Chapter 9: Party Foul (Blame it on the Alcohol) Part 2
Ellie walked down the sidewalk, the cold night air hitting her sharply in the face, awakening her senses to the world around her, even though all she wanted to do was feel a dull numbness. She'd had to get away from the party. She hadn't wanted to come in the first place and now she regretted showing up at all. She still couldn't believe what'd happened.
All she'd been doing was standing there, slightly swaying to the music. She was waiting for Sean to come back with the drinks when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned around smiling sweetly. "That was fast." Her smile disappeared and she fell silent, realizing the person behind her wasn't Sean. It was a slightly tipsy Manny.
"Oh kinda like you?" Ellie's eyes narrowed.
"Excuse me?"
"You heard me. Do you just enjoy being the school's biggest whore?"
"What the hell is your problem?" Ellie demanded. No way in hell was she going to let someone like Manny Santos trash talk her.
"You're my problem."
"And what did I ever do to you?" Ellie spit, venom soaking into each syllable.
"See you're the worst kind of slut, because you can't just settle for ruining one person's relationship." Manny slurred a few of her words.
"What are you talking about?" Ellie didn't have a clue what Manny was talking about.
"See, first you had to screw with my relationship with Craig. You just had to step in there and steal him away from me. Then – "
"Wait, what are you talking about? I didn't steal Craig from you! I'm not interested in Craig!"
"Bullshit! I've seen the way you look at him, the way you watch him. You want him so bad. Well congratulations because you finally got him."
"Manny, what are you talking about? Craig picked you. I've moved on."
"No, I only thought Craig picked me, but he didn't. He picked you! He broke up with me so he could be with you! You ruined my relationship with him!" Ellie's head was spinning. Craig had dumped Manny so they could be together? "See and then as if you weren't already enough of a homewrecker, you just had to go and screw with Emma too. You just had to take Sean away too, knowing that Emma still loves him! You just couldn't be happy ruining one relationship, you had to ruin two! God you're such a bitch. How do you sleep at night you slut?"
"Hey, I didn't steal Sean away. He came looking for me! Sean loves me! Look, I don't know what's going on with you and Craig, or what's going on with Emma, but Sean and I are together. Sean is the only guy I'm interested in. I don't want your boyfriend. I've got my own. So get that through your thick, Barbie head. I know that's kind of hard when everything has to go through all those layers of hairspray, but seriously get over yourself. I'm not out to steal anyone's boyfriend, let alone yours." Ellie pushed past Manny, before stopping right behind her. "Oh and you should lay off the alcohol. It makes you even bitchier than before, and I didn't think that was possible." Then she was melding through the crowd of people. She needed to find Sean. She didn't want to be at this party anymore. She just wanted to go home.
She moved back towards the kitchen when she saw Sean. He was talking to someone, but she couldn't make out who yet. She pushed past one more person before she saw the blonde hair. She moved closer, barely making out what was being said. She camouflaged herself with a group of teens dancing. "Sean why didn't we work out?"
"I don't know Em. That's life. Sometimes things don't work out. So you try again hoping that one time it does." There was a pause and then the unthinkable happen. Emma threw her arms around Sean and kissed him. Ellie couldn't stomach the sight and turned away immediately. She rushed back through the crowd towards the door and rushed out, struggling to contain herself after the night's events.
She walked for a while, not really knowing where she was going, just continuously moving, turning corners, rounding blocks. That's when she found herself at a park. She looked around, unsure of how she got here. The park didn't look familiar. Why had she walked here? Oh well, she thought. This was as good a place as any to close the world out. She wandered in and sat down on one of the swings, grasping the chains tightly. She lowered a head and let a tear drop fall, then another, and another after that. Soon the tears were falling faster than she could count and the worst part was she didn't even really know why she was crying. Soon her tears were all cried out, and she just sat there rocking in the swing. She felt increasingly alone, like the solitariness was closing in around her, threatening to drown her. She reached into her pants pocket and pulled out her phone. She had two missed calls from Sean. Funny, she didn't remember the phone ringing. She pressed the button and put the phone to her ears.
"El? Ellie?" He was panicked, concerned. "El, are you there?" Just hearing his voice made her feel better.
"Yeah, I'm here."
"El, you've got to let me explain. It was – "
"Come to the park." She interjected, still swaying in the swing.
"What?" Sean was confused.
"Come to the park. That's where I am."
"Yeah ok, which park El?" He said, just going with it.
Ellie looked around her surroundings looking for something to tell Sean. "The park by the Overbridge Apartments. Do you know where I'm talking about?" She sniffled into the phone. She was tired.
"Yeah El. I know where you're talking about. I'll be there soon." She nodded, realizing after she'd done it he couldn't see her and hung up the phone. She rubbed her arms. It was cold out. She should've brought her jacket with her. With nothing left to do, she leaned her head against the cold chain of the swing and began to wait.
Sean walked as quickly as he could without breaking into a run. He made his way around corner after corner until he saw the apartment buildings Ellie was talking about. He walked passed them into the little park that was nestled there, a quiet place in the crowded, noisy atmosphere of the city. He saw a lone figure in the park. She was sitting on a swing, head tilted to the side. He swallowed hard and walked towards her, unsure of what she was going to say to him when he got there. "Hey El," he softly said as he approached. She raised her head to look at him.
"Hi Sean." Ellie rubbed her arms again as the wind blew through the trees. Sean took off of his gray hoodie and handed it to El.
"Here, put this on. You look cold." She couldn't help but smile lightly as she pulled Sean's hoodie on. It smelled like him. They were quiet for a moment, neither of them knowing where to start. Sean finally took a step forward towards her.
"Look El, that kiss meant nothing. Emma kissed me. I didn't see it coming. She just kinda jumped on me."
"Sean, am I your first choice? Like when you got here, am I the first person you came looking for, or did you try looking for Emma first and that didn't work out?"
"What of course not! Ellie, what's going on?"
"Did I ruin your chance at another relationship with Emma?" Sean looked at her confused.
"El, what are you talking about. There wasn't going to be another relationship with Emma. I don't wanna be with Emma, I wanna be with you. Look El, if this is about the kiss, I'm really sorry. I know how that could've looked, but you've got to understand – "
"I'm not mad about the kiss. I was never mad about the kiss."
"You're not mad."
"No, I just need to know that you wanna be with me 100%, that there's not even a chance you wanna be with Emma."
"Of course I wanna be with you. My relationship with Emma is in the past. Why are you so worried about this? Did someone say something to you?" Ellie shifted uncomfortably, not wanting to tell Sean about the ordeal with Manny. Ellie was still trying to wrap her head around the entirety of it. She was dealing with the Sean and Emma portion first, and the Craig part would just have to wait. Besides, Sean was more important anyway. She loved him. "El, did Emma or Manny say something to you about us?" Ellie shook her head.
"No. I just wanted to make sure." She yawned. "I just want to go home." Sean nodded and helped Ellie up from the swing, pulling her closer to him so he could kiss her softly.
"Okay, let's go home."
They walked hand–in–hand back to Sean's apartment. "El, are you sure you don't want me to drive you home?"
"No. I wanna stay here with you tonight." Ellie sat down on the couch, still cuddling in Sean's hoodie while Sean walked to the kitchen to grab a couple of drinks. He still hadn't had time to really go grocery shopping, but he'd manage to stop somewhere and get a few sodas. He walked back to the living room, about to say something else to El, but she'd drifted off to sleep on the couch. He smiled, and sat the drinks back down in the kitchen. He picked her up in his arms and carried her to his bedroom, laying her gently on the bed. He laid down beside her. She snuggled up to his and he wrapped his arms around her, cradling her gently.
There was a knock on the door of the Nelson house early the next morning. Emma answered the door, hand to her head, eyes closed in pain. She had the worst hangover from all the drinking she did the night before. In reality, she didn't drink that much, but her body wasn't used to alcohol consumption so even the five drinks she'd had last night really messed with her head. Manny wasn't all that bad. She had a minor headache and was mostly just tired as she lounged on the couch in the Nelson living room. Spike and Snake were still asleep. "Hello?" Emma whispered.
"Hey, we need to talk." Sean said. Emma's eyes widened slightly. She nodded.
"Okay," she said, stepping out onto the front porch, beginning to shut the door. Sean stopped her.
"No I mean all three of us." Emma looked back in and motioned for Manny to come outside. Manny sighed and moved outside with Emma and Sean, gently shutting the door behind her.
"What do you want Sean? It's early in the morning and I don't think Emma's in the mood." Manny snipped. Sean rolled his eyes and looked several times in between Manny and Emma.
"What happened last night?"
Manny rolled her eyes in irritation. "We had too much to drink Sean. I thought it was pretty obvious."
"No, what happened with Ellie. I know one of you said something. She was acting really weird last night."
Emma rubbed her face in pain. "I don't know what you're talking about Sean, but can you please stop talking so loud. My head is killing me."
"Yeah, you know that's what happens when you get hammered and kiss other girl's boyfriends at parties." Sean spit. He had no sympathy for Emma today. He turned to Manny.
"Now did you say something to her Manny?"
"Did she send you over here?" Manny sounded amused. Her speech had gotten under Ellie's skin. She was easier to break than expected.
"No. What'd you say?" Sean was getting irritated.
"I said exactly what I thought of that slut."
"Hey, she's not a slut. We're together because I want to be with her, not with Emma, not with anyone else. I love her. And besides Manny, you're one to talk? Are you still sharing Craig with Ashley?" Manny's eyes bugged out and her mouth dropped open a little.
"You know what Sean, you and that little boyfriend stealer can go to hell! I don't care anymore!" She turned and ran inside, slamming the door shut behind her. Emma winced in pain. Then it was just the two of them.
"Listen, I wanna apologize for last night, about kissing you. I was drunk, and trust me I'm paying for it now. And I'm sorry Manny said those things to Ellie. She's been pretty messed up since Craig dumped her for Ellie. She just got carried away."
"Wait, Craig left Manny for Ellie?"
"Yeah, but you'd already come back. So I don't know if he ever even told her. But I don't think you have anything to worry about Sean. I saw the way she looked at you last night, and she loves you. Craig doesn't stand a chance."
"Thanks Em, that means a lot."
"I'm happy for you Sean."
"Thank Em." Sean said. "You should go sleep off that hangover." Emma nodded and smiled, turning and going back inside.
