Maybe I'll Stay Low (Ellie/Open)

[Carter Chevalier]

Carter had noticed something. Something crucial.

Ellie had a boyfriend. And yet she was not at the Talk 2013. Now, to him, that was not an okay thing. Nothing against the boyfriend in question... But Carter knew that if she didn't get the proper education, she was boned. And not in the safe way. Was he the right guy for the job? Well, look at it this way; who knew the mind of a man better than a man who had a lot of sex - sometimes with men? This guy, that's who.

After texting Ellie, he got dressed and spent the mandatory ten minutes perfecting his hair before he made his way into the common area. Casually, he sat and waited for about a minute or so before getting up again and waiting by the door. As soon as she'd knock to announce her presence, he'd open it and stand before her with a small not. "I'm glad you could make it." He greeted with a small nod. "Take a seat, if you please."

Checking his phone, Carter pressed Dom's number into his phone. It was there on standby, just if he needed another opinion.

[Elisia Lark]

Well, it was good while it lasted. A big, fat 'I told you so' was to be expected from Callie when she told her, if she got around to it. That wouldn't be for at least a week though. It was bad enough that she had screwed everything up in her attempt to keep from screwing things up, she couldn't really handle an 'I told you so.' It was still fresh and it still hurt, a lot more than she had expected it to. They were still friends which was great, but her mind reverted back to the kissing and the hugging and how much she enjoyed those things.

Over all, Elisia wasn't entirely herself lately.

When Carter texted her, she had to admit she was a bit surprised. After her encounter with Lux, she had been meaning to talk to him, but that had been pre-break up. It wasn't the same now. She couldn't very well ignore Carter though, she didn't want to. If anyone was going to make her feel better it was one of her best friends. The one that didn't know about the relationship to begin with. She couldn't quite face Callie yet.

She tapped on the door, looking as together as she could manage after listening to break up songs all day. Ellie was a glutton for punishment it seemed, torturing herself with her ability. The door opened and she flashed a slightly forcedsmile. It faded when he was all formal and serious. She nodded and walked over to the couch in the common area before taking a seat. "What's up, Cart?"

[Carter Chevalier]

Ah, Ellie. She really was pretty. In another world, Carter might have actively pursued her. Perhaps if he'd met her years later, that would be a fact. Because in a few years she'd be less of a wallflower and probably grow into her own skin. Nevertheless, he could settle for being nearby when that happened. She was nice, and she deserved someone decent.

The forced smile didn't sit well with him, but he assumed it was because he was approaching the situation the way he was.

Closing the door behind her, Carter followed her through the room and sat down on a nearby chair. He clasped his hands in his lap, resting his ankle on his knee and completely settling into the seat. "I noticed you weren't at the Talk." He started, raising his chin slightly at the thought, "In light of your current... Situation, shouldn't you have been?"

[Elisia Lark]

She'd had someone decent...it was all a matter of keeping them around and not screwing it up because she didn't know what to do in most cases. With her luck she was going to end up just like her mother. Finding the perfect man, marrying him, having a lovely daughter...and then finding out he had a man on the side. Seemed likely. No wonder her mother was so bitter about the whole thing. Ellie probably would be too.

The whole time, she just watched him. He was a very interesting person. Sweet to those he cared for, distant to those he didn't want to ever care for. Elisia was glad to be part of the first group. But the way he was acting right now wasn't something she was necessarily used to. Part of her wondered if he had found about her conversation with Lux...and if she'd said something wrong. She really hoped not. For the sake of herself and the other girl.

All possibility of that was shattered when he spoke. The Talk? Why would she need to be there? She wasn't a senior yet. Besides, she was uncomfortable enough just being around large groups of people, let alone when discussing that topic. "Uhm...it's not mandatory to students that aren't seniors yet...so I didn't think I should go." Yup, she was thoroughly confused.

[Carter Chevalier]

Carter was confused. He didn't always like to be blunt with Ellie - rather, he'd offer her segments of his thoughts and she'd piece them together so it didn't have to become an awkward explanation. It was obvious that she was uncomfortable, but something had to be said. In the silence, he raised his hand and ran it along the line of his jaw. This was going to be harder than he thought.

"I've been to enough to know that." He started simply; what with being held back again. Damn the Talk and its mandatory status for seniors. "You have a boyfriend." Carter was being blunt now. He felt he had to be. "That's what I'm talking about."

[Elisia Lark]

Ellie honestly had no clue that Carter had found out about Guy. And seeing as how they were no longer an item, she didn't piece these things together. She probably should have though seeing as how she'd just gone to talk to him about this sort of thing when she ran into Luxanna. Still, all of that had vanished from her mind because she had been trying to forget about the whole Guy situation right now. It hurt to think about and having to explain what happened to Carter, well, she didn't want him to worry or feel uncomfortable if she started crying. When she told Adrian, she hadn't stopped crying for hours. Carter more than likely didn't want to deal with that.

So when he said it, she had been taken completely off guard. How had he found out? When had he found out? Clearly he had to have heard about it a while before because word hadn't gotten around about them breaking up yet. Ellie could feel her throat tightening and she had to look down so that he didn't see the glistening of her eyes from the tears that started forming. No, she wasn't going to cry. But what was she supposed to say? How was she going to tell him that she no longer had a boyfriend...and that it was all her fault?

She took a deep, calming breath and let it out slowly, "When did you find out...?" There, just start with that. No need to get into the messy details of what had just recently happened.

[Carter Chevalier]

Clearly she looked awkwardly uncomfortable. Carter tilted his head to one side slightly, offering her a sympathetic look. He knew it was awkward. He knew it was uncomfortable. Really, he did. But it was also necessary, and they were going to get through this together.

Because that, is friendship.

"Love, he's a very popular guy." Carter stated flatly. Why wouldn't he know? Almost everyone knew - the school was rumour crazy and things came up in conversation; in passing. But when it came to the rest of it, he felt no need to explain it. She had to learn to piece things together if she wanted to grow. "I'm not upset that you didn't tell me. But I know. And given that he's a male, I know how his mind works."

He waved his hand slightly, "Not to say he does now. But he likely will. Otherwise he's probably gay."

[Elisia Lark]

Carter was right, he was a popular person, which is why she was surprised the rumor of their break up hadn't gotten around yet. Granted it had only been a few days, but still, that was all it took. It was only a matter of time. And when the rumor started, Ellie would be hiding from everyone that knew who she was because of the looks. Looks made her uncomfortable, any kind of looks. She just wondered what would be said. Would they know that she was the one who ended it? Or would it be made out that he had ended it because he was the popular one? Either way, she didn't want sympathy and she didn't want to feel guilty, so avoidance was best.

How is mind worked? She knew the base foundation of how guys thought, as much as she could know without actually being a male. Robbie had constantly told her to stay away from them because they were all pervs like him. But Guy...he had never been like that. He'd seen her naked for crying out loud! Still made no passes at her that implied he wanted to sleep with her. She wanted to disagree with Carter, but she knew it was best not to.

Even more so, she wanted to tell him he had nothing to worry about, but it got stuck in her throat before she could say it. The tightness was growing more and more uncomfortable and made her throat hurt more. Her chest was aching and she just wanted to go back to her dorm and continue drowning herself in sad break-up songs. It was all her fault.

"I don't think he's gay," She said, straying away from the topic otherwise. Ellie didn't want to have this conversation now because there was no point to it anymore. Nobody was interested in her and even if they were, she wouldn't let them get close enough to try.

[Carter Chevalier]

Carter nodded his head once with a knowing smile. Exactly. If she knew he wasn't the type to fall for a guy - because let's face it, no one is really completely heterosexual - it just reaffirmed the need for such a talk. Ellie was a sweet girl that most could easily manipulate and while it seemed like this guy was genuine, there was always something that never changed. He was almost sure of it, for he'd never met a man who didn't think about sex in some capacity. But did he really want to be the guy to ruin the image of men for someone naive like Ellie? Not really.

But what might happen if he didn't help her wise up?

"Why don't you tell me about him?" Carter started, leaning forward slightly and offering her a smile, "What's it like when you're together?" And he raised his hand and waved it idly; that was a poor choice of words. "Ah, intimately or not. Your choice."

[Elisia Lark]

This topic was not something she was keen on talking about. At all. Thinking about him, thinking about their weekend in Vegas and New York, all of it hurt. She felt stinging beneath her eyes at the very thought of his name. Every time she heard the word 'guy' she thought of him. Her stomach was twisting and knotting up, making her feel like she was going to be sick. She couldn't let any of this show though, Carter couldn't know that it was all over. But wouldn't it be easier? Just to let it all out so she could cry and not have to worry about it anymore, or hold it back.

"A-about Guy?" She gulped hard. How was she supposed to get through this? Elisia bit down on the inside of her cheek and clasped her hands together tightly in her lap. "U-uhm," She couldn't do this. She couldn't get through this without bursting into tears. "Well, I mean he's really sweet, funny, really laid back. Awkward like me, too," Ellie forced a smile and had to look down again when tears filled her eyes. Her chest hurt so bad, as if she could feel her heart breaking again. "Being with him...well, it's just easy. He doesn't try so hard to impress me and he always made me smile..." She didn't even catch her slip-up.

[Carter Chevalier]

Ellie was fortunate to have decent control over her face. What she was feeling seemed to appear across her face in a miniscule way, and it simply came across as overtly awkward. And uncomfortable. but of course she'd feel like that. For someone like her, the conversation was a difficult one. And if she didn't tell him the truth, it'd just carry on until her face made it all the more evident that something substantial was wrong.

Awkward? How did awkward people get to be so popular? Was it his adept ability with certain sports? The American culture was so stupid sometimes. He'd heard about this type of person before - some said they were the best of both worlds. Ah, but she was doing so well for the most part. It wasn't even the potent slip up that caught his attention more than anything else. The Chevalier's had always been good at reading people.

He turned his head curiously; "You haven't seen him much lately?"

[Elisia Lark]

She was slipping, that thin layer of control that passed off as her being her, it was wearing thinner and thinner the more she went on. Why had she done it? Why did she break everything off when she had been so happy? Now here she was, completely miserable and trying to act like she wasn't an idiot who left him behind. And she was leading Carter to believe that she actually needed some sex ed. It wasn't like she had any use for it now. It was so frustrating, sitting here like this.

She realized the slip up when he questioned her and she found herself reeling backwards. Think, Ellie, think. Why wouldn't she have seen him lately? He was studying a lot! Right, that could work. That and sports and he didn't have much free time. Yes, she could work with that. She had to because there was no way she was going to tell Carter the truth. Not now. Not until she knew she could get through it without crumbling. That was something she never wanted him to see.

"Oh, yeah. He's been pretty busy. Our schedules clash between my dancing and his athletics. Not to mention studying and homework. It's been pretty hectic lately," And leading up to the break up, she supposed it had. The made time during the break to visit each other's parents and such, but she could say that things fell back into the same pattern. It wouldn't be suspicious at all.

[Carter Chevalier]

Carter stayed silent for a while as she spoke, listening to her story and mentally picking it apart as he always did when he felt something was amiss. If nothing else, Ellie was something of a trooper for trying to keep up a facade. And Carter didn't want to push her into a conversation she didn't want to have.

"Hectic." He repeated glancing at her with a questioning gaze. He ran his fingers along the line of his hair and briefly glanced away. He was so used to being blunt and direct - with Ellie it was always different. He couldn't risk attacking her with such brash behaviour. "Love," Carter started gently, leaning forward, "When a man is enamoured with a girl like you, none of those things matter."

[Elisia Lark]

It was only a matter of time before he figured it out. Carter was perceptive, and he knew Ellie well enough to see right through her if he really wanted to. Maybe he was trying to accept what she was saying to spare her from getting into the messy details? She could only hope he'd stick with that because she wasn't sure she could handle really talking about it. Not with someone that she was close to at least. With Peyton, it had been different. Easier. He didn't know her well enough to know all of her baggage, not that Carter knew all of it either, but he knew enough for it to have an affect on her.

She knew he caught her, the questioning look said it all. He knew something was up, yet he didn't ask her. Ellie watched him, his expression, his body language. There was something that seemed to hold him back from what he would typically say. Ellie had been around enough to know he was blunt and straight-forward. Yet he hadn't said anything to her that came across as rude or brash even.

The way he started, she felt her chest ache and her stomach toss uneasily. And with every word, every syllable, he felt it pushing her harder and harder until she couldn't do it anymore. Since when had he been this guy? So soft and gentle with eloquent words that made her want to cry because they pulled on those heartstrings of hers. He'd always been sweet to her, but this was different. He had to have known she was lying. Ellie lost her composure then and the tears started streaming down her face along with a racking sob coming from her entire being. "Carter....I..I broke up with him," She stuttered through her tears.

[Carter Chevalier]

It was clear before then that something was happening; something was breaking down. And before Carter could say anymore, she was crying. Well, of course she broke up with him. But if she hadn't wanted to say anything, he wouldn't have forced her to.

After breathing a sigh, Carter got up from his seat and settled into the space beside her. His arm circled around her and pulled her in close. Normally he didn't mind when people cried - he could ignore moments like that with ease. Or just walk away.

"Don't ever doubt your decisions." He said simply. He wasn't going to ask why she did it or anything like that. He felt it wasn't his place.