A week had went by and Ellie and Wayne were back to normal. He had forgiven her fairly easily, seeing as how she apologized the next day with a pack of puppers and homemade cookies. Dan and Daryl had watched her friendship with Wayne and Katy and decided it was a good one, almost like she was family.
"How is it you're great friends with Wayne and Katy but I don't really remember or know you?" Daryl asked Ellie, having been their childhood friend too. " I was only here a month or so out of the year and, well, I was quite the shy kid. They knew that and didn't really pressure me to make other friends. They let me know when someone else was coming over and I'd leave. I'm pretty sure we only met once, at sixteen." Ellie shrugged, sitting to Wayne's right as they all sat by the produce stand.
"I thought that's were I knew you from! You were the girl that slammed a door into my face and gave me a bloody nose!" Daryl smiled as if he figured something out. Ellie threw her head back and laughed, Wayne and Katy joining in. "I didn't mean to! In my defense, you startled me!" Ellie defended herself, laughter still on her lips as they calmed down.
It was shaping up to be a great day.
•••••
Ellie decided to take her Irish Wolfhound, Bran, out for a walk around town. Everyone openly stared at the girl walking a dog that was almost half her height while on all fours and wearing a black spiked color. She decided to go to a convenience store to grab a bag of ice pops, or as she called them, popsicles.
It was a fairly warm day and she decided to treat the boys and Katy with the icey snack. She purchased a fairly large bag and left the store, noticing out of the corner of her eye that the group her friend's called the skids were dancing outside.
She stopped for a bit to watch them dance, confused by why they were doing so. The one that seemed to be the leader, Stewart, avoided eye contact with her. The others followed suit and pretended she wasn't there. With a shrug, Ellie continued on her way.
What a strange town.
•••••
"Hello boys. Brought you all a treat!" Ellie greated the trio with a smirk as Rielly and Jonesy pulled up for Katy. Having stopped by the house to put up Bran, she went straight over to Katy and Wayne's afterwards. "Hey! Katy! Come grab you and your boys one!" The blue eyed girl called to her childhood friend before she was able to get into the jeep.
"Whatcha got there?" She asked as Ellie pulled the popsicles out of the cooler she had stuffed them in inside her truck. "Whatever the hell y'all call these up here." Ellie laughed, motioning to them. Katy gave a smile, shaking her head, and grabbed three of them. She hauled herself into the jeep and they took off.
"Well boys, want one?" She offered again, quirking an eyebrow at them. "Yeah, okay." Daryl got up and grabbed one. "Haven't had one of these since I was a kid." Daryl giggled, taking a bite. Wayne and Dan both took one too, unsure. Ellie rolled her eyes at their scrunched up faces and pulled out a red popsicle of her own.
•••••
With lips stained red, Ellie gave a grunt as her and the boys reached the last of the popsicles and puppers beer. With an exasperated sigh she settled for an orange popsicle, having ate all of the red ones.
"I'll make the run boys. You all owe me." Ellie stated, grabbing her keys and wallet. "We appreciates you." Dan smiled at the petite girl as she got up. "Y'all better." The girl grumbled, giving a smile, her thick southern accent becoming more and more noticeable the longer she was in town.
As she pulled up to the store she noticed that the skids were still there. Without paying them much attention she went into the store. After a while she noticed that three of them were following her. Devon, Roald, and Stewart. Her shoulders tensed as they finally approached her, whispering to each other.
When they reached her, Stewart cleared his throat. "My friend, Roald likes dogs. He has a question for you." Stewart pushed Roald forward, who squeaked as if frightened. Ellie gave her best friendly smile and motioned to go ahead.
"What's your dog's name?" Roald asked quietly, not looking her in the eyes. "His name is Bran." Ellie cheerfully replied, wondering if that was all. "Bran? Like the muffins?" Devon scoffed, rolling his eyes at her. Ellie's smile dropped.
"No. Bran like the Celtic god of the underworld. I need to get going." She coolly replied and grabbed her stuff. She left them in the isle to go check out. She watched them leave out of the corner of her eye, whispering harshly amongst themselves.
Such strange people.
•••••
"All right boys. Who's ya favorite?" Ellie asked, dropping the puppers beer and popsicles off into the cooler beside Wayne. The trio only smiled while grabbing a puppers and popsicle each. They resumed talking and before long the sun started to set, all the popsicles gone again.
Rielly, Jonesy, and Katy pulled up and Katy hopped out, joining them in sitting in front of the produce stand. As Rielly and Jonesy pulled off Katy turned to Ellie, who had moved to sit in a chair beside Wayne. "I don't know why you're making friends with these boys." Katy threw her a teasing smile, grabbing herself a beer.
Ellie only smiled and shrugged. "They seem to be the most relatively normal group in this town." She chuckled, thinking back to her encounter at the store "You're not wrong." Katy nodded, making a face of understanding. "I rarely am." Ellie remarked, her voice teasing.
"You having a good stay?" Wayne turned to ask, as monotone as ever. "Yeah. Things are good it seems. I enjoy being here. Thinking of moving here permanently." Ellie waved it off, not interested in herself. "Really? You might stay forever?" Katy asked excitedly, not about to let her gloss over this.
"Yeah. Sure. I like it here, so why not?" Ellie raised an eyebrow to Katy. Katy gave a squeal and started rambling about a party. "Yeah, because I love to party." Ellie snorted, taking a gulp of her beer. "Don't be a poopy pants." Katy scolded as the boys decided they were on board with the party idea.
"Yeah. This should be fun." Ellie rolled her eyes, not fond of the idea at all. She was only willing to go through with it because it seemed like her friends, old and new, needed a bit of a break. They needed some fun. If there was one thing about Ellie you could count on, it was that she'd go out of her way for her friends.
So a party would be happening.