(Song: Someone You Loved by Lewis Capaldi)

The school day ends and my friends all meet my in our usual meeting spot outside the school next to one of the benches.

Ryan waves when I'm a few feet away from them. I wave back and smile, continuing to walk further towards them.

"Hey guys," I say once I'm there. I was the last person to arrive. I guess I take a long time at my locker.

"Hey, Ellie," Ryan says.

I smile and we begin walking. "You guys excited for the dance tomorrow?" Claire asks everyone.

"Yeah. But Ellie and Ryan are the most excited," Rachel says, nudging my shoulder.

"Oh, shut up," I laugh.

"Hey, no making fun of my date to the dance," Ryan chimes in, putting his arm around me, pretending to be super protective.

I feel my cheeks heat up at the physical contact between us. Ryan's hand continued to rest on my shoulder as we walked home.

•~~~~~

Once we reach my house Ryan lets go of me. I did feel a little disappointed, but obviously he had to leave so I could go shopping for a dress with Harry. "See you later," Ryan says.

"See ya," I say to Ryan. "Bye, guys, See you tomorrow," I tell everyone else.

I walk inside and drop my backpack by the stairs. "Hi, Dad," I say to Harry. He was in the kitchen making something.

"Hey, love. How was school?" He greets, turning toward me.

"It was good," I shrug. "Kinda boring."

"Well, sometimes that can be a good thing, right?" Harry says.

"Yeah, I guess," I say. "I'm just excited to get a dress. I can't believe the dance is tomorrow. I've been thinking of it all day."

"I'm sure you must be excited," Harry smiles. "So... you and Ryan? Are you guys dating now?" He wiggles his eyebrows at me.

"No, Dad," I laugh. "We're just friends. I already told you this."

"I know, I know," Harry puts his hands up in surrender. "It would be fine if you are, though. I know Ryan is a good kid." He has a bit of suspicion in his voice as if he didn't completely believe that Ryan and I were just friends.

He looks back down at his sandwich and finishes making it. "Oh my god, Dad. We're not," I say again, rolling my eyes, though, I wasn't actually annoyed with him.

"Okay, whatever you say. We can leave once I finish my sandwich. Do you want anything to eat?" He asks.

"No. I'm fine," I tell him.

He raises his eyebrows. "Let me rephrase that. What can I get you to eat?" He asks.

"Dad, I'm really not hungry. I ate lunch," I explain to him.

"I know you may not feel hungry, love, but that's part of this recovery thing. You gotta eat, even if you're not always hungry. I know it's hard, but I need you to do it, if not for yourself, then for me. I want you to be healthy, okay?" Harry says. Concern was laced in his voice.

"Okay," I sigh. "I'm sorry." I feel like such a hassle right now.

"Don't say that," Harry says. His voice is calm. "Come here and give me a hug."

I walk around to the other end of the counter where Harry was and fall into his arms. He wraps his arm around me, putting one hand on my head and the other on my back. My hands rest around his torso and my head on his chest.

"I know how hard this is for you," Harry whispers. "And I am so proud of you and how far you've already come."

"Thank you, Dad. I'm sorry if I'm ever annoying about food and stuff. I know it's stupid," I say.

"Aw, baby. You really need to stop apologizing. None of this is your fault. I know you don't believe me, and I don't know how to convince you of that other than telling you all the time.  But if that's what it takes, then I'll never stop telling you that." Harry says. He rubs my back in circles.

I don't say anything, but I remain in the hug until Harry pulls us apart slightly. "Can I get you something to eat?" He asks me again. He brushes the hair from my eyes.

I nod my head and smile. "Yeah," I say.

He walks to the cabinet where we keep all our snacks. "Hmm," he says looking around. "Pretzels, goldfish, granola bars, crackers... anything sound good?"

"I'll have pretzels," I say.

He grabs a mini bag of pretzels and holds it up as if he was about to throw it. "You ready to catch?" He asks.

I smile and nod my head. He throws it and it goes over my head. "I can't believe you missed that!" Harry shakes his head, pretending to be disappointed.

"I can't believe you are that awful at throwing. You threw that straight over my head," I laugh and pick up the bag from the floor.

"Hey, I think I'm pretty good at throwing," Harry defends himself.

"You're not. Just don't joint a basketball team, and no one has to know," I say. I sit down at the table and Harry joins me with his sandwich.

"Hey! That's mean," Harry says, nudging my shoulder.

I smile and shrug my shoulders. "Well, you can't be good at everything. Your singing makes up for it," I tell him. I open my bag of pretzels and eat one of them.

"Okay, I can live with that, I guess. Sports aren't cool anyway," he says. "So tell me your ideas for a dress?"

"I don't know at all. I haven't thought a lot about what kind I want. As long as it's not ugly, I'll be fine with almost anything," I tell him.

"Oh, wow, this is unfortunate. I was going to take you to go buy an ugly dress," he says sarcastically

"Haha," I say. "You know what I meant."

"Yeah, yeah. I know. You got me all excited now. Go get in the car and I'll meet you out there once I put my shoes on," Harry suggests.

I nod my head. "Okay," I say excitedly. I think I'm more happy to spend time with Harry than buy the dress.