tea stained newpapers. mileven au.

four.

CHAPTER FOUR:
THAT'S WHAT BEST FRIENDS ARE FOR.
EL'S POV.

"DUSTY! PUT THAT DOWN!" el screamed at her curly headed friend, shooing him away from the multiple brushes and equipment she had laying out on her work table.

currently el, max, dustin and will were all at el's workspace. she had been renting out this small second office space for quite sometime now considering she really didn't want to keep everything at home. even being as messy as an artist as she is, surprisingly she did have a neat freak side of her. she figured separating her work life from her home life might keep her just a bit more sane.

plus, having the beautiful skyline of indianapolis next to her whenever she worked really kept her inspired.

"what do you even use this for?" dustin remarked as he picked up another metal tool laying on her table, inspecting it closely.

"that's basically a knife can you PLEASE put it down." el complained again, making max giggle in background.

"which one of these are you going to take with you?  you know, for the museum?" will questioned quietly as he looked up at the many canvases hanging on the large wall.

"i'm not sure. i was thinking about either redoing one once i got there, since  that would probably be easier. but, i have also thought about painting one of... well us." the small girls honey eyes drifted to the floor, slightly flustered by the second idea.

"OH MY GOD! YOU WANT TO PAINT A PICTURE OF US FOR YOUR BIG MUESUM DEBUTE! ELLIE THAT'S SO SWEET!" max exclaimed before jumping towards the brunette and pulling her into a big hug.

"wait. are you being serious?" unfortunately as much as artist loved her dusty, he did take a second to process information most of the time. well unless it's anything science or math related.

"no i'm lying." el rolled her eyes, earning a disapproving stare from the light curly headed boy. "YES IM BEING SERIOUS."

"but, why?" the other boy shyly asked. usually will would partake in a lot more enthusiasm when it came to things like this. however, he didn't understand why his best friend would choose to paint a piece of all of them to put up in one of the most famous museums in the united states. to him it sounded... unreal.

"you guys are my family. they told me i could bring whatever piece inspired me the most. so why wouldn't i bring something of you guys?" el casually sat down on the floor of her beloved workspace, crossing and tucking her legs close to her small body.

the other three friends followed her actions, forming a circle in the middle of the room.

"you never did tell us..." max started, earning a confused look from her best friend. "... about what your dad said? about you staying with him."

el sighed to herself. truly, calling her dad was a lot more difficult than she thought it was going to be. she literally almost had a full blown panic attack while she was pressing the old familiar numbers she knew by heart, praying silently to herself that the line still worked.

of course it did, she always somehow knew he'd never disconnect that number. you know, just in case...

"he definitely wasn't expecting it, that's for sure." she giggled but her laughter faded as she saw the look on her friends faces were not convinced. "he - uhh seemed busy. i coulda sworn i heard like... this sounds weird but men talking in the background? kinda like he was in the middle of something right before i called."

"like a drug deal?"

"dustinn!!" max nudged the small boy with her shoulder.

"not like a drug deal. i don't know more like a meeting. ANYWAYS, i didn't really get to say much because of it but he said yes. he also said we would have more time to talk when i got there and that he'd call me when it's closer to when i have to go. he told me he still has my room there and everything. it all seems weirdly the same but completely different too. does that make sense?" el pulled her legs closer to her body, if that was even possible.

"well, you haven't seen him in such a long time. i mean he's missed so much of your life but you've also missed so much of his. you're missing a few pages." will tried to comfort her, but was interrupted by dustin's scoff.

"i think she's missing a hell of a lot more than a few pages. maybe like a few chapters. maybe even like the whole sequel to a book. like a whole - "

"dustin you're really not helping." the fiery red head rolled her eyes before continuing. "to me, it sounds like he's been waiting for you to call him for a long time. he's probably super happy you called, el. i'm sure of it. he still loves you."

"yea i hope so." the small girl put her head down, pieces of her honey colored hair falling in front of her face.

"okay i have an idea to make everyone feel better." dustin announced as he stood up, a smile taking over his features. "since ellie here wants to put us on display for hundreds and thousands of people to see. i say we might as well look our best, huh? why don't we take some pics so you can have them for reference."

"that's... actually the only good thing you've said ever since we got here. good job, buddy." max said as she stood up from the concrete floor, patting dustin on the back before walking past him.

"THATS A GREAT IDEA!" el nearly screamed before jumping up and running over to one of her drawers, rummaging throughout the various different objects before pulling out a small digital camera. "here, i have a tripod too. we can set it up right in front of the widow so we can have a pretty background."

the group of friends slowly started to set up their photoshoot session, occasionally making jokes and bursting into laughter during the process. truth be told, they ending up taking photos with each other for the rest of the night. of course not without dustin ordering a bunch of takeout to celebrate their spontaneous idea.

the group of friends lost themselves in the moment, each of them simply not caring about how much time that was slowly starting to slip away from each of their grasps. sadly enough, it wouldn't occur to them until much later that these were the memories they were gonna miss the most when the brunette would finally board the plane towards the big apple.

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a/n: i really love the vibe of this book. i hope y'all have an amazing day!! i love y'all.