Robbers

seventeen

// seventeen //

Ella's parents left early that Saturday morning to visit her grandparents, leaving both her and Rosie alone until later at night. Normally they would all take the mini-road trip across the state, but Rosie had been particularly exhausted after her dance practice the night before - and Ella had jumped at the chance to stay home with her. She loved both her grandparents to pieces, but she needed to see Ryan again.

She'd left his house that Friday night at the last possible second, and only because she didn't know how her parents would react if she was just a few minutes past curfew. Ryan had walked her to the car, and in the driveway, Ella made him promise not to go anywhere else that night.

"Yeah, I'm staying home tonight," he had told her quietly, almost in a defeated sort of tone. He had his gaze turned towards the cracked pavement, like he was feeling guilty for threatening to run away after overhearing what his mother had told Ella. "Don't worry. I'll call you in the morning."

Then Ryan had held the car door open for Ella and bent down to kiss her again before closing it, stepping back to watch her back out of the driveway. Ella had felt the burn of his lips against hers for the entire drive home.

So after her parents left the next morning, Ella ate cereal with Rosie in front of the television. It was a particularly cold, cloudy day - there was a thick coating of frost covering the lawn that still had yet to melt - and they were both bundled in heavy blankets despite the fact that Ella had turned up the thermostat twice.

During a long commercial break, Ella's phone vibrated against the coffee table with an incoming call. She slid the nearly empty bowl of cereal onto the glass beside it, scooping the phone up and standing from the couch. Still wrapped warmly in the blanket, Ella shuffled to the kitchen and placed the speaker to her ear.

"Hello?"

"Ella. Hey."

The cool glass screen of her cellphone was growing warm against her cheek. Softly, Ella asked, "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah. Yeah, everything's okay," Ryan told her, his voice sounding cracked and scratched through the phone's speaker. "I'm five minutes from your house. Can I pick you up?"

Ella blinked. She glanced over her shoulder and saw the glow of the television illuminating Rosie's feet - the wall that separated the kitchen from the living room hid the rest of her from view. Ella considered agreeing, but the last thing she wanted to do was leave Rosie home alone again. She still felt guilty after doing it the last time.

"Sorry, I can't leave. I'm babysitting my sister," Ella told him hesitantly, after a long moment of internal debate.

Even though she couldn't see his expression, there was a clear note of disappointed echoing in his voice when he spoke. "Oh. Never mind then, I guess."

Ella sucked in a deep breath and squeezed her eyes shut. Before she could stop herself, she offered softly, "You could come over, though. My parents aren't home."

There was silence on the other end, where all Ella could hear was the faint sound of the radio in the background. She bit her lip and hoped he wasn't reading too much into that.

"What about your sister?"

She knew Ryan was worried, and he was probably feeling a little guilty because the first and only time he had seen Rosie was when Ella had missed her dance recital. "She'll be fine," Ella said automatically, without pausing to think that maybe Rosie wouldn't want to meet Ryan again. "Just come over. I want to see you."