He sighed as Bella spoke to him. He knew that everything would be fine if he stayed, that they'd manage somehow- but he knew that if his head was just a little clearer, he'd be able to do what he always did. Pull everyone else together, make them laugh a little, distract them from what had happened. He just needed a clear head, and he wasn't going to get that here.
"Bella, I just need... I just need to clear my head. I'll only be gone ten, fifteen minutes. I promise. I won't go far and I won't drive fast. Don't you worry about me- I can hold my liquor a hell of a lot better than you'd think," he said, grinning a little. He just wished that it wasn't because he was used to drinking until he blacked out. He started the engine. "I'll be fine. Fifteen minutes, tops. Promise," he said, before reversing out and heading back out onto the road.
He turned on the stereo, turning it back up to the full. The music blasting around him was as grounding as is it ever was, and he could already feel his thoughts starting to clear. He'd be fine. They'd all be fine- once Ellie stopped trying to destroy everything around her. Ellie was an enigma to everybody. He'd thought that he'd known her- but recently, she'd been showing another side, and he was realising that he didn't know anything.
And Bella. What the hell did she mean by what she'd said? Did she feel the same? Or was it all just a big, complicated mess? He'd been too busy trying to keep it together to try and read her- and besides, she hadn't been in school, so he hadn't even been getting signals from her. They needed to talk. Everyone needed to talk.
Suddenly, the glare of another car's headlights drew him out of his reverie, and he looked up. There was a deer right in front of his car- and unless he swerved, he'd hit it. But he'd end up hitting the other car instead, and that was worse. So he did the option that seemed to cause the least damage. He swerved the car straight towards the barrier and the trees.
The car slammed straight into the barrier, throwing him forward- but his seatbelt tried to pull him back, and the casualty was his shoulder or his collarbone or something in that general region. All he was aware of was a crack and then intense pain. But the car didn't stop moving, it went straight through the barrier and started tumbling, throwing him and his broken bone around. He blacked out before the car had even stopped moving.
Ellie looked up, ready to verbally attack whoever approached- but she held her tongue when it was Sky. Of all people, she hadn't expected her. Fuck's sake, that girl was just too perfect. Ellie sighed at her question. "It's... It's complicated and it's messy, and..." But she needed to tell somebody. She couldn't just keep this all bottled up- so far, that had only brought destruction.
"Sky- anything I tell you, you don't tell anyone else. I'm serious. Under any circumstances," She said, moving over on her boulder a bit and patting the spot beside her. Jesus, if she was going to talk about this, she'd need somebody right beside her.
"I... I used to be a junk- an addict. Heroin and all sorts of crazy, stupid shit. Like, if you think I'm destructive now, you should have seen me back then. I tried every kind of drug going. I wasn't happy- but the thing about heroin is that it's crazy addictive. And I ended up OD'ing, and ended up in rehab. And back then, I just felt so fucking weak," she said. She stubbornly wiped her eyes with the heel of her palm. She wasn't going to cry. Not after all of this.
"And I've just been building myself up since then, trying not to go back- and I'm clean, I'm still clean except for alcohol, but I just... I just hate feeling weak. And Nate treats me like I'm a fucking porcelain foll. No matter how many times I tell him I can stand on my own two feet, that I want to stand on my own two feet, he doesn't listen. And I know he's only trying to help but he just doesn't listen. He just keeps doing the same thing and he treats me like I'm weak and... I know he doesn't mean to do it but I just hate it so much." And there she was, in tears. She laughed a little bit.
"There goes my stone cold bitch facade, huh?" She remarked. "And- I know everyone wants to help but I just don't want to let anyone in, so I just push everyone away and destroy every relationship I can as soon as they get too close. Nate never asked questions, but I just... couldn't any more." She'd been expecting some massive weight to lift off of her shoulders, but nothing. She was still scared and still angry.
Alex listened to Nate speak and realised exactly how little he knew about Ellie. He hadn't known any of this- she was an expert at changing the conversation away from things she didn't want to think or talk about.
"I think... I think there's more to Ellie than any of us really know. God knows, that girl wouldn't tell you what's on her shopping list. There's something about her, something that I don't think either of us know. And she's not planning on telling any of us, that's for sure. And I'm not excusing her actions I just... I think we need to try and figure out why the hell she was acting the way she was, if nothing else," he said. He hadn't wanted to get that deep with Ellie- but if she was going to keep being so destructive, then he needed to know something. He needed some answers.