He grinned a little at her comment. "Yeah, well, I've also never played a show with broken bones," he remarked. Singing and screaming with broken ribs probably wouldn't be the most enjoyable experience of his life, but hey, he had to do it. At least they'd be somewhat healed. He'd heard stories of singers breaking ribs during shows and managing to finish the shows. "But I'll still give it my all, even if you have to drag me out of the performance room afterwards," he joked.
His phone had packed in somewhere between the accident and it returning to him- and while he had a new phone, he didn't have any music on it yet. And that was killing him. As if not being able to play wasn't bad enough, being unable to tune out of the world just made everything five times worse. He still had to listen to his parents arguing. He still had to lie in the awful silence at nighttime, able to hear every little thing. That was why he was so glad for Bella- she was company, someone who didn't treat him any differently than usual, and who was more than happy to ramble on about anything and everything. It was a break in the silence.
As soon as she climbed out of the car, she felt like people were staring at her. She knew that she was probably a strange sight- in a dress and heels, with a hoodie a size or two too big on top, and her makeup smudged as hell. Part of her wanted to go back to the car and hide- but instead, she lifted her chin and stared straight ahead. She wasn't going to appear weak any more.
The diner felt oddly familiar- it reminded her of huge ice cream sundaes and chicken nuggets shaped like dinosaurs. She laughed at his story, nodding a little. It suddenly dawned on her why it was familiar. "Yeah, I think we used to come here all the time as well. Or at least, when Dad was home. One of the last times I was here was when he told me that he was being deployed again," she said, but didn't add any more. She didn't want to think about that- not now, not when everything else was all wrong.
Fortunately for her, the waitress reappeared by that point. Her cheerfulness contrasted starkly with Ellie's mood. "I'll have the double bacon cheeseburger with fries and a Coke," she said, knowing already exactly what she wanted.