Lost One

"If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude." -Maya Angelou Ella Cooper | 31 | Owner of Shred N' Go dog lover | always down for nachos former guitarist for paradise blues

[midsommars-deactivated20201109]

Newness (2017) Directed by Drake Doremus

[ella--cooper]

frankielecn·:

-

“I fucked up for like two months and got hooked.” The brunette said with a shake of her head as if it was something she should have been highly ashamed about. Which, granted, she was. “I do my own coffee and I’ve finally spent some money into caffeine because it’s become second place in terms of addictions that have been keeping me sane. Plus my idiotic coworker burns the shit out of our coffee every morning.” Her head shook in disapproval. She’d come to hate that fucking coworker now. “Hey, I love a good iced coffee as much as the next person or gay.” The brunette grinned in Ella’s direction. She’d never really defined her sexuality and if she had to think about it, she would have to say she was pansexual. Nothing matter apart from chemistry and sexual attraction. As for romantic connections, well she hadn’t dived into that pool much with men, much less women or any other individual. “Good, I like the idea of driving around and seeing where we end up.” Dark hues flicked towards Ella to their fingers that had settled upon her arm. There was a good sense of comfort being with the other. It was easy and it made her happy. Especially when they could get out of town and be together alone. “Scouts honours that I’ll wait until later on tonight. Then fair game.” Tapping her fingertips upon the steering wheel, she grinned wider at Ella’s words. A nod was given in return as she agreed with them. “I needed it too and I’m glad you decided to come with me. Wouldn’t have been as good with anyone else, babe.” Which she thoroughly believed was true.

****

“Eh coffee addiction isn’t the worst on the grand scale of things, yanno? And burnt coffee is fucking gross, you might as well drink mud so I totally feel you. You gotta get those like on the go coffee makers, I think they have them. Actually don’t get it, I know what I’m getting you for Christmas now,” they teased, though they would absolutley get Frankie something. Even if it was small. They cared about Frankie. The two of them were friends and a little something more, definitely something more but that more didn’t necessarily feel like it needed to be describe with anything specific. Ella just knew that they totally and completely enjoyed it. 

Frankie’s compliment actually made Ella blush and they turned towards the window so she couldn’t see it. They knew they weren’t totally unwanted. Their roommates adored them, their sisters texted every chance they could get and yet they were still insecure about people wanting them around. Probably because they made it so damn hard with their running. They had started to think of how Frankie would feel if they were to up and disappear from Elisabeth one day. With Noel back, they felt the itch to pack their bags and run, to leave behind all of it, to run from the guilt. But that was getting harder and harder. 

So instead Ella settled back into their seat and when they pulled off at their first rest stop after two hours of driving, Ella was quick in sliding their arms around Frankie from behind, pressing a kiss to the center of her back. “You gonna let me drive for a bit? You trust me behind the wheel?” They laughed softly and pulled their arms away slightly. “Smoke break?”

[ella--cooper]

curlsxterpentine·:

.

“It’s .. white,” he answered, slightly defeated, knowing that there was no way the off-white could seem like part of the outfit somehow. Holding the sign, Mitch felt slightly silly standing there as the other stood up, and he hoped it wouldn’t be as bad as he feared, but it seemed the gods didn’t look kindly on him that day. “Awtch, yeah that looks bad,” he told the other, the words escaping him before he could stop himself. “Uh - I don’t have any right here but I live close by, you’re more than welcome to walk with me a moment. Again - I’m very sorry.”

***

“White? Oh fuck well..I mean..paint splattered is like fashion forward, right?” They shrugged and tried to crane their neck back so they could get a good look. “Damn, alright, well thanks for being honest,” they joked, their laughter growing a bit more when they saw the wet paint sign in his hands. “If I would have waited like ten seconds more I would have been able to read that so..it’s my own fault, really,” they admitted, feeling foolish as they stood their, the cold of the paint causing them to shiver a bit. “It’s fine, it’s fine, stop apologizing.” They thought about it for a moment before nodding. “Okay yeah, you’re giving me pants, I have a meeting later, I can’t be out here looking like the clown I am. I’m uh, I’m Ella, by the way. Resident clown.” 

[ella--cooper]

lydiakingston·:

SATURDAY, Nov 14th, 2020. CAFÉ, PORT ELISABETH.

( @elisabethstarters· )

     It only took Lydia half a second to latch onto someone, her eyes connecting with theirs as she took the opportunity to grab the opinion of another, smiling taking a sip from her coffee. “Hey!” It wouldn’t take long, “Which one do you think I should go for?” She scrolled through the roommate ads on her phone and read out two of her favourites. “The one that says ‘to be clear, I’m not looking for a sex slave’—” The island never failed to keep her entertained. “Or the ad that opens with ‘Konnichiwa bitches’?”

**

Ella smirked as they slid their arms around Lydia’s shoulders and pulled her against them as they glanced down at Lydia’s phone. “Oo baby, these options are stellar. I’m definitely leaning towards not a sex slave ad, if only so you can find out what the fuck is going on there. Worst comes to worst though..you move in with me,” they added with a wiggle of their eyebrows, already a few drinks in and feeling pretty good about themselves. Even if it was all false goodness. “I’m sure Mina and Tilly won’t at all mind you squeezing into our place,” they added before settling back into their seat. “What kind of place are you looking for?”

[certasluas]

[ella--cooper]

miles-dalton·:

**

Miles had sworn he wouldn’t give in. He’d even told Sophie not even to bother with the puppy dog eyes because there was no way he was coming around to skateboarding. But then, of course, she tried it anyway, and now here he was… “Can you guarantee with won’t be the last skateboarding lesson on this island?” he asked skeptically. Perhaps it was a tad dramatic, but he’d never been one for physical coordination and after seeing that woman in the ER, he had doubts about his chances of survival. 

***

“Can you guarantee that you won’t be this dramatic the whole time?” Ella raised an eyebrow before laughing softly, one foot on their board. “You have to believe in yourself before you do this or else it’s going to be painful because you’ll force it to be. Come on Soph, show him what you learned,” they added and nudged the young girl, smiling proudly as she got on her board with ease and did a little loop in front of the house. “Look at that, you gonna let your daughter show you up? Easy, Miles, do you know what that means? Should we start with some deep breathing?”

[ella--cooper]

frankielecn·:

-

Frankie couldn’t help but roll her eyes when Ella spoke and complimented her rather than take it. It was something she would do sometimes so she understood the notion of doing it but she’d just have to keep telling them until they took it. “Well, I’d rather give you a low expectation.” She grinned as she got out of the car and smirked over her shoulder at the other. Allowing Ella to move before her, she waited to see what they would order. Not because she thought they could go wrong with any choice, but she was merely curious. “Thanks,” Frankie told the workers when their food was presented to them and they brought it back to the car. “The coffee is good but it’s not starbucks.” something told her that it was okay with Ella because they didn’t seem like the type to be obsessed with some Pumpkin Latte’s or whatever that was called. “The owners are a married couple who raised their kids in the back of that restaurant. It’s always nice to support the mom and pop shops around here.” Frankie explained since she knew that stores could easily come onto the island and run everyone out of business should they desire. “I was thinking we could just head north and then decide from there. I didn’t have a set goal in mind.” Sure, she hoped that they could find some nature in trees but beyond that, she left it up in the air so they could decide as they went. “Oh shit, yes. Okay. Here’s the wire to hook up the playlist.” Handing it over, Frankie put her seatbelt on and started the car. They could eat on the road. “It’s gotten cold. But nothing I can’t handle as of right now. I go out most days to check the ice fishing too.” Peering back at Ella, she smirked. “Remove some, I’ll put the heat on.” The brunette winked at the other.

**

“Eh well nothing’s starbucks, to be fair. They have like a special brand of get fucked up caffeine, I’m sure. And I say that as someone who 95% of the time will just make coffee at home. Or buy the cold brew bottles and go from there. I mean I’m gay, I’m an iced coffee kind of bitch,” they added with a softer laugh, finding that the more Frankie drove, the more relaxed they felt. It was a problem, they knew, to keep running and running but it was the only solution they had right now. Or at least the only one they were willing to actually give in to. Ella’s smile turned up as Frankie explained the brief background of the shop and it was sweet, the visual that popped into their head actually one that brought warmth instead of resentment. “I think that sounds like a great plan to me. I say we drive and see where we end up,” they added, reaching out to lightly brush their fingers across Frankie’s arm. They wondered if she had any idea how grateful they were for her. In general, but especially in this moment. “Oh baby, don’t get me hot and bothered just yet or we won’t make it anywhere,” they joked and hooked up their phone, happily pressing play on the playlist they made, releasing a deep breath as they sat back in their seat and sipped their coffee as the road stretched out ahead of them. “Thanks for this, by the way. I..I don’t think you really know just how much I needed this right now.”

[ella--cooper]

marlowbennett·:

marlow shook her head at that; it was definitely her fault too. she was terrible when it came to keeping in touch. she have never really gotten into social media, and if she didn’t answer text messages as soon as they came in, she often forgot about them for the next week or two. “went home to my parent’s place for a bit.” her parents were getting older, and spending time with them had been important to her. when ella released her foot, marlow put it down gently, accepting the drink with a thank you falling from her lips. another snort at ella’s comment, marlow rolling her eyes. “i’d forgotten about that sass.” she teased back, though really, she loved it. elle was pretty easy to get along with. “oh, i’m a night nanny.”

***

“yeah? how are your parents doing?” ella was genuinely curious, despite often avoiding the conversation around parents as a whole. all these years and they could never really quite hide away their jealousy for people who got to grow older with their parents and they weren’t sure they ever would. they had spent a lot of time being the friend who their friends parents had over and took out to dinner in college during parents weekend. at least the ones where their sister couldn’t make it. But Anna tended to come through more often than not and it brought Ella back to a place of remembering that they weren’t as alone as they had thought. “me? sass? never heard of it.” they smirked and gave marlow a wink before their eyebrows raised a bit. “a nanny? no shit, how do you like it? what ages do you take care of?”

[ella--cooper]

maxence-n·:

with: whoever @elisabethstarters·· where: Galaxy Fitness Gym

When he was younger and new to modeling, Maxence set a goal for himself to be a “good” model. He had always been one to be sure that whatever he did, whether he wanted to or had to, he would do it well. Due to the shallow nature of the industry, he had it in his mind that to be a good model, he had to go to the gym at least four times a week and run everyday. As he got older, he was less worried about looking toned and more focused on not getting fat. Here, on the island though, he found it very easy to forget about the gym or a run, especially since he was going on those long walks everyday. Finally, his agent convinced him to get a gym pass since he told them in secret that he and his mother would be spending more time on Elisabeth. The treadmills were here high-tech, though, and for whatever reason, nothing he did could get his to start. He peered over at the person closest to him and gave them a humble grin. “Either I forgot how to work these things or they’ve been reinvented while I was away,” he joked, hoping the other took it as an invitation to explain or even just start the dang machine.

***

Ella was grateful the other person had said something because they had almost forget what they were supposed to be doing. The past few days had been like walking through a fog, Noel’s voice in their head over and over, the look on her face when she saw them, the realization that they felt even worse about it than they were willing to admit. They felt so selfish. What were they supposed to do? How were they supposed to move on and make up for this? They had come to the gym to decompress but had frozen up as they looked at their phone to find some music to play, coming upon a playlist they had made for Noel right after they had first met. “Uh, it’s uh, the middle button,” they said finally and pressed it on their’s if only to get their legs slowly moving. “The speeds are on the side there but the button looks like it doesn’t exist cause of the touch screen.” They glanced over at him for a moment before setting their eyes back on their machine. “Be careful not to bust your ass. It’s happened to be before. Not fun at all.”

[ella--cooper]

curlsxterpentine·:

@elisabethstarters·

→ who? anyone !! → where? somewhere out on the street

Mitch knew they kept a sign somewhere in the back of the van, but in admittance, he should’ve taken it out before painting. And so, head buried in a large box of tools, he didn’t notice the person walking right by him. But by the time Mitch had found the ‘wet paint’ sign and turned around he was just in time – to see the other sit down right onto the newly painted bench. “No no no don’t,” he still tried, fruitlessly, holding the now obsolete sign in one hand as he stepped forward. “I …” he started, unsure of the following course of the conversation, “.. am so sorry.” Working for the town’s maintenance team wasn’t exactly the dream job he’d conjured up, but at least it paid rent. Though he was pretty sure something like this wouldn’t have happened if he could just paint in a studio, with actual art supplies and with an actual vision.

***

Ella had winced the moment they sat and felt the cold paint seeping through their jeans. They had known it look suspect, or maybe they really hadn’t. They were too caught up in their head to really pay attention to much and they had just been looking for a place to sit and smoke. “It’s wet isn’t it? Goddman..what..what color is this? I mean blue isn’t the worst,” they said, trying to be calm and in all honesty they were. The three joints they had just smoked, the few sips from the beer out the door, their nerves were shot and Noel’s presence had sent them spiraling. “You wouldn’t uh..happen to have a change of pants? Weird question,” they got to their feet and turned around, sticking their butt out a bit. “How bad is it?”

[minddpalaces]

[ella--cooper]

@frankielecn

[ella--cooper]

Location: Outside of Miles & Sophie’s Place  Tagging: @miles-dalton​ (& sophie of course)

“I figured you might want to take extra precautions but I’m not going to lie, you lowkey look like the Michelin man.” Ella was doing their best to stifle a laugh along with Sophie as they took in Miles with his knee pads and elbow guards. Of course they had gotten the same for Sophie, her helmet way too cute but Miles looked a little hilarious in it. So much so that Ella couldn’t help but take a few pictures, including a selfie where they scooped Sophie up in their arms. “Alright, who’s ready for the best skateboarding lesson on this island?”

[ella--cooper]

'Cause I'm useless when you're stuck in my mind I've been foolish, think of you all the time Play some music like a harp in the sky I'ma lose it if you're not by my side

[ella--cooper]

frankielecn·:

-

Frankie had hoped that she wouldn’t receive a text from Ella indicating that they couldn’t make it to their spontaneous road trip. It was something she’d been looking to throughout the week. Despite the fact they’d be gone for a weekend, she still felt like it was a change of air they both needed right now. Especially since winter was coming and things on the island always got a little more complicated when snow and ice arrived. “You’re looking fine as fuck.” The brunette said, leaning over to kiss Ella. It was comfortable being with them. Plus they were into each other enough that they would have a lot of fun this weekend. “Of course, I doubt anything will go to waste.” Frankie had an appetite and a tolerance and from what she’d seen, they had the same. “You gotta stop dirty talking like that. I’ll pull this car over right now.” Frankie teased when Ella mentioned herb, the thought already getting her excited. “Come on, then. Let’s get you fed.” Pulling off from the road, she began to drive down to her favorite cafe. “It’s probably nothing compared to New-York but it’s pretty good. Then again, my mom always told me I’d be perfect in prison because I could eat a piece of bred with only mayo and be pleased. So let’s hope it is up to your standards, babe.”

**

“Am I? Well I had to compare to you and that is..pretty fucking hard,” they teased and settled their things better in the back before glancing out the window. “Wow, you are really selling this sandwich right now,” they joked as they pulled into the parking lot of the cafe and Ella hopped out of the car once they were parked. They couldn’t help but lightly slide their hand up her back before they headed inside and their eyes went to the order board. “Oh hell yeah, I can work with this.” Their smile was wide once their sandwiches were in hand and a steaming cup of coffee sat in a tray from them to grab and bring into the car. It felt too surreal, to good for someone like them, especially at a time when they felt more undeserving than ever before. “Okay so this isn’t the worst,” they commented, already taking a bite as they pulled out of the parking lot, barely putting their seatbelt on in the process. “Also did we decide where we’re going or are we just going? I’m down for whatever,” they added to let Frankie know that they would literally go anywhere with her but didn’t feel the need to say that explicitly. “Put on some of those country tunes, Leon. I made us a playlist, actually, should I hook that up?” They wiggled their eyebrows and sat back, reaching for their coffee, careful not to burn their mouth. “How was your week? Work getting colder and colder out there? It’s fucking brick outside lately, I’m wearing so many layers.”

[dead-end-street]

Luke & Jonesy tag team.

[ella--cooper]

@liamhayess

[ella--cooper]

marlowbennett·:

“hey, how was i supposed to know i could have been learning from a master.” marlow mused when ella said that marlow was breaking their heart. of course she would have asked the other to teach her if she’d had any idea that ella was on this island. but apart from a few text messages back and forth once they’d parted ways, the pair hadn’t really spoken. not that marlow hadn’t wanted to. but everything shared between them had been while they were overseas, both eventually going their own ways, as life took them down their own paths. but to both end up in elisabeth island… well that was a twist of fate. a snort escaped marlow when ella said she couldn’t be out there embarrassing them. “i’m not saying no. i wouldn’t dare!” the taller brunette grinned. honestly, she was more than willing to catch up with ella after so much time. “um, about a year and a half?” just long enough to settle in and for elisabeth island to start feeling like home. 

**

“fair, i mean we didn’t exactly stay in touch..mostly my fault,” they said with a shrug, knowing they couldn’t take all the blame but in most situations they could. communication had never been ella’s strongsuit. “yeah same, about the same. where were you before?” they looked over her ankle one more time before deciding they had done enough to set it and went back into the truck to pull two sodas from the fridge, handing one to marlow before taking a seat. “i’d give you a beer but i need to go grocery shopping, re-stock my fridge. so..you..elisabeth..what do you spend your time doing when you’re not waiting for me to save your ass?”

[ella--cooper]

frankielecn·:

@ella–cooper·

Roadtrip BABAY — aka in front of Ella’s shared abode.

Frankie arrived in front of Ella’s home with an array of goodies in the back. A few snacks, her bags, some alcohol, a lingerie set, and some weed. As well as a loaded playlist to go, of course. Everything that was needed to make a road trip memorable. Pushing the pad of her hand against her horn, she let it rip a few times. Hopefully none of their roommates would come out to see what the ruckus was about. “Hey hottie,” Frankie called out the window when she finally saw the brunette come out the door. “Get that fine ass in here because I’m hitching for a damn coffee and breakfast sandwich.” She said with a wiggle of her brow, leaving over to open her passenger door for the other. “I’ve got a shit ton of things for the ride and the night. Enough alcohol to make a hippo pass out. It’s gonna be a good day.” She wink with a wink as she eyed Ella in the hope that she was just as excited.

**

>Ella wasn’t even sure how they had made it through the week, the run in with Noel sending their head spinning in so many ways it was hard to catch their breath. Which is why the trip with Frankie seemed like this light at the end of the tunnel, a chance to escape with someone who they enjoyed their time with, someone they know would make it easier to forget what would be waiting for them when they got back. Ella knew they had to stop running but they also knew they weren’t ready. Would they ever be? Either way the sight of Frankie in her car brought a smile to Ella’s face as they slid into the passenger seat and didn’t hesitate to reach across and pull Frankie in for a deep kiss. “Enough for a hippo? Well damn, I’m glad you know my tolerance,” they teased and kissed her one more time before settling back in their seat. “Yeah I packed enough herb to get me through a month,” they joked, though it wasn’t a total lie. “You had me at coffee and breakfast sandwich though, I’m fucking starving. Makes me miss New York bacon, egg and cheeses.”