it’s always been inside of you || 4th july
Central Park was brimming with people, as expected on an event like tonight’s. Ella smoothed down her red, white and blue striped dress, the one she and Josie had made up especially for the celebrations. All the Mitchell women and men were gifted with some form of patriotic clothing ready for the Central Park firework display - it was an unspoken tradition.
She had waved goodbye to Melody earlier on and was now in search of Darren, Bonnie and Luke, knowing they’d be around here somewhere. She ducked through the crowd, apologizing politely and profusely to anyone she knocked along the way.
Finally catching sight of some familiar faces, she rushed over, brimming with excitement over the firework show she was about to witness. She’d always loved fireworks, even more so after the events of New Years the year before last. However, tonight was not for dwelling in the past - apart from the far away past, Declaration of Independence and all that.
She caught Luke’s arm, flashing a smile to Darren and Bonnie. “Hey guys! I’ve been looking everywhere for you!”
Ever since the accident, Luke hadn’t felt right. Something was missing, and he knew exactly what it was - his memories. His memories of the past few years, to be exact. And while some people would say that would change little about a person, Luke would beg to differ.
He just felt lost and stuck, it’s a weird sensation to have Darren laugh about something that they did together and to not remember any of it. To find a song written down that you love and find instantly wonderful, only to find your name on it and realizing that you were the one to write it… it was all just wrong.
To say he was excited about tonight was probably an understatement, ever since he remembered his interactions with Ella from before the accident, Luke had been planning a little something. Now that he was sure that he had come to remember the main majority of his lost memories, he was finally starting to feel more like himself and his current self was missing something.
As he felt her hand on his arm, his smile grew and he looked over to Darren and Bonnie, as if to reconfirm that they were in on the whole plan. “Well what took you so long, we’ve been waiting for you for ages!” He joked as he turned to look back at Ella.
As usual, Ella felt a little flutter in her stomach at the sight of Luke's smile. It was a bit silly really - they'd been well acquainted for two years now and dating for some of that time so she was more than used to seeing his lips turn up into that lovely grin. However, she was always just a tiny bit nervous around him nowadays, never sure if he remembered this event or that memory and the emotion that came with it.
Knowing Luke knew that a part of him liked, maybe even loved her, was almost harder than if he'd just forgotten her entirely. If he'd had a blank slate, they could have possibly started afresh and built something new. Luke having romantic feelings but no base to put them made it more difficult because she didn't want to feel she was manipulating or taking advantage of the situation to create the relationship she wanted.
Ella shook herself out of her head and back into the present moment; tonight wasn't about any of that. It was just about having a good time with some friends and enjoying one of her favourite holidays (all the holidays were her favourite but still).
"I was with Melody," she waved him off with a smile. "There's still like twenty minutes until the fireworks, I wasn't going to miss them." She pointed out.
Ella turned down Darren and Bonnie's offer to grab her a drink as they headed to the confectionary stand and moved to stand more inline with Luke, feeling the familiar awkward but somehow still fond tension drop over them. "So... Are you looking forward to the fireworks?"
