Looking Up

-----Elle's POV

"Come on! Get up sleepyhead, we've gotta get up," I say loudly as I hold one mug of coffee in my hand and pull down the blankets off of Steve with the other. He groans, rolls over onto his back and covers his eyes as I open up the curtains.

"You know I haaaate when you do that," he laughs.

"Yes I know but Claude's picking us up in 20 minutes and you need to get up!"

"Yes but why do we have to go and why so early?"

I sit on the edge of the bed and sigh, "Well, one, I have to go shopping for your birthday gifts, Claude wants to pick out some stuff for Ryanne and wants to hang out with you- and two, do you guys want a ton of people recognizing you? So come on," I hand him the mug of coffee, "Here, drink this- I also brought some coffee cake from the bakery!" I say trying to tempt him to get out of bed while nudging his shirtless chest.

"Coffee cake from the bakery?" he sits up quickly, "why didn't you say so?"

I giggle as he takes the coffee, runs his fingers through his bed head and follows me into the kitchen. "I totally forgot G was picking us up," he says before he takes a bite of coffee cake.

"Yeah I guess so! Glad you got dressed for me," Jamie yells boisterously from the other side of the room while walking towards us and Steve almost jumps out of his skin. "Aaaaand that Jamie would be here," he lets out a laugh.

"Yeah well we walked over here together! Not that I don't like seeing a hockey player wearing only boxers, you need to get your ass dressed," Jamie adds, tapping her freshly done maroon nails against the countertop with one eye brow raised and a sassy grin on her face.

"You're just such a pleasure to talk to in the morning, aren't ya?" Steve says sarcastically and leaves the kitchen. I couldn't help but to laugh at their banter. Since we've gotten back from Oakville, we've have been hanging out with Andy and Jamie a lot, and within a day Steve and Jamie were already playfully taking jabs at each other.

By the time Steve gets dressed, Claude, his girlfriend Ryanne, and Jakub are here in his SUV. I had told Claude earlier to bring Ryanne with us to the mall because I've been wanting to meet her. Since I've asked for his help with Steve's birthday, Claude and I have started becoming friends. He's been such a great help planning the party and helping me think of birthday gifts. As we pile into Claude's car, Jamie and I are introduced to Ryanne and we hit it off quickly. When we get out of the car, I notice almost immediately that all of the guys are wearing hats pushed down as far as they go so they're not as recognizable.

As Jamie steps out of the car, she scoffs when she sees Steve put on his hat and he gives her a sneer waiting for her to say something snarky. "I don't think you have to wear that hat, I can't imagine why anyone would want to take a picture with you," she's spits out nonchalantly as we start to walk towards to mall entrance and Jake and Claude both let out loud "OOO"'s and laugh.

-----Steve's POV

"So just text me when you guys are done. We'll meet here, sound good?" I say and Elle nods.

"Aye, aye Captain!" Jamie yells, and gives me a sarcastic salute, "Bye boys!" She takes Elle by the arm and the girls walk away laughing.

"Wow, and those two are best friends?" Jakub says with his thick Czechoslovakian accent.

"I know right- polar opposites when it comes to being social," I laugh softly.

"Well, Ryanne will get along with them fine- I'm not worried," he adds while his eyes linger on his girlfriend's body.

We head into a couple stores before any of us buys anything for our girlfriends. After a little bit, we sit on a couple of couches that are outside of a bookstore. I zone out looking at a sign while the Claude talks about something he wants to Ryanne.

"So do you want to get some for Elle?" G asks and then snaps his fingers to wake me from my daze.

"Huh? Get what?"

"Lingerie!"

"O-Oh, uh nah. She doesn't wear stuff like that- I would feel weird getting her-"

"She doesn't, eh? How do you know that Mase? Unless you've done something with sweet, little Elle," G says with a shit eating grin and Jake lets out a howl. I mentally curse myself and feel my face get red.

I stand up from my seat, "Shut up- let's go get lunch," I huff.

As we walk towards the food court G breaks the short silence, "I'm glad you're happy- it's good to see you smile after Jillian le- well you know. And I really like Elle," he stops walking, "s-so -uh - don't screw it up," he says quickly. I can't help but smile to myself watching G struggle to express his feelings.

"Yes and I like Elle too, especially dancing with her," Jake adds teasing me and I elbow him in the arm.

-----Elle's POV

"So what are you going to wear to dinner?" Ryanne asks me as we search through endless clothing racks at TJ Max.

"Oh, I was thinking of just wearing something that I already have."

"NO way! You've gotta get a new dress- you only have 2 and he's seen them both, right? Come on!" Jamie says as she takes my hand and pulls me to the dress aisle. They both take dresses off the racks and hand at least 4 each for me to try on. I walk out of the dressing room with my favorite dress on and model it for them.

"Oh my god Elle, YES!" Ryanne exclaims.

"You have to get that one!" Jamie adds clapping her hands together.

"You guys really think so?" I say as I turn and twist in front of the mirror contemplating how it looks. The dress is black, has a tighter fit and a black lace floral pattern for sleeves; I'm just not sure if it's the right dress for a birthday dinner.

"Elle, when you guys get back to his apartment, he's going to wish there wasn't a party," Ryanne laughs.

"Hell, he'll probably tell everyone he's sick and kick everyone out, so he can get you out of that dress asap." Jamie adds.

I feel myself start to blush, and they both tease me for it. Jamie looks at me intently, "Wait a second. I know that look- that blush- that smile! You should know that by now you can't anything from me Eleanor." I roll my eyes and head into the dressing room to change and Jamie and Ryanne stand outside the door, "you two had sex and you're glowing right now thinking about it!"

I shake my head and laugh, "Shut up J, let's just go pay for this dress."

After we hit several stores, I finally have a few great gifts to give to Steve. "Hey we're gonna run to the bathroom, you coming?" Ryanne asks.

"Nah, I'm just gonna wait for the guys here, I just texted Steve and told him we're done."

"Okay! Be right back," Jamie says just before they turn and walk away.

As I stand and wait for Steve and the guys, I just play on my phone. All of the sudden as I am texting back Steve, I hear a chilling familiar voice.

"Well, look who it is, Dan. Crazy meeting you here Ellie,"

I feel my hands start to shake, my heart drops to my stomach, but I try to stand firm. I look up, and stare the dark brown eye's I used to fawn over. "Don't call me that. Leave me alone. Now John," I say a tad shakily.

"I've been trying to get in touch with you- you didn't change your number right?"

"I DON'T want to talk to you, leave me alone." I repeat. John steps closer and his two friends get on either side of him. 'Don't panic Elle,' I think to myself. John gives me a smile that used to make me melt and reaches for arm but put I pull away.

"I'm sorry for everyth-"

"Leave me alone John," I say once again- it is the only thing my brain can process at the moment.

"Don't cut me off, Ellie," He flashes a fake smile while he grabs my arm firmly, and presses his fingers through my long sleeve shirt with all of his force.

-----Steve's POV

"Well let's go- they're done," I say with a sigh.

"Oh thank goodness, it's about time," Jake says jumping up from the couch with a smile on his face.

As we pass through the 2nd floor section of the mall, G stops us, "Hey, let me just check out the jewelers shop real quick."

"Alrighty," I say as Jake and I walk over to the railing, lean against it and look down at the people passing by.

"Look," Jake nudges me, "is that Elle?"

"What?" I look over and see the side of Elle's face and three guys standing in front of her. "Who the hell is-" I stop suddenly when I recognize the guy in the middle. "No, no, no, no" I start to say quietly but gradually get louder as I take off running looking for the closest set of stairs.

"Hey, where are you- G, get over here!" I hear Jake yell behind me.

I can feel my heart pounding in my chest as I run down the steps in seconds. I keep mumbling 'no' until I reach the bottom and run to Elle's side. John looks up at me with sinister eyes as soon as he sees my figure approaching. In a single moment when his dark eyes meet mine, his thoughts pierce through my mind and I know exactly what he is thinking of doing to Elle. I clench my fist and try not to lose my temper, but then I see him drop his hand from her arm as soon as he breaks eye contact with me. Just as I'm about to charge past Elle to shove John down, Elle looks over her shoulder and looks at me with terrified eyes. She reaches for my hand and I instantly pull her into me.

"Stay away from her," I snarl.

"And why should I do that, asshole?" John barks, "Ellie and I were just catching up. I missed her I'm sure you understand."

"No, I don't," I say as I slowly let go of Elle and place her next to me. "Do I need to make you understand what "stay away from her means?" I clench my fist and start to move towards John, but a hand holds me back and a familiar Czechoslovakian accent breaks my chain of thought, "Don't do it, Mase. It's not worth getting in trouble for this."

I turn and see Jake standing next to Elle and G has his hand on my shoulder. G takes a step closer to John and his friends, "Leave her alone, because if he doesn't kill you first, we will."

"Alright," John says, his confidence definitely shaken after G, and Jake appeared. "Ellie, always nice to see you," he chimes as he walks away. It takes everything in me not to run after him and throw him down to the ground.

"Elle are you okay?" I sigh as I hug her and she clings to my body.

"Yeah I'm fine I'm just glad you showed up when you did. He wasn't going to respect what I wanted until you got here.

"Hey! What happened?" Jamie yells and jogs over towards us with Ryanne. As soon as Elle makes eye contact with Jamie, I know she knows exactly what happened, and hugs her.

They guys give me confused and concerned looks as we make our way out of the mall with the girls ahead of us, Elle is in the middle with Jamie's arm over her shoulder. I let them get a little further ahead so I can tell the guys what that was all about. I fill them in quickly with broad details- they didn't need to know what he did to her on an emotional level. As soon as I tell them that he gave her a black eye, they can't believe it. "If I knew that, I would have let you kill him- hell, I would've helped you," G spits out. As we pile into the car, everyone is relatively quiet, but I try to cheer Elle up.

When we get close to her apartment, she looks up at me, "Can you stay tonight?" she says quietly, but I hear her through everyone's loud conversations. "Of course," I smile.

********

That night, Elle is feeling better but I can sense that she is still shaken up. Every once in a while, I can see the fear flood her eyes, whenever she zones out. After a couple of episodes of Sons of Anarchy, I suggest heading to bed since she looks so tired from today. Since the incident, guilt has been riding me, why wasn't I there? Before going into Elle's room, I tidy up the living room.

Looking through the doorframe from the living room, I watch Elle examine her arm with a blank expression in the mirror, her chin on her left shoulder, and one hand holding up the sleeve of one of my old shirts. 'What is she doing?' I think to myself- suddenly, I realize, "No," I say wearily. As I rush to her room, Elle notices the concern on my face, and drops the sleeve.

"Show me, please" I say with hopelessness in my voice.

She shakes her head, "No, it's not bad, y-you can barely see it."

"Is that what you used to tell yourself?" I ask and she gives me a blank stare. I pull up her sleeve and she doesn't stop me, instead she lifts her arm up so I can see it better. "No, no, no. How could I let him do this to you again," I say angrily as I see his fingerprints bruised into her skin, wrapped around her arm.

"It's not your fault, you didn't know he was there," she says quietly trying to make me feel better.

"No, I can't not be there when he is- I'm lucky Jake saw you when he did," I confess, "He's not going to hurt you again, I'll kill him if he even comes close."

"Don't feel guilty anymore please- it's not your fault," she murmurs.

"It's hard not to," I admit, my voice quaking as another wave of guilt hits me as I observe the mark once again. I lean down, kiss her bruise slowly, and pull her in for a hug. Elle leans back to meet my eyes, "Ya know, maybe I should be the one wearing a hat to hide my face," she laughs weakly.

"That might not be a bad idea for when you're walking back from the bakery."

"Steve, I was joking!"

"I know, but I'm not," I say, giving her a stern look, "please do it for me."

"Fine, fine, just for you," Elle replies and gives me the happiest grin I've seen on her face all night.

Notes

Hey everyone! Hope you liked the chapter! I should have the next one up over the weekend since I wrote an outline for it earlier today- more drama! Thanks for reading! Make sure to comment, rate and subscribe! I love getting feedback, positive or negative- I'm always looking to better my writing skills!

FYI: Updates are going to become more frequent since my semester ends next week! Good luck to everyone who has finals!