over his eyes.
"Shane?" Nate said tiredly.
"Yeah?"
"You're a jerk."
Shane nodded and smirked at them. "Yep."
"I'm going back to the studio," Nate said with a roll of his eyes.
Ella caught his arm as he walked away. He looked at her expectantly.
"Don't lock the door. You're not allowed to be a hermit anymore this week."
He nodded and laughed. "I'll save all my hermit habits for next week then?"
She glared playfully at him. "You think you're very funny, don't you?"
He walked away and called over his shoulder, "Occasionally."
Ella turned a very serious glare on Shane. "You're mean."
"I'm his brother. I'm supposed to be mean."
"Is that why you guys called me?" She asked. "Because you can't not be a jerk older brother?"
"No," Shane told her. "We called you in because you seem to be able to affect his mood easier than us."
Her brow furrowed. Jason joined them in the kitchen, and went to get water out of the refrigerator.
"What does that mean?" She asked.
"What does what mean?" Jason asked.
"I told her she has an easier time affecting Nate's mood than us."
"Oh, yeah," Jason agreed with a nod. "Definitely."
"But what does that mean?" She asked them.
Jason shrugged. "He's just in a better mood after he gets off the phone with you."
"Or after you guys have a fitting, or a conversation," Shane added.
Jason nodded. "And every time you guys have lunch together he comes back to the studio almost…giddy. Which is a big deal for him. He's rarely ever giddy."
Her brow furrowed. "Wait. Are you saying that Nate…likes me? As in likes me?"
"Did I not get that across with that whole 'making out' bit?" Shane asked with a teasing grin.
"I—he…he likes me? But he's never said anything…"
Jason chuckled. "He's Nate. You know as well as we do that he's never been able to tell a girl how he feels."
"We'll see about that," Ella said with a determined glare as she left the kitchen and headed downstairs to the studio. She wanted to hear Nate say it. She wanted to hear the words. Even if it meant seducing him till he cracked.
Nate was sitting inside the sound booth at the piano with a pad of paper when she made it inside the studio. She sat down at the sound board and pressed the button to turn on the microphones.
"Still blocked?" She asked.
He looked up at her and smiled. "No, I finally have an idea."
"Good," She said as she sat back in her chair. She glanced over at her purse and jacket by the door and smirked. She leaned toward the mike again. "Well, I guess if you're all better then I'm gonna go."
His head snapped up to look at her. "What?"
"Well, I'm not gonna be much help now, right? You don't need me distracting you," She said with a small smile.
He stood up from the piano and walked into the control room. "You can't leave."
She quirked a brow at him. "Why not?"
"Be—because…you can't."
She chuckled. "Wow, I'm totally convinced now."
"It's just…I mean, you kind of inspired the idea, and if you leave now I might lose it," He told her quietly. "So, stay? Please?"
She smiled warmly at him. "I inspired you?"
He blushed and looked down at his feet. "Well, between the three cheese macaroni and your speech about the critics…yeah, I guess you did."
"Oh," She said as a bit of disappointment crept into her tone. That wasn't exactly what she'd been hoping he'd say.
"Are you gonna stay or…"
"I'll stay, of course, I'll stay," She said with a small smile. "Let me know if I can help."
He hugged her tightly and smiled brightly at her as he pulled away. "You're the best, Ells."
She sighed as she watched him go back to the piano. She turned and sat down on the leather loveseat against the back wall. She needed to think of something else to do. Some other way to get him to talk. Well, one thing was for sure…she wasn't going to get anywhere from inside the control room. She stood up and walked into the booth and toward the piano. She sat down next to him on the bench and leaned into his shoulder very slightly.
"Can I see what you've got so far?" She asked curiously.
His eyes lingered on their shoulders as they touched before he looked up and met hers. "Sure. But keep in mind, it's not finished."
She nodded as he handed her the note pad.
Wake up,
To the alarm and the phone.
Trying to stick out.
Stuck in the world, don't belong.
Sometimes,
Something so right can be wrong.
Feeling weak as,
Gravity's taking its toll.
I want to know I'm not the only one around.
Can you show me something deeper than I've found?
I want to know you'll be with me,
When everything around is falling down,
When I finally get these feet back on the ground.
She smiled as she read the words and then handed the pad back to him. She wondered if these words were inspired by her or written about her. His fingers just barely brushed hers and she saw his eyes widen as he pulled away a little too quickly.
"Nate, that's beautiful."
"Really? You think?" He asked as he looked back down at what he'd written.
She reached over and patted his knee. "I know it is." She lingered a little bit longer than necessary but she wanted to see his reaction. His eyes left the paper and watched her hand the entire time. She stood and placed a hand on his shoulder. "You know, I think I'm gonna go upstairs and get a water. Do you want something?"
"I—uh, I'm sorry?" He asked as he blinked and shook himself back to the present.
She chuckled. "I'm gonna go upstairs and get a water. Do you want something?"
He eyes landed on her lips and he looked away quickly. "I—I'm good. Thanks, though."
She shrugged. "Okay, suit yourself."
As she walked away she made sure to lightly graze her hand across his shoulders. She could feel his eyes following her as she walked out of the studio. She smirked to herself. Well, at the very least she could tell he was attracted to her. That was extremely obvious. But he wasn't really giving anything away, and he wasn't even trying to make a move on her. She leaned against the wall outside of the studio and sighed.
"C'mon, Nate," She muttered quietly to herself. "Do something."
She trudged up the stairs and grabbed a water. Jason smirked at her as she headed back to the stairs.
"No progress?" He asked knowingly.
"He's either really oblivious or really stubborn."
Jason chuckled. "It's a bit of both. They run in the family."
"Yeah, well, you all need to get over it. It's frustrating," Ella said with a huff as she walked away from him.
"You can make all the subtle hints you want, Ella. But he's either not going to get them or completely ignore them," Jason warned her.
She turned as she reached the door to the stairs and smirked. "Then maybe I just need to stop being subtle."
She rushed down the stairs, threw the water bottle onto the love seat as she passed it, and barged right into the booth. Nate looked up with wide curious eyes as she rushed toward him. "Ella, what—"
She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled his lips down to hers. He tensed for a minute before he dropped the pen and the notepad on the floor. His arms went around her back and pulled her against him tightly. She nipped gently at his bottom lip and he groaned before deepening the kiss. He lifted her feet off the ground a few inches in order to kiss her more thoroughly. She slipped a hand into her curls as her feet hit the ground again. Nate pulled away hesitantly and gave her a small smile.
"What was that?" He asked.
"I got tired of waiting for you to do something. So I did something."
"Waiting for me to…wait," He said with a grin. "You were sending me signals!"
She rolled her eyes. "And I called you the smart brother. Geez. Of course I was sending you signals."
"So, what does this mean?" He asked her as his hands traced small circles on her back.
"I'm hoping this means you're going to work up enough nerve to ask me out. I mean I don't think there's much more I can do to let you know how I feel. I mean aside from admitting that I've been in love with you for years—" She closed her mouth tightly and her eyes widened. "Woops."
His eyebrows rose. "What?"
"What?" She asked as she bit her lip and looked down at his button up flannel shirt. "I didn't say anything."
He chuckled at her. "Um, I'm pretty sure you did, El. I think you said you're in love with me. I did hear you correctly, didn't I?"
She hid her face in his chest and nodded with an embarrassed whine. "Yes. Don't freak out on me, okay? I mean I get that you may not feel the—"
"I love you too," He said suddenly.
She looked up at him sharply with wide eyes. "You do?"
He nodded. "For a while now."
She leaned up on her tip toes and kissed his lips softly. She pulled back and smiled at him. "Alright, I kissed you first and admitted I love you first…now it's your turn to do something. Ask me out, Grey. Don't make do everything."
He laughed lightly. "Okay, okay." He inhaled and exhaled slowly before he continued. "Ella, would you like to have dinner with me tomorrow night?"
She nodded and beamed at him. "I would love to."