Chapter 16: Purple Rain

Ellie's POV
The next morning, I was still pissed off about what Ashley had said.
She was supposed to be one of my good friends. Where did she come off
saying all that shit to me? I hurriedly twisted my hair into two pigtails
as Dolce and Gabbana played at my feet. As I tied a ponytail around one
pigtail, I noticed the two new scars I had put on my arm. Shit. I had
forgotten all about them. I searched around for a pair of arm warmers. I
decided on a purple pair. If I was going to wear that dress to homecoming,
I'd have to find another canvas besides my arms. If anyone saw them they'd
lock me up for sure. I don't know... Maybe I'd just find some long silk
gloves and cut the hands of them off. Then I wouldn't have to worry about
anything.
The phone started to ring and I quickly picked it up. "Hello?"
"Hey pumpkin!"
"Dad! What's up?"
"Just wanted to say good morning. I can't really talk long at all.
But I didn't want you to worry or anything."
"Oh okay. You're still coming home this weekend, right?"
"Yep. I'll be home Saturday morning. I should be in around 7:30.
Listen, did your mom take her cell phone with her?"
I put a hand to my throat and gulped. Okay. I could tell him now. But
maybe it'd be easiest if I told him when he got home. "No. She went crazy
and like canceled her phone. Something about losing minutes or... something?
She didn't want to be disturbed so she didn't even give me a way to reach
her."
"Yeah. That sounds like your mom. Okay, sweetie. I have to go. Love
you."
"Love you, too." A lot. I hung up the phone and played with the hem
of my t-shirt. As soon as I was ready to get up from my bed, though, the
phone rang again.
"Is Ellie there?"
"Um. This is she." Why did this voice sound so familiar?
"Hey, it's Craig." Oh. That's why.
"Uh. Hey. What's up?"
He sighed and then blurted out, "I'm really sorry. You have no idea.
I wanted to apologize for what I did."
I lifted my eyebrows even though he couldn't even see me. "Okay.
Apology accepted." Hey, I was a forgiving person.
"It'll never happen again. But I wanted to know if you were still on
for today?"
Today? I racked my brain for any plans I had made for today? Ummmm...
Oh yeah. We were supposed to take the rest of the pictures today if the
other ones turned out decent. "How did the pictures turn out?"
"They're... well... wow. I don't even really know what to say. You have
to see them."
"Okay. Yeah, I'm up for it." Not like I had anything better to do
today unless I wanted to watch Sean mess around with Simpson's car. On
second thought... Sean... shirtless... using tools... with Emma around. My stomach
twisted, but I told myself that Emma had another boyfriend and Sean had me.
He'd never fool around with Emma.
"Cool. I can pick you up. Joey's letting me use his car while he's
working."
"Whatever. Do you know where I live?" I wasn't even bothering to hide
it anymore. I didn't even care. Plus, I was sure Marco had already told
everyone I lived in a mansion and my dad was a celebrity in the business
world.
"No. Can you tell me?"
"137 Devaraux Crest. You'll go past the shopping center, past the
mall..."
"On 229?"
"Yeah. Just follow that out west until you see Bienvenue Boulevard.
You'll take a right there. Take the first left and my house is behind the
gate to the right."
"Gate to the right... Okay. I got that. I'll see you in like an hour?"
"Fine. Bye." I laid back on my pillows. Great... I should have just
told him to forget it.
Two hours later Craig rang my doorbell. I watched him out of my
window as he shifted his weight to one foot, then to the other, over and
over again. He ran a hand throw his curly hair and then tried knocking. I
decided I'd go down now.
"Hey. You're late."
Craig nodded, "Yeah. It took longer than I expected to get here. Do
you really walk to school everyday?"
"Yeah... It's not so bad. You get used to it. Let me see the pictures."
"They're in the car," He opened the door for me and I slid into the
front seat. Yeah, this car wasn't too shabby. I could get used to something
like this. If I had my license that was.
Craig crawled into the driver's seat and grabbed a manila envelope on
the dashboard. "Here. They're really good."
I braced myself for the worst and pulled out the stack of pictures.
Craig was right. They were good. He was a pretty good photographer. I
scrutinized the pictures looking for something wrong with my appearance.
There was something about them... Oh yeah. Where the sleeves were rolled up,
you could see where I had cut myself. "These can get airbrushed, right?"
Craig stopped at the stop sign and looked at me, "You mean where you
cut yourself?"
I gave him an incredulous look and threw the pictures back in the
envelope. How did he know? There was no way he could have known unless
Paige decided to tell some other people. Sean wouldn't have told him. Marco
couldn't have. He would never do that to me.
"It's no fucking secret, Ellie. I'm pretty sure everyone in school
knows by now."
"Huh. Okay..."
"Don't get all embarrassed. If you're going to do it, don't be
embarrassed by it. It's your body. If you want to mess up your life by
doing that, go ahead."
"Who said I was messing up my life? You don't know anything, Craig."
"You're right, I don't. But I can tell a lot by those pictures."
"Okay, Sigmund Freud. How about we just drop this conversation before
I start to get really pissed?"
"Fine. I'm sorry. I shouldn't be doing this. I'm just a little
nervous around you, that's all."
I balked. Craig nervous around me? "Um, why?"
"Because of what happened. I feel like an idiot. Okay, here we are."
I couldn't disagree with him. He had been an idiot. But so had I. So
I gave him a small smile before following him back into the studio. Here we
go again.
"So we're doing the whole line today. We're going to start out with
the fall wardrobe and then end with the summer."
It didn't really matter to me. I let the assistants or whatever you
wanted to call them do whatever the hell they wanted with me. Hours later,
we were finally finished except for the last outfit.
Tasha let out a yawn and walked over to the clothes rack. "Okay, now
we just have the bikini and then we are finally, finally, finally through!"
She pulled a skimpy little number off the rack and handed it to me.
I looked at the bikini. Was this for real? Did Craig really think he
could pull this one off? I dropped the bikini on the vanity and started to
walk away. No way was I letting that creep take pictures of me wearing
basically nothing-
"Um, Ellie, dear? Where do you think you're going?"
"I'm not wearing that. No way."
"You have to. I'm sorry, hon. I know it's a little risqué but the
designer needs the pictures of it."
"Well, find someone else. I'm not doing it."
I started to grab my things and head out, but Tasha stopped me.
"You're going to walk out just because we need a picture or two of you in a
bikini? What grade are you in- second?"
I couldn't believe she had said that to me. I hated it when people
acted like I was some little kid. But the hell did I want hundreds of
people – not to mention, all my classmates- looking at pictures of me in a
little bikini? I didn't even have a body for a bikini. I'd look like a
little boy playing dress up. I clenched my jaw and took one more look at
the stupid piece of fabric. Fine. I'd do it. But only because I'd feel like
a total witch if I walked out on Craig now. "Fine..."
I grabbed the bikini and went into the dressing room. Maybe the
designer wouldn't even like the pictures with the bikini. He or she would
take one look at them and laugh because I couldn't even fill out the top.
What the hell? I couldn't even figure out the damn top. Where did all these
strings go?
"Ellie? Do you need help?" Tasha called from the other side of the
curtain.
"Uh..... yeeeah..." I was hopeless.
She came in and, without a hitch, tied all the strings together. Oh.
So that's how you did it. It was a pretty cute bikini. I liked the little
belt on the bottoms.
"Oh! You look so precious!" Tasha clapped her hands together, earning
an eye-rolling from me, and pushed me out. "I'm thinking big, huge curls in
your hair! Just something very soft and beachy."
Whatever she wanted to do was fine with me. I just wanted to get out
of there. I checked the clock on the wall and groaned. When it was time for
me to go out in front of Craig, I made sure to cross my arms and try and
hide as much skin as possible. I didn't want that little peeping tom
looking at me.
I must say, though, that Craig was very professional. He didn't make
any comments or remarks on my appearance or anything. I appreciated that,
especially since I felt like a total moron. After awhile we were starting
to joke around and get pretty crazy with the pictures.
"How about a nice Baywatch picture now? I can run in slow mo like
this and you can capture the moment," I started to do a slow-motion run
with a very dramatic look on my face. "All I need now is David Hasslehoff!"
Craig snapped a few pictures despite the fact that his arms were
shaking from laughing. I'm sure those would turn out great. "Okay, I think
we're finished. Thanks, Ellie."
I stopped goofing off, "No problem, Craig. Hope they turn out well."
"I'm sure they will. You need a ride home, right?"
"Yeah," I called back as I headed into the dressing room.
Craig dropped me off in front of my house and I was ready to get out when I
stopped. "Hey, Craig?"
"Yeah?"
"What are you doing tonight?"
Craig froze from putting his camera away back in his case. I'm sure
he thought I was hitting on him from the look on his face, but I was just
trying to be friendly. "Um. Nothing."
"Sean's having a party. It's kind of on the down low, but you should
definitely come. Anytime after 9:00."
Craig let a slow smile cross his face. "I'll be there."

Sean's POV

I filled up my cup from one of the kegs and looked around my house
with a satisfied smile. It looked like everyone was having a great time.
Everyone was chill, no one was going to get alcohol poisoning and totally
ruin my night like my last party. I glanced at my clock. And it had been
going on for just over two hours. This was a record.
I looked across the room at Ellie. She was ridiculously drunk. I
squinted my eyes- who was she talking to exactly? My shoulders tensed- if
it was another guy... She moved a little out of the way and I laughed. She
was having a conversation with a lamp. Um... yeah... I headed on over to save
her.
"And so then, I said-"She waved her hands all over the place,
causing her beer to spill on the carpet.
I grabbed her arms and held them to her side. "Ellie? Who are you
talking to?"
She looked around a bit confused. "Um. I forget his name... No one you
know."
I chuckled and kissed her on the cheek before she stumbled over to a
group of people playing drinking games. I turned my attention to the front
door as it opened and another group of people came in. Wait a second... what
were they doing here?
I gave a half-ass wave to Craig, Ashley, Marco, Dylan, Paige,
Spinner, Jimmy, and Hazel. Did I invite them? I didn't remember. But I was
sort of buzzing right now so maybe I had. I walked over and greeted them.
"What's up, guys?" I punched fists with the guys and gestured to the kegs
with my head. "The beers over there. Other stuff is over on the kitchen
counter. You guys staying or what?"
They looked between themselves and shrugged. Craig came forward, "I
don't know. Ellie invited us. Well, me. So I figured you guys wouldn't mind
if we all came. She said it was sort of down low though. This doesn't look
down low."
I glanced around and finally noticed how many people were in my
house. Maybe I should turn the music down a bit. Nah, it was a party. No
cops would bust it. No cops bothered coming out this far in the slums. They
wouldn't be caught dead here. I turned my attention back to the group.
"Well, you know how word gets around. I'll tell Ellie you're here."
I started my way over to Ellie, who was busy taking even more shots.
Maybe I should stop her... nah, it was a party. She could handle herself.
Maybe it'd make things more interesting between us tonight. She tipped back
a shot glass and reached for a lemon before noticing me standing next to
her. "Hey pookie!" She chirped. Yeah, she was well on her way to being
completely smashed.
"Some friends of yours are here," I whispered into her ear and
pointed towards the door. She followed my finger and screamed.
"Wow! I didn't think he'd come! Friends!" She ran over to them, but not
without tripping over a rug and falling flat on her face. She scrambled up
quickly and tried to play it cool, but I was already on my knees laughing.
She put her arms around Marco and Spinner's shoulders, "Whassup you guys?"
She slurred.
Spinner looked at her hand and her drunken smile, "Um. Not much,
party girl."
"Party girl! Ha! I like that. Come on you guys. Let's get
belligerent!"
Marco patted her hand, "I think you're getting enough belligerent for
the rest of us. Anybody want some water?"
Loser. I caught Ashley staring at me with her mouth wide open.
"What?" I challenged her.
"Craig, I can't believe you brought me here after you know what
happened to me before."
What the hell was she talking about? Oh yeah, the whole ecstasy
thing. I shuddered at the memories of me actually fooling around with her.
How could I have been so dumb? Although Ellie was being pretty much
friendly with everyone around her, I noticed she was still glaring at
Ashley. I wonder what had gone down between them. Maybe I'd ask her later,
if I could even remember that I cared.
Ellie grabbed my arm, "Come on Sean. I absolutely love this song!"
She pulled me towards the living room where a huge group of people was
dancing. We squeezed our way into the throng of people and started to move
to the beat. Besides the fact that Ellie was tripping over her feet. I
grabbed onto her waist and held her closer so she wouldn't fall over. In
return, she threw her arms around my shoulders and completely put all of
her weight on me. This wasn't really comfortable. At all.
It wasn't until 3:00 AM that my party started to die down a bit. By
then, Jay and his crew were packing up their stuff and heading out. After
looking extremely uncomfortable at my party, Ashley and them had left
around midnight. I didn't care. Her and Ellie kept throwing each other
pissed off looks anyway. So it was three, the house was completely quiet,
and Ellie and I were dancing. Or what probably just looked like me holding
her up while she tipped her head back and squealed every now and then.
Right now her legs were wrapped around my waist and she was
completely leaning back with her arms stretched out. For some reason she
kept talking about how pretty the stars looked even though we were inside.
But I went along with it. Hell, I was even starting to see a few stars
after she wouldn't stop talking about it. She managed to pull herself back
up to me and leaned her forehead against mine. Something that always made
my heart jump and my legs want to go weak.
I don't know. There was just something about her touching her
forehead to mine that did something to me. Sometimes, we'd be kissing and
really into it, and she'd just break apart from me, lean her forehead to
mine and just look in my eyes. Then after a few minutes she'd start kissing
me again. This may sound totally lame, but sometimes just the thought of
her doing that was all that kept me going through the day.
"Sean?"
"Hmm?"
"What are you thinking?" She played with the neck of my shirt.
I lifted the corner of my mouth as she stared into my eyes. "How
pretty you are."
"Oh," She laid her head down on my shoulder. A few minutes later she
popped it back up. "Sean?"
"Hmm?"
"Do you think I'm pretty?"
I blinked, "I think you're gorgeous."
"Oh... Sean?"
"Yeah?"
"Let's go to bed."
"Okay."
Later that night-er-morning, after we had... yeah... she was sleeping
peacefully as I rubbed her smooth back. I looked at her face smushed up
against the pillow and decided that that was the sexiest pillow face I'd
ever seen. We had talked for a bit more as we waited for her to fall
asleep. She didn't say anything really coherent. I just humored her and
went along with everything she said.
Just watching her chatter on and on, even while we were in the middle
of having sex, about absolutely nothing, I knew I could listen to her
forever. This was scary because I've never felt like this before. I've
never looked at a girl and wondered what the hell I'd do without her.
That's how I feel around Ellie. I can't imagine where I'd be right now if
it weren't for her. I'd be in Alberta, working some shitty job because I
dropped out of school. Never having a happy life because I could never get
a decent job. I'd be ruined.
I've never believed in a higher being. Never in all my life did I
think there was some... thing... up there, looking out for us or whatever. I
thought it was every man for himself. But when I look at Ellie, I start to
think that maybe there is someone out there looking out for me. Because I
know I don't deserve a girl like her. I don't deserve anything as perfect
as she is. I hooked my right arm behind my head and lifted my other hand to
her cheek. I almost want to kill myself at how dorky this sounds, but every
fucking day I thank God that I have her in my life.

Ellie's POV

I took another sip of my coffee and listened for the sounds of Sean
getting up. Nope. He was still asleep. Damn, that boy could sleep. I stole
a glance at the clock and saw that it was already noon. Today I was
supposed to transport toys from a toy drive to the local orphanage by 3:00.
I was hoping Sean would help me. I got up too quickly and grabbed my head.
Ow. That killed. Someone had one too many shots last night.
I tiptoed into his room and covered my mouth before I could laugh at
how funny he looked all passed out on the bed. Well... as they say... desperate
times call for desperate measures. I took a running start and threw myself
on top of him.
"Ow!" Sean thrashed his arms and legs around trying to knock me off
of him. His eyes were slits as he moaned in pain.
"Sowwy!" I cooed in baby talk. I adjusted myself so I was straddling
him. "Pookie, I need your help today."
"Don't even call me 'pookie' after you were just that cruel."
I flopped herself down on top of me and kissed my nose. "Well,
anyone, you're going to help me take some boxes down to the orphanage."
That got Sean's attention. He opened his eyes back up wide. "I'm
what?"
"Well, there was this toy drive I started at my dad's companies for
the orphanage downtown," I started to explain. "And it's over with, so I
have to take all the boxes down there by three. And I need your help."
"Or not..." Sean rolled over causing me to fall off of him.
I slapped the back of his head. "Sean!"
He opened one eye and sighed. "Fine... I said fine!"
I kissed him again, "Thanks. I'm going to go home now and get ready.
Drink some coffee. I'll pick you up at quarter till."
"Pick me up?"
"One of the company drivers is driving me. So be ready, okay?"
Sean nodded and I squeezed his shoulder affectionately. I could
convince him to do anything.
At three, Sean and I trudged into the orphanage loaded down with
boxes. When I had started the drive, I had expected maybe one or two. But
each company had had about three or four boxes each! I would label this
fundraiser a huge success. It was going to feel really good to tell
Cynthia, the head of the orphanage, about the outcome.
I caught sight of Cynthia walking to her office and called out her
name. She looked at me and instantly grabbed a box that was about to fall
out of my hands. "Thanks! I guess I shouldn't have tried to carry two at
the same time."
"I tried telling her..." Sean piped in. I scowled at him.
"Oh, Ellie. This is wonderful!" Cynthia had opened one of the boxes
to look inside. "The kids are going to love this!"
I put down my box and kneeled next to her. "I know! You won't believe
the support I received for this. We have eleven boxes total. Two of them
are full of books, which I thought was great. A lot of the books are
falling apart here."
"I know. I've always wanted to replace them, but funding isn't... well...
enough. Oh, and coloring books!" She picked out a brand new coloring book
and flipped through it. "The kids were just asking me when we'd get new
ones."
"Well. There's a box full of those too. Listen, Sean and I will go
get the rest of the boxes and we can take them in."
"I'll have Matt and Sarah help you," she said referring to two other
employees.
Sean and I started back to the van we had come here in. Sean grabbed
my hand even though it was a short walk. My cheeks started to flush and I
smiled at him. "So, do you come here a lot?" He asked me.
"Well. As much as I can. I usually come on Sundays or something when
I have more time. I try and come once a week to read with the kids. Some of
them are just learning to read, so the practice is good for them."
"It'd make me too sad to be here all the time."
"It is sad," I struggled to lift a box of board games and Sean helped
me out. "But they don't have anyone else." I didn't tell him that I kind of
knew what they were going through. I hadn't had much parental supervision
when I was growing up. My parents were both always so busy. I guess you
could say I grew up way too fast- learning to do laundry and cook before I
was nine, always working so hard, having sex and partying before getting
out of junior high... I just wanted the kids at the orphanage to have someone
they could grow up with.
"You're really something, Miss Nash. You know that?"
I blushed. "Wait till you see the kids, Sean. They're adorable. Oh,
and there are three babies. I mean, babies. They're so tiny! I love playing
with them and-"

Sean's POV

"-playing with them and watching them sleep..." I listened to Ellie
babble on about the little babies at the orphanage.
She was utterly amazing. I couldn't stop thinking that as we unloaded
the rest of the boxes and started to take them into the actual room where
the kids played. As soon as she walked in, the kids swarmed to her,
practically knocking her over.
"Ellie! Will you read to us!"
"Will you play dress-up with me?"
"Let's color!"
They all were trying to pull her in different directions, tugging on
her skirt and wrapping themselves around her legs. Ellie nodded and told
them she'd play with them in a second.
"Who are you?" I looked down and saw a little African-American boy
looking at me with an accusatory look.
"I'm Ellie's friend."
"Well... I'm her boyfriend, so back off!" He stuck his tongue out at me
and ran off, hiding behind a dollhouse.
Ellie gave me a surprised look and we laughed together. She grabbed
my hand, "You better watch out for Trey. He's real protective..."
"Yeah. I can tell," I took a box full of books and drug it over to
the near empty bookshelf and started to shelve them. Trey came running back
up to me. He must have been like six or seven years old.
"Why were you holding her hand?"
I shrugged and kept my attention on the books, "Um. Because I'm her
boyfriend."
"Fool! I'll pop a cap in yo' ass!" Trey shrieked and ran off again.
Oh god... Ellie came and started to help me, tucking her skirt
underneath her. "What?" She asked when she noticed the look on my face.
"You're little boyfriend told me he was going to pop a cap in my
ass." Ellie fell over laughing and I kept shelving books.
"Oh Lord! You better lock your doors at night." She pinched my cheek
roughly and averted her attention to the little girl who had came up to her
other side. "Hey Gracie!"
The little girl's blonde curls bounced as she rocked back and forth
on her heels, "Ellie, will you play tea party with us?"
Ellie turned to me and opened her mouth, but I cut her off. "Go
ahead. I'm fine."
"Thanks Sean!" She gave me a grateful look and ran over to the little
set of table and chairs set up in the corner of the room. Five other little
girls were already sitting there and she joined them, grabbing a cup for
herself.
As I was shelving books, I kept finding myself paying more attention
to her and how she was interacting with the little girls. They all held
their pinkies up in the air as they took sips of their "tea" and talk with
British accents. She was so at ease with them. And when Cynthia brought
over one of the babies for Ellie to hold, the baby immediately stopped
crying and started to suck on one of her braids.
So this is what it would be like if we had kids. Woah... What. The. Fuck. Did
I really just think that? I narrowed my eyebrows and looked down at the
book in my hands. It was shaking because I was shaking. I can't believe I
just thought that. But was it so odd for me to wonder what it would be
like? Did I ever think that when I was with Emma or Amy? I tried to think
of a time, something to help convince myself that it wasn't odd, but I knew
deep down that I had never thought of Emma or Amy in that way. I had never
looked at either one of them and wondered what it would be like if we were
married, had kids, and a dog. That meant that I lo- no... I liked Ellie. That
was it. A very strong like. Nothing more. Hopefully I'd be able to convince
myself that before I blurted out something I shouldn't.

Revelations! It didn't seem like too much happened in this chapter, but the last revelation is pretty dern important. I have a mild obsession with elipses, so excuse that. They just keep coming out. I'm not a big fan of going back through the whole chapter and picking out which words I meant to italicize or anything, so sorry for that, too. Let's see... yeah, some of the stuff Ellie did while drunk is based on real life experiences. But Ellie seemed like a kind of girl who'd help out some poor kids at an orphanage. And it kind of will play a very important part in the story later on. You'll just have to wait and see! harhar. And well... look for Ellie's dad to finally come home in the next chapter. Yay! Thanks for reading and appreciate the awesome awesome reviews.