chapter two
unwanted conversations

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"FUCK." SHE groaned as she sat in bed, her head resting on her tired palms. Eleanor had a killer headache due to the events only hours prior. She regretted the fact that she didn't decline the offer Pope had given her to ride with the Pogues, the ride that mainly consisted of snarky remarks from a drunk JJ.

Eleanor had also tried to take a small nap during their long drive, feeling drained from everything, and while she made her attempt to sleep, all she could hear was an enormous amount of shit talking from JJ and Kiara.

That was the first and last time she was ever going to willingly be around them. Or at least she hoped it was.

Eleanor's train of thoughts soon came to a momentary halt when a loud knock on her window caught her attention. Theo stood on the other side of the glass, a worried look spread across his face as he patiently waited for her to open the window.

Eleanor sighed, slight annoyance within the noise. She cared about Theo, obviously, but she was genuinely not in the mood for any confrontation, especially not from him.

She shuffled out of her bed and slipped on her fuzzy slippers that were sloppily laid on the floor, before dragging her feet toward her bay window and pulling one of the windows open for him to climb through.

Theo made his way inside as Eleanor took a seat on the cushions that she had attached onto the window sill. She rubbed her eyes as she felt the cushion shifting, signaling that the boy took a seat himself.

Theo reached for her face, moving a loose strand of hair away from her eye, a soft smile making its way onto his face.

"Are you alright?" Was the first sentence to flow from his mouth.

Eleanor cleared her throat as she smiled slightly and shrugged. "Of course...why wouldn't I be?" She answered nonchalantly.

Theo copied her actions, removing his hand from her face. "Just checking in. You didn't text me back last night. I wanted to make sure you got home safe." He said, grabbing a random bracelet from the side table and fiddling with it.

Eleanor's eyes widened as he held her bracelet. She quickly grabbed it from him and shot up from her previous spot, placing it inside the jewelry box in her closet. Theo glanced at her, confusion swarming his aura.

"What was that all about?" He questioned her suspiciously as she walked out of her closet, running a hand through her long hair.

Eleanor gulped. "Oh...it's nothing. It's just — my dad gave that to me as a gift and I don't really like people touching my stuff." She lied, a fake smile forming on her lips.

Theo rose a brow before shrugging. "Uh...well, how's your mom doing?"

Eleanor froze at the mention of her mother. She knew that Theo didn't know what went on behind the scenes, only what her mother wanted him to see, so she attempted to shake the sinking feeling away.

She pursed her lips, looking at anything but him. "She's good, yeah. I'm pretty sure she's at the Cameron's right now, so."

Theo nodded, keeping his eyes set on Eleanor. There was a moment of silence, awkward silence, before Theo spoke up again.

"Hey, are you sure you're okay, Els? You seem a bit...off." Theo worried, abandoning his seat on the bay window as he made his way toward the girl.

"Yes." Eleanor stressed, her tone coming out harsher than she had anticipated. She then sighed as he stopped in front of her, reaching his hand out to touch her own.

"I'm sorry. I'm just — I'm tired is all." She apologized, making an excuse to get him to back off.

"Long night, I assume." Eleanor chuckled humorously as he said that. He doesn't even know the half of it. "I've been meaning to ask, how'd you end up getting home?" Theo then added.

Eleanor paused as she internally dug through her mind for a lie. "Uh, you know. I — I walked. Probably why I'm so tired." She chuckled nervously.

She was never the best liar, especially when it came to lying to someone she cared about.

Theo placed his soft hand on her cheek, his thumb slowly rubbing back and forth as he smiled lovingly. "Please, just text me when you get home next time. No matter how tired you are, I need to know you're safe."

Eleanor half smiled, shifting her eyes up to look at him before nodding. "I will." Theo's smile grew wider as he leaned in for a kiss, placing his other hand onto her left cheek to deepen the action.

Eleanor kissed him back. The only problem was, her eyes were wide open. Guilt washed over her as she felt uneasy for lying to her boyfriend. The only thing she was grateful for was the fact that he didn't bring up the random L word he had told her the night before.

He's never said it before then.

She didn't want to hurt his feelings. He loved her, but she couldn't seem to love him. Attraction and love are two very different things. And attraction was all she had for the boy.

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"DUDE, I need this jacket." Whined Avery. The duo had been strolling all around the OBX local mall, shopping for midsummer outfits due to the event taking place only days from then.

Eleanor giggled as she span around in a child's tutu that she had put over her shorts. She reached for a small tiara that spelled 'queen' on it and placed it on her head. "What do ya think? Do I look hot?" She joked, puckering her lips.

Avery covered her mouth to hide her smile as she looked her best friend over. "Oh, the hottest. As always." They both then paused as they stared at each other before simultaneously shaking their heads and scrunching their faces.

"Nah." They then laughed.

"Okay, okay," Eleanor then said as their laughter died down. "We actually do need to finish finding dresses or our parents are gonna kill us." She semi-joked on her behalf as she took off the accessories.

Avery nodded and clapped her hands together as they turned into the woman's dresses aisle. The blondes eyes widened, pure infatuation filling them, as she ran to the first green dress she saw. "Ellie! Look how beautiful." She gushed as she skimmed over the fabric.

Eleanor nodded, a small grin on her face. Internally, she was cringing. The dress was beautiful, yes, and it would look absolutely amazing on Avery, but it definitely wasn't her taste.

Eleanor left Avery to stare at the dress in amazement as she turned to further walk into the store. Her eyes switched from dress to dress, in search for the perfect one. A dress that would suit her and fit every part of her body, all the while defining it. A color that would make her stand out to others. Then her eyes stopped.

The dress was perfect. It was everything she could've imagined herself wearing on that day. The dress was long, but not too long-something Eleanor always looked out for-it was the most gorgeous shade of blue she had ever seen. Blue had always been her signature color, or at least that was her opinion.

Avery suddenly nudged Eleanors arm as she ended up next to the girl out of nowhere, the biggest smile on her face. "Hell yes." She simply said.

Eleanor looked to her best friend as she teasingly smiled. "You sure? We wouldn't want all the attention off of you." She sarcastically spoke.

Avery scoffed. "Yeah, like that's possible."

Eleanor shook her head as they both grabbed their dresses, payed, and left the shop. Eleanor dreaded going home. She knew if the dress she chose wasn't pretty enough then she would hear it from her mother.

"Hey, can I stay at your place for a bit?" She questioned the blonde as they sat in Eleanor's black car, milkshakes sitting in both of their hands.

Avery choked. "Uh — I would've said yes if you asked any other day, but my mom wants to take Theo and I to this new fancy restaurant tonight..." The blonde grimaced.

Eleanor gave her a weird look. Avery avoided eye contact with her best friend. Something she only did when she was lying her ass off. But, instead of saying something, Eleanor shook it off. If Avery didn't want Eleanor there, she could've just said that.

"Okay...that's fine." Eleanor shrugged as she switched on the ignition. She watched as the blonde looked away, sipping on her milkshake innocently.

Eleanor side eyed the girl. "I'll have to ask Theo how it goes. Maybe he can take me there sometime. What's the place called?" Eleanor smiled falsely as she pulled out of the parking-lot.

Avery looked down as she searched for a lie. "Mom hasn't told me yet...yeah! She said it's a 'surprise.'" She nervously chuckled as she faked an eye-roll at her 'mother's words.'

Eleanor nodded as she kept her eyes on the road. "Right."

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ELEANOR SPENT her entire day waiting for her mother to come home. If she was going to get scolded for the dress, then she might as well get it over and done with.

Just as Eleanor was going to take a seat on the couch, trying to stop her constant pacing, the front slammed open, Eleanor immediately standing up once more.

Her mother walked into the house with a huge box of God knows what, permanent red marker written on it spelling: confidential. She turned her head to her daughter and sighed.

"Help me with this, don't just stand there."

Eleanor nodded immediately and rushed over to help her mother. "Sorry." She muttered as she grabbed the box, the heaviness weighing her down.

Eleanor placed the object on the dining table before rushing back to her mother once more. Emily stared her daughter down as she put her purse on the couch.

"Do you need something?" Her mother harshly questioned, wanting to be rid of her daughters awaiting stare.

Eleanor's eyes widened as she straightened herself up. "Right, um, Avery and I went shopping for my midsummers dress...thought you'd want to see it." She muttered the last sentence.

Emily sighed frustratedly as she ran a hand down her face. "Go on. Go fetch it." She sat herself on the couch as Eleanor turned to the armchair where she left the shopping bag on.

Eleanor breathed in, then out. "I hope it's fine. I made sure it was Midsummers appropriate." She said softly.

She pulled the dress out, careful not to mess with the plastic covering. Emily narrowed her eyes at the dress before standing. Eleanor's heart stopped as her mother neared her. The girl watched as her mothers hand raised and shut her eyes tightly, awaiting the hit.

But no hit came. Instead, her mothers hand softly held her face. "Good job." She softly pat her daughters cheek before leaving, disappearing into her office.

Eleanor let out a sigh of relief. She was grateful nothing happened. Good thing she addressed her mother sooner rather than later, she just dodged a whole lot of stress related acne.

Eleanor placed the dress back in the bag and went down the hall to her bedroom. She placed the bag into her closet before sighing. The jewelry box caught her attention.

She reached inside, her bracelet delicately being held in her hand. She smiled at the memories it held before shutting the box, bracelet still in hand.

She stared at the accessory. Studying it. She then smiled as she came to a decision. She slipped it on her wrist, happiness and safety spreading across her entire body.

"I miss you, J..." she then muttered.

She did miss him. But he was in the past and by the way he acted around her, it seems like he wanted to stay there.

If only she could just explain...

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( just had to show a quick pic of my beautiful babies 🤧 WE WON JIARAS )

this chapter was kinda boring due to it being a filler butttt i'm gonna try to write faster , i lost motivation for a good few days , but after watching season 3 , i'm back and better !

and yeah , i guess that's it !

see ya later , losers 😝