Hey guys! I'm back with another one shot for a friend of mine, Ellie. I was actually going to start taking requests again once I finished WILAY, but I already have another story planned now, so I've changed my mind. I think I'll probably do a week of requests in a month or so though.
With that said, I have another one shot to write for another good friend of mine, so look out for that coming in the next week or so!
Hope you enjoy this, and please don't forget to leave feedback.
Wait For Me
I walked into the all too familiar parlour, a small smile placed on my glossy lips as I looked around, wondering how the place still looked the same as it did the last time I had been there, six years previously. The walls were still the same deep red and covered in hundreds of drawings, paintings, and anything else to do with art. The same three guys were sat around the room, working on their customers... all except for one, who was sat behind the main desk near the door, his head close to the drawing in front of him as he worked on perfecting it.
"Hey, Andrew. Long time, no see," I grinned as I stopped in front of the desk and waited for him to look up.
It took him a few moments to drop his pencil, push his drawing away, and look to see who was speaking to him, but when his eyes connected with mine, a huge grin grew across his face.
"Ellie? Seriously?" He asked, standing up and walking around the table to pull me into a tight hug, "Girl, it's been too long."
"I know," I nodded my head, chuckling, "How have you been? I see you've covered even more of your skin," I rolled my eyes, pointing at his arms that were now both completely covered in tattoos.
"Yeah, what can I say? It comes with the job," He shrugged, grinning, "And I've been good, how about you? I see you're all grown up now," He mimicked my own words, raising an eyebrow as he looked me up and down.
I smirked at him, knowing what he was saying was the truth. The last time I had seen him, I had been a gangly twenty year old, but now, at 26, I had finally filled out and turned into a woman. It had taken me long enough, but I had got there eventually.
"What can I say? It comes with the job," I laughed, repeating his own words as he did mine.
"Really? What do you do now, then?" He asked, leaning against the counter, "Last time you were here, you were planning on being a gymnastic."
"Yeah, well, that didn't work out so well," I cringed. I had always been good at that type of stuff at school, so good, in fact, that my teachers used to tell me I could end up doing it for a living. I took their advice at first, but after turning up and seeing the stuck up, arrogant and unmarked (by that, I mean no tattoos. I can understand, but jeez, they looked at me like I was a total dweeb, and I only had three myself) snobs that were around me, I called it quits within days, "I'm actually a personal trainer, now."
"You are?" He chuckled, "Maybe you could teach me a few things. I'm not exactly as lean as I used to be," He patted his belly, making me laugh.
"Hmm, tell you what," I began, pulling my copper hair up into a messy ponytail, "I'll make you a deal. I'll give you a few free lessons if you do me some work for nothing."
"That depends what it is you want," He rose an eyebrow.
"Actually, I don't want anything new, just my old ones touching up. I realised they were getting pretty light, especially this one," I patted my stomach.
"Alright, babe, you've got yourself a deal," He nodded, "Give me five minutes to set up and I'll be ready." He shuffled my hair, before walking into the back of the shop and leaving me beside the desk.
I looked around the room for a few moments as I waited for Andrew to set up the equipment, taking a trip down memory lane as I did so. It had been far too long since I had set foot in there, but there had been a reason for that... and that reason was a guy. When the hell wasn't it a guy?
I sat in my lesson, tapping my pen against my desk, my mind elsewhere as the teacher droned on about something extremely uninteresting. I hated that I had to take more than one lesson. The only reason I was at college in the first place was for psychical education, but thanks to the stupid rules, I had to take two other subjects as well. I ended up just choosing the two I had been best at previously, Biology and English Literature.
But as I sat listening to the drone of the teacher's voice, I realised choosing a science hadn't been the best idea. I loved animals, I really did... but we weren't learning about stuff like that anymore. Now, it was cells, DNA and god knows what else. Whatever it was, I was bored.
My mind elsewhere, I hadn't even noticed that the teacher had shut up, or that the whole classes' attention had turned to the person stood in the doorway. Actually, I didn't even realise anything was happening until that person had walked over to the teacher and handed him a slip.
"Ah yes," Mr. Davis spoke up, nodding, "Class, I would like to introduce you all to the newest member of our class, Phil Brooks."
My ears perked at the sound of a new student, so I finally pulled my gaze away from the blank piece of paper on my table to the front of the class... and almost did a double take at the guy stood next to our teacher. At this school, surrounded by a bunch of nerds dressed in checks, corduroy and suspenders, someone like him was the last person I expected to be joining our class.
Phil had dark flowing bangs that hit his shoulders, slight scruff on his chin and cheeks, and an arm already covered in tattoos at the age of eighteen. He was dressed in dark jeans, vans and an AFI t-shirt... and he had completely taken my breath away.
I felt like an idiot staring at him, especially when Mr. Davis pointed to the seat next to me, which just happened to be the only free one left in the room, and he began to walk my way... but I just couldn't take my eyes off of him. There was something about that guy that had me transfixed already.
"You know, it's rude to stare," He smirked playfully as he threw his bag down on the table beside me. Those few words finally snapped me out of my gape; my cheeks grew red as I shot my eyes back down to my work.
"I, err, sorry..." I added pathetically.
"Nah, don't apologise, I don't blame you," I turned to look at him and he winked, causing me to roll my eyes but laugh all the same, "I'm Phil, by the way."
"Ellie," I grinned back, before the pair of us broke into an easy conversation. Before I knew it, the two of us were getting along like a house on fire. We were best friends in a week, inseparable in a month, and something a little more in a year...
My mouth pulled down at the sides as I thought of him, wondering where he was right at that very moment. It had been years since I had last seen him... in fact; I hadn't been in contact with him since we had left for University.
It was strange, that as my mind ran over all the memories that Phil and I had spent together, the door of the tattoo parlour opened up, and in walked Andrew's next customer.
Its funny how fate works, isn't it?
"Ellie?" A far too familiar voice spoke up from the door way, their tone full with disbelief.
I turned to the voice, and my jaw practically dropped to the floor at the site of him. I couldn't believe it. One minute I had been thinking back to the first time we had met, and now he was here, stood right in front of me, looking as perfect as ever.
"P...Phil?" I whispered, inching towards him, my eyes wide as I still tried to work out if I was really seeing him or not.
"What? How?" He began, but eventually he shut up, shook his head, and the smile of his that I loved so much grew on his lips. Before I knew it, he had closed the gap between up and wrapped his strong arms around me, pulling me off my feet as he hugged me tightly.
I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him as close to me as I could. I rested my head against his neck and sighed, taking in that all too familiar sent of his. I knew I had missed him like crazy in the five and a half years I hadn't seen him for... but I never knew how much until that very moment.
"I don't understand," I finally spoke up, lifting my head to send a confused look his way, "What are you doing here?"
I may not have been in touch for him for a while, but I had kept up to date with his career. Phil had always wanted to be a wrestler, so when he finally began to pursue it, I followed him as much as I possibly could. Since he joined WWE, I hadn't missed one show... which was why I was so confused. I knew he barely got any time off, especially the start of a week, so I had no idea why he was there.
"I'm on vacay," He smirked, brushing a strand of my copper hair from my face, the feel of his fingers brushing against my skin making me shiver, "And I need to get a touch up," He pulled away to lift up the sleeve of his own wrestling shirt, showing me his all too familiar Pepsi tattoo.
"Really?" I chuckled, lifting up my t-shirt to show him my identical, but smaller one, on my stomach, "Same here..."
Phil and I sat on the sofa in his living room, lounging against each other as we both reached into the popcorn bowl that rested on his knees, neither of us really taking much notice of the film that was playing on the television.
"So, I've been thinking, about this tattoo," He spoke up, and a small, nervous smile grew on my face at the subject. I twisted my body around, bringing my legs up underneath me so that I could get a better view of my best friend as he spoke. We had planned to get a matching tattoo for months now. Being my first, I was pretty nervous, but I knew that if I was with him, everything would be fine. After all, he did have a whole bunch already.
"Yeah?" I smiled, "You think up any ideas yet, Punk?"
He turned to glare at me, and I chuckled, knowing how much he hated me calling him that. There wasn't even really a reason behind the nickname I had created for him, I'd simply just continued after calling him it once. Years later, when he debuted as a wrestler, I couldn't quite believe that he'd used that as part of his nickname. I wasn't sure whether he just thought it was catchy, or that he was doing it as a best friend... I hoped it was the latter.
"I have, actually," He nodded, finally smiling at me as he put down the bowl on the table and mimicking my position so we were now facing each other, "You know how the majority of jocks have had the beer bottle tats?"
"Yeah..." I rose an eyebrow, "Please don't tell me you're gonna be an idiot and copy those guys. You're not like them, Phil, you're ten times better than those idiots... and besides, you don't even drink beer. Straight Edge, remember?" I smiled, lifting up his shirt and tickling the tattoo that read those two words across his stomach.
"No," Phil rolled his eyes, before he wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me closer to him. In the eight months we had known each other, we had grown extremely close. Things like this were simple in our friendship... for him, anyway. I had no idea how he felt about our casual, touchy feely relationship, but it sure as hell drove me insane the minute his hands were on me, "Of course I remember. I was just saying, they had a beer bottle... so I was thinking we should have a drink that we like," He shrugged, his eyes twinkling with amusement.
I knew what he meant by that straight away, and although I had no idea if he was being serious or not, my eyes lit up. It was the perfect idea. Maybe it was a little crazy, but it suited us so well, not to mention that particular thing was something that made our friendship what it was.
"Pepsi sign?" I asked, grinning as he nodded, "Phil, that's it!"
"Really?" He asked, chuckling, "I didn't think you'd agree to it. I thought you'd think it was stupid or something..."
"No way," I shook my head, "Come on, we're constantly drinking it, it's something the two of us have shared together... why not?"
"Alright, let's do it... tomorrow."
"Tomorrow?" My eyes grew wide, and I swallowed the lump in my throat, suddenly less enthusiastic than I had been a few minutes before.
"Yeah," He smiled, taking my hands in his, "Come on, Ellie. We've gotta do it eventually, so why not make it as soon as we can? I'll take care of you, I promise."
I shook my head, the smallest of smiles growing on my lips at how utterly cute this guy was. If he hadn't had me with the hand holding, he certainly did with the last line.
"Okay, tomorrow it is."
"I missed you, Ellie," Phil tilted his head to the side, a small, cute smile growing on his lips; "It's been too long."
"Yeah, tell me about it," I sighed, smiling back, but it didn't reach my eyes. What was the point in being all cheerful when we weren't going to see each other again once we left the tattoo studio? I didn't want to get excited, or involved, with anything to do with Phil Brooks right now. The last thing I wanted was to go back to the pathetic woman I had been for years after we had gone separate ways.
"You know, I actually have the rest of the night free once I'm done here... what do you say to catching up?" He rose an eyebrow.
I cringed at his words, wondering how I was supposed to reply. Could I really do that? Could I spend the rest of my day catching up with him, then have my heartbroken all over again when it was over with? Or would I somehow be able to keep that from happening? Either way, I knew what my answer was going to be.
"I'd love to," I nodded, as Andrew shouted from the opposite side of the room, informing me he was ready. With a quick grin and another hug for Phil, I span on my heel and made my way over to the bench, my stomach twisted with nerves that had absolutely nothing to do with the touch ups I was about to have.
"No way!" I snorted my Pepsi, sputtering and coughing, my eyes wide as I turned to look at Phil. I couldn't believe some of the stories and gossip he had from being on the road with WWE. Being a fan of it myself now, the things he was telling me were even crazier when they were about one of the biggest stars in the business.
"Yeah, I know," He rose an eyebrow, smirking as he took a sip from his own fizzy drink.
"Mickie and Cena, huh? Who'd have thunk it?" I looked over at him, my smile growing even wider as I watched him drink once more, "I can't believe you still drink this crap," I chuckled, lifting my own glass and nodding towards it, "Aren't you supposed to be super fit now?"
"What can I say? I like Pepsi," He smirked, and I giggled, shaking my head back and forth. Six years on, and we still acted like we were teenagers. Drinking fizzy pop and gossiping about anything we could think of.
"You're still Straight Edge?"
"Of course," He nodded.
I could feel my smile growing again, this time with pride at how he had kept to his beliefs over the years. I wasn't like Phil, I couldn't be dedicated to something like that as well as he was, but I did make sure I didn't influence him in any way. Whenever we were together, I never drank alcohol. As for the rest, I'd never smoked, never done drugs... I was a relatively good girl, which I guess worked in his favour back when we were best friends.
"That's good," I nodded, another question popping into my head, which made the smile on my lips disappear. It wasn't that I didn't want this for him, I wanted him to be happy... but the thought of it still killed me now, even after all the time we'd spent apart, "So, umm... are you..."
"Am I what?" He span around on his stool to face me, his legs brushing against mine as he raised an eyebrow.
"Are you... seeing anyone?"
"At the minute, no," He shook his head, "I don't know if you heard; Maria and I were together for a few years. Things were getting pretty serious between us, for me, anyway... but I guess she didn't feel the same way," He shrugged, smiling sadly.
"I'm sorry, Phil," I rested a hand on his knee, trying my hardest not to show the emotions that were bubbling up inside of me. They may not have been together anymore, but Maria had obviously shared a lot with him... and although I had too, it wasn't the same. We'd never had a real relationship; we'd just fooled around until it was too late to make something of it...
"Eurgh, I really, really can't do this anymore..." Phil groaned, throwing his books down on my bed and planting his head on the covers, "My brain is mush."
"I thought you were supposed to be the clever one," I chuckled, nudging him with my side as I lay beside him, resting on my elbows, my eyes on the science homework in front of me, "Come on, Punk, we don't have much left to do. Half an hour or so... can't we just get it done? Then we'll have more time for whatever."
"But it isn't due till Friday," He groaned, turning on his side to look at me with puppy dog eyes, "Can't we finish it off tomorrow, and have the rest of today for us time?"
"This is us time," I rolled my eyes.
"No, it isn't," He groaned, picking up my books and throwing them on the floor behind us, "I mean real best friend stuff, not learning about weird diseases."
"Really? I thought you'd like that, they are referring to you after all," I grinned, causing Phil to give me a death glare, "Fine, whatever. What kind of best friend stuff do you want to do?"
"Hmm, I dunno..." I could see the glint in his eye as he pulled himself up to rest on his elbow, and I already knew he was planning something. I wasn't sure what, though, not until he grabbed a hold of me and swung me down so that I was lay on my back, him hovering over me, "This?" He smirked, before his hands began to tickle my stomach.
"No, Phil, no, get off!" I screeching in between fits of giggles, my arms pushing against him but failing miserably.
"I'm sorry, what was that?" He laughed.
"I said get off!" I squealed, wriggling underneath him.
"What's the magic word?" He rose an eyebrow.
"Please! Please get off," I could barely breathe by this point from my laughter, so once his hands finally stopped moving and came to rest on my arms, I sucked in a few huge breaths, "You're such an ass," I glared, but it didn't come out as menacing at all, more like a whisper.
"I'm sorry," He smiled, his hands slowly trailing up my arms, over my shoulders, only stopping when they reached my cheeks. I watched as he began to lower himself over me ever so gently, and my breath caught in my throat. I could feel my heart pounding against my chest as he began to caress my cheek with his thumb, his other hand playing with my hair.
"Phil, what are you..." I tried to speak, but before I could finish, one of his hands lifted to cover my mouth.
"Shh," He shook his head, smiling ever so lightly, his eyes finding my own, "You're so beautiful, Ellie..."
And before I could do anything, he lowered his head to mine and pressed his lips against my own, making me forget about anything other than him.
That night, things progressed a lot further than kissing, as it did so many times afterwards as well... but we were never more than friends with benefits, not according to Phil, anyway. To me, on the other hand... well, it was beginning to turn in to a lot more than just that, but by the time I finally began to realise how deep my feelings for him went, it was too late.
By the time I realised I was in love with him, I couldn't do anything about it.
For months... no, for years, after he and I went away to different universities, I thought about him, and how I felt and what I had missed out on. It took me far too long to move on with my life, to realise that he and I were just a glitch on each other's radars and we were probably never going to see each other again.
But around a year ago, I finally began to accept that fact... and now here he was. Just when I was getting used to living my life without him, he came back into it in all of his damn glory.
"What about you?" He spoke up, and it took me a moment to realise we were still talking about our relationships.
"Me?" My eyes grew wide as I shook my head, "No, I haven't really had anything serious since... well, for a long time," I shrugged. The truth was, I'd had boyfriends since Phil, but none of them had amounted to him. I'd never felt the same about anyone else.
"Really?" He looked shocked as he took my hands in his, "I don't understand how that's possibly, Ellie. You're too beautiful to be by yourself."
I could feel my cheeks growing red under his stare, and I had to look away from his eyes. I concentrated on our hands that were wrapped together, resting on top of our knees. I took in his drug free tattooed fingers and smiled at the memory of being there when he got them, as I had been for the majority of his other tattoos.
I knew the idea that was beginning to grow in my mind was a long shot... but I also knew that if it played out as I wanted it too, then it'd be worth it. Phil and I had too much history to just throw away, especially now that fate had brought us back together again.
"Phil?" I asked timidly, finally looking back up into his eyes, "I just realised how late it's getting," I tapped my watch which read 11.23pm, "This place is probably gonna close soon. I was wondering if you wanted to come back to mine, and we could continue catching up there?" I finished, my voice far too hopeful.
"Please don't tell me you still live in that piece of crap apartment," He rose an eyebrow, and I glared at him.
"Hey, don't hate the apartment," I punched him playfully. He and I had gone out searching for a place for me to live while at college. It wasn't that I hated my parents or anything, I was just independent, and I wanted my own place as soon as I could afford it... although when we finally worked out the prices, the ones I could afford weren't much. I settled on one that was basically a dump, but over the past few years, I'd turned it into the perfect place to live, "Yes, as a matter of fact, I do still live there... but it's changed a hell of a lot since the last time you saw it, believe me," I smiled ever so lightly, tilting my head to the side, "So, err, what do you say? You up for it?"
"I, um..." I watched as he cringed, and I felt my heart drop. So much for not wasting our history, "Ellie, I'd love to, I really would... but I have to fly back out early tomorrow, my holiday is nearly over, and my flight is major early. I just don't think it'd be a good idea," He shook his head.
"Oh, well... okay," I nodded, saying as little as possible as I tried to hide my disappointment, "That's okay," I smiled ever so lightly.
"I'm sorry," He sighed, standing up and placing a kiss on my cheek, "I really should get going now, actually. It's been great catching up with you. I missed my best friend," He smirked.
"I missed you too," I nodded, my voice suddenly bland of all emotion. I stood up from my own seat and accepted the hug he gave me numbly.
"I guess, I'll err... see you around?" He asked, his eyes trying to find mine.
"I guess so," I replied, forcing myself to look his way. I didn't want him to see how utterly crappy I was feeling inside right now.
"Okay, well," He nodded, hugging me one last time, "See you around, Ella."
"Bye... Punk," I whispered as I watched him walk away from me and weave his way through the others in the bar.
I kept my eyes glued to his back until he disappeared from view, and once he did, I fell back down in my seat, defeated. I felt like such an idiot, letting myself hope like that again. Who had I been kidding? Phil had wanted nothing more than friendship and sex all those years ago, and even if we could have that again now, he wouldn't want anything more. Why had he come back into my life now? Why did he have to ruin it when I was just getting back on track? Why couldn't I accept that he and I just weren't meant to be?
An hour later, and I was back at home, curled up on my sofa, clad in my favourite PJ's with a tub of ice cream in my hand as I watched some soppy movie. I hated that I'd been reduced back to the shell of a human being I had been once I had realised my love for Phil meant nothing six years previously... but how could I not feel this way after seeing him again?
I could feel the tears growing in my eyes at the perfect couple on my screen, and I groaned, wiping them away angrily. I couldn't allow myself to be like this again. After everything I'd put myself through to get to the point where I was finally moving on, I couldn't just go back to being how I was before. I just couldn't...
My thoughts were interrupted by a harsh knocking on my front door, and I froze, wondering who the hell could be calling at such a late time. I switched off the television, placed the ice cream down on the coffee table, and tiptoed over to the door, my heart in my throat. I knew I shouldn't have answered it. It could have been some crazy axe murderer, but still, I did so. It could have been important, after all.
"Phil?" I whispered, my eyes growing wide, "What the hell are you doing here? Do you realise what time it is?"
"I'm sorry, I... did I wake you?" He breathed, pointing towards my pyjamas. I frowned, wondering why he sounded so out of breath. Had he been running here?
"No, it's fine," I sighed, shaking my head, "But I thought you had an early flight?" I frowned.
"I do, but..."
"But what, Punk?" I folded my arms across my chest, wanting him to hurry up and spit it out so I could go back to moping around.
"I don't care about that," He shook his head, his eyes glistening, "Screw the flight... there's something far more important that I've got to do right now."
"What?" I asked, my pulse quickening at his intense words, "What are you talking about?"
The smallest of smiles reached his face as he inches forward and grabbed a hold of my waist, pulling me towards him. My eyes grew wide and my breath caught in my throat as he lifted one hand to cup my cheek, our faces barely inches apart.
"This. I'm talking about this," He whispered, before he closed the gap between us.
I wanted to pull away, to push him as hard as I could back out my door and tell him to leave me the fuck alone. This was the worst possible thing he could have done. There was absolutely no way I'd be getting over him again now...
But despite everything, I couldn't bring myself to break the kiss. I couldn't stop myself from wrapping my arms around his neck and pulling him in even closer to me.
"Ellie..." Minutes later, when the pair of us finally had to separate for air, Phil was the first to speak, "You have no idea how long I've waited to do that... how long I've waited for you." My eyes grew wide, and I began to speak, to tell him that he had to be joking, but he interrupted me by placing a finger over my lips, "Please, let me finish. For the last six years, I haven't been able to think about anyone but you. The truth is... I broke things off with Maria, because no matter how amazing she was, she wasn't you. Nobody has ever been the same as you." He smiled, and I couldn't hide my own as my lips began to pull up into perhaps the biggest grin ever.
"Phil," I shook my head, tears of happiness falling down my cheeks, "I feel the exact same way. I've never wanted anyone the way I did you, how I still do," I whispered, my smile slowly fading as I remembered something, "But... what can we do? You're job, you're barely going to be here, you're..."
"Do you love me, Ellie?" He interrupted with a whisper.
"I love you," I nodded without hesitation.
"And do you trust me?"
"Of course."
"Then we'll work something out," He nodded encouragingly, "It is gonna be complicated, and I won't be around much... but if this is what we both want, if you're willing to work for this as much as I am, then it'll be okay." He already knew he had me as another smile spread across my lips, and I nodded his way. He grinned back, before giving me another sweet kiss, "I love you. I always have, always will."
"You too, Punk," I smirked back, before I pulled his face back to mine and manoeuvred back into my apartment, closing the door behind us.