Twenty-Six
Annabeth
Ella and I drag ourselves home somewhere past midnight.
She had a huge function happening there, and since I started living out of a suitcase at Dallas’s, we’ve hardly seen each other.
So, I swung by after work to lend my infamous cocktail making skills to my best friend.
Honestly, it felt so good to be back behind the bar with her.
I barely make it out of the shower before I’m curled up in bed with my fluffy blanket, bed socks on, and my favourite pyjamas, just happy to be back in my own bed for the first time in weeks.
I look over to the book I was reading when Ella first ambushed me to ask about Dallas, desperate to get back to that cosy small town.
A smile tugs at my lips as I realise that I can relate to the leading lady so much now.
Her journey of self-discovery and learning to be loved again while finding her forever home between the vine leaves of a small town she’d never heard of reminds me so much of what’s just happened with me and Dallas.
I got to find my place in Hawks Hollow, only instead of vine leaves, my forever home looks more like a hundred-acre ranch that comes with a hot cowboy and his incredible daughter.
For the sake of this daydream, I’m ignoring Colt who also seemingly comes as part of the package.
My bedroom door creaks open, gentle footsteps creep into the dim light as Ella sneaks her way in. “Annabeth, you still up?”
I roll over, pulling back the blanket to invite her in, which she accepts willingly. Her usual pinup style hair falls in damp, messy waves against her cheeks as she climbs into bed with me.
“Are you gonna move out?” she asks, her voice soft.
“I wasn’t planning to.”
“I don’t know what I’ll do without you, A.B.”
“Even if I move out someday, I’ll still be here.”
Ella snuggles into me, she’s shorter than me so her head rests under my chin.
We haven’t cuddled up like this in a long time.
When we first became us, we’d get wine-drunk, watch Wicked, and cuddle up on the blowup mattress in the loungeroom almost every night.
As life got busier, it was once a week, then once a fortnight…
I can’t actually remember the last time we were just us like this.
“You know, we haven’t done this since the day you met Dallas,” she tells me. I swear I can hear her voice cracking as she speaks. She’s right. The day Dallas first picked Billie up from school, Ella cancelled her plans to stay home with me and have a girls’ night.
“Hey, you never told me what your plans were that night.”
“What night?”
“The night I came home with merlot and Lees,” I reply with a laugh.
“Oh, yeah.” Her cheeks flush crimson and she bites her lip.
“Ella Mackay, are you keeping a secret from me?” I ask, feigning shock.
“No. Well, kinda.”
“Ella.”
“I was going out to meet Colt.” Well, you could have knocked me over with a wet fish.
“Colt? As in Colson Northlane?” I squeal.
“Yes. Shut up.”
“So, did you two… You know?”
“Oh my god, stop!” She giggles, a sound that will forever bring me joy. I sit up in my bed, dragging her up with me ‘till we’re both sitting cross-legged staring at each other.
“Is this what you were trying to tell me about the other night before the whole ‘Colt almost got into a bar fight’ thing? O.M.G., is this why you’ve been at the farm so much. Ella, you bad bitch.”
“You suck. You know that?”
“As if. I knew it.”
“You didn’t know it, because there’s nothing to know,” she insists.
“Well liar, liar, pants on fire,” I retort, poking my tongue out at her. Ella rolls her eyes, jumping up out of my bed and giving me a devilish smile. “What’s that look for, young lady?”
She wiggles her hips, doing a silly little dance before turning on her heels as she calls out to me, “Kitchen in five minutes, Ms Harrington. It’s waffle time.”
It’s 1:45am, on a Friday – no, Saturday – morning. I’m cuddled up on the couch with my best friend, glass of wine poured, waffles on the coffee table. She’s about to hit play on our favourite movie – Wicked, of course. And I feel like everything is going to be okay.
“Hey, Ella?”
“Yeah babe?”
“If you want, tonight you can be Elphie,” I offer, passing her glass to her.
“Annabeth. My sweet, delusional Annabeth. I will always be Glinda. I mean, have you seen my hair?” She says proudly through a laugh.