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𝗥𝗜𝗦𝗞

CHAPTER TWELVE
you put your arm around me
for the first time

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MARY JANE PADDED down the steps, her water bottle in her one hand while her other hand held her phone, which was connected to her headphones. She sighed, running her fingers through her hair as she walked into the kitchen. Over the music she was listening to, she could vaguely hear a lot of the others talking in the living room, but she ignored it for now and put her phone in the pocket of her shorts. Mary Jane unscrewed the top of her water bottle, heading towards the fridge.

At the sound of new footsteps, Ellum, from his place on the couch, immediately looked up from his place on the couch. The sight of the girl in the kitchen, who had just appeared out of her room at the same exact time Ellum was going to go ask her if she wanted to join them, instantly made him perk up. He was known to be a ray of sunshine, but it seemed that whenever Mary Jane was around, he got so much brighter. A small grin appeared on his face, and he got up from the couch, heading towards the kitchen.

Which, obviously, was not unnoticed by every single other person in the room — including Noah, who had just arrived yesterday, but had already picked up on their dynamic and saw how much they liked each other. As he walked away, all of them shared a knowing look.

Noah shook his head, laughing lightly. "Simp."

Blau rolled his eyes. "Tell me about it."

"Oh, you're one to talk, Foolish," Meena cut in, twirling a piece of hair around her finger. "Might I remind you how you act around Luna?"

His cheeks splashed a light shade of red. "That's different. Besides, at least I actually did something about Luna. They're not doing anything."

"It's not always easy to admit your feelings," Tina insisted. "Just give them time. They'll get there eventually."

(That didn't only apply to Mary Jane and Ellum, by the way.)

"And I met someone, and I swear I'm in love, but I'm two blocks away, just like a drug . . ."

Mary Jane watched as the water filled all the way to the top before removing it from the sink. As she screwed the top back on, she immediately sensed a new presences next to her — a very tall presence. Mary Jane glanced up, and sure enough, Ellum was standing right next to her, looking down at her with a smile so soft it made her heart fucking melt.

So, Mary Jane would be lying if she said she hadn't been . . . avoiding him. Admitting her feelings out loud to the girls was scary enough — and making a deal with Meena was even scarier. See, yesterday, Mary Jane had come downstairs, only to see Meena sitting on the couch, deep in thought. Anyone with eyes could practically see Meena and Blau liked each other, but were too scared to do anything about it. Mary Jane could definitely relate to that, but in the end, they had made a deal — if Meena talked to Blau about her feelings, Mary Jane would talk to Ellum about hers.

(Even if the prospect of that made Mary Jane want to absolutely throw up. Hence, why she was kind of avoiding Ellum. She was scared that she was just going to blurt out something and completely fucking embarrass herself . . . more than she already had.)

"Hey, you," Mary Jane began, trying to keep the shakiness out of her voice. She took out her headphones, stuffing them in her pocket as well. "I thought you guys were still streaming."

He shook his head. "Not anymore. All of us ended a little while ago. We're just hanging around, about to watch a scary film, actually. You should join us."

"A scary movie?" Mary Jane repeated, gripping onto her water bottle just a little tighter. "I, um . . . I don't do well with scary things, actually. Ask Noah, or Luna, or Karl, or Nolan. It's just . . . bad."

Ellum raised his eyebrows. "You? You don't like scary things?"

"Yeah, they freak me out. Why is that so hard to believe?"

He shrugged. "You're usually so confident. It's hard to imagine that you'd be scared of anything."

Mary Jane blinked. She had been anything but confident around him. Stammering over her words, talking nonsense? What confidence was he fucking talking about? She had no idea.

"Oh," Mary Jane let out, because clearly, that was the best thing she could come up with at that moment in time. "Um, thanks. But I'm not really the horror kind of person."

"I'm not either," Ellum admitted. "I'm more of a romcom guy myself."

Mary Jane couldn't help but smile. "You like romcoms?"

Ellum's cheeks reddened, making her smile widen even further. "Uh . . . yeah."

God, he was so endearing.

"You're cute," Mary Jane said. Her eyes then instantly widened, and she felt her heart fucking stop as her face turned a bright shade of red. There she went again, making an absolute fool out of herself. "I — I mean—"

"Thanks," Ellum stated, his face just as red as hers, which was the same color of the red lipstick she usually sported. "I'm glad you think so."

She cleared her throat, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear shyly. "I'd love to watch a movie with you guys, but there's no promises that I won't get jump scared over and over again . . . or scream loudly."

"Then come sit next to me. I'll protect you from the big bad movie."

Her eyes narrowed playfully, tilting her head. "Why am I getting a feeling that you're also a scaredy cat?"

"That's unimportant," Ellum voiced.

"Right." Mary Jane let out a small laugh, and Ellum laughed along with her, making her heart feel like it was about to fly out of her chest. "But . . . sure. I'll sit next to you."

I wouldn't want to sit next to anyone else, actually.

"Cool, we were just about to start watching," Ellum stated. He nodded his head towards the living room. "Come on."

Mary Jane followed him out to the living room, where Noah, Leslie, Tina, Rae, Miyoung, Meena, and Blau were already sitting. Two spots were empty on the couch — one was Ellum's original spot, and the other was vacated immediately by the others for Mary Jane (they had plotted.) Mary Jane smiled at the others, waving a bit as she sat down.

"MJ!" Rae exclaimed. "Hope you're good with scary movies."

"I'm not," Mary Jane answered. "But I'll manage."

Leslie then got up from her place on the ground, walking to the light switch and shutting off the main lights. "Who's ready to get spooked?"

The movie started. Mary Jane settled back into the couch, tucking her knees up to her chest. She was vaguely aware of the way the entire side of her body was pressed up against Ellum's — their arms, their shoulders, their legs. And . . . fireworks. Just like always.

At first, the movie didn't seem so bad. But Mary Jane knew that's how they always started. They always got worse . . . and it did. The first jump scare came, and along with it, everyone in the room reacted, including Mary Jane. She felt like she absolutely jumped out of her skin, and as if on instinct, she reached out, grabbing the arm of the person next to her. Which, of course, was Ellum.

Mary Jane looked over at him, only to see her absolutely clutching at his upper arm, the same part of him that made her head spin so impossibly fast. He was also already looking at her, his eyes flickering from her hand back up to her eyes. Through the darkness, illuminated by the light from the TV screen, their eyes locked for a moment. And, to be honest, Mary Jane felt stuck. It was like she couldn't move.

"Holy fuck," Rae said, which was just the thing that Mary Jane needed to snap herself out of it.

Mary Jane cleared her throat awkwardly, removing her hand from his arm. "Sorry."

"You're fine," Ellum told her, suddenly glad that it was so dark so he couldn't see how red his face was again. "No need to apologize at all."

She nodded, looking back towards the screen to continue watching the movie. Just as she suspected, after the first scare, things got so much scarier. Mary Jane practically sunk into the couch, trying to close in on herself. She peered over her knees at the screen, often closing her eyes or turning her head away from the screen.

Practically all of them were jumping and making noises at the movie. Why they thought that having a bunch of scaredy cats watch a horror movie together would be fun, Mary Jane didn't know. Obviously it was to all spend time together, but, like . . . they could've watched High School Musical or something instead of dealing with this. (Mary Jane was honestly just complaining, but she did enjoy spending time with her friends, even if it was doing this.)

The climax of the movie soon arrived, bringing with it some of the most scariest scenes Mary Jane had ever watched. Mary Jane flinched at the screen, along with everyone else, as one of the moments. Then, came . . . the worst. A huge jump scare, and a generally scary scene came on, and Mary Jane just turned her head to the side, causing her forehead to knock into Ellum's shoulder. Yet this time, she didn't care, because she didn't want to watch anymore.

Ellum looked down at her, smiling softly at her figure. Seeing her very curled into herself in her comfy clothes, even if it was just at a movie, made her look nothing short of adorable. And having her forehead on his shoulder, even though it was just to get away from the movie screen, made his stomach flip-flop inside of him. This girl was seriously going to kill him, and Ellum couldn't find it in himself to be bothered by that.

He nudged his shoulder just a bit to get her attention. "You all right?"

"Next time, let's watch a romcom," Mary Jane replied.

"I agree."

The music got louder, bringing with it another scary scene. Mary Jane glanced at the screen for just a second, only to immediately look away, her forehead going right back to Ellum's shoulder. Ellum glanced down at her, a new thought popping into his head. It was a crazy idea, an insane idea, but . . . it was more fun to swim in the deep end, wasn't it?

Fuck it.

Mary Jane suddenly felt Ellum's shoulder adjust. She thought he was rolling it, a gentle way of saying oh my God please get off of me, but it wasn't. Instead, she felt his entire arm go around her, draping across her shoulders and causing her body to go now completely flush with his. Mary Jane picked her head up, and the noise of the entire movie and everyone else fading to a dull ringing. The feeling of his arm around her made her feel all warm inside. She felt as if her heart skipped every other beat, and she was sure that her eyes were full of stars.

Stepping into a new realm of physical contact, especially in a way like this, was so new. It made Mary Jane suddenly hyper-aware of everything. She'd never felt this way with anyone.

"This okay?" Ellum whispered.

More than.

"Mm-hmm," Mary Jane hummed, her voice coming out as a quiet squeak more than anything because she could not find the words to say. It was like her brain was short-circuiting. She wasn't sure if she even remembered her own name anymore. "Great."

And if Ellum's arm just happened to stay there for the rest of the movie, and when they continued to hang out more after the movie was done, nobody said anything — but it did not go unnoticed, yet again.

＊*•♥̩͙•̩̩͙*˚˚*•♥̩͙•̩̩͙*˚＊＊*•̩̩͙♥̩͙•̩̩͙*˚˚*•̩̩͙♥•̩̩͙*˚＊

IMESSAGE CONVERSATION

mj [ mary jane ]
sadie [ sadie ]

mj
help
I fear I might
do something
drastic

sadie
oh hello big
sister
what can I
assist you with
now

mj
relationship
advice

sadie
girl
I am NOT
equipped for
that
go ask luna

mj
NO
luna will just
tell me the same
thing
I need a new
perspective

sadie
ugh okay
fine

mj
don't act like
you're not happy
to talk to me

sadie
okay fine
I always love
talking to you

mj
thank you

sadie
so what's
up

mj
sadie
I am down
BAD
not even just
bad
down
HORRENDOUS
there's this guy

sadie
horrendous?
you're down
bad for a MAN?
who ARE you?

mj
ugh I know
tell me about
it

sadie
so who is
he

mj
a friend of luna's
who is now my
friend
his name's josh
or ellum on
twitch

sadie
wait
is that the
really tall
british guy

mj
you know
him?

sadie
I mean yeah
I keep up with
you and luna
I know things
I saw you two
interact on the
album listening
stream lunes did
I think you're both
down bad

mj
WHAT AM I
SUPPOSED TO
DO
I can't even
speak properly
around him
and tonight he
put his arm around
me when we were
watching a movie
and I thought I was
going to PASS AWAY
does he not SEE
what he does to
me???????

sadie
girl how am I
supposed to
help you
1. I'm in maine,
not la
2. did you forget
I'm gay

mj
SADIE

sadie
what?
I'm just telling
the truth
when it comes
to girls, I've got
you
when it comes
to guys . . . well
that is not my
area of expertise
just tell him you
like him idk

mj
???????
sadie.
bffr.

sadie
well
that's all
I've got
maybe now is
an appropriate
time to play
crush by david
archuleta
seems fitting

mj
I also made
a deal with
meena that I
would tell ellum
how I feel
god why do I
do this to myself

sadie
because you're
you
come on, put on
some of that mj
confidence

mj
except that goes
away when I'm
around him
sadie what do I
do

sadie
mary jane, I'm
not even there
I can tell from
all these miles
away that that
boy likes you too
every interaction
you've had says so
just go for it
stop holding back

mj
great talk sadie
you haven't
been helpful
whatsoever
goodnight

sadie
well damn
okay
I love you
too queen
go kiss ellum
or something
before you
crash out

mj
SHUT UP

-ˏˋ ✩✩✩ ˊˎ-

I didn't know what to do for this chapter but I remembered leslie talked about how they would watch scary movies a lot . . . it's short but I simply could not be bothered

also if you've never listened to 11 blocks by wrabel (which is the song mj was listening to) idk what you're doing it's such a banger