But, Ella!

“Ugh!” Ella screamed, throwing her pencil against the table. For a week she’d had the worst writers block and couldn’t seem to shake it. She was really excited to write a new story but when she sat down to write she had no ideas. As a last resort she came to one of her favorite writing spots, Impresso Espresso. 

She was about to give up on writing when one of her best friends, Jack, came walking in. He was holding a beautiful bouquet of flowers that immediately drew Ella’s eye. As Jack approached her Ella kept her eye on the bouquet of flowers. There was inspiration in them somewhere, she just had to figure what it was.

“Hey, Ella,” said Jack. She remained silent, intently staring at the flowers in his hand. After a long moment of silence he continued, “Well, I’ve been meaning to talk to you about something really important to me for a while now. You see lately I’ve been-”

“I’ve got it!” Ella cuts him off mid-sentence. 

“But, Ella,” Jack started. She didn’t let him finish. She grabbed her coat and her writing supplies and took off out of the coffee shop, leaving Jack standing there alone. By the time he processed what had just happened she was already gone and down the street. He decided the only logical thing to do was sprint after her. This was, after all, very important to him.

Jack ran out of the coffee shop just in time to see Ella turn the corner down Maine street. He followed her until she came to a stop in Campbell park. She had recognized the flowers Jack was holding as the same kind of flowers in the park and they had inspired her to write about someone there. She stops to jot down notes just as Jack catches up to her. As he comes up to her he bends over panting. 

“Ella!” he starts, but before he can get another word in another wave of inspiration hits her. She starts running again.

“But, Ella!” Jack screams after her. When she doesn’t stop he takes off after her again. She comes up on a man renting bikes out and throws a twenty-dollar bill at him as she hops on one of the bikes. Jack does the same, trying to keep up with her but as he tries to throw the money at the man the wind catches it. 

    “Hey!” the guy says, “No money, no bike”

    “But I just gave you the money!” Jack argues.

    “No,” the guy responds, “you gave the wind money. Last I checked the wind can’t pay my rent. No money, no bike.”

    “Ugh! I don’t have time for this!” Jack exclaimed as he aggressively handed the money to the man. By the time he got on his bike he could barely see the end of Ella’s coat waiving in the wind. He took off after her trying to catch up with her by the time she got to wherever she was going next.

    As Jack pulls up to the art museum on his bike, he sees Ella’s is already parked out front. He sprints up the stone front steps of the museum trying to figure out where she went. As he walks into the museum he sees her going into the abstract art section. 

    Jack takes off sprinting after her but is abruptly stopped by the security guard in his path. 

    “Um, excuse me.” he says trying to squirm past.

    “Hey buddy, starts the security guard, “nobody gets in without going through security first.”

    “But I just need to talk to that girl right there.” Jack says pointing to where Ella was previously standing. He and the security guard    simultaneously look to the spot to find it’s empty.

    I don’t see no girl.” The security guard states. “Empty all pockets and purses,” he says with a phony smile.

    After going through the most rigorous museum security he has ever been through, which he could tell was done out of spite, he takes off into the abstract art section. As he turns into the main section of the exhibit he sees her standing in front of a very large painting, scribbling in her notebook.

    “Oh finally,” Jack says as he approaches her, “keeping up with you has felt like a race. One HUGE ra-” 

    “Huge! That’s it! I need it to be bigger!” she exclaims starting to pack up. She stops and looks at Jack. “Jack? What are you doing here? Small world huh?!” she says as she darts for the exit. 

    “But, Ella!” Jack shouted after her. It was no use, she was in her own world. Jack collapsed where he stood. All of this, and she didn’t even have any idea he’d been chasing after her. “I quit.” he said to himself.

    He stood up and walked slowly towards the exit of the museum, which you had to go through the gift shop to get to. He was about to leave when suddenly the security guard from earlier was standing in front of him. 

    “Random search for stolen goods.” said the security guard.

    “You and I both know this isn’t random.” Jack said with an attitude. The security guard just shrugged his shoulders.

By the time he finished his “random search” Jack left the museum feeling so defeated. He’d spent the whole day chasing Ella just for her to slip away time after time. He walked towards the bike rack where he’d left his bike when he realized something. Ella’s bike was still there as well! She was still there, he just had to figure out where. That was when it hit him.

    He ran around to the back of the museum where he could see her off in the distance. She was looking at the giant sculpture of a sock monkey off in the distance. Some might even call it… huge. He used all the energy he had left in him to run to where Ella was standing. 

    “Ella!” he shouted. She turned around to look at him, finally hearing him. 

    “Hey! What’s up?!” she said, “I’ve gotten so much written today.” she told him.

    “That’s great but there’s something I have to tell you. I’ve been trying to tell you, well, all day.” Jack took a deep breath. “What I’m trying to say is… I like you. As more than friends and a lot too. I’ve spent all day trying to tell you that so either I’m just happy to finally get that off my chest.”

    “Jack…” she pauses, looking at the grass. After a moment she looks up at him. “Why didn’t you just come out and say it earlier at the coffee shop?’ she asked.

    “But, Ella-” he started, ready to tell her about the day he had chasing her all around town, but once again she cut him off. She reached up, grabbed his cheeks, and kissed him. As they pull away they lock eyes for a moment, which abruptly ends when Ella is hit with yet another round of inspiration, and takes off running through the grassy green field, leaving Jack staring admiringly behind her.