"You" - Chapter 1 - "A New Connection"
Ellie sighed as she hung up her cell phone and relaxed her head back onto Ashley's pillow. She briefly looked at the ceiling, then at Ashley, who was laying on her stomach next to her and appeared to be studying her. Ellie liked the feeling of Ashley's eyes always being on her, and the girls' gazes finally met -Ashley's icy blue against Ellie's deep, shiny brown.
This had been the seventh consecutive weekend that Ashley and Ellie had spent together at the Kerwin-Isaac's household. Both girls had experienced a lot of emotional distress after their break-ups with former boyfriends Craig and Sean, but they were soon reminded of the reason they became best friends in the first place when they started channeling the time they had spent with their boyfriends and their friends back with each other. Unlike what they had expected, nothing had to be forced into place despite a large gap in their friendship. Everything came together like no time had passed, except it seemed to even reach a deeper level. Ashley realized the depth at which their relationship was growing when it became more difficult each time she had to say good bye to Ellie in person or on the phone, and Ellie felt a change when it would pain her more than she imagined to see Ashley cry. Neither of them could explain what was happening, but both of them were happy with the way things were.
"My mom's just leaving the post office right now, so she'll be here in, like, 2 minutes," Ellie said regarding the phone call she had just made.
"So soon?" Ashley inquired disappointingly, "I wish you could stay longer."
"I know. Especially because my mom is going to kill me if she finds out we didn't go to sleep," Ellie replied.
"Uh!" Ashley reacted, pretending to be insulted, "That's the only reason you want to stay longer?"
"And so we can spend more time together - but you know that," Ellie recovered, again surprised at how Ashley could make her express what was on her mind without having much reservation.
Ashley laughed and Ellie smiled in return. "Yeah, I guess I do know that. I just wanted to hear you say it."
The two smiled coyly at one another before Ellie reluctantly stood from the bed. "Will you help me take my stuff downstairs?"
"Sure," Ashley said, taking the majority of Ellie's belongings herself and heading for the stairs.
Once they reached the bottom, Ellie looked out the window just as her mom was pulling in.
Ellie slightly grumbled. "My mom's here. I don't want to leave."
"I don't want you to leave, either," Ashley said.
Both girls paused to put Ellie's bags on the floor and hug, simply at first, but then evolving into something more. Mrs. Nash's car horn quickly interrupted their embrace, and Ellie picked up her bags.
"I gotta go," Ellie said, turning towards the door.
"Okay, call me when you get home," Ashley said.
"I will," Ellie replied, "Bye."
"Bye," Ashley said, gently placing her hand against the door for a moment where Ellie had just been standing. She then took the cordless phone off the jack, went upstairs to her room, and fought her sleep deprivation to wait for Ellie's call.
