It was sunny outside. Sickeningly sunny.

Elaine sat perched underneath a parasol, atop a cute pink beach towel. She wore a modest

black one-piece swimsuit. She had no idea where Rowan was, but she honestly couldn’t care

less. He was more popular than her, and he didn’t even go to her school. Her iced tea lay beside

her, the bottom half of the glass buried in the sand. She squinted as her head turned, scanning for

Rowan. It was harder for her to sense where anyone really was, she wasn’t wearing her glasses,

and everyone seemed to be a blur. As Elaine examined the rest of the beach, she noticed a group

of girls at the volleyball net.

It was just Elaine’s luck. The same day Rowan took her out, she got stuck alone and nearby the

one group of girls that she considered the banes of her existence. Among the few playing, she

spotted one girl who kept missing the balls. She already figured who it was, Estella was one of

the only ones in that friend group that wasn’t all that athletic. It came off as a shock to Elaine

initially. She was a great cheerleader yet a horrible athlete. Elaine considered it odd, almost

amusing that Estella wasn’t as sporty as the rest of her clique.

At that moment, she saw the clump that resembled Estella move, she was waving at her? Elaine

immediately turned her head, burying it in her knees. She knew that she probably would have

started to approach her. For some reason, Estella never seemed to take no for an answer when it

came to Elaine.

♡
Estella hated sports. She was never any good at them and it always bored her to death. She would

rather be sitting doing nothing than standing around missing a ball over and over while her

classmates yelled at her like it even mattered. So when she was gazing off into the background

and saw Elaine sitting alone under a parasol she wanted desperately to be sitting with her. She

ignored the volleyball sailing straight over her head and waved at her, jumping to get her

attention. Estella noticed she wasn’t wearing the cute glasses she usually did, and wondered if

she could even see her.

Ignoring the yells of her classmates, she jogged over to Elaine and tapped her on the shoulder,

watching as her head slowly came up from between her knees. Estella grinned and plopped down

beside her with so much enthusiasm that it was impossible to be faked. “Can you see? You aren’t

wearing your glasses!” Estella said, pointing a finger at her face. She had pigtails in, and was

wearing a pink bikini with a matching frilly beach skirt, her hair had come untucked from behind

her ear, and she kept pushing it back, which almost came off as a nervous tic. Estella scanned

Elaine’s face as she waited for an answer, she could tell Elaine hated her guts, but she liked her

nonetheless. She couldn’t really explain her fixation with her, she just found her intriguing. As

Elaine started to open her mouth to respond, a voice interrupted them, Estella squinted up at the

voice and tried to make out the blurry shape of their figure. She recognized the voice but

couldn’t quite put her finger on who it was, it must not have been someone who went to their

school, she thought to herself as he put a hand on Elaine’s shoulder and said in an obnoxiously

deep voice, “Hey babe, and um —“ Estella looked him up and down with a look of disdain,

“Estella.” she said flatly, drawing shapes in the sand with her nails.
Elaine looked briefly at Rowan’s hand still on her shoulder, and then at the disinterest in Estella’s

face. Elaine then turned her head, cupping her hands around Rowan’s ear. Estella could see the

anger on Rowan’s face for maybe a split-second, before he turned, doing the same with Elaine.

They were whispering, but Estella already had a pretty good idea of what they were discussing.

“Babe? What the hell is your problem?”

“Elaine.. trust me. This is the girl you don’t like, yeah? Follow my lead and she’ll leave you

alone in no time.”

To that, Estella inhaled and exhaled, doing her best not to look upset seeing the two

together.

“I’ll be okay for now, can you refill my drink?”

Elaine slumped back onto the blanket, hitting the ground with a small ‘thump.’ Picking

the glass back up, she handed it to Rowan, to which he picked it up and walked away whistling.

Elaine awkwardly gazed at Estella, weakly gesturing to the female to sit with her— to which she

did.

As Estella sat down, Elaine continued to stare at her. She did so silently, and she could

tell Estella didn’t plan on speaking any time soon either. It was kind of up to her to break the

silence before Rowan returned.

 “Hi.”

“Hi,”

“Is he your boyfriend?”

Elaine’s lips parted ever so slightly, her brows furrowing. She can safely say that she

didn’t expect Estella to blurt that out so randomly. Elaine could feel her face growing warmer. a

dark flush spreading across her cheeks.

“I’m sorry I didn’t mean t—”

“No, it’s fine.”

Elaine debated telling the truth in her head. She didn’t like Estella all that much, but then

again, the thought of ever dating Rowan was almost sickening.

“And yeah, he is.”

 She felt bad lying to her (for whatever reason) but she didn't have much of a choice

anyway. Elaine noticed a frown forming on Estella’s face. Elaine wasn’t good at comforting

people, but she inched herself closer next to her. Their shoulders were now touching, and

Elaine’s hands were faintly touching Estella’s.

It was at that moment when Elaine realized how nice Estella smelt. She smelt like citrus

and flowers and spring. It was an oddly comforting scent, one that Elaine didn’t want to let go of.

Impulsively, Elaine leaned her head in, resting her head on Estella’s shoulders. They were facing

the water, and Rowan still wasn’t back. They stayed in that position for what felt like hours. The

sun began to set, the sky forming a beautiful orangey-pink color.

“So, Elaine.” Estella began. “Do you want to—”

“Ella!”

The group of girls from the volleyball net rushed over to the pair, keeping their distance

from Elaine. They formed a semicircle around Estella, sweat dripping off of them. Elaine looked

over at the posse, they all wore bikinis and had fashionable accessories. “If you’re not busy with

your.. friend, we were going to grab dinner. Are you coming?” Elaine pouted from the emphasis

of the word “friend.”

“I’m sorry, I have to go.”

 Elaine lifted her head, moving back to her original stance. She looked over her shoulder,

the blur that resembled Rowan was back on its way. She simply sighed, almost scoffing towards

Estella.

“Duty calls.”

fin.