Chapter 25
Ellie
F or the past two days, all Ellie had been thinking about was being alone with Sadie. Not in a sexual way; they so weren’t there yet. But Ellie wanted to talk to her about what they were doing. Because they’d definitely taken the exit from friends to something more relatively fast and Ellie wanted to make sure they were on the same page.
Ellie was pretty sure they were though.
She had that gut feeling that things were right with Sadie. It wasn’t like she thought Sadie was The One. They were way too young to know that. But there was definitely a connection between them that was different than any friendship, and Ellie was certain it was time to finally ask Sadie to be her girlfriend.
Even if all the butterflies in the world were currently in her stomach as she stood a few feet away from Sadie in the pool.
It was late; late enough they were the only ones still in the pool. They’d found their way back to what Mason had deemed “the make out room” which was a small alcove behind the waterfall into the pool. The pump equipment for the pool sat inside the rock formation, which circulated the clean water back into the pool.
Not that any of that mattered.
All that mattered was Ellie had never been back there with someone she liked before. She’d caught her sisters and parents back there before, though. The latter was traumatic enough to make her not look them in the eye for several days.
But now, as she and Sadie leaned against opposite walls of the pool in the small alcove with their feet playfully touching underwater, Ellie understood. The privacy from the flowing waterfall diluted their view of the house, while the noise from the equipment made it feel like they wouldn’t be heard. Of course, Ellie knew from experience you could hear people back there.
Ellie shivered at the thought.
“You cold?” Sadie giggled as she pushed off the side of the pool and moved beside Ellie. She playfully ran her hands up and down Ellie’s arm as she smiled. “We can get out if you’re cold.”
“It’s a heated pool.”
“So then I guess we can go back to doing what we were doing?”
As Sadie pressed her lips into Ellie’s again, the well-thought-out speech to ask Sadie out went out her mind. She’d gone to Alexis earlier for help. Alexis had been alone on the beach enjoying peace and quiet when Ellie had plopped down beside her and ruined it.
“I need advice.”
Alexis sat up on her elbows and pushed her sunglasses back into her hair. She was wearing a two-piece bathing suit that she looked phenomenal in, and her blue eyes softened as she smiled at Ellie.
“Aww, and you’re coming to me?”
“Well,” Ellie nervously laughed, pulling her knees up to her chin. “I can’t ask Mason what I need to ask you. And I feel Blake would freak out.”
“I don’t know what you’re about to ask me about, but my wife would very much freak out.”
Ellie giggled. “Exactly. And I know I could go to my parents but I need your specific help.”
“Color me intrigued.” Sitting cross-legged, Alexis put her elbow on her thigh and rested her head on her hand. “Go on.”
“I want to ask Sadie out.”
Alexis squealed, excitedly clapping her hands together. “Okay, one, yes, Blake would have freaked out, and no, you don’t need Mason’s advice on this. But why ask me?”
“Because you’ve been asked out by a Mackenzie.”
“True. But so has Chase.”
“Who’s married to Mason and would tell her I asked.” Joking, Ellie narrowed her eyes at Alexis. “Why? Do you not want me to come to you for advice?”
“Ellie,” Alexis put her arm around Ellie’s neck and kissed her cheek, “no. I love that you’re coming to me for this. It makes me feel like you love me.”
“I do love you, goofball.”
“I know, and I love you too. But I love knowing you feel safe coming to me.” The faintest tears brimmed Alexis’s eyes as she seemed to try to ignore them. “Anyway, enough about me. Back to you and Sadie.”
Alexis seemed to think for a moment, almost as if she were carefully choosing her words. After what felt longer than it probably was, she finally started talking again.
“Honestly, I’m sitting here trying to remember how Blake and I started dating. I feel like one moment we weren’t and then the next we were. I remember one night in my apartment,” the happy smile on Alexis’s face was undeniable, “it was after game night and I finally admitted I liked her. And I know it’s cheesy but the rest is really history.”
Shrugging, Alexis laughed.
“I wish I had some great, big, romantic story to tell you but I knew early on that Blake was the one for me. Even though I was too scared to admit that or let her in for a while. So, I guess my best advice is don’t be afraid. If Sadie’s feeling it too, which we all know she is.”
Ellie dramatically groaned as Alexis playfully jabbed her ribs with her elbow.
“It doesn’t have to be anything fancy. I feel like social media has made us all feel like we have to go above and beyond with these grand gestures of love but honestly? Blake washed all the baby bottles the other day and I found her just as sexy then as the day I married her.”
“You two are couple goals.”
“I like to think so,” Alexis chuckled. “But really? Your parents are the ultimate goals.”
“You’re not wrong there.”
Her words echoed in Ellie’s mind as she tried to get over finding the perfect words and instead tell Sadie how she felt.
But just as Ellie was about to reluctantly pull her lips from Sadie’s, the light on the pool shed flipped on.
Which meant someone from inside had turned on the outside lights.
Ellie and Sadie parted like magnets as Ellie held her breath to see who it was outside. Mason was the worst possible case because Ellie would never live it down. But she also didn’t want to get caught by her parents either. Unable to contain her curiosity any longer, Ellie held up a finger to Sadie to tell her she’d be right back as she swam under the waterfall. As she popped back up on the other side, she saw her mom looming over the edge of the pool with her arms crossed.
At least she’s smiling.
“There you two are. Or, well,” she smirked, “I’m assuming Sadie is in there with you.”
“She is.”
“Good. I was doing a headcount and was missing two, so I had to come and find my missing chicks.”
“Sorry, Mom. I thought you knew we were still out here.”
“It’s okay.” Isla waved her off nonchalantly. “Are you two going to be out here much longer?”
“I don’t know.”
“Well, Mama and I will be up for a while, but set the alarm when you get in, okay?”
“Can do.”
“Okay,” Isla’s smile told Ellie her mom knew exactly what was happening in the pool. But at least her parents were cool enough not to make a big deal about it. “I love you, Ellie.”
“I love you, too, Mom.”
“Goodnight, Sadie,” Isla called out with a wave as Sadie stuck her hand out from behind the waterfall to wave back.
“Goodnight, Isla.”
Keeping her voice low, Isla added before she went inside, “Remember what we talked about.”
“I will.”
Ellie waited until Isla was back inside and the lights outside were turned off before swimming back to Sadie. She playfully tickled her sides as she popped back up from under the water right in front of her. Sadie’s smile was even more gorgeous in the rippling lights of the pool reflecting on her face. Tucking her damp hair behind her ear, Ellie took a deep breath.
“I need to ask you something.”
Sadie arched an eyebrow at her. “I bet it’s the same thing I’ve been wanting to ask you .”
Instantly, Ellie felt herself relax.
“But,” with one word, Sadie sucked all the relaxation out of Ellie, “we have to be realistic here. I’m going away to college in a few weeks.”
“I know.” Ellie sighed. Her heart ached, and she didn't want to think about Sadie leaving. She mindlessly twirled Sadie’s hair around her fingers as she spoke. “And I don’t want you to miss out on things because you’re pining over me.”
“Oh, so now I’m going to be pining over you, huh?” Sadie laughed, easing the moment ever so slightly.
“I’m told it’s a side effect of liking a Mackenzie.”
“Is that so?”
“Mhmm.” Ellie swallowed the lump in her throat. “So, what do we do?”
Sadie didn’t pause to think before answering. “Well, we can try long distance and if it doesn’t work, we can talk to each other about it and see what we can do differently. And I guess mainly we’d have to go into this knowing although our own lives may take us on different paths that we can always be friends.”
Ellie narrowed her eyes at Sadie, smirking.
“What?” Sadie asked with a giggle.
“Did Chase give you that advice?”
“Maybe,” Sadie playfully splashed water onto Ellie. “I had to ask someone who had dated a Mackenzie for advice.”
“I asked Alexis for advice for the same reason.”
“See, this can so work.”
Closing the gap between them again, Sadie gently caressed Ellie’s neck as she kissed her. The make out session was longer than their other ones had been, and Ellie savored it. Savored the way Sadie wrapped her legs around her body as she pressed into her. Savored the way her hands felt under Sadie’s ass.
For the first time in her life, Ellie began to seriously wonder about having sex. She always hoped she’d know when she was ready for it, but it seemed to go from zero to sixty the minute Sadie’s lips touched her skin.
Not now. Not here.
No. Ellie would know when she was ready, and she wasn’t there yet.
“So,” Ellie breathlessly said between kisses, “does this mean you’re my girlfriend?”
“Hell yeah, it does.”