Christian
New York City — October 2024
"You're smiling at your phone again."
Elle looked up immediately from the kitchen counter while Christian walked into the apartment carrying takeout bags.
"I do other things."
"Not lately."
Rude.
Accurate.
But rude.
Christian dropped onto the sofa watching her carefully while Elle tried and failed to hide the smile still sitting on her face after ending a FaceTime with Leah twenty minutes earlier.
"You're gone," he informed her calmly.
Elle laughed softly under her breath. "That feels dramatic."
"You flew to London for two weeks and came back emotionally married."
Fair.
Potentially very fair.
New York rain tapped softly against the apartment windows while evening traffic glowed below the loft.
And somehow everything here felt slightly unfamiliar now.
Not wrong.
Just different.
Because part of her still felt left behind in St. Albans beside Leah's piano and Arsenal hoodies and morning coffees before training.
Christian noticed immediately.
"Oh my God," he muttered. "You miss England."
"I miss one English person."
"Worse somehow."
Elle threw a cushion at him.
Christian caught it easily before leaning back against the sofa studying her properly now.
And softer—
"So."
Elle narrowed her eyes immediately.
"So?"
"This is serious serious, isn't it?"
The question settled quietly between them.
Because Christian knew about relationships before.
The short ones.
The casual almost-things.
The people Elle liked but never fully built her life around.
This was different.
Everyone could see it now.
Elle looked down briefly at the mug in her hands before smiling faintly to herself.
"Yeah," she admitted quietly. "It is."
Christian blinked once dramatically.
"Oh wow."
"What?"
"You admitted it without pretending to joke."
Rude.
Again.
But unfortunately true.
Elle moved toward the sofa then, curling one leg beneath herself while rain continued tapping softly against the windows.
Christian watched her carefully.
"So what is it about her?"
The answer came too quickly.
"Everything."
Silence.
Then Christian burst out laughing.
"You are DOWN bad."
Elle groaned immediately and hid her face behind the cushion.
"No, seriously," he continued. "I've never seen you like this."
Neither had she honestly.
That was the terrifying part.
Elle stared out toward the rain-streaked skyline for a second before speaking again.
"She makes me feel calm."
The softness in her voice changed the room immediately.
Because Christian knew her.
Knew the chaos she usually lived inside emotionally.
The constant movement. Work. Cameras. Noise. Always chasing the next thing.
But with Leah?
Everything slowed down.
"She's emotionally repressed in a very English way," Elle continued thoughtfully. "But when she loves someone..." She smiled faintly. "God."
Christian watched her carefully now.
"She really loves you?"
Elle laughed quietly under her breath.
"You should see the way she looks at me when she forgets people are around."
That sentence alone told him everything.
Because people didn't speak about temporary relationships like that.
Christian leaned back against the sofa.
"So what's the catch?"
Elle frowned slightly. "What do you mean?"
"She's famous. You're long distance. One of you lives in London and the other lives in New York. There has to be a catch."
There it was.
The question Elle kept quietly asking herself too.
But strangely—
for the first time—
panic didn't follow it.
Instead she just smiled softly into her tea.
"I think we're trying anyway."
Christian stared at her for a second.
Then suddenly laughed.
"Oh my God."
"What now?"
"You're in love love."
Elle opened her mouth automatically to deny it.
Then stopped.
Because honestly?
There wasn't any point anymore.
Instead she smiled helplessly.
And softer now—
"I've actually been thinking about London."
Christian blinked immediately.
"Like... visiting?"
Elle hesitated briefly.
"No. More than that."
Interesting.
Very interesting.
Christian sat up properly now.
"Elle."
She laughed quietly under her breath because hearing it out loud suddenly made it feel real.
"There's a few European campaigns starting in January," she admitted. "Milan. Paris. London."
"And?"
"And one of the agencies asked if I'd consider basing myself there for a couple months."
Silence.
Christian stared at her.
Then slowly—
"You're moving to London for Leah."
"No," Elle answered immediately. "Not for Leah."
He raised one eyebrow.
Elle sighed dramatically.
"Okay partially for Leah."
"There it is."
But then her expression softened slightly.
"I'd want my own place though."
That part mattered.
Not because she didn't want to stay with Leah.
Because she did.
Too easily probably.
But this—whatever this was becoming—needed real balance too.
Real life.
Not just sleepovers stretched across continents.
"I don't want to lose myself inside someone else's life," Elle admitted quietly.
Christian nodded immediately.
"That's actually healthy."
Shocking.
From them both honestly.
Elle smiled faintly to herself.
"I just..." She paused briefly. "I think I want to see what we're like without airports."
The words settled heavily between them.
Because that was the truth underneath everything.
They'd mastered distance.
Now maybe it was time to see if they could survive closeness too.
Christian watched her carefully for a long second.
Then grinned suddenly.
"You realise Leah's going to emotionally combust when you tell her this?"
And unfortunately?
He was probably completely right.