“Yeah well, I can’t imagine this kind of studying comes cheap,” he chuckled, his gaze flickering between the small movement of her hands against her beer, and the warm eyes and sweet smile he had missed so much. “Trust me, you made an impression,” Mason let out another laugh, “it’s not like when I visited I ever brought company, let alone a woman. I think before that weekend they didn’t think I was even capable of spending more than twenty-four hours with a woman before bolting. Plus that little black dress you wore the first night out? We all remember it,” he smirked a bit, replaying the memory of her wearing it – and then taking it off her later that night. Mason shifted a bit in his seat, realizing he probably shouldn’t be so naughty. When he had decided to meet up with Ellie again, he promised himself that he wouldn’t fall into his old habits with her. Maybe not him, but she certainly deserved better.
But bloody hell, he had forgotten how beautiful she really was. “That’s okay, they just know you as the blonde in the dress,” Mason shook his head, “and you met far too many people that weekend to remember names.” As Ellie spoke about her family drama, the brunette felt compelled to slowly down the rest of his drink – partly because of the seriousness of the conversation, and partly because he wanted to catch up to how many drinks she was on already. “I’m sorry about your parents,” he said during a pause, from both her words and his sip. “It’s shite they had to go so far, but I’m sure it’s for the best. I know no families are the same or anything, but my parents getting divorced was probably the best things to happen to us Reeves, other than our dashing good looks,” Mason added, the corner of his lip twitching up to a half-smile. “And hey, if the UK gets too dull for you, you easily have connections in New York, which is bloody cool. I would chew off my right arm to live in America, especially New York. Have you ever been?” A slight change of subject, one they both may benefit from. “And just think, in a few years that’ll be you screaming at law students to make you your coffee and get the copy machine running.”
Mason smiled slightly at her words, but he was sure it came out strained, probably showing how tired he really was. It hurt to hear that she wasn’t as pleased with how little the two had managed to keep in touch, even if he knew there was little more either of them could’ve done. Across the table Mason’s hand found Ellie’s, cupping it lightly, letting his thumb stroke the side of hers a few times. “All I know is I’m happy to be here, with you,” he told her quietly, holding her gaze with his to let her know how serious he felt about it. “I really missed you, Elle.” Right now he couldn’t think about his short-term or even long-term plan; all he wanted to focus on was the blonde in front of him. But soon he begrudgingly slipped his hand off of hers, not wanting to make the embrace too weird or prolonged. “Right, whatever you say,” he laughed as she chucked a fry at him, before polishing off his drink and motioning for the waitress to bring another.
As soon as she felt quiet for a moment Mason’s eyebrows raised slightly, suddenly intrigued with all she had to say. After years of on and off friendship Mason was fairly decent at reading Ellie’s body language, so seeing the anxious expression on his face only made his stomach drop. “I’m sorry,” he said slowly, unsure how exactly to feel about the news. Though part of him was selfishly glad she was single, it was very unlike Ellie to be so distraught over a breakup – especially one that it seemed she initiated. He considered offering her the chance to talk if she wanted to about it, but Mason had a feeling that’d be weird for both of them. Her question was easy; Mason shook his head effortlessly. “Nah, that was the last thing on my mind in London, honestly.” Of course he had his fair share of hookups in the time he was gone, but as the weeks went by Mason was surprised to see him get less and less interested in going home with random women. Maybe it was all his married friends in London rubbing off on him, but the thrill of the chase wasn’t that exciting anymore. “Between you and me, I think I’m ready for something kind of serious,” he found himself telling the blonde, the words coming out of him before he could realize how much he had really been thinking about it.
“ Yeah -- it definitely isn’t cheap, and I’ll literally be in debt with my parents until the day I die since they are still both willing to at least help with me schooling, but I’m glad that I only have on year after this and hopefully I’ll find a place that’ll take me instantly, ” she said before letting a small smile form on her lips, the thought of actually making her way through life without the privileged of having it handed to her, much like Elliot did, who was living his way through life with their parents money while Ellie was still dedicated to paying her parents back and working on nights that she was able to not focus on her schooling, making payments almost every month. “ Ah, the little black dress, always makes an impression. ” Although the impression it had left on her was how carefully and sincere that Mason had taking it off her, allowing it to fall into the floor so easily and in a pile with the rest of his clothing that same night - the night she would remember for the rest of her life, the first time that she had ever finally found out what it would be like to be tangled in the sheets with someone she had labeled as possibly the love of her entire life.
“ The blonde in the dress, I guess much better than things I’ve heard in the past, ” she said with a small giggle following her words. Ellie had come a long way since high school, having glasses and braces her whole grade nine year and then the horrifying acne taking over her body once she went into the tenth and it only carried on throughout the rest of high school years until she finally graduated and began to make herself focused on her own life and her own looks. Leaning to style her hair in it’s usual light waves and the light amount of make up she wore on her face; never interested in the contouring or fake eyelashes and instantly going for the no-make up look, and even dressing herself in the clothing she enjoyed more than the stupid overly-priced clothing that her parents forced her to wear. Snapping out of her thoughts, she refocused herself on the conversation at hand and nodded her head at his words, thanking him quietly for his condolences about her parents before shrugging her shoulders. “ It was bound to happen, you know? It wasn’t much of a surprise for Elliot to leave with my mom, though, but it was shocking that he was willing to put such a stress on my shoulders because I wasn’t willing to pack up and leave, you know? Wasn’t fair on his part. I’ve visited a few times, I try to see my mom as much as I can but I never really got along with her, she isn’t impressed with how I want to live my own life and not be prim and proper, ” she said with a chuckle. “ Oh it’ll be great. Especially with my complicated order that they’ll fuck up every day. Maybe I’ll even throw it in their face once in a while. ”
She wasn’t sure if it was the physical contact she was given or the words that were thrown towards her, but her heart stopped for a good few seconds in her chest as her blue eyes looked up at the male across from her, lips frozen and incapable of talking back but the small blush that formed on her lips was enough to agree with his sentence and prove she was just as excited to see him. “ Guess I missed you, too, ” she said with a small smile finally forming on her lips as she let her finger slip between his for the short moment they were still intertwined before she let her hand slip back to her side of the table when he let go, looking up at the waitress for a moment he ordered the next round and focused back on him again, her fingers playing with the zipper of her hoodie under the table as she tried to calm herself down.
Nodding her head at his apologies, she wanted nothing less but to keep her mouth shut but with it being Mason, soon enough she was going on her babbling ran about her past relationship. “ It --- was nice, you know? Honeymoon stage and all of that but he got really controlling and if I tried to fight back he would go after my weak-points. It wasn’t physical, never got physical but that didn’t stop it from making me feel less of a person, you know? Lost a lot of friends because of it, since he would rarely let me go out and make me feel extremely guilty if I did and would call me so much that I would rush home to make sure that he wouldn’t be upset with me. It took me a good four months to finally end it, and even then he didn’t stop. I just got him out of my life completely about a month ago, but doesn’t stop him from calling once in a while and leaving lengthy voicemails, ” she said quietly as she brought her thumb up to her mouth, biting at the nail with a shrug of her shoulder. Hearing him, she finger slowly lowered from her mouth and her eyes widened slightly at his words and her stomach flipped, her heart racing in that moment in a sense of hope and excitement at his words but her outer body keeping itself calm and collected the best it could. “ Serious, huh? How are you gonna go about that one, Reeves? Gonna try speed dating? ” She teased despite her inner-greed taking control.
