Well, it's been a while since I've posted! Lazy me... hope you enjoy this chapter :D
Reviews are appreciated muchly xx
(EDIT: as pointed out by CaptMacKenzie, I managed to cut off a bit of this chapter when posting it... how clumsy of me lol I have now fixed the problem!)
Chapter 11 - Elaine
Come back and haunt me
Follow me home
Give me a motive
Swallow me whole
Ella woke up the next day feeling unusually lonely. She didn't regret her decision to push Logan away, but it had accentuated the underlying loneliness she had been feeling for the last five years.
Still, she wasn't going to sit around and mope. She was well over doing things like that. First off, she was going to try and find Logan and let him know that just because she wasn't interested in a relationship with him didn't mean she didn't want to be his friend anymore. They had come a long way across the country together, and she fully intended to keep in contact with him, if he liked it or not!
She got dressed, tying her long red hair back and slipping into a comfortable pair of shoes as she prepared for a day walking about the city.
Logan had mentioned a school, and Charles Xavier. There couldn't be many schools or institutions in the area with such an association. So, after breakfast, Ella headed into the city and found a little Internet café where she had a latte and searched the web for Logan's school.
It wasn't hard to find. Xavier's School for gifted youngsters, in Westchester. Ella noted the address and searched for a bus route that would take her to the area. By lunchtime she was stepping off the bus a mile or so from where the school was, according to the old lady she had sat by on the journey.
It was a nice area – very suburban, and quite affluent. Many of the houses Ella passed on her walk had immaculate front gardens, window boxes and those mail boxes with the little flags. People here were really living the American dream, or at least one side of it. She wondered what they thought of their not so perfect neighbours.
Out of curiosity, she questioned the housewife she asked for directions about her opinion on the place.
"I'm applying for a job there, you see," Ella lied, "I just want to know what you, as a local person, think of the school."
"Well, the kids don't cause any trouble," she said, looking over in the direction of the school, almost as though she was worried they were listening, "but I don't know… there's always these official looking cars coming in and out of it, and they're very exclusive. Jane across the road tried to get her kids enrolled, bright kids, both of them, but apparently they weren't of the calibre required."
There was something about the way she stressed the word 'calibre' that made Ella think she had her suspicions about Xavier's School. Perhaps the renowned telepath had pulled some sort of blanket over the local people's eyes, and since his untimely demise their curiosity had started to peak once again.
Ella thanked the woman for her time, and left swiftly, before she could start asking questions of her own. The last thing she wanted was to cause trouble.
They say I've lost it
What could I know
When I'm but a mockery
I'm so alone
Lainey woke up the next day, her eyes still red from crying, at seven in the morning. She didn't bother getting out of bed until two in the afternoon. Apparently even at twenty-two you were still capable of falling like a seventeen-year-old.
Fortunately her Mother had been so wrapped up in her own disappointment at the Worthington's swift departure that she hadn't even noticed her daughter was missing. When Lainey eventually bothered to get some food, Elizabeth Goldstein merely commented that she looked like she had a dreadful hangover, and it served her right for drinking whisky.
Lainey didn't even reply, she just grabbed her toast and headed back to her room, not feeling hung over at all. The pain she felt was something only more than about fifteen painkillers or several months could take away. Right now neither route to recovery looked particularly savoury, but even though she felt awful, she wasn't quite ready to die just yet, and so the several months of 'time is a healer' it would be.
"I knew him for a week!" Lainey moaned as she sat in her bed later, Ellie perched on the end handing her chocolates and tissues alternately, "I can't believe what a baby I'm being!"
"It was a week of infatuation, you tried to fight it and ended up falling harder," Ellie said, "and I'm sorry for encouraging you, that was bad of me."
"No this is bad of me to be crying like a thirteen-year-old does when she realises her crush in year eleven has a girlfriend…" Lainey said, sniffing back her tears with a determined look on her face.
"Well yeah, so I guess we can call it quits huh?" Ellie said, prompting a small laugh.
Sooner or later you'll find out
There's a hole in the wall
After twenty minutes slow walking, Ella arrived outside the school. School though, she thought, was hardly the word for it. It was more like a mansion. The enormous iron gates were at once foreboding and welcoming. They seemed to say both 'keep out!' and 'I'll keep you safe'. Ella looked at the plaque on the wall that read 'Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters', running her fingers over the raised letters.
She had big hands, for a girl. Long fingers, large palms, nails kept clinically short. They were the sort of hands that most people wouldn't believe to be delicate – rough from working hard, doing the jobs that most girls avoided – yet she had a gentle touch. This gentle touch was all that was required to open the gates, which seemed to swing open by themselves as soon as Ella went to open them.
She walked through, feeling oddly like she had felt when visiting her old school back home once, a couple of years after she had left. Somehow both welcome and not. Like she was out of time, in a place where she didn't really belong. Of course she didn't really belong here at all, but there was still that strangely welcoming feel to the place that she supposed all schools must have.
The drive was quite long, giving her plenty of time to take in the place. It was the most beautiful school she had ever seen, from the mansion it was set in to the gardens that surrounded it. Already she could hear the happy sound of children laughing and playing together. Ella felt the loneliness in her heart ebb, and finally understood why Logan was happy here.
The sound of car noises attracted Ella's attention, and she walked over to a garage like area, where a group of boys and one impatient looking girl were sat around a beat up looking car.
She got right next to them without any of them noticing she was there. As she got closer she realised that she recognised a couple of them. The impatient looking girl was Marie, instantly recognisable from the white stripe in her hair and the long gloves she wore on her arms despite the temperate weather. Bobby was also there, running around fixing something in the car. Ella realised with a smile he was jump-starting it.
The other kids she didn't recognise. There were a couple of younger boys who looked mildly interested, and another older lad who was very buff, and looked like he weight trained a lot. They were all talking together, happy and comfortable in their environment, despite the fact that most people outside the safety of the school walls hated them. Ella felt almost bad for intruding in their little safe haven.
Bobby attached his final lead and got into the driver's seat of the car. He turned the key and it spluttered into life to the cheer of the younger boys sat around and the placid applause of his girlfriend.
"Nicely done," Ella said, and Bobby's head snapped up.
"Ella?" he said, smiling at her with surprise.
The other kids looked between them curiously, eying Ella with a little suspicion. Bobby held no suspicion in his gaze as he got out of the car, still smiling widely, to greet her properly.
"Hey, Bobby," she smiled back, "I was just looking for Logan, have you seen him? He made me an offer involving a couple of drinks that I'd like to take him up on."
"Yeah, he was here a couple of hours ago. Said he was going back to the city for a drink."
"You know where he'll be?" Ella asked.
"Yeah, he always goes to the same place," Bobby said, "Nine times out of ten anyway."
"Can you tell me where it is?"
"I'll drive you there if you like," he offered, grinning in the direction of the now running car.
Today is ours
Condemned to be free
Free to keep breathing
Free to believe
It was a couple of days before Lainey could bring herself to get dressed and out of bed. She had Ellie tell her Mother she was ill, which she had bought, no questions asked. Ellie had also been brilliant enough to make sure Bo was fed and watered, leaving Lainey feeling incredibly bad and grateful once she had got her act together.
"I don't know what I'd do without you," Lainey said as she pulled her cleaned hair out of her face into a loose ponytail.
"I know," Ellie said dryly, "you tell me every day."
"Well, it bears saying again," Lainey said.
"Yeah, well, don't waste time telling me what I already know," Ellie said, "get out there and see that that horse of yours gets some exercise. She damn near bit my hand off last time I went out to see her."
"She doesn't like it when things don't go her way," Lainey said with a smile.
"Yeah, a bit like her owner!" Ellie retorted.
Lainey rode Bo for a good three hours, blowing out all the cobwebs both she and her horse had accumulated in the days she had spent lethargic in bed. Feeling the speed, feeling the fresh air in her lungs, these things reminded her of life before heartbreak, but they couldn't make that pain go away.
She supposed through the pretence of being unconcerned about love, she had created an idealised vision, a la Disney princess. She was waiting for her white knight to come and whisk her away on horseback, riding together into the sunset towards a lifetime of happiness and love. All that sentimental, romantic, clichéd rubbish.
The problem was, she had started believing she could live that dream with Warren, who though maybe not the stereotypical 'white knight', was at least perhaps the closest modern day equivalent.
"You're a sucker," Lainey muttered to herself as she removed Bo's tack, "and it's all your own silly fault. Isn't that right, Bo? I'm a sucker, no matter how hard I try not to be."
Bo snorted, and though Lainey wanted to believe it was a disagreeing sort of snort, she couldn't help thinking that it was more a 'you should have known better' sort of snort.
"I dunno El," Lainey said to her friend later, "two weeks ago, my head was almost sorted. I was feeling positive and upbeat about almost everything. Now I've been reduced to try and decipher if my horse is snorting to me in a derisive way or not."
"Then I think it's time we moved on to the next stage of the healing process," Ellie said with a wicked grin.
"I dread to think what that is," Lainey said with a laugh.
"Nothing you haven't done before," Ellie said, "now go and put some nice clothes on and meet me by my car at five."
"Where are we going?"
"Out."
"Out?"
"As in out on the town," Ellie said, "if you've become sad enough to value the judgement of your horse, then it's time we got you hideously drunk and reminded you how to have a bit of fun."
"Hideously drunk isn't fun," Lainey said, "and I've always valued the judgement of my horse!"
Ellie laughed, and Lainey laughed with her, a little more freely this time.
"You'll have fun up to the point when 'merry' becomes 'hideously drunk'," Ellie said, "but I'm not looking to drown your sorrows, I just think you could use a good girl's night out – we'll go to a couple of pubs then maybe go dancing."
"You going to invite anyone else?"
"Maybe Amy and Sarah," Ellie shrugged, "not too many people."
"Ok," Lainey said, "I'll go get changed."
Sooner or later they'll find out
There's a hole in the wall
Sooner or later you'll find out
That you'll dream to be that small
Bobby dropped Ella off outside a small, run down looking pub. He wished her luck, perhaps sensing her slight apprehension as she got out of the car. She waved as he drove of, then steeled herself and went inside.
She saw Logan straight away, sat right at the back, smoking one of his cigars. She ignored the stares she was attracting from the bar's other occupants and went straight over to him, and sat down opposite him.
"Those are terrible for your health you know," she said, "though somehow I doubt that's an issue for you."
Logan looked up, surprised but not unhappy to see her.
"You can't get rid of me that easily," Ella said with a smirk at his questioning look, "you promised me you'd take me out on the town in New York, I'm not going anywhere til you fulfil that one."
"Does this count?" Logan asked.
For a moment Ella thought he was going to tell her to clear off and leave him alone, but then she caught a hint of amusement in his eyes, and like nothing had passed between them he smirked. Ella laughed, careful to look down before rolling her eyes, then smiled back up at him, flicking her long red hair out of her face.
"If you think this is taking me out on the town then you have issues," she said with a grin.
"I have issues," Logan said with another smirk, "but I didn't think not knowing how to show a lady a good time was one of them."
"Well, knowing you have them is a start," Ella said.
The mood suddenly turned more sombre, but not in an uncomfortable way.
"I'm sorry, Logan," Ella said, "about last night."
Logan just held up his hand and shrugged it off, letting her know it didn't matter at all, now he'd had a chance to sleep on it.
"You've got nothing to apologise for," he said, "let's just say one of my issues is being attracted to beautiful red heads who are already taken."
Ella gave him a sad little smile. It wasn't one of pity, like Logan would have detested, but rather one of mourning what might of, but never could be. Had things been a bit different – a different time, different circumstances, they might have made a go of it.
Just when Logan was starting to feel the need to say something smart to break the silence, he picked up the distinct aroma of Storm entering the bar.
"Logan!"
Ella looked up at the sound of someone calling Logan's name. The woman approaching them was beautiful. Her skin was tan, her hair shocking white and she carried herself with confidence and grace.
"Now I'm really starting to understand why you hang out at a school," Ella said to Logan, grinning wickedly at him.
He rolled his eyes and stood up to greet the woman.
"Good to see you Logan," she said wrapping her arms round his neck in a friendly hug.
"How did you know I was here?" he asked.
"Warren and I were in town having lunch with Hank," she said, "I saw your car."
"Where is bird boy then?" Logan asked with a hint of contempt.
"Parking the car," she replied, smiling at his slight distaste, "Now are you going to introduce me to your friend?"
Logan looked down at Ella like he had forgotten she was there. Ella grinned up at him and stood up.
"Storm, this is Ella, the girl responsible for dragging my sorry hide back to New York," Logan said.
"It's nice to meet you," Ella said, shaking Storm's hand.
"And you, and I can't tell you how grateful I am that you brought Logan here with you – it's a nightmare trying to run the school as understaffed as it is, without my remaining teachers running off!" Storm said with a kindly smile.
"It's no problem," Ella said with a grin.
Ella found that grinning still hurt her face, and flinched a little. It was only a small one, but Storm didn't miss it, and her attention was drawn to her face. She drew a sharp breath through gritted teeth at the sight of the wound.
"I know, it's horrible isn't it?" Ella said, raising a hand to her face, "I was hit round the face with a gun by a guy trying to steal my car, which is why I ended up travelling with Logan."
"That's dreadful!" Storm said.
"It's not so bad, I got my things back and made it to New York regardless," Ella said, "Though more than once I've wished I had his gift!" she added with a smile, nodding in Logan's direction.
Storm briefly met Logan's eyes to confirm that Ella knew about them being Mutants. Ella smiled as reassuringly as she could without grimacing. She wanted Storm to know she didn't have a problem with it without having to say so out loud. Declaring you didn't have a problem with Mutants in the middle of a public place could get you into serious trouble sometimes, despite them being generally more accepted recently.
Storm smiled with gratitude then carried on talking.
"Well, you are more than welcome to come and stay with us if you are thinking of spending a few days in New York," she said.
"That's an offer I don't think I can refuse," Ella said with a grin, "Provided you don't mind putting up with me for a couple more days." She added, looking back at Logan.
"I think I can tolerate you for that long," Logan grumbled, though the look in his eyes let Ella and Storm know he was only kidding.
"I think you can do better than tolerate," Ella said, pouting teasingly at Logan.
The door to the pub opened and shut again, causing Storm to look away, presumably to see if it was the other guy she had been having dinner with. Ella was too busy rolling her eyes at Logan to really notice.
"You get the car parked ok?" Storm asked.
"In the end," Warren replied, adjusting the coat that covered his wings, "You sure know how to pick a venue, Logan."
As he looked up at Logan his eyes crossed the form of the woman standing with him and his eyes widened with shock.
"Lainey?"
The lyrics in the break are from Sooner Or Later by Switchfoot
Next Chapter - A Chance of Happiness