Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
The ages in this chapter are the same as the ages in chapter 43: Scott is 28, Abby is 24, Ellie is 21, and Evan is 19.
Ellie lifted her head from her pillow and peered over at the clock on her nightstand. It was only eleven o'clock in the morning, but both she and Sophie needed to be up and ready by two o'clock for a dress fitting. Ellie wouldn't feel like a functioning human for at least another hour—and that was only after she had two cups of coffee, so she figured she might as well get up now.
Reaching over, Ellie yanked Sophie's pillow out from under her head. In return, Sophie stuck her middle finger in Ellie's face and grunted something that sounded suspiciously like, "bitch." Ellie laughed and yanked the covers off of the bed. Some people might have thought that since they were in their early twenties, they would be too old to have sleepovers. But they were best friends, practically sisters, really.
"Come on," Ellie said. She hit Sophie's back with the pillow. "We have to be ready before Abby gets here and starts raising holy hell." She loved her older sister dearly, but Abby was turning into a little bit of a bridezilla.
Sophie's blonde hair looked perfect as always, despite the fact that she had just woke up. She lifted her face from the mattress and narrowed her eyes into a dark glare. "I might kill your sister, you know," she stated. "I love her and all, but she's been driving me absolutely insane."
Ellie groaned and flopped back onto the bed. "If she's driving you insane, then I'm probably ready to be committed."
"That's right," Sophie said with a smirk. "You're the maid of honor and I do not envy you at all."
Ellie glared at her so-called best friend and climbed out of bed again. "Come on, let's go. We should at least get something to eat before Abby gets here."
Sophie jumped up out of bed at the mention of food and stole Ellie's sweater off of her desk chair. "See you downstairs, Elle!" she shouted.
Ellie laughed and shook her head before she made her way into her bathroom to brush her teeth. She knotted her thick, wavy hair on top of her head and briefly considered getting another sweatshirt since Sophie stole hers. Ellie decided it against it a few seconds later and then headed downstairs.
Naturally, Evan and Todd were creating some kind of mayhem downstairs. Evan blew past her, waving some part of one of his instruments. Ellie, in her haste to get out of her brother's way, ended up tripping on the living room carpet, where she went careening right into Nathan O'Neill.
Ellie squealed and attempted to right herself by holding onto Nathan's forearms, but she ended up mostly plastered against his chest anyway. Ellie couldn't believe how ridiculously clumsy she was. Furthermore, she couldn't believe that she was this clumsy in front of Nathan O'Neill, of all people.
"Oh my god. Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god," Ellie chanted. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry."
Nathan chuckled and helped to steady Ellie. "It's alright, Ellie. And how are you, by the way?"
"Right! Hello! I'm good. How are you?" Ellie's cheeks turned bright red and she looked down at her feet. She suddenly became aware of the fact that she was only wearing a tiny pair of shorts and a tank top, and she cursed Abby for stealing her sweatshirt.
"I'm fine. Are you okay?"
"Yes. Oh my god, I can't believe I just tripped like that." Ellie peered around Nathan, her eyes narrowing dangerously. "Where's Evan? I'm going to kill him!"
When Nathan had caught Ellie, he had steadied her by wrapping his large hands around her waist. He squeezed one of his hands lightly, causing butterflies to swoop through Ellie's stomach. He chuckled again and opened his mouth to speak, but they were interrupted by Scott coming into the room.
"Okay, my mom says that brunch will be ready in ten minutes—why are you holding on to my sister?"
Ellie and Nathan immediately let go of one another, and Ellie wondered why it was always Scott that caught her in these situations. He was currently giving Nathan a very suspicious look, which was the last thing Ellie wanted for either of them. They were partners at work, after all.
"I tripped," Ellie said by way of explanation, and she hoped that her cheeks weren't as red as they were about two minutes ago. "And Nathan was nice enough to catch me before I ended up on my face. You know, Evan and Todd were chasing each other around the house despite the fact that they're no longer children."
Scott rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I saw early. Apparently something happened to his saxophone. We'll just let Dad worry about that one. By the way, Mom made brunch and wanted to let you guys sit down and eat before Abby came over."
"Thank God," Ellie muttered. God only knew if they would be able to eat after Abby the bridezilla showed up and started making demands.
"Sophie already started in on the hash browns, so you might want to get in there before she finishes them all," Scott added.
"I heard that, Hudson!" Sophie shouted from the kitchen. "You suck!"
Scott gestured both Nathan and Ellie towards the kitchen. "Well, let's go. And Ellie, can you please put a sweater on? Jeez, you need some footy pajamas or something."
"Scott, I'm twenty-one years old! I don't need footy pajamas!" Ellie objected. She peered up at Nathan, just in case he got the wrong idea and believed that she actually did wear footy pajamas. But he looked pretty amused by the whole situation, so Ellie let out a quiet sigh of relief.
And when they went into the kitchen, she felt Nathan's hand brush lightly against her lower back, and her stomach swooped again.
You'll be seeing more of the Hudson children soon!