Page 20 of When Ellie Falls in Love

As they watched the movie, Ellie happily stayed snuggled up to Alexis. She felt safe with her sister-in-law, and given their choice of movie, that was a good thing. They quietly screamed, jumped, and laughed throughout the whole movie. By the end, Ellie was too tired to drive home and decided to crash in their guest bedroom.

She had finished getting ready for bed and was about to crawl under the covers when there was a knock at the bedroom door. Blake peeked inside.

“You need anything?”

“No, I’m good. Thanks.”

“Here.” Blake handed her phone back to her, but Ellie was afraid to look at it. “I’m sorry I freaked out.”

“Don’t worry, I did too.”

Blake chuckled. “I bet.”

“Thanks for understanding, sis.”

“Hey,” Blake reached out, tucking Ellie’s hair behind her ear, “that’s what sisters are for.”

Ellie wrapped her arms around Blake, resting her head just under Blake’s chin. “Thanks, sis.”

“Come on. Let me tuck you in.”

Despite being way too old to be tucked in, Ellie didn’t complain. She loved getting closer to Blake. Ellie snuggled under the covers as Blake tucked them in around her and kissed her forehead.

“I love you, Ellie. Sleep well.”

“Love you too.”

“And if you get scared, you know where our room is,” she added with a laugh.

Ellie waited until Blake was out of the room to look at the phone she’d been clutching in her hands. She had a few messages from Dylan and a good night text from each of her parents. But her Snapchat notifications were empty.

Once again, Ellie felt conflicted about the whole situation. If Sadie meant to send that picture to her and Ellie didn’t respond, it could kill any chance Ellie might have to ask Sadie out one day—if she ever got up the nerve.

But on the other hand, if Sadie didn’t mean to send it, then Alexis was right. She should ignore it.

Act like nothing happened.

Easy.

Yeah.

Right.

Chapter 8

Sadie

Two weeks had passed since BoobGate 2024 and Sadie had been avoiding Ellie at all costs. Not that it was hard to do; it wasn’t like they frequently interacted. But Sadie consciously changed her normal route to her classes and practice to avoid walking by the theater. There was no way she could look Ellie in the eye after what happened.

How could I have been so dumb?

Sadie had been beating herself up over it since it happened. Ellie hadn’t responded on Snapchat, which Sadie was thankful for. Now, if she could just make it through prom without seeing Ellie, maybe she could make it the rest of the year without ever having to see her. She could do it.Right?

Walking down the stairs at home, Sadie was instantly greeted by her mom and Charlie with their phones out taking pictures. She’d told them shedidn’twant to make prom pictures a big deal because she thought they were dumb. That was only partially true. The main reason, though, was that Trevor had never asked her about doing pictures. Sadie had mentioned it, but Trevor only said there would be a photographer at prom.

She assumed that would work fine.

Not that I really want to remember this night, anyway.

---