Join Me In Paradise ~Samuel Drake~

Chapter Five.

Their time was drawing to an end almost, Sam's birthday was coming up in about a week, making Sam almost nervous. He had never gone on his own before, he always had his brother or his family with him. Ellie offered to get kicked out with him, but her birthday was farther away than his.

They were both sitting in the library as usual, Ellie on the left side on the table and Sam on the right. They both had books open in front of them, normally the two didn't even read the books. Their librarian, Ms. Richards told them they could only stay if they had books with them once she found out about their little hiding spot.

"W-wait, what was that joke again?" Ellie laughed, trying to be quiet as she could.

"Okay, here we go. So, a pirate walks into a bar, right?" Sam started the joke, a smile stretched on his face as he looked at the girl in front of him.

"Okay? What's next?"

"Well, he has a wheel sticking out of his crotch-"

"Why his crotch?"

"Ellie, if you keep on asking me questions, I will never get through the joke!" He told her, trying to keep his own laughs in. He had just told the joke before, she just laughed through the whole thing last time. There was no way he would be able to get through it this time as well.

"Alright! I'm sorry!" She held up her hands defensively with a grin. "Now finish the joke!"

"Okay, let me start over. So a pirate walks into a bar with a wheel sticking out of his crotch! So, the bartender goes, 'Hey man, what's with the wheel?' -" Ellie giggled again, her hand covering her mouth. For some reason, she just got the giggles and couldn't let go of them. She did this every time he tried to tell a joke, she was always a laughing mess by the end of the joke. Ellie didn't understand why she laughed so much during his stupid little jokes, maybe it was the way Sam told them that made her laugh so much.

"Keep it together woman!" Sam whisper-yelled at her, trying to keep it together himself as well.

"I'm trying!"

"Try harder!"

Ellie took in a deep breath, trying to calm herself down, which ended terribly. She ended up laughing again, even harder this time. Sam laughed with her, dramatically throwing his hands on the table. "I will never be able to get through the joke at this rate!"

"I'm sorry! I can't help it!" She defended, calming down now. Ellie laughed so hard tears were coming out of her eyes. She wiped a tear away, covering her bright red face from Sam. "Okay, phew......"

"Can I continue the joke now?" Sam raised a teasing eyebrow, thinking it was funny how quickly her face got red by just laughing. He always thought it was funny how she would get embarrassed fast as well, Sam almost found it-.

No.

Sam wasn't going to say she was cute, he wasn't going to even comment on how he thought it was adorable how Ellie covered her face when she got all red. He was leaving soon, and liking her now wouldn't do him any good anyways. No matter how much Sam 'flirted' with Ellie, he wasn't going to like her.

It wasn't like he knew her like a best friend would. Yeah, of he knows some about her but not everything. Sam only met her only just a little bit ago. It was sappy for him to like her now.

It's not like he liked her personality in that way.... Sam did like the way she laughed though, he thought it was cute how easily she got flustered, he loved it when she talked to passionately about the stuff she liked-.

Oh for god's sake, he had to stop.

Sam almost forgot he was telling the joke, before Ellie said something.

"Hello? Earth to Sam? What about that joke?"

"Oh, right sorry Ellie. I just got distracted for a second." Sam made up, scratching the back of his neck. "Where was I? Oh, right. So the bartender asks, 'Hey man, what's with the wheel?' and then the pirate goes, 'Arr! It's driving me nuts!'" He didn't realize what a bad a joke it was until the words actually came out of his mouth. But, as usual, Ellie seemed to enjoy the joke as she burst out into more fits of giggles.

Sam thought, 'I think this is what I will most the most. Ellie and I, just hanging out.'

It was true, it was the thing he would miss the most. Just talking with Ellie could make any day of his brighten up. He hoped soon Ellie would be able to get out of that place, and Nathan as well. Sam would have to ask Ellie to look after him, seeing as the kid always got into fights as much as Sam did himself.

The night then faded away faster than the both of them would have liked, the week blurred past them too. All fast-forwarding to the day they dreaded the most, Sam's 18th birthday. The day he would be kicked out from the orphanage.

It took Ellie forever to get out of bed that morning, she just didn't want to face the fact that she wouldn't be seeing Sam for a long time, more than she would like.

Sam struggling to even open his eyes, not wanting to leave the unreal dream of him not leaving Ellie. He thought before the day of him leaving this place would be a day of happiness and excitement. It changed after he bonded with Ellie.

After the two were forcefully awaken by their fellow roommates, it was almost pure silence between the two as they sat in front of each other during breakfast. It would only be a little longer before he would have to leave, Ellie kept on reminding herself. Once they would bring out the, Sam would be asked to leave the orphanage for good.

His little brother Nathan wouldn't even be allowed to be there, there was such a small time frame for them to say goodbye to each other. Ellie wished for Sam's sake that the headmaster would allow the two to say goodbye.

When breakfast was finished, everyone at the dining table began to sing the cheerful song, happy birthday. Ellie took no part in on the singing, she just kept her head down and didn't meet Sam's eyes burning a hole into her.

Oh how he wanted her to look up, how he wanted to see her eyes again no matter how sad they were at that moment. The cake was then set in front of him by the nuns, and he moved his chair away from the cake as if it was poisonous.

"Go ahead Samuel. Blow out the candles." One of the nuns told him after the singing was done and he didn't do anything after a while. Sam sighed softly, taking in a breath and blowing out the candles. The other kids at the dining table clapped politely, and the nuns began to cut the cake. It was only at these times where dessert was ever allowed before dinner. Maybe because the nuns wanted Sam to get out of that place as fast as he could make it.

After the cake was cut and people had their slice, Sam took off from the dining room with no one knowing, not even Ellie. She sat quietly at the table, moving her slice of cake around on the plate with her fork not eating anything. She glanced back up at the seat across from her, noticing that it was empty.

Tears almost threatened to spill down from Ellie's face, realizing that Sam had left for good. She tucked her head down again, staying quiet until everyone was dismissed from breakfast back to their rooms. Ellie walked quickly back to the room before anyone else. She sat back down on her bed with a flop, wrapping her arms around herself.

Ellie slowly laid down on the bed, curling the covers around her before she heard the crinkling of paper. There was a crinkled up piece of paper under the covers, the writing neatly curved and a nice loopy cursive.

Sorry I left before you did, Ellie. I couldn't stand to be there any longer with you sulking like that. I wanted out of there quick, mostly because I wanted to see my little brother before I left.

Again, I'm sorry Ellie, I'm sorry I pulled you into this. Just.....look after Nathan, okay? I'll miss you.

Sam.