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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Ellie evaded the rooftop.
She ended up having her breaks on the grim building.
No, she thought to herself, it was my place first.
As childish as it sounded, it was indeed her place first, so one night, almost a week after the incident, she was back at the rooftop again, and no one was there.
She smiled triumphantly and sat down, her hot coffee in hand.
But the calm, relaxing minutes she got were interrupted when someone sat down next to her.
"Good night," the boy smiled.
"Oh, come on" Ellie complained, "why don't you go bother someone else?"
"Because I want to bother you"
"That's really creepy, I hope you're aware"
He furrowed his brows, as if just realizing, "it does seem creepy"
"Yes" she said, "very"
"I'm truly sorry, then, if I made you feel uncomfortable" he said. Honestly. Heartily.
That took Ellie by surprise.
She had grown up with a self-absorbed narcissist, not-liking-to-ask-for-forgiveness brother; and some of these characteristics, if not all, she had grown up to have as well.
Ellie went quiet for a while, not knowing what to say.
What do you say when someone says they are sorry?
Noticing this, the boy smiled, "not familiar with apologies"
"Not in the slightest" she responded, and he nodded.
A not so awkward silence followed.
"Can I ask you something?" the boy said, and this time a grin was not in his face, but a shy smile.
This made Ellie smile a bit, and she started playing with the hem of her sweater.
"Yes" she responded.
"What's your name?" he said.
"Eleanor"
"That's a long name,"
"I don't really think it is," she responded, "take Bartholomew as an example. It is a longer name. Eleven letters. Whereas Eleanor has only six" she rambled, and the boy grinned.
"I'll call you... Lane" he said after a second.
"I don't think that one is an Eleanor nickname," she responded.
"It works just fine," he smiled.
"No one calls me that," she said.
"Even better"
Ellie stayed silent for a while and thought it was the right, polite thing to ask the boy for his name as well, so she did.
"What's your name?" she asked.
"James" he responded, "but my friends call me Bucky"
Feeling not too friendly with the boy, at least not just yet, she said, "nice to meet you James. Next time, don't be creepy, will you?"
He chuckled, "I won't, I promise"
✧✦✧
The weeks passed and Ellie spent more time with the soldier, his last name was Barnes. He was a very talkative and curious person, perhaps too much for Ellie's liking, considering she was a very silent, private one.
That is how Ellie began to get to know James Barnes more. Three years ago he had joined the military, and he was now 23 years old. He was the eldest child of four, and had grown up in Brooklyn. He loved fantasy books; and hated physics and mathematics, though he did quite well in exams from said subjects in school.
James, for his part, knew little to nothing about Ellie. He didn't know her last name. He didn't know if she had siblings, parents, or in which part of New York she had grown up.
He didn't push her to tell him any more things she did not feel comfortable sharing, though. This was because he noticed how she talked about herself when he asked her something personal, always avoiding questions like "how was your life at high school" or "in what area your parents work."
It didn't bother him, at least not much. It was the first time he got to talk about himself not in a gloating way, but in a sincere way, a calm and friendly way. He felt as if he didn't need to prove himself, which he did almost every time he talked to girls.
And Ellie was a good listener, perhaps because she was really bad at talking, he thought.
Ellie was, indeed, a bad talker when it came to getting to know people.
She didn't like meeting new people, because meeting new people meant sharing, even in the slightest, about yourself.
And then again, she didn't like that at all.
So, when James stopped making personal questions, she felt relieved.
She liked listening sometimes, but with him, she listened to it all.
From the stories of him in high school, and how he said he was the best athlete and how he got a date with a cheerleader once because he got the first place in a race in his school; or when he went to Coney Island with one of his friends and he ended up throwing up because James convinced him to ride the Cyclone.
"You are a bad friend" had chuckled Ellie when he had told her this story.
