Yours, Ellie

Chapter One

Ellie Bates allowed herself only a few indulgences in her life. For one, she frequently found herself gorging on caramel chocolates. She also occasionally allowed herself a cocktail on a night out—brightly colored of course, otherwise there didn't feel much point in spending money on a drink. And if she was in a bad mood, Ellie abandoned all of her responsibilities to spend her entire day watching all of the Twilight movies in order and cried until Ellie looked like she was having an allergic reaction. There was never quite a reason to cry, but Ellie did it anyway.

    Her best friend and roommate, Angelina, was quite the opposite. To be fair, she had grown up with her father being Marcel Lopez, one of the wealthiest men on Wall Street, so Angelina grew up with plenty of money to spend. Even with their hefty New York University tuition, it was a truly rare day for the nineteen year old socialite to come home without a shopping bag on her arm.

    Ellie glanced up from the kitchen island where she was bent over her laptop when Angelina bustled through the front door of their apartment. She murmured a quiet hello and turned back to her studies before doing a double take. Angelina was empty handed.

    "Hello, darling." Angelina greeted her.

    "Are you alright?" Ellie asked in concern. That was how out of ordinary it was for Angelina to not spend money.

    "Of course I am, because guess what I have?" Angelina asked her excitedly. Just as Ellie was about to answer, Angelina interjected and screamed, "Oh, never mind! I can't wait. My dad bought us courtside tickets to the Nets game?" She pulled the tickets out of her Chanel coat and waved them around.

    While it was slightly comforting that Angelina did in fact have an unnecessary indulgence, it didn't give Ellie any clarity. She  furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "Why? I mean, that's really nice of him, but we don't even like basketball."

    "I asked him to!" Angelina smiled.

"I'm still confused."

"You don't have to like or understand basketball to know that the players are super cute," she said in a duh tone.

    Angelina was a bit vain at times, but this time, her argument was solid. Ellie couldn't disagree, so she shrugged and admitted, "Fair point."

    "Get ready. The game starts in a couple of hours."

    "It's tonight?" Ellie exclaimed. "Angelina, I can't go! I have to study for my test."

    "That's in, like, three days! Let's go, Ellie! You can study any other day but this is an once in a lifetime experience!" Angelina protested.

    Ellie knew that if Angelina asked her father a billion more times, he would buy them a billion more tickets, but she chose not to mention it. "I can't fail this," Ellie said instead with a shake of her head.

    "Ugh, I love you to death, but you're so boring! You never go anywhere. All you do is study." Angelina groaned. She fell against the counter dramatically as if Ellie had shot her in the chest.

    "Because I'm a pre-law college student!" Ellie said defensively. She felt slightly offended. It wasn't a bad thing to be dedicated to her studies.

    "Exactly! You're a college student. You should be having fun and living your young life to the fullest or you're going to regret it when you're forty, slightly wrinkly, and trapped in a life with kids," Angelina said.

    Ellie frowned. "I like kids."

    "Forget it! I give up on you," Angelina muttered.

    "I'll go," Ellie blurted. She instantly regretted saying it, knowing she needed to study for her exam, but she hated disappointing Angelina. The way her best friend's face lit up with happiness made up for it.