Sabotage

By angellwings

"Alright, three more sets of outfits and we're done," Ella said brightly as she flipped through one of the many clothing racks in her studio.

"Three more sets?" Nate asked. "A set is one outfit per band member right?"

Nate wasn't sure how he'd been the only one sucked into this. Ella had wanted all three members of Connect Three there to help her finalize the tour wardrobe, but Jason and Shane had miraculously gotten out of it and left them to do it alone. Not that Nate minded spending time alone with Ella. He'd never admitted it out loud, but he was pretty sure he was falling head over heels for Ella. Since they'd hired her as their stylist Nate had gotten a chance to spend lots of time with her. The more he got to know her the more he admired her, and now he was certain he was almost at his breaking point. If he grew to like her anymore he would most certainly be in love with her.

Ella nodded. "Don't worry. It shouldn't take too much longer. Well, it better not. I have plans. I stayed up for a good chunk of the night to make sure I had enough of this done so we could finish up in time for me to go."

"How late did you stay up?" Nate asked as he flipped through her sketch book.

"Four," Ella sighed. "If I hadn't we would've had to be here all night."

"So you got about three hours of sleep then?" Nate asked her knowingly with a parental glare.

"Save the lecture, Nathaniel. I'll catch up on sleep this weekend," She told him with a smirk. "Or if this date goes well, maybe I won't. Who knows? Maybe this guy will fall desperately in love with me and want to spend every minute together."

Normally Nate would have rolled his eyes and laughed at how hopelessly romantic Ella was (even if he was secretly a hopeless romantic himself), but as soon as the word date left her lips he froze. "Date?"

"Yep," She said with a nod. "You know the UPS guy that delivers all of my supplies? The tall, muscular one?"

Nate gritted his teeth and spoke stiffly, "Yes."

"Well, he asked me out, and I figured…he's cute and no one else has made any moves so why not, right?" Ella told him. "Any of those other sketches stick out to you?"

He blinked at the book in front of him, and tried to recover enough to answer. "I, uh, ah…um—"

Ella's brow furrowed. "Do any of them appeal to you? I mean if they're terrible let me know."

He cleared his throat and gulped. "No, they're all great, Ells. I'm just having trouble deciding between them."

She glanced down at her watch. "Well, we've got about half an hour to decide. So, you look through those and I'm going to go get changed for my date—"

"Changed? Here? And what you're wearing won't work?" Nate asked. He liked what she was wearing. He thought she looked cute. She was wearing a cropped white T-shirt and a read polka dotted skirt with a black cardigan. Plus she had these slouchy tall socks on with a pair of simple, slender, red tennis shoes. Her hair was pulled back into a high ponytail and she looked…comfortable.

"Not changed, really," Ella said. "I just have to make a few alterations and fix my make up to match. Shouldn't take me very long. You keep trying to decide what outfits to use. I'm going to go get ready."

She grabbed a black tote bag and headed into the bathroom in her office. Nate stared at the closed door for a few moments before he turned back around and huffed in aggravation. He smacked himself in the forehead. "Stupid, stupid. I should've known she would eventually have a date."

She was Ella, after all, and absolutely gorgeous. It only made sense that men braver than him would ask her out.

He shook his head and then focused on the book again. Truthfully, he'd already decided which outfits would work best for the tour. A part of him wanted to delay telling her in the hopes that she'd somehow miss her date. But he wasn't that kind of a guy. He wasn't Shane. He couldn't do that to her.

He heard the bathroom door open and heard heels clicking against the floor as she approached behind him. A delicate hand came to rest on the desk beside of him as she leaned across him to look at the book. "So, have you decided yet?"

He gulped as the smell of her perfume hit him and slowly turned to face her. His eyes widened. Turns out the red polka dot skirt wasn't a skirt. It was a strapless sun dress. She'd taken off the cropped shirt to reveal it. She'd let her hair out of the ponytail and one side of it was currently being held back by a very pretty comb that looked like a long silver leaf. And on her feet were a pair of very tall white heels. She was gorgeous before but now…

She looked…sexy. Everything about this outfit accentuated her bare shoulders and legs. This guy she was going on this date with wouldn't know what hit him.

And that worried Nate even more.

"Decided? Um…no. Not yet. I'm still trying to narrow it down."

"Fifteen minutes and counting, Gray. You better hurry up," Ella told him with a kind smile. "You keep narrowing it down. I'm going to take a short nap. No telling how late I'll be out tonight and I want to be alert. Can you wake me up when you're done?"

"Sure," He agreed hesitantly. "Shouldn't take me much longer."

He watched Ella curl up on the loveseat in the back corner of her studio before he turned back around. He'd just lied to Ella. Twice. He had decided, and he certainly wasn't going to wake her up. What if she came away from this date and really liked this UPS guy? He couldn't let that happen.

Besides, she said she'd been up really late, right? She clearly needed the sleep.

Or at least that's what he told himself.

He waited until Ella was asleep before moving the outfits he'd picked out to the rack that held the rest of the tour wardrobe. That was done. He glanced over at Ella and noticed her holding her arms as if she were cold. He unzipped the black tote she'd brought and pulled out the cardigan she'd been wearing earlier. He quickly covered her with it and then slipped her heels off of her feet.

A wave of guilt swept over him briefly but he shrugged it away and left to go order take out. Whenever Ella woke up, if she didn't hate him, she'd probably be hungry.

Ella yawned and slowly opened her eyes. She moved to stretch her arms above her head and felt something fall off of her. She glanced to the floor and noticed her cardigan, and her brow furrowed. Hadn't she put that away? Her feet felt cold too. Her shoes were gone. She yawned again. Had Nate done that? He'd had to he was the only one in the studio. She noticed the racks were full and smiled. He'd finished. She glanced down at her watch and her eyes widened.

Shit. She'd been asleep for an hour. She'd missed her date. The guy probably thought she stood him up.

She glanced around the room to look for Nate, but didn't see him. She slipped the cardigan on and padded toward the door and looked out into the hallway of the office building. She saw the elevator doors open and looked just in time to see Nate stepping out. He hadn't noticed her watching him walk toward her yet. He was carrying bags of take out. She could see the logo of the Chinese place down the street on the bags.

She glared at him and shut her office door. He hadn't woken her up. She'd asked him to wake her up when he was done. The racks were full so he had clearly decided, and yet he'd let her sleep for an hour. He'd even left to get food. Enough food for two by the looks of it. Had he purposefully let her miss her date?

She growled angrily and locked the door.

Jerk. Jackass. Douche.

Okay, so she didn't mean that last one. Nate was an idiot but he wasn't a douche. He had to have a reason for making her miss her date. The door knob jiggled twice before Nate knocked lightly.

He glanced through the window on the door and saw Ella standing there. "Ella? Can you let me in?"

She turned and glared at him. "Jackass! No, I will not let you in! You let me miss my date! I told you fifteen minutes. I slept for an hour! The poor guy probably thinks I stood him up! God, Nathaniel, I am so pissed at you!"

He winced and shifted his weight as he held onto the bags. "Okay, you're right. I'm a jerk. I should've woken you up. I didn't think I'd be gone that long."

"You went and got food for two people. Clearly, you wanted me to miss it!"

"No, I—"

"Cut the bull shit, Nate. What is your problem? I mean do you want me to be alone for the rest of my life? Is this a misery loves company thing? Because you don't have a date then I can't have one either? Because I honestly thought you were a bigger person than that," Ella said as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Ella, will you open the door please?"

"If I open the door will you explain yourself?" Ella asked with a glare. "And explain why you ruined something I was really looking forward to? What if this guy was the one, Nate? What if you screwed it all up?"

Nate huffed and rolled his eyes. "He's not the one, Ells."

"How do you know?" Ella asked.

"Just let me in," Nate begged. "I'm going to drop all of this food and then you won't get dinner at all tonight."

"Fine, but once you're in here I expect answers or I'm kicking you out again," Ella said as she begrudgingly opened the door.

"Thank you," Nate said with a gulp. "I appreciate it. Especially since you hate me."

She rolled her eyes. "I don't hate you. I'm just extremely pissed."

He set the food down on her desk and then turned to face her. "I'm sorry, alright? I'm very deeply sorry."

She gave him a skeptical glare. "No, you're not. You're not even a little sorry."

He gulped and looked away from her.

"How about we try some honesty, huh?" Ella asked as she gave Nate a stern look.

"Fine, look, I'm not sorry you missed your date, but I am sorry that I pissed you off," He admitted as he caught her eye.

"Well, that's honest, at least," She said as she clicked her tongue in irritation. "Do you know something about Bryan that I don't? Is that why you're being odd?"

"Bryan? Who's Bryan?" Nate asked cluelessly.

Ella groaned in frustration and smacked the side of his head lightly. "My date, Gray!"

"Oh! No, no I don't know Bryan," Nate

"Then why? And what did you mean by 'he's not the one'?" Ella asked in a scolding tone. "How can you possibly know that?"

"Ella…"

"Explain that to me, Nate, please. I'm dying to understand."

"I don't think…"

She chuckled darkly. "No, you don't."

Nate grunted in frustration. "Ella, will you let me think! I'm trying to word this just the right way!"

She glared at him. "Did you just yell at me?"

"NO!" Nate yelled before his eyes widened and he cleared his throat. "No. I just…you want an explanation and yet you're not giving me time to give you one. Please, just let me think for a minute, okay?"

Ella sighed and sat down behind her desk. "Fine. But don't take too long."

Ella started unpacking the food and she split the two entrees between them and organized the food just the way she liked it. Nate smiled softly at her. Ella wasn't usually the most organized person, but when it came to food or groceries or kitchen supplies of any kind she was practically obsessive compulsive.

Once she was done with that she looked up at him expectantly and stood, "Well?"

"He's not the one for you, Ella," Nate answered.

"So you've said," Ella said as she rolled her eyes. She walked around the desk to stand across from him. "But you've yet to tell me why you think that, and that's what I want to know."

"Ella, I don't know if—"

"Just tell me, Nate."

"But I don't think—"

"Nate…"

"FINE!" Nate yelled before he took in a sharp breath. "He's not the one for you because I am, Ella. Okay? Your date tonight should have been with me. Is that a good enough reason for you?"

She suddenly went silent and stared at him with huge shocked eyes. "I—you…WHAT?"

"It was selfish and petty, but I…I wanted to be the one on the date with you, and once I saw how…how good you looked I couldn't let you go out with someone else—"

"Let me?" Ella asked dangerously.

He sighed. "You know I didn't mean it like that. I was afraid if you went out with him I would lose any small chance I had with you. But from the looks of things at this moment I lost my chance anyway."

There was a moment of awkward silence between them before Ella let out a soft warm chuckle. "Oh, Nate. You fail. So hard."

He gulped and gave her a curious glance. "What?"

"Did it ever occur to you to just ask me out?"

He blinked at her. "Would you…would you have said yes?"

She let out a light sigh and smacked his arm. "God, do you know how long I've had feelings for you? Do you? Sometimes, Nate, you just need to speak up. If I had known you were even remotely interested…"

Ella paused and gasped as Nate suddenly wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her against him. "You have feelings for me?"

"Oh, now you get brave," Ella said with a smirk. "You couldn't have done this at the beginning of the day? I could have called and cancelled my date and not left the guy sitting at the restaurant for who knows how long."

"You didn't answer my question," Nate pointed out with a grin. She took a deep breath and slowly slipped her hands under the collar of his shirt. She gripped his collar and pulled his lips down to hers. She kissed him firmly on the mouth and then pulled away to smile brightly at him.

"For years, Nate. For years," She admitted as a pretty blush appeared on her cheeks.

He dipped his lips back down to meet hers and kissed her slowly and sweetly. She sighed happily and tangled her hands into the curls at the nape of his neck. Ella bit lightly on his bottom lip and he grinned softly against her lips before deepening the kiss. After several minutes they pulled apart and Ella rested her forehead against his.

She smiled softly at him. "Is this going to count as our first date?"

He laughed. "Well, I did buy you dinner."

"Yeah, because you made me stand up some poor UPS delivery man."

"I still say it counts," Nate told her with a lop-sided smile.

Ella pulled her forehead away from his and grinned. "Okay, we'll make a deal, you slow dance with me in my office right now and we'll count it as a first date."

"Dance?" Nate asked with a grimace.

"Hey, I was supposed to go dancing tonight and I'm wearing a pretty dress. Dance with me and we'll call this our first date," Ella told him.

Nate chuckled and nodded before he turned on his laptop and hit shuffle on his music player. A slow song started and he held out his hand to her. "Then let's dance, Ms. Pador."

She smiled brightly and put her hand in his and he pulled her close once again. She rested her head on his shoulder as they danced.

She spoke softly as they swayed. "For our second date, I would like to know about it beforehand if that's okay with you."

He laughed and placed a small kiss on her forehead. "I think I can handle that."