Just for you, don't you ever leave me alone

It would be an understatement to say that Nick was surprised by the length Ella had gone for their date together. She had “tested” him in a way he never saw coming, but he understood why she did it. And he didn’t hold it against her in the slightest. If it helped her feel safe, who was he to say anything about it?

So he decided to move right past it and gave her a smile, and apologized again. “Ella, I’m sorry that I made you feel like you had to go this far to test if I actually wanted to spend time with you today or not,” he said softly. “I should have done a better job of getting to know you and spending time with you this round. I’ve recently realized that being so passive all the time is actually a huge problem, and I promise I’m going to start taking a more proactive role in terms of spending time with everyone so nobody feels neglected.” If Ella was too shy to seek him out, then it was his responsibility to make time for her. He didn’t want her or their budding relationship to suffer due to her doubts or hesitation about spending time with him.

Ella looked at him with wide eyes and her face grew hot. “That… it… …Okay,” she said finally, giving him a swift nod. “I’ll… I’ll do it! Yeah…”

Her smile broke across her face, and she seemed to relax, like all the tension drained out of her. Nick was glad to see it.

“Great, I’m so happy for you both!” Rose cooed, applauding them. “Especially you, Ella! You’re making such great progress… I’m so proud…”

The actress wiped away her tears with an exaggerated flourish as Ella looked at her in **** appreciation. She was grateful for everything Rose had done for her, but the blonde was a massive drama queen.

“…Thanks,” she said as sincerely as she could muster. “You really helped a lot…”

Rose rebounded back to being all smiles in a flash. “I was happy to do it!” She chirped, batting her eyelashes. “Now then… where are we going to be going today, again? For our date?”

Nick stared at her. Rose wasn’t invited too, was she? While he should have expected her to take any opportunity she could get to tag along on a date with him, there was no way Ella would have planned that out after the drama of her little invisibility plan, right?

He turned to Ella for confirmation and saw her staring coldly at the other woman.

“Get lost.”

Rose twisted her mouth into a wide “O” and held her hand over her chest. “Why, I never!” She huffed. “Who exactly do you think arranged for this wonderful date? And THIS is how you repay me?”

Ella glared at her.

Nick opened his mouth to say something in her defense, but before he could, he felt Rose’s eyes flicker over to him. She winked and held up her hands, and stepped back with a curtsy.

“…As you wish,” she cooed, fluttering her eyelashes towards Ella. The smile on her face signaled her little gambit to Nick, and he groaned.

So that’s what she was doing, another test to get Ella to stand her ground. Nick looked over at the shorter girl and noticed that Ella must have figured that out too, because her face was burning and her horrified realization was painted all over it. Their eyes met and she quickly turned away, no doubt feeling like an idiot for not figuring out Rose was playing with her sooner.

And she was probably also feeling like **** Rose out a little bit. Nick couldn’t really blame her. Rose had a habit of overstaying her welcome.

“Well, I’d say it’s about time I took my leave then, if I’m not invited on your special little date,” Rose said, twirling a lock of her hair. She blew Nick a kiss. “You two have fun together!” She cooed. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t… no, that’s far too cliché… how about I just suggest you two use protection, like a pair of responsible kiddos should?”

“I’m older than you,” Nick said, scowling. Ella just stood stiff as a board.

With a giggle on her lips, Rose flounced back into the room, leaving just the two of them alone in the hall together.

Ella’s eyes met Nick’s immediately, like she couldn’t stop looking at him now that it was just the two of them together. She bit her lip with a **** expression on her face, like she wanted to say something, but just couldn’t.

It was strange, Nick thought. She could tell Rose to get lost without hesitating, but once it was just the two of them, it looked like Ella would rather be anywhere else.

Nick knew that if he wanted the two of them to have a good time together, he would need to be careful with how he talked to her. The last thing he wanted was to say the wrong thing.

But a compliment couldn’t hurt, right?

“Ella, I like your outfit today,” he complimented her. “You look really pretty.”

Ella’s eyes widened. “You… you think so?” She asked, her shyness doing little to thwart the smile spreading across her lips as she looked down at herself. “Rose and Vivian… both helped me pick it out… and I, um, I’m in the Fashion Suite this round, so I should take advantage of that, right?”

She really did look cute, Nick wouldn’t have said so if he didn’t believe it. (Okay, he probably would have, but it was still the truth!) Her hair was brushed straight and framed her delicate features, and she’d even tried to style her bangs out of the way with a hairclip, even if they still hung down a little. She was wearing a sundress in a bright baby blue, and a shawl over it to keep from showing too much skin. It was the kind of outfit Nick could absolutely imagine a girl wearing on a modest summer date with her boyfriend, and the sensible, comfortable shoes she’d paired with it made him wonder if she planned a lot of walking outside for their outing.

He also noticed she’d brought a fairly large handbag with her, which he found curious. After all, it wasn’t like they needed money or anything on the island.

“Thank you,” Ella said a little loudly. Nick realized that he’d been staring at her and snapped back to reality.

“Ah, uh, yeah,” he said, scratching his head. “You, you’re welcome.” The way she was looking at him, her face overflowing with gratitude, it was nice. He knew he’d made the right choice in complimenting her outfit.

But again, he noticed that Ella was holding her bag a little too tenderly. It gave him the impression of a spy guarding nuclear secrets handcuffed to her wrist or something, and he couldn’t help but ask her about it.

“Your bag is cute too,” he said, trying to make it sound casual. “It accents your outfit really nicely. That’s a good choice!”

Compliments, lots and lots of compliments. He wanted to reassure Ella that he was happy to spend the day with her, and the best way to do that was compliments.

But her eyes flickered with suspicion and she squinted at him, clutching her bag a little harder.

“You… don’t have to go overboard,” she mumbled, confusing him.

“What?” Nick wasn’t sure what kind of response that was.

Ella drifted a little closer to him, but she felt even further away somehow. She looked up at him with those amber eyes of hers and bit her lip.

“You’re being a little… too nice,” she said after a brief pause. “It’s because I did something so weird this morning… now you’re walking on eggshells around me… trying to reassure me you want me to be here, right?”

Nick slightly inhaled, trying not to wince. Ella was more perceptive than he’d expected. She didn’t like being babied or patronized, he’d been reminded of that enough times. It was a difficult balance to strike with the girl, reassuring her that he enjoyed her company and wanted to spend time with her while also making sure not to go overboard and treat her like she needed someone to hold her hand.

Whatever else she was, she was still an adult with feelings who knew full well just how difficult her circumstances made things for herself and others. And for very obvious reasons she didn’t like being reminded of that fact every day of her life.

“…If there’s something you want to ask me, just ask it,” she said, trying to sound open and inviting. She failed miserably. Her statement had the cold bite of a hostile blizzard.

For most people that might have led to a bad outcome. But Ella was lucky that Nick had some experience when it came to accepting responsibility that everything was his fault.

“I’m sorry,” he apologized sincerely. “I’ll try to do better. And you’re right. I was curious about your bag.”

Ella sighed. She figured that was it. Smiling at Nick she held the bag up, adjusting her shoulder. “It’s… a change of clothes,” she informed him. “For… you know.”

She didn’t have to say it, Nick understood immediately. And he was impressed. Ella had thought ahead and brought a spare change of clothes for Cinder. While he figured she wasn’t planning on showing him that side of her today, if things didn’t go the way they expected it was better to be safe, and have something for her to change into.

Cinder probably would be even more irritated if she was **** to wear something this frilly all day.

“…That’s pretty smart of you, being all prepared like that,” Nick said neutrally, complimenting her without alluding to the angry, foulmouthed elephant in the room. “You never know what could happen.”

“Yeah…” Ella smiled, and he saw her relax her shoulders a little as she exhaled. It seemed she’d been just as wary as he was, and that confirmed for Nick that he’d made the right choice in complimenting her without bringing up Cinder.

He decided to press his advantage and push forward like it didn’t even matter. “So what do you want to do first?” He asked, trying not to mention any of the specifics of their date. The less pressure he put on Ella, the better. Nick decided to take things at whatever pace she was comfortable with.

Ella could tell that was what he was doing. She’d developed a bit of an eye for when people were being overly considerate of her. But this was a fine example of it, and one that didn’t bother her at all.

“I have a date plan,” she stated with as much confidence as she could muster. “It’s not anything too special, so don’t get your hopes up, but… it’s something I’ve always wanted to do… if I can, anyway.” She wasn’t sure if it would work or not. Only now as they were discussing it did Ella feel like kicking herself for not confirming ahead of time with Dakota that this was even possible.

Her mind raced as she tried to think of something to say.

“Um… I just need to, uh…” The words wouldn’t come out. Ella desperately wanted to plead with Nick to not get his hopes up, but she just couldn’t. Her shoulders sagged and she looked up into his eyes, and sighed.

Then her stomach began to growl.

“Ah-!” Ella quickly covered her chest as her face lit up with embarrassment. “That-! That wasn’t-! I wasn’t talking about, um…”

Great, now he thought that her big plan was stuffing her face! She could just die.

“It’s alright,” Nick said, giving her a smile that soothed her concerns. “You haven’t eaten breakfast yet, have you?”

Ella hung her head with shame. “I… I didn’t…” she mumbled. “I didn’t have an opportunity…”

Nick was about to say something but then he remembered. Shit. “…You were in the Master’s Suite, huh… yeah, sorry about that.”

Holly had prepared quite a feast for him before his date, trying to get into his good graces to earn some details about his night with Kim. And of course, Nick had eaten it without hesitation.

How could he have known that he was being watched by a girl wearing an invisibility mask?

“…It looked really good,” Ella said, biting her lip. Her stomach yearned desperately for some of that delicious food, even now. But it wasn’t like she could just take off her mask and pop up in the middle of the room and demand to be fed.

That was something Cinder would do, because Cinder didn’t think things through.

Fortunately for Ella, Nick seemed more guilty than anything, having enjoyed himself on Holly’s delicious cooking right in front of her.

“If you want, we can go back, I’m sure Holly or Mary would make you something,” Nick suggested, not wanting Ella to start the day on an empty stomach.

Ella quickly shook her head. “No! That’s okay!” She said a little too loudly. “It- that would just be a waste of time, and they’re probably busy… and… um…”

She took a couple trembling steps forward, closing the distance between the two of them. She’d been training for this. Now she could actually even touch him without freaking out.

Mostly. Just her hand on his arm, anyway. He felt so warm and gentle.

“I… I want to spend as much time with you as I can,” she asserted, gazing into his eyes. She was so lost in them she didn’t even realize what she was saying.

A flustered gasp escaped her lips and she took a step backwards, breaking contact as her eyes widened. “That, um… that came out…”

She was about to say “That came out wrong” but she caught herself.

Wasn’t that exactly what she meant, after all?

She wanted to spend time with him. Alone.

Without the other girls he already liked to draw his attention.

Having gone up to the Master’s Suite nearly every night this round, Ella had spent more time around the two of them than she’d ever wanted. And every time, she’d gotten to see for herself just how much Nick loved and cared about them.

It stung.

Ella knew that he liked her, but it couldn’t come close. Was this her perfect faerie tale romance? Falling for a guy who loved other women way more than he liked her?

It was as good as she was going to get, apparently. Even though dwelling on it just made everything hurt so much more.

Nick could see there was something holding her back. He wasn’t sure what to say. He didn’t want to sound too patronizing or come off as babying her, but if he was too reserved that might have the wrong effect too.

What was the right answer here?

Maybe there isn’t one.

Nick decided not to say anything.

That proved to be the right choice.

Ella took a deep breath and dug herself out of the hole she’d fallen into in her mind, and raised her head to look at him again with renewed confidence.

“…I’m sorry, I was just… trying to sort out my feelings,” she apologized, rubbing her rubber-band against her wrist. She didn’t snap it. “It’s okay, I’m fine now.”

Nick nodded slowly and smiled. “That’s good,” he said. Beyond that, he wasn’t sure. “So Ella…”

“Yes?” Ella asked quickly.

“If you want to spend time with just the two of us, that works out perfectly for me, too,” Nick assured her with a smile.

She melted just a little, and a beaming smile broke across her blushing face.

“Yeah, um… I-I would,” she said, nodding. “I want… I want to get food, too, but… just the two of us, please?”

“That sounds like the best plan,” Nick agreed. He remembered their first “date” in Dream Alley and how she’d ravenously devoured that hamburger. “There are plenty of restaurants in the Shopping District, what do you feel like eating?”

Ella blinked. She hadn’t even thought of that. Most of the time she just ate whatever she could get her hands on.

“You mean… I get to choose?” She asked, like getting to pick her own food was some sort of luxury she’d never been privileged to experience before.

Nick stared at her, dreading the idea of another Kim situation where she was too reserved to indulge herself and do the things she wanted to do.

“Of course you-”

“I want hamburgers!” Ella blurted out with a wild look in her eyes. “And pizza! And… and… an ice cream, and… um…!”

Her face burned and she covered it with her hands. “…Please forget that,” she whimpered, feeling like a complete fool for just losing control like that. “That’s too much, isn’t it?”

Nick didn’t bother fighting off the smile tugging up his lips. His fears of another Kim situation were put to bed- Ella clearly had no problem with saying what she wanted, that was for sure.

“Let’s try not to get ALL of that at once,” he suggested. Nick remembered how Ella had gotten sick, unfortunately, and that was the last thing he wanted her to go through again. “And that stuff is a little heavy for breakfast…”

“You said I could get what I wanted,” Ella said, a sulky expression appearing on her face.

Nick quickly pivoted, “Well yeah, of course you can. I’m not saying you can’t!”

His sudden shift in demeanor made Ella cringe. She realized how she’d come across, and now Nick was trying to mollify her.

She HATED being mollified.

“No, it’s fine, I’m sorry for being so… stinky about it,” she said, not educated enough to know any other words to describe her previous attitude. She rubbed her stomach, which was gnawing insistently at her almost as much as Cinder did. “You’re right, if we go to all those places, we’ll be wasting too much time.”

She was starving, but she knew how this was going to go. She had a grim portent of the future and it involved gorging herself on junkfood and then puking all over him in the middle of her date.

Yeah, Nick said she shouldn’t be afraid to indulge herself and eat whatever she wanted, but that didn’t mean there wouldn’t be consequences.

If only she didn’t feel so hungry!

“Let’s, um, walk around for a little, maybe,” she said, rushing to the elevator in the hope of wearing out her stomach. “We’ll find some place to eat.”

“Yeah, sure thing,” Nick said, stepping onto the elevator with her. He was just relieved that she wasn’t going to freak out or anything like that. “Whatever you want, Ella!”

She smiled at him a little. “…Thanks for listening before,” she said once they were on their way. “About… Mary and Holly. I know they’re good cooks, but…”

“No, I totally understand,” Nick said, shaking his head to assure her that she wasn’t wrong for feeling the way she did. “It’s okay to want breakfast to be just the two of us. I’m pretty sure this is the first time we’ve been actually alone together all round, you know!”

He’d meant that as a joke, but the ashen look on Ella’s face was particularly miserable; like she was overwrought with something. “…Sorry,” he apologized with a wince. “That’s my fault too, after all…”

Ella’s eyes bulged and she quickly shook her head. Nick didn’t know what the cause for her sudden bout of panic was, but it came as a surprise. “No!” She said. “It’s not, um, that. No, yeah, uh, just the two of us alone, um… for the first time… definitely. That-that’s fine with me…”

Nick nodded dumbly, not sure what was up with her. She looked relieved after saying that now. He didn’t understand what had brought on the sudden conflux of wild, various emotions in the girl, but this was a very surreal way to start a date, he knew that much.