Slowly learning that life is okay (GirlxGirl) [COMPLETE]

Ellie - I'm well acquainted with villains that live in my head

Cat invited them to the graduation party some seniors were throwing, and even though parties weren't for her, she made herself go.

It was late May, and the temperature was reaching 20°C during the day, but the nights were still cold, so she wore a heavy jacket on top of her flannel and sat on the couch to slip her snickers in.

"Joel? I'm going to a party," she called, tying the shoelaces and looking for her keys.

"You are going to a party?" he said, teasing her while holding his mug, and she rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, it's a graduation party. I don't know if you can remember things that happened over a century ago in your life, but you probably had one of those," she pocketed her keys.

"Ha-ha," Joel fake laughed, but his eyes shined, "now, you take care, you hear me? And if you need you can call me and I'll get you-"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," she flashed him a smile. "I know. Thanks, bye."

"Bye, kiddo."

She closed the door behind her and walked towards Cat's house. It was maybe a 20-minute walk from her apartment and she put her earbuds in. The sky was clear and she felt excited to see her friends. She knew Jesse and Dina would be there, and it just made her speed down the street to them.

Dina was still kind of avoiding her, because they only talked in school or when they were tutoring Jesse and Bonnie, and the last time they had been together was after Dina's race, when Ellie took her to the kickboxing gym before they regrouped again at the diner.

The finals week had passed, and even if now she was starting to relax because school was over, she was still unsure on how long Dina would keep distancing herself. Would they be the whole Summer holidays apart? Or would she be there when all of them hung out as a group?

Ellie was excited for the holidays. She could look for a summer job, read comics and play video games all day. They could meet at the lake and Joel and her would probably go camping. It was going to be so much better than last Summer.

She turned a corner into Cat's familiar street. Ellie stopped by Jesse's house and they walked together to Cat's.

"Where's Dina?" she asked and Jesse sighed.

"We're on a break," he looked up at the sky, "again."

"Well, I'm sure it won't take long for you guys to be back together," she said, shrugging.

"Yeah, maybe." she stopped, and she looked back at him. Jesse had a weird face, his hands in his pockets and he shifted. "I don't know, man. I don't understand her, but I like her, ya know?"

She nodded and Jesse looked off in the distance for a moment, deep in thought, then back at her with a tired smile.

"We'll see."

Cat opened the door fast after they rang the doorbell, and they made their way together to Luke's house, the senior that was hosting that night. Cat had her hand linked with Ellie's and she had a different look in her eyes. Her eyes were dark and her voice was low as she kept herself close. It made Ellie's heartbeat quicken and her mouth go dry.

There were a lot of kids there, and the bass from the music was audible from the street. There was loud chatting and cans of beers all around, and Ellie hoped she wouldn't regret being there.

Dina was talking with kids the Ellie had only seen in school, a red cup in her hand and her head moving with the music. She laughed and it was like everything slowed down around her as she took in Dina's smile, the curve of her neck... She wished she was close enough to see that one dimple on her right cheek and the glint in her dark eyes.