A/N: Thanks to my friend Beth for the title! And thanks to Anna, Beth, and Ellyse for helping out with some of the ideas for this! I had a really depressing night one night and started this as a way to get some stuff out. It turned into a Shane/Ella friendship fic, and I've always liked the idea of Shane and Ella being very good friends. I've never really done much with it so I decided to do something about that, and turn that one fic into a series. I'm not sure how long this is going to be, but for the moment it's complete.

Enjoy! Happy reading!

angellwings

Friends & Favors

By angellwings

Summer 2011

Ella was a happy person. Overall, she had an optimistic attitude and very idealistic view of the world around her. She believed it was possible to be what you wanted to be (provided you worked hard and made the right connections.) She thought people were basically good and that all things would work out in time. She liked to smile and laugh and love. It wasn't hard for her to care for someone, but it was hard for her to let them in. She had a shell. It wasn't the most obvious thing about her; in fact she was sure no one noticed unless they were actually looking for it.

There were parts of her she hid. There were things she kept to herself out of fear that her friends would suddenly find her annoying or embarrassing. And there were emotions she thought she wasn't supposed to show.

Everything about her seemed happy because that's all she thought people wanted to see. No one really wanted to see her cry. Or to see her angry. Ella was supposed to be happy. Ella was supposed to be the optimist.

So, she never told anyone that sometimes she felt like all her friendships were one-sided. She never told anyone how she felt like she gave and gave and never received anything in return. Every time she tried to plan something so many people would bail that she was only left with two or three guests. She would give gifts and rarely receive any in return. Whenever her birthday would roll around lots of people were busy and she usually spent it with her family.

It just…it felt like she was a friend of convenience to most people. They were real friends to her, but so many times it felt like she wasn't theirs. Tess was honest about it so Ella couldn't fault her for that. She knew what she was getting into with her, but she did expect more from the others.

Was that wrong? Was that selfish or, somehow, bitchy? She felt like it was sometimes. Like she shouldn't feel like they could be better friends or as if because she felt that way she wasn't a good friend. It was complicated and she felt like she couldn't address it with them. She didn't know what to do about it, but it hurt her deeply.

She took a deep breath and locked herself in one of the old bath houses. She was having one of those moments full of self pity and tears. Normally if she just kept breathing they'd go away. The minute she stopped focusing on keeping herself calm was the minute the tears fell. She'd left the dining hall in a hurry. She didn't even take her tray. Surely someone noticed she was upset. She glanced out one of the screened windows to see if anyone was behind her.

No one was.

That's when she stopped focusing on keeping calm. She felt her bottom lip start to quiver and immediately backed away from the window. She leaned against the wall that was furthest away and allowed herself to cry. There's no one around. No would hear her.

Even if they could hear her she wasn't sure if they would really care. Her tearstains were starting make her face feel stiff. She sniffled and wiped her cheeks as she took gasping breaths in attempt to calm down. She was over reacting. She had to be. They cared about her, right?

Maybe they just genuinely didn't realize she was hurting. Maybe she was really good at hiding it.

There was a knock on the latched screen door.

"Hello? Is somebody in there? No body's been in these bath houses for years, you know. They're not exactly safe."

She sniffled again but didn't say anything.

"I can hear you."

Ella glared at the door. She couldn't make out who it was, but she wasn't in the mood to talk. She just wanted to be alone and allow herself to mope. "Go away."

There was a pause for a moment before the same voice spoke up in a softer tone. "Ella? Is that you?"

"Who's asking?" Ella asked as she tried to wipe away the remainders of her tears.

"It's Shane. What are you doing out here?" He asked. "Could you unlatch the door?"

"What are you doing out here?" Ella asked as she shoved off the wall.

"I thought I saw someone come this way. I guess it was you," Shane admitted.

"You followed me?"

"Well, yeah, the trails out this way are all grown over. I was afraid it was a J.R. and I didn't want them to get lost," Shane said.

She came and unlatched the screen door and then stepped out into the light. Shane's brow furrowed when he saw her red watery eyes.

"Have you been crying?" Shane asked in concern.

"No," Ella lied. She pasted on a smile. "I'm fine."

"Why were you crying?" Shane asked. He, apparently, didn't buy her lie.

She sniffled again and looked away from him. "I was just…sad. Can we leave at that?"

Shane's brow furrowed. "But you're never sad."

Ella scowled. "Just because I never show it doesn't mean I don't feel it."

That's when realization dawned on Shane's face. "You do this a lot, don't you? Hide and cry?"

Ella didn't answer. She just turned on her heel and headed back toward camp.

"How has no one ever noticed that you sneak away like this?" Shane asked as he followed her. Ella couldn't tell if he was asking her or himself. Ella shrugged and said nothing. "So, what were you sad about?"

Ella paused for a minute and questioned whether or not she should tell him. She bit her bottom lip, and admitted to herself that she actually wanted to tell him. It had been a long time since anyone had asked her about how she felt and been genuinely curious. She took a deep breath and decided to be honest. It had been a long time since she'd done that too.

"They girls invited Dana to lunch," Ella told him.

"So, you like Dana. I've seen you talking to her."

"They invited her after they all had a jam session yesterday," Ella said quietly.

"So?" Shane asked. "She's great on the keyboards."

Ella's bottom lip quivered again and she gulped back her emotions. "No one invited me to jam."

Shane heard the thickness in her voice and his eyes widened. "Oh. Oh. Did you talk to them about it?"

Ella shrugged again. "No, it wouldn't have done any good and I didn't want Dana to think that I didn't like her."

"So, you came out here instead?" He asked.

She rubbed her eyes and nodded. "I just needed to get away."

"You could come jam with the guys, if you want," Shane offered. "We've got the barn reserved after lunch if you want to come."

"You're just offering because you feel bad for me," Ella said with a groan. "Don't do that."

"No! I want you to come! I've heard you sing! You're really good!"

"Thank you," Ella mumbled.

"Besides, everyone deserves to be a part of a jam session. Especially you. You rock out the hardest at all the camp jams," Shane said with a chuckle. "You get really into it. Do you play anything?"

Ella blushed and nodded. "Piano."

"You'll get along great with Nate, then. He loves the piano. He pretends the guitar is his favorite instrument to play, but he's not fooling anyone. He's a sucker for a baby grand—"

"What are you doing?" Ella asked with an irritated sigh. "I mean I'd expect this from Jason, but…since when do you take in strays?"

Shane held his hands up in surrender. "You're not a stray, and I'm just trying to make a friend, Ella. I promise."

"No ulterior motives?" Ella asked suspiciously.

Shane shook his head.

"You're not going to try to use me to cheat on Mitchie?"

Shane laughed loudly but cut himself off when Ella glared at him. He cleared his throat and nodded seriously. "No. No, of course not."

"You just honestly want to be my friend?" Ella asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, why not?" Shane asked. "You're talented, the few times we've hung out you seemed fun, and…I trust you. That's all the basics for a good friendship, right? So, what do you say? Wanna come jam with the guys?"

Ella smiled slowly and nodded. "Yeah, definitely. That sounds like fun."