om_main | Ellie & Kevin; backdated to the party

BFF's catch up and share some secrets.

After spending close to two hours in the maze being delightfully preoccupied with getting lost, Ellie finally found her way out for a drink. As fun as running around crazily in the dark was, the young telepath didn't exactly feel like dying of dehydration on school grounds. It might ruin someone else's party experience if she did that.

Additionally, she knew that she would find her best friend at the refreshment table, and it was him who she greeted upon her overly enthusiastic approach. 'Hello! You are here and you are not so grumpy! Oh, hi, I like your shirt. You look lovely, Kevin, yes.'

Kevin rolled his eyes at that, and decided to just reply to her in his head because he knew she liked that more than anything, and mostly because she wouldn't stay any stupid date stuff about him and Josh out loud. 'Hi Ellie. I guess I haven't thought about killing myself in the last few hours, so maybe that's why I'm not in a shitty mood.'

Which was a better way of putting it than saying he wasn't being fucking grumpy. Kevin hated being called grumpy.

'Where the hell have you been hiding?'

'In Wanda's magical maze of delusion! Turn around and get lost...not one place is the same one moment to the next. I needed water or else I was going to fade away into obscure death, however. It was very beautiful,' Ellie explained with a tight little smile. 'Why haven't you gone in? Are you waiting for Joshua to invite you? Because he will, oh yes!'

'Knowing my luck, I'll probably fall and wither the whole thing away. I wouldn't get an obscure death, just a fucking bunch of pissy party goers,' Kevin sulked. 'What's even in it? How long have you been running in there?'

'Houuuuurs,' she gushed, and tugged on the covered part of Kevin's arm amicably. 'My friend Wanda can make things change, oh spooky, and things aren't quite as they seem. You walk one way and---help! The way you've come is now no way you've been at all! Like raking the sand of footprints and starting allllll over again.'

Maybe he would go in there with Josh eventually. Though Kevin enjoyed sulking against things, he knew Josh wasn't that way. He liked getting out there and doing things, especially at parties. For some reason, their total opposite personalities worked together most of the time.

'Were you just in there wandering around by yourself?'

'Uh-huh.' A fact that Ellie looked rather pleased about. 'Sometimes I was with Simon, though. I like him a lot because he lets me borrow his movies...but I wish I had his powers sometimes. They are good. Tessa is helping me fix mine! Oh, and she came in the maze with me. She looks very beautiful tonight, don't you think?"

'I guess so. She usually looks nice,' Kevin had to point out. Though the whole no pants thing was something he felt he could support for her life. 'I bet Tessa actually knew her way around the reality defying maze. She knows fucking everything!'

Instead of confirming Kevin's statement, Ellie leaned back and spun in a circle as she laughed. "You like her with no pants on!"

"Shut up, Ellie!" he sneered. "She looks hot in whatever she wears. That's just fucking Tessa for you."

She was a hot know-it-all, and not one that got on Kevin's nerves.

Ellie agreed very much that Tessa was always beautiful, no matter what, and she would never think differently. It was funny to hear Kevin think such things, sometimes, because usually he was much more preoccupied with being grumpy. Or younger versions of Trent Reznor with Josh Foley thrown in there. His thoughts were always humourous, actually.

"I like her, too, she makes my head feel very nice always, mhmmm. But she's busy busy busy, like a bee, with so much work to do." Ellie's voice then dropped to a whisper. "I don't like work."

"I don't like work, either. Work is fucking stupid," Kevin sulked. Unless it was artwork, then it was good. "I bet you'd rather just run around mazes, sit under tables and hide in my closet than work."

"Yep! I would only make dresses if I had to work, but not dresses they tell me to make! I do not wish to be crammed down, jumbled and folded, and shoved into a labeled box. What a nightmare, true torture," she lamented with a frown and spooked wide eyes. "What would be the point then?!"

"There wouldn't be a point! You might as well just kill yourself," Kevin sulked. "I'd have to kill myself if someone took my jacket, I think. Or my vinyl pants."

Especially his vinyl pants! They were his favourite pants.

Heehee. "You look nice in those pants. Have you been told recently?"

Kevin couldn't help but smile stupidly. Josh really, really appreciated his pants, and Kevin knew it. "Josh likes them, I think. I bet some people probably make fun of them, though. Whatever, though. They're fucking awesome pants, and I like them. That's all that matters."

Ellie smiled knowingly, having predicted that was the case. She was really happy that her friend was having a nice time with this boy that he loved...and that they had finally stopped being silly about things. They were happier than normal, together. That was good for them. Kevin didn't feel as suicidal and depressed as he used to. It was still there, of course, just improved. "I suspect that you don't ever care what most other people think about you, Kevin. That is known, that is known."

"No. Most people probably think I'm weird, or they're freaked out by my powers and the things that I draw," Kevin spoke slowly. "If I cared what people thought, I probably wouldn't ever talked to anyone in this whole school."

He eyed her. "Do you care what people think of you, when you hear it?"

"Not anymore. I've heard it all," she confessed, smile not leaving her made up face. "I am much more disturbed by hatred and ignorance and pure, unadulterated rage instead."

"Do you hear that a lot here?" Kevin asked, and frowned. That was a little unsettling to think of, to be honest.

"I like the school! The people are nice and they are troubled for other reasons, mostly, but many people out there and beyond the walls...there's always a bad apple in the bunch." Well, there were some bad apples here, too, but not truly evil ones. Not yet. Ellie moved to sit down in the grass, watching the children dance and bounce around to Macklemore. "Bad apples and rotten tomatoes."

"I believe it," Kevin scoffed, and folded his arms. Especially now that Warren and Brian had gone and outed themselves as mutants, and more people were going to be following them. "I bet there will be worse thoughts for you as time goes on, and as you get older."

Like Kevin, Ellie's powers often took an emotional tole on her. "But at least there's a lot of disgustingly happy people in this school to balance it out for you."

See, he could be optimistic! Sort of.

'Hmmm but there is a difference between being "disgustingly happy" in a given situation and just being a positive person, Kevin, it's interesting and some such emotions come in definite bursts rather than flowing as a constant stream, like the occasional tidal wave in a calm pool. It is not much different from those who hate, only it is opposite.' Which was Ellie's pseudo-logical side talking.

Kevin raised an eyebrow. Ellie sounded almost professional when she spoke like that. "Wow, are you actually listening to Xavier about this telepath shit now?"

"No. Just to people," she sighed and looked up at him. "Sometimes I listen and then I think after. It's odd."

"That's called paying attention, I think," he informed her, and rolled his eyes. "Do you just listen to everyone and make observations about their thoughts?"

"Sometimes because they do not usually talk to me otherwise, so why not?" she asked, clearly pleased with that sort of logic. Surely, Kevin could relate with that somehow!

Yes, Kevin could most certainly relate to that, so he found himself nodding. "Do you do that to the people that do talk to you?"

Ellie shrugged and looked out toward the dancing bodies. Most of the time she heard things that she did not mean to hear. It was different now, of course, because of her powers getting better; filtering was getting easier, so now it was just a matter of shutting them out. Subconscious thoughts were things that people couldn't control, but that didn't mean some of them weren't cringe worthy still.

"Only sometimes." Her pale eyes moved back to settle her gaze on him. "But you are interested in whether or not I do that to you, yes?"

Kevin eyed her, and managed a nod. "And what's the answer to that?"

He knew Ellie heard his thoughts occasionally, but sometimes he wondered just how much she actually made an effort to do that.

"I observe your thoughts...they speak to me...they make me feel," Ellie replied vaguely, frown touching her lips. "You are a kindred spirit."

It was her way of saying that she felt as if she understood him--constantly related. His thoughts weren't meant to be shared but sometimes Ellie heard them anyway, and Kevin's had the tendency to draw her to him.

Kevin actually felt okay with hearing that. There were many reasons why he liked Ellie, and many why he considered her his best friend. Not only did they have a lot in common, but they both suffered from mental illnesses. He felt like he understood Ellie in many ways, also because like himself, she had a power that tore her apart from inside a lot. Misery enjoyed company, it seemed.

"Yeah, well we both actually know how much life sucks, so that doesn't surprise me," Kevin told her. Ellie knew him better than most people, he thought, and that was likely because she often heard his thoughts and knew how much of a bad person he was.

"Kindred spirit might be the best way to put it," he agreed. "Anyone else would think we were fucked right up."

And other people probably already did, but they didn't matter.

"Everyone thinks different things are fucked up. I suppose in the end it does not really matter what other people think, remember?" Ellie questioned him.

"No, it doesn't," Kevin agreed. "But if anyone does give you a rough time because they think you're fucked up, I'll fucking kick them in the face."

That made her smile despite the threat behind it. This was another part of the reason that she trusted Kevin like she did; he would always look out for her. "And I would do the same for you...my legs are not very long, though."

"That's when you just go into their heads and scream 'boo'!" Kevin decided, and shot her a tiny smirk.

"Yes!" Ellie agreed with a happy clap. "I will spook them and you will stomp them! And then...we will hide in a corner together. A perfect plan, yes yes yes!"

"Yeah, a dark corner," Kevin announced confidently. "And fuck anyone who doesn't like it."

Speaking of dark corners. "I like that...I will return to the maze. You will not come with me now, no, but I hope you enjoy it later. Enjoy your fun with him. I am glad you are happy for this one night. Bye!"

Ellie began to crawl away through the grass.

Kevin rolled his eyes, and then walked off to go find Josh again. Maybe he'd actually listen to Ellie, and go have that fun she'd mentioned.