Since We've Been Gone | Ella & Alcide
It'd been.... a while since Ella had seen her best friend and eternal source of emotional confusion: Alcide Defreny.
After all, Ella's weird bout of "pneumonia" and/or "allergy to cold" that sent her running off to a tropical island may have partially been heart sickness, no matter what she'd told Kol or anyone else who asked.
It'd been a shock to show up at Alcide's place with a backpack full of movies and popcorn, a joke ready to bubble straight over her lips, only to find the apartment stripped bare. Absolutely no trace left of the man she'd grown to care for so much in their short time back together.
He'd left her.
Again.
Just like when they were kids, he'd packed up and left town without a goddamn word or even the courtesy of a goodbye!
Her hand had tightened on the doorknob, trying to force back the tears, to take a deep breath and remind herself that he didn't owe her anything. Alcide was just her friend, nothing more. He didn't owe her a goodbye note or some sort of notice. She knew he was a nomad, what else had she expected?
Still, the knowledge of who and what Alcide really was hadn't helped the pain that lanced straight through her heart at seeing those empty rooms, not sure whether she'd ever see that beautiful grin of his again. Or how much the pain ached harder knowing that she wanted him back more than she'd ever care to admit.
But the emptiness had followed her as the cold rolled in to town, leeching every bit of warmth and sunshine from her heart until Ella knew she couldn't stay here any longer. Within days she'd hopped a private jet to some island in the Bahamas where Kol mentioned he owned a vacation home, (Perks of being in a pseudo-relationship with an extremely old and extremely wealthy vampire, of course) forcing herself to erase any and all thoughts of the small town she left behind.
Even tropical islands and Greek cabana boys weren't enough to keep Ella from her home, though. Eventually she too wandered back to the chilled Southern town, reluctantly pulling out another one of Alcide's sweaters she'd stolen years ago, heart aching once more as she slipped her arms into the sleeves and wrapped a scarf around her neck.
"Come on, Victor." She murmured to the golden retriever prancing at her side. "That's right, we're going for a walk! Aren't you excited??" A gentle laugh bubbled out of Ella at Victor's fervent barking as she slipped on his collar and lead, locking the door behind her before they set off down the street.
It was going to be fine. Everything was going to be fine. Home wasn't a place or an address you memorized, it was a feeling of warmth and companionship, and Ella was certain she had found that here in Oxford. Even if it still felt like a large chunk of what made this place home had been taken away, possibly never to return.
Nothing could prepare Ella, then, for when she looked up from tracing the tracks Victor's paws were making in the fresh-laid snow to catch those same ice-blue eyes she'd been trying to forget for what felt like ages.
"....Alcide?" She said quietly, pulling up short on Victor's lead, causing the retriever to whine loudly and strain against his leash as he tried to go sniff at the young man stopped a few feet away from them.
"But... But I thought you were gone. All... All your things were gone. You'd left." Noelle wrinkled her nose, trying to keep herself together. "You didn't even say goodbye."
