Ella Awakened (13 page)

“Don’t be
flippant!” Sarah narrowed her eyes and pointed her finger at Ella. “I covered
your ass this morning.  Your Aunt Rachel called me when she couldn’t find you
and asked if you’d slept here last night.  My best friend intuition told me to
say yes.”

Ella’s eyes
widened in horror.  “Which you did, right?  You told her I was here?”

Sarah
crossed her arms and paused for effect. “Yes I did,” she finally said smugly.  

“Thank
you.”  Ella rolled her eyes.  Sarah could be
such
a drama queen.

“You’re
welcome; now where the hell were you?  I was scared shitless!”  She put her
hands on her hips then stamped her foot.

Ugh
, Ella didn’t know how much
information she wanted to divulge at this time.  She decided it was best to be
mostly
honest.
  “I was with Burke.”

Sarah
snapped her fingers.  “I knew it!  You’ve been with him this whole time!  Since
he showed up here and practically kidnapped you, I mean.”

Ella sighed
and blew a strand of hair out of her face. “It wasn’t kidnapping but yes, I’ve
been with him since Friday.  Except that I went home to Aunt Rachel’s Tuesday
on my birthday.”

“Oh yeah,
happy birthday, your present’s over there,” Sarah pointed to a gift bag on the
bed with the rest of Ella’s things.  “But don’t change the subject.  Who is
this guy?  Wait a minute.  Before you answer that, are you better?  You were
pretty frickin’ sick.”  Sarah plopped into her cushy chair, getting comfortable
for what she hoped was going to be a juicy story.

“Yes, I’m
fine.  Never felt better, actually.”  Ella stretched out on the floor leaning
her back against the bed.

“Great, now
who is Burke?”

“Believe it
or not, he’s a doctor.  I met him when I was looking for a summer internship. 
He’s a medical examiner, and he asked me out for lunch.  You know how I hate
hospitals; he took me to see a friend of his from med school who has a private
practice.  It turned out I had the flu.  Burke took care of me.  I’m better
now.”

“Hmmmmm, a
medical examiner.  How old is he?”

“Twenty-seven.”

“Are you
dating him?”

“We’ve gone
out a couple of times.”

“Are you
having sex with him?”

“Sarah!”

“Whatever,
Ella.  Are you?”

“No.”

“Mind if I
have a go?”

“Yes, I
mind.”

“I figured! 
Anyway, I
too
am seeing someone new,” Sarah smiled mischievously.

“Anyone I
know?”

“Yes, as a
matter of fact.  Now don’t wig out,” Sarah held her hands up as if to ward off
evil.  “But it’s Jeremy.”

“Jeremy?  As
in my cousin, Jeremy?”

“Yes, your
cousin Jeremy and I are dating.  See what happens when you fall off the face of
the Earth for five days?  You officially become out of the loop.”  Sarah
rotated her finger in the air making a circle.

“Wait just a
minute.  How and when did this happen?”

“Remember
last month when I went home with you to your Aunt and Uncle’s twenty-fifth
wedding anniversary party?  Well Jeremy and I talked and flirted and just kind
of hit it off in general.  We exchanged numbers and have been talking and
texting and he drove here once on a weekend to take me to dinner and a movie
and now, as you know, he’s moving here so there you have it.”  Sarah took a
deep breath. 
There, she’d gotten it out.

“How did I
not know any of this?”  Ella shook her head. 
Sarah and Jeremy – wow – was
it awesome or awful?

“Because it
all only happened in the past month, and you had been feeling like crap and
lying around tired and headachy and moany, and I didn’t want to bug you.  As a
matter of fact, the day your prince charming kidnapped you - yes I’m sticking
with kidnapping - I was going to take you out to lunch and spill my guts.”

“Do Aunt
Rachel and Uncle Ben know?  I mean, just so I don’t let any unknown information
slip.”

“Not
really.  You’re the first to know.  We’ll tell them, but right now it’s no big
deal.  It’s still new; we’re not shopping for rings or anything.  Have they met
Burke?”

“No, but
like you said, still new, no big deal, not shopping for rings.”

“Okay, now
that we’re all caught up let’s get you over to that new apartment of yours!  It
is sweet!”  Sarah sprang to her feet. 

Ella and
Sarah started lugging what few belongings Ella still had left in the dorm room
they had shared down to Ella’s car.  It felt good to be hanging out with Sarah
again; it felt normal.  Ella didn’t realize how much she missed
normal. 
Not
that Burke wasn’t amazing - because he definitely was.  But the Demon situation
- not so much.

Sarah tagged
along with Ella over to the apartment.  As luck would have it, the apartment
was located directly across from the city park about half way between the
school and the road to Burke’s house.  This part of town was rather upscale,
and it had a beautiful view.  Ella couldn’t help but be a little surprised.  She
was beginning to question Aunt Rachel’s claim that this was going to be less
expensive than Jeremy and her living in the college dorms.  She parked her car
in the designated space, and she and Sarah each grabbed an armload of things
from the trunk and proceeded up the stairs to the second floor.

Her Uncle
must have seen Ella pull up, because she didn’t even get a chance to knock
before he opened the door.  “Here sweetheart, let me help you,” he said taking
her duffle bag from her.  “Hello there, Sarah, good to see you again,” he added
when he saw her behind Ella.

“Wow!” Ella
exclaimed. “Have you guys been here all day?”

“Just
about,” Jeremy said good naturedly sneaking a wink at Sarah, “and as usual you
show up when the work is almost done.”

“Did this
apartment come furnished?” Ella asked.

“No,” her
Aunt Rachel said coming out of one of the bedrooms, “and if you would have been
easier to find you would have had more of a say as to what went into it.  As it
is, we went with neutral things.  If you don’t like it you can blame your
cousin.”  She walked over to Ella and hugged her.

“It’s
perfect,” Ella said.

The front
door of the apartment opened into a living room with a galley kitchen.  It was
small but comfortable.  There was an overstuffed blue denim couch and matching
chair facing an entertainment center.  Ella recognized Jeremy’s television and
DVD player from home.  Two tall beige director’s style chairs were pushed up to
the kitchen bar.  There were several framed Ansel Adams prints on the walls. 
Ella smiled; that was surely Jeremy’s doing.  He had a passion for
photography.  Rachel was putting some plain red pottery dishes in one of the
glass fronted kitchen cabinets on a shelf below the heavy clear drinking
glasses.

There was a
single door on each side of the living room.  Looking first in one and then the
other, Ella saw that they were identical bedrooms each with their own
bathrooms.  Her Aunt had furnished them simply with full sized black wrought
iron beds, a simple black nightstand with a single drawer, and a tall black
chest of drawers topped with a matching black framed mirror.  Jeremy had
already laid claim to the room on the right, and Ella saw that her uncle had
put her bag in the one on the left.

“I brought
my bedding from the dorm room,” Ella told her Aunt, “but that’s for a twin
bed.”

“I figured
as much.  Just put it by the front door and I’ll take it home with me.  Come on
girls.  Let’s go see if we can find Ella some bedding.”  Rachel grabbed her
keys and headed toward the door.

“Thank you
so much Aunt Rachel, but I feel like you guys are going overboard with the
furniture and everything,” Ella said.  Sarah pinched her and mouthed
don’t
be stupid.

“This is
your first apartment, Ella.  Be excited.  Besides, I went with good strong
traditional pieces that you’ll be able to use for a long time after college. 
And believe it or not, this really was the more economical way to go with both
you and Jeremy living here.  Besides, I have a feeling you’ll be sticking
around and getting your master’s degree at least, if not your doctorate, and
this way you can keep an eye on Jeremy for me.”  Rachel laughed, but Ella knew
she was only half joking.

~~

They pulled
into Linens and Things.  Ella chose a simple white down comforter with white
sheets and pastel colored throw pillows.  They also picked up a black and white
damask print shower curtain, a white bathmat and white towels.

“The utility
and rent bills will be coming directly to your Uncle and me, so you and Jeremy
don’t have to worry about any of that.  I’ll give you each one hundred dollars
a week for gas and groceries.  Be smart and responsible - make it last.  But of
course if you need anything or have anything unexpected come up just let us
know.  Everything sound okay?”

Ella hugged
her aunt.  “It’s more than okay.  I hope you know how much I appreciate you and
Uncle Ben.”

Rachel’s
eyes became watery.  “I love you so much, Ella.  I’m also very proud of you,
and your parents would be too.  All right now, let’s get this stuff back to
your apartment.  I want to get home before it gets too late.  I have to be at
the shop early in the morning.”

~~

Just over an
hour later Jeremy, Sarah, and Ella were lounging around the apartment.  Rachel
and Ben had left and everything was put away.  “What now?” Jeremy said.

“I have an early
class,” Sarah told him.  “Can you drive me back to school?”  She batted her
eyelashes.

“Sure, are
you going to hang out here, Ella?” Jeremy asked.

Oh
brother.
  Ella
rolled her eyes.  “You guys don’t have to run away and make out in the car like
a couple of sixteen year olds.  I’m going to meet someone for dinner anyway. 
I’ll pick up some groceries tomorrow.  Jeremy, if you want anything special
just leave a list on the bar.  Do we have a washer and dryer?”

“You need to
open the cupboards and look around, Ella.  Mom and Dad hooked us up.  She
probably didn’t want you at a laundry mat in the middle of the night, and she
was probably worried about me wearing clean underwear.  The closet next to the
fridge has a stacked washer and dryer.”

“I don’t
know what you see in him,” Ella said to Sarah.  “I’ll see you two later.”

Ella grabbed
her pocket book and keys and called Burke on her way down the stairs.  “Hey,”
she said when he answered, “do you want to meet me somewhere for dinner?”

“Absolutely! 
Where do you want to go?”

“How does
Angelo’s Pizza sound?”

“That sounds
great.  See you in ten minutes?”

“Fabulous!” 
Ella executed a perfect pirouette before getting into her car.

~~

After Ella
and Burke had placed their order he asked her how everything had gone with the
new apartment.

“It’s
actually really nice,” she told him.  “Aunt Rachel and Uncle Ben went above and
beyond the call of duty.  I got another little surprise today.  My cousin Jeremy
is dating my best friend Sarah.”

“Really?” 
Burke raised his eyebrows.  “How did that come about?”

Ella
recapped the conversation she and Sarah had in the dorm room before moving her
things to the apartment.

“So how
about you and I,” Burke pushed. “You told Sarah about us, but when are you
going to tell Jeremy?  Even though you’ve moved into an apartment, I need you to
be accessible.  I’d still feel a lot more comfortable if you were staying with
me.”

“Sarah is
probably spilling her guts right now.  If not, I’ll tell him tomorrow. 
Besides, we’ll be together so much you’ll be sick of me.”

“Never,”
Burke said and squeezed her hand.  “I want you to come to work with me
tomorrow.  How about I pick you up at eight o’clock?”

“That sounds
great.  I’ll text you the address, okay?”

After they
finished eating and talking for a little while, Ella went back to the
apartment, and Burke headed home.

He had a
feeling sleep would come a lot easier for him tonight if she was lying next to
him.

Ella awoke
with a start to the sound of her cell phone ringing.  She fumbled around on her
nightstand and then grunted “Uh” into the phone when she finally found it. 
Opening one eye, she looked at the clock and saw that it said 3:42 AM.

“Hi,” Burke
said, “are you awake?”

“It is
so
nowhere near eight o’clock, or even seven-thirty, which is when I would have
started scrambling around in anticipation of you being here at eight o’clock.”

“Well, I
have to go out into the field to examine a body.  I just got the call, and I
told them I was bringing the new intern with me.  That would be you.  I’ll be
there in fifteen minutes.”