Part One
It had been a long, long day for the Soul Squad. They had only just dismissed their meeting and all but Chidi Anagonye and Eleanor Shellstrop had left. The blonde "Arizona Trashbag" (as she liked to call herself) was checking her Instagram feed as she struggled to keep a tight grip on her unzipped purse.
Chidi, her quote-on-quote "Good person teacher" was watching her with slight interest. His eyes slid down to her purse, which was slowly slipping out from under her arm, and he found himself debating whether he should help or not.
And deciding things were not his forte. As the bag sank lower to the ground, he made his move. He fast-walked over to Eleanor's side and caught the purse just in time. The bad part, however, was the objects falling out of it. Her wallet, extra cash, and all other personal items fell to his side. But when a large hardback book hit him in the face, he was surprised. His lenses cracked at the impact and he heard a loud snap of his nose. This caught Eleanor's attention instantly, and she gasped down at her teacher in horror when she saw his bruised and bloody nose.
"What the hell?" The blonde asked, helping him up and completely ignoring her possessions that were sprawled all over the ground. She wiped his nose away with her finger and handed him a tissue, telling him to pinch his nose (lightly, since it was obviously broken) and lift his head upward. He did so, watching the woman out of the corner of his eye as she called an ambulance. Eleanor let out a heavy sigh of relief, nodding in understanding before hanging up the phone. She looked up at her teacher and rolled her eyes, "You idiot." The blonde scolded, "You're a fucking idiot."
He lowered his head to look the blonde in the eye, but she just glared at him and ordered Chidi to keep his head upward.
It was impressive how one person could be both frightening and concerned at the same time.
She didn't ask what had happened and gathered up her things instead. Then, much to his surprise, she grabbed his hand and walked him outside. His neck was beginning to hurt for holding it up so long, and he wondered if maybe he should ask Eleanor whether or not he could let go and give his neck a rest. Eyes flickering down to her, he saw a look of certain determination on her face. Her blue eyes flickered up to meet his, and Chidi thought he saw her cheeks gain a bit of redness.
Her phone rang, and she clicked answer without letting go of his hand. Lowering his head for a bit, he smiled when he saw her roll her eyes, making him laugh. He knew exactly who she was talking to.
"Hey, Skyscraper." The girl greeted, "What's up?" The blonde nodded in all the right places, aware that Tahani Al-Jamil (Eleanor's best friend) could not see her. Chidi admired how close the two girls had gotten over the years. The girl beside him had gotten so much better at listening to people, no matter how much she hated what the subject was.
"Me? Well, I'm with Professor Stomachache over here. I'm pretty sure he busted his nose, so I had to call an ambulance. No big."
The girl bit her lip as she listened to Tahani's worried rambles, doing her best to reassure her friend that everything was fine. Chidi was going to be alright… "Because who cares if his nose is a dangerous shade of purple?" The girl shrugged, "N-No, Tahan- you don't need to come over here!" She shouted, getting the attention of everyone around her, "...Oh no! The ambulance is here, w-what's that? Shit, I am getting such bad reception in here. Y-Yeah, talk to you later. Bye, babe!" The blonde hung up her phone and rolled her eyes.
He hadn't heard Eleanor use the bad reception excuse in months. She dragged him along a little quicker and helped him into the ambulance.
Putting one foot forward, she started to climb into the ambulance but one of the nurses (a man) held a hand up to stop her, "I'm sorry Ma'am, but only family members can ride with him."
A pout appeared on her face, "Well...I'm his wife." She lied, earning a shocked look from Chidi.
Wife?
The nurse's eyes flickered down to her hand, "I don't see a ring there, Ma'am."
"Yeah? Well, that's because I... lost it." She lied once more, "I'm Eleanor Shellstrop-Anagonye, I promise." Tears came to her eyes, "...Please...I need to be with him."
"I'm not fallin' for it, miss. He's got a busted nose, it's not that big a deal."
"And how is that supposed to make me feel better? Knowing my husband is in there alone and scared? Please, sir. I love him." She looked around the nurse's shoulder, meeting the eyes of a shocked Chidi.
Love? This was one act Eleanor was selling.
"Do you want your 'husband' to feel better?"
"Of course!" The blonde shouted. What kind of question was that? Wasn't it obvious?
"Then I'd suggest you meet him at the hospital, miss Shellstrop." With that, he slammed the doors shut in her far.
The girl sucked in a deep breath and blew it out. Quickly, she called Tahani and told her to meet her at the hospital.
The blonde climbed into her rusty pickup truck and tailed the hospital, a determined look in her eye. She made it in a short amount of time. Once she was inside, the girl ignored Tahani (who had somehow gotten there before her) and stomped right over to the front desk.
"I'm here to see Chidi Anagonye." She announced, getting the attention of the front desk lady.
"Good afternoon to you, as well."
"Shut up. Where is he?"
"Are you a family member?"
"Ugh! Why does everyone keep asking me that? I'm his damn wife, you annoying bitch! Now tell me where he is, or I will shove your shaggy ass off that chair and search his name up myself."
Tahani neared the girl, her emotions lying somewhere between scared and worried. She hated seeing her best friend like this. In fact, everyone did.
"Miss... I'm afraid that's against protocol. You'll have to make an appointment if you want to visit your friend."
"Dammit! Listen, you...I don't give one flying fu—"
"Eleanor!" Tahani interrupted, grabbing hold of the blonde's wrist and tugging her backward. The girl put up a great fight, doing her best to escape Tahani's surprisingly strong grasp. The brunette grabbed hold of Eleanor's other hand and dragged her into a seat. She looked to the side and pulled the nervous girl close, "Everything'll be alright, darling." She reassured, "He'll be fine."
She nodded quietly, shifting positions to where she was laying her head on the socialite's shoulder.
Eleanor refused to leave the hospital until she was given permission to visit him. So finally, when the nurse emerged from around the corner, Eleanor and Tahani stood up in anticipation.
"Miss Shellstrop-Anagonye?" He questioned, still skeptical of the girl, "Follow me."
The blonde practically lept out of her seat, trying to maintain herself as she followed the nurse to Chidi's room. He motioned to the door and Eleanor turned the knob, running into the room and wrapping her friend in a tight bear hug. He laughed and hugged her right back, "Someone was worried." He teased.
"Very demanding, too." The nurse grumbled, "Mr. Anagonye your wife certainly is...something."
Scooting closer to her friend, the blonde bared her teeth at the nurse. She let out a threatening growl, "Thanks for the compliment, douche bag. Now do me a favor and get the Hell out?"
He shook his head in disbelief, "I don't know how you handle her." He took one last look at the 'couple' before shutting the door behind him.
"That was some impressive lying you did today." He complimented, "When you said you loved me...I almost believed it."
"Here's the thing though, bud." She said, "That part...wasn't a total lie."
Chidi's mouth hung agape, "I don't...I don't understa-what?"
The blonde closed her eyes and blew out a long breath of air, "Chidi Anagonye, I'm in love with you."
He stared at her in shock. His mouth was moving but no words came out. The blonde's eyes softened as she searched his face for some kind of answer.
"Well?" Eleanor pushed, "Say something!"
"I-I…" He closed his mouth, not able to think of a way to respond. She waited a few more moments, but when it became clear that she wasn't getting an answer out of him, she gave up.
"You know what? Forget it." She said, turning around to leave. Chidi immediately felt guilty, what was he supposed to do now?
"Eleanor, listen…" He began, getting the attention of the girl. As much as she was trying to hide them, he could see the tears welling in her eyes. The philosopher opened his mouth once more, but no words came out. It just hung open there, catching flies.
"Just what I thought." The blonde shook her head and ran out the door, doing her best to hide her tears (but the loud wailing didn't help).
She ran into the waiting room and into Tahani's arms. The brunette was extremely surprised, as she had never seen Eleanor so vulnerable.
"Darling, what's wrong?" The aristocrat asked, hugging her best friend tight. The girl didn't answer and, instead, held her friend tighter. An audience had gathered in the waiting room, though the nurses didn't seem to care. A lot of people cried in hospitals.
"Let's go, hot stuff." The blonde ordered, grabbing her friend's hand and leading her towards the automatic doors, "I'll fill you in in the car."
The brunette nodded and said nothing more.
Whatever had happened in there, Tahani would do her best to fix it. Because she knew Eleanor better than anybody, she wanted to believe.
They climbed into the brunette's personal limo, because she refused to let her best friend drive her own car in such an emotional state.
` "We can't just leave it here, though." The blonde pointed out, slouching in her seat. The aristocrat turned around and pointed to a well-dressed man climbing into her car, "He'll be taking it back to your apartment, no worries."
The blonde nodded, though still not all that reassured. What if the man stole her car? Would she just have to steal rides from Tahani whenever she needed to go somewhere?
They stayed silent through the whole ride. The brunette stared out the window, lost in her own thoughts. She adored talking, but she also knew that there were certain times in life where you just had to...be.
She felt a hand grab her own, and smiled down at her best friend, who had started crying again. Come to think of it, Eleanor hadn't told her what the issue was just as she had promised earlier.
"Oh, darling." Tahani soothed, handing the girl a tissue, "This is preposterous." The brunette shook her head, "You must tell me what's wrong."
The blonde nodded, "I told Chidi I was in love with him."
"Oh!" She said, taken aback, "Did he say something offensive to you? Did he not return your feelings?"
"That's the thing, he didn't say anything." The blonde said, "You've heard of the saying if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say at all?"
"Of course."
"Well...I wish he had said something. Rude or not, I just wanted to hear him say something." She explained, "And when he didn't…" She sniffed, her eyes red any puffy from all the crying. She gulped down some more tears and shook her head, "Oh, well look at me. I'm getting lame tears all over your seats, babe."
Now, on any normal circumstances Tahani would be furious at the thought of her leather seats being ruined. But over the last few months, she had realized that there was more to life than money, clothes, or fancy limos.
Her eyebrows lowered, and she let out a long, un-ladylike growl. The blonde leaned back in surprise, "Hey, man I said I was sorry."
"No, no, darling. Not you." The brunette reassured, "That monster Chidi...he is going to pay for hurting you."
"I mean, I'll be fine." She reassured, rubbing away a tear, "You don't have to make it a big deal."
"Yes, I really must Eleanor, my dear, sweet, bestie. I will fix this, and you shall be ship-shape in no time."
"Tahani, you don't have to—"
"No. It's settled. You're my best friend, Eleanor. I can't just stand seeing you like this."
"Fine, do whatever you want babe. I'm fine, I'll be fine."
The brunette shook her head at her friend's stubbornness. As much as the blonde tried to deny her hurt feelings, she could feel the girl' shaking hand that still had a firm grasp on her own.
The car stopped right in front of Eleanor's apartment, and the two hugged goodbye. The brunette held on tightly to her friend, wishing her farewell did she notice the mascara stain on the strap of her dress.
"Goodness me." She breathed, upset that she hadn't noticed before. She'd have to throw this dress out by morning.
But worrying about dresses would have to wait.
She had to go see Chidi.