November 12th

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Ella and Bucky had decided to get their applications submitted as soon as possible, so they'd dedicated an entire Saturday to finalizing them together. They were being well fed by Winnie as they worked at Bucky's dining room table, she kept bringing them drinks and snacks and very adorably referring to the pair of them as 'her geniuses'.

It took most of the day before Ella was ready for Bucky to check everything for her, but when she was done, Bucky still going. She pressed a kiss to his temple before standing up and wandering into the kitchen to stretch her legs. She walked in on a very guilty-looking Becca, reaching into the cupboard for a packet of biscuits.

"I won't tell if you share," Ella smiled as she leaned against the kitchen counter. The two girls chatted away, almost finishing off the entire packet as Ella asked Becca about school. She always felt a little jealous when she spoke to Becca, she missed being 13 and that carefree. Ella was about to head back into the dining room when Becca blurted out something she wasn't expecting.

"I have a boyfriend, but you can't tell anyone," she said.

Ella was a little thrown by being thrust so suddenly into something resembling the role of big sister.

"You do?" she asked, turning on her heel to face Becca again. She had no idea what was expected of her here, and she scrambled to think about the time she went home and told Laura about her first boyfriend. She was 11. It lasted 2 weeks. She didn't cry when they split up.

"Yeah," Becca confirmed. "It's been a month," she said.

Ella nodded. It seemed Becca's first relationship was so far marginally more successful than her own. She decided to try and do the responsible thing.

"Do you not think you should tell Bucky, at least?" she asked. She understood not wanting to tell her mom. Ella definitely didn't, and luckily Laura had kept the fact she'd seen Ella kissing her boyfriend at school a secret. Well, for a few months. It had come out during a heating argument over the TV remote not long later.

"Why?" Becca asked.

"So then he'll know who's ass to kick if he ever upsets you," Ella explained.

"Oh, he wouldn't upset me," Becca said with complete confidence, but she could tell Ella wasn't convinced. "I mean, has Bucky ever upset you?"

Ella shook her head. "Not really," she said. "But maybe still tell someone, just so you have someone to talk to about it."

Becca rolled her eyes. "Why do you think I told you?" she asked rhetorically before stalking off out of the kitchen, head held high.

Ella stood in stunned silence for a few seconds before laughing to herself. Somehow, it seemed, she'd gained a little sister. And it was safe to say she wasn't at all mad about it. She walked back into the dining room and took her seat next to Bucky.

"Where were you?" he asked as he readied his application for Ella to read.

"Just chatting to Becca," she replied. "I think she likes me."

Bucky looked up and rolled his eyes in the exact same way his sister had just minutes before. "I know, I never hear the end of it. I'm pretty sure she actually prefers you over me."

"Nonsense," Ella quickly replied. Although Bucky's admission made her decision to keep Becca's secret, at least for a little while. "Anyway, you good to go?" she asked.

Bucky nodded in reply and they swapped laptops.

They sat in silence for as long as it took them to read, Winnie stuck her head in mid-way through but quickly backed out when Bucky shot her a glare that said not now.

"Looks good, baby," Bucky said, passing Ella's laptop back when he was done.

"Nope," she said, shaking her head. "I need more than that. I need a pep talk. I'm freaking out, Bucky."

Bucky turned around with a playful look on his face. He pushed aside his own laptop and took both of Ella's hands in his. He looked Ella dead in the eye before he spoke.

"Ella, that was probably the best college essay I've ever read, and I'm not kidding. It's so good it's making me freak out. You've smashed it. You're going to get into all your choices. You're going to get into Brown, and they will be beyond lucky to have you," he said, his steel-blue eyes still focused on Ella. "How was that?" He asked with a smile.

Ella leaned back and laughed. "That was good. 10 out of 10 pep talk."

"How was mine?" Bucky asked.

Ella shrugged. "Honestly, it could use some work," she teased. She waited a split second for Bucky's face to drop before she quickly told him the truth. "I'm kidding, I swear! It's great, Buck. It's perfect."

Bucky let out a huge breath. "You are evil," he laughed, jokingly smacking her around the back of the head.

Ella couldn't help but giggle, "I'm sorry, it had to be done."

"Are you ready?" he asked once he'd composed himself.

Ella grimaced, knowing she'd done as much as she could but still not feeling at all prepared. "Okay," she said, letting out a breath she didn't realize she'd been holding. "I'm ready."

In unison, they sent off their applications.

Bucky softly closed his laptop, Ella was tiredly rubbing her eyes.

"That's such a relief," she sighed. "But my god I need a drink and a lie-down," she said as she started to get up from the table. The stress of the day had finally caught up to her.

"Ella - " Bucky started, reaching out for her hand to stop her from going anywhere.

Ella sat back down and turned to face him.

"What's up?" She asked.

Bucky closed his eyes and gripped Ella's hands in his. He couldn't bring himself to look her in the eye.

"What did you do?" Ella asked breathlessly, starting to freak out a little inside. She'd never seen him like this. He looked a little like he might hurl.

"Ella... I... Ella, I applied to Brown," he said spluttered out, "and before you say anything I swear I did this for me. I mean I know I'd be mental if I didn't want to college with you, but I promise, I'm applying because I want to go there. I mean they had that... that class, the Sportswriting one, oh, and the History of Law one. And I loved the campus. I loved the college, it's my top choice. I didn't know when to tell you, I wanted to tell you straight away but I wanted to be sure I was set on it, and then I thought maybe I should wait until we find out if we got in because otherwise, I might be telling you for nothing if I don't. It's why I was acting so weird when we were there, it's because I loved it but I felt so guilty, I feel like I'm stealing your dream - " he was rambling, his words falling out on top of each other. Ella did the only thing she could think to do.

She placed her finger under his chin and silenced him with a kiss. She felt a little like her head was going to explode as she tried to process everything Bucky had just word vomited on her. But her mind focused on the last thing he said.

"Stealing my dream?" she asked when she'd collected herself. Bucky was looking at her with expectant eyes, waiting for her reaction.

"You were just so set on it, and I thought - "

"Bucky," she said, cutting him off. "Did it not occur to you that yeah, Brown is my dream, but Brown with you is an even bigger, better dream that I didn't know was possible until right this second?"

"Really?" he asked, his hands still tight around hers.

"Really," she confirmed with a nod.

"You're my dream, Ella. You and me. That's my biggest dream, and I was just so scared to tell you in case this got in the way," he said before pressing a kiss to her lips.

"You are positively insane," Ella said with a smile, leaning her forehead against his. "You thought that us going to college together would get in the way? Insane."

Bucky let out a breathy laugh. "You might have a point," he smiled. "Now come here," he said, pulling Ella onto his lap.

Ella pressed up against him, her fingers running through his hair. She could feel his heart through his chest.

"Jesus, Buck, your heart is pounding," she said, gently placing a hand over it.

"Yeah," he laughed. "I was stressed."

Ella shook her head in disbelief. "Insane," she confirmed.


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