Eleanor Stark had it all. A kind brother, amazing friends, and a promising career.
So, what will happen when she constantly bumps into a blue-eyed soldier, who, in her words, is the personification of the word trouble?
Placed in Captain America: The...
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Soon April 18 came, and with that, Ellie's 19th birthday. Her head was elsewhere, since she would graduate in less than three weeks, but she tried not to think about it.
It turned out to be extremely complicated.
Not even Howard's yearly happy birthday little Ellie songmanaged to get her head off all the things she had to do, nor did the presents her brother gave her.
A couple of days before, Lori took Ellie to a beautiful dress store, where the birthday girl decided to buy a dark blue satin dress.
Lori had told Ellie that they were going to eat together with Alex and Tom the day of her birthday, so when Ellie arrived at her house that evening, she was surprised to see her three friends there, along with Howard and many more people she went to University with. A huge sign said happy birthday, and the whole room was beautifully decorated.
"SURPRISE!" she heard everyone say and couldn't hide the smile on her lips. For the first time in weeks she felt herself relax.
"I told you she didn't know!" said Alex, bringing Ellie on a hug.
"Yes, well, I had to take my precautions" said Lori, pushing Alex from Ellie and hugging the brunette, "happy birthday, little one"
"Don't call me little" mumbled Ellie but giggled anyways.
"But you are" said Alex and Ellie rolled her eyes playfully.
"Where did I leave your present?" muttered Lori before she was gone, looking for it, with Alex by her side.
"Happy birthday, Ellie" said Thomas, enveloping Ellie in a hug, "here" he added, giving her a small package.
She smiled and opened it, finding inside a beautiful bracelet, "Tommy this is... It's beautiful, thank you" she said, bringing him a hug.
Tom blushed a bit but hid it perfectly.
Lori came back and gave Ellie a gift as well. It was a little airplane, with little people and a little captain, her hair was the same as Ellie's.
"I know, you're not exactly a pilot, but the man that made it didn't understand what an Aerospace Engineer was, and we tried to make a little figure of a girl, you know, with tools, but it didn't look quite as good as the little captain" rambled Lori but was cut off by Ellie's hug.
"I love it," she whispered.
"I'm glad," the redhead replied happily.
They spent the evening partying in Ellie's house, and eventually, everyone but her close friends left. Even Howard did, apologizing to his sister for nearly half an hour because something had happened with that secret project of his.
It was almost two in the morning, and Alex was half sober, half drunk; Lori was as awake as ever, Tom's eyelids closed from time to time and Ellie kept eating those tiny carrot cakes her best friends had brought.
"I'll miss you" said Alex, the words came out as something like a babble.
"Awww" said Lori, messing with the boy's hair, "we'll see each other every time, idiot, you worry too much"
"We can have brunch every Sunday" said Ellie, "as if we don't do that already"
"I like brunch" nodded Alex, "brunch is nice"
"Brunch is nice" repeated Tom, "and it is even more nice when neither of you are hangover"
"Why?" asked Alex.
"Because you being hangover means you having a headache, and you having a headache gives me a headache"
Alex looked at his friend and shrugged, "I like brunch" he repeated.
"We know," they replied.
✧✦✧
A week had passed since Ellie's birthday and she felt her heart skip a beat when she found a nice-looking letter on her house mailbox.
Was it maybe...? Could it be...?
She took a quick glance at the envelope . It was addressed to Ellie, from an army captain. She quickly read the latter and it informed her that she had been accepted for the job.
She knew that it would mean designing and testing new airplanes, creating new prototypes, and much more. Ellie was so excited that she read the letter for maybe half an hour, over and over again.
She had always wanted to serve her country and being able to use her incredible mind to do so gave her goosebumps.
She quickly ran towards her kitchen and stood up in front of her brother, who had a half-eaten apple in his hand. He looked at her curiously.
"What?" he asked.
"Guess" she responded.
His gaze went to her hands and he tilted his head. When noticing where the letter came from, a proud smile appeared on his lips.
"I knew you would get it, '' he said, walking towards Ellie and hugging her.
They decided to celebrate with hamburgers. No pickles, obviously.
Ellie rambled about school, and the job she just got, and the things she would create there...
And Howard smiled because of how much her sister resembled him.
