October 1st - October 2nd

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"You're sure they won't mind me using the guest room?" Bucky asked Steve for maybe the third time.

"Positive, just stick your head in the living room and introduce yourself before we leave and they'll be happy."

Ella came rushing down the stairs, shadowed by Wanda. The girls had spent the last two hours getting ready for Nat's party, blaring their music through the house just loud enough that they couldn't hear Steve complaining. She had put on a black tight-fitting mini dress with matching strappy black heels, chic and simple as was her usual style. Wanda was quite the opposite in her floral mini skirt and pink long sleeve top.

Bucky couldn't help but do a double-take as he spotted Ella. He was so used to seeing her in jeans, a t-shirt and sneakers at school. Ella caught him staring and gave him a cheeky smile as she made her way into the living room to say goodbye to her parents.

She leant over, giving them both quick hugs, when she turned around Bucky had made his way in.

"Oh, Bucky, these are my parents," she gestured towards them, "and parents, this is my Bucky." Why am I like this? "He's not my Bucky, just Bucky. That came out wrong."

She closed her eyes and grimaced, ignoring the laughter filling the room. Her dad and Bucky found it hilarious. Luckily her mom stepped in to shut them up.

"It's lovely to meet you, Bucky." She flashed him a quick smile.

They gathered up their belongings as Wanda pulled her shoes on, stumbling down the hallway while Steve tried his best to keep her upright.

"Have a good night kids, and remember to tell Sam that we're happy to come and pick you guys up if he decides he wants a drink," Joe called as they all piled out the door into Sam's waiting car.

They drove over to Nat's, they were surprised at the number of people on the front lawn alone.

"I thought this was supposed to be a small thing?" Ella whispered to Wanda.

Wanda laughed. "I guess not, I feel like I'm ready for a proper party though."

Ella couldn't deny it made her nervous, this summer was the first time she'd ever really drank, and her's and Steve's 17th birthday the week before term started was the first time she'd ever been drunk, but she seemed to be the only one with those feelings. Everyone else, except Sam who was already regretting offering to drive, just looked excited.

When they got inside they realized that pretty much half the junior class was there, Nat scurried over to the door, looking far too stressed out for someone supposed to be enjoying their birthday.

"I don't know how this happened!" She cried out to Ella. "What do I do?"

The group took it all in, there were heads as far as they could see, plus everyone they couldn't see outside.

"You just gotta roll with it." Sam shrugged with a playful grin. And that they did. They all dispersed, the boys heading to the kitchen in search of beer as Ella went in search of Christian.

She found him sitting outside on a sun lounger, chatting away with his friends. Ella dropped down next to him and spent the first half an hour catching up with them all. She never really liked Christian's friends, his circle was pretty much just the football team, and to say they were assholes was putting it lightly, but she made an effort on his behalf. However, after one inappropriate joke too many she left them to it, giving Christian a quick kiss before she went back to her friends.

She found them all in the living room, spread out around the coffee table engaged in some kind of card game, Bucky shuffled over to make room for her as Nat appeared with a bottle of vodka and plastic shot glasses.

"This is for us and us only," she joked in a hushed voice. Ella rolled her eyes, Nat wanted to start 17 with a bang.

"Ooh let's play Mr & Mrs," Wanda suggested, "we have an even number now," she said, pointing to Bucky.

"Fine, but I get Steve," Natasha chimed in.

"Sam, you're my partner," Wanda quickly added, shooting Nat a wink.

Bucky turned to Ella and bumped her shoulder. "Looks like you're stuck with me."

Ella flashed him a smile back. "More like you're stuck with me. I play to win, so you can spare the niceties on my team. Got it?"

"Got it." He nodded, putting on his best game face.

"Birthday girl's up first," Ella announced, pushing Natasha towards the chairs that Sam had set up.

Nat and Steve took their seats and the questions came thick and fast. Natasha used it as an excuse to flirt with Steve, she'd had a crush on him for so long that no one acknowledged it anymore. He was of course completely oblivious, he always had been. Ella had told Nat time and time again that if she was serious about Steve, she just needed to come right out and say it. Flirting made Steve uncomfortable, he lost the ability to form sentences when a girl so much as looked at him, so dropping hints did no good. But Nat never took Ella's advice, in her opinion staying friends was more important.

Sam and Wanda went next, they were pure entertainment to watch, the two of them squabbled over every answer, neither of them willing to back down to win a round. Sam kept taking sips of his soda, while Wanda got progressively more drunk.

Finally, Ella and Bucky were up. The questions started out tame. Who's more popular, who's dressed better, who's the better swimmer. She let him have that last one.

"Who's hotter?" Nat smirked.

Ella rolled her eyes, and decided to take one for the team, she pointed at Bucky as her answer and as soon as she did she was met with a chorus of 'DRINK!' from everyone watching.

She turned to face him, taking a sip of beer.

"I thought I told you I play to win?" She jokingly scolded him. Her eyes flicked to his lips. She wondered what it would feel like to kiss them.

"Hey, in my eyes that was the obvious answer," he said with a playful wink.

She cocked her head at him, raising her eyebrow. The flirting was a new development. She thought he'd back down, or at least show a little embarrassment, but he looked right back at her with so much confidence that she had to turn away.

After that the questions got riskier and riskier, Ella was drinking on turns when she and Bucky picked the same answer just to make it bearable. She also kept her fingers crossed that Christian wasn't somewhere in the room watching.

When everyone had exhausted their questions the group dispersed. Ella was called over by some of the girls on the swim team so she wandered off to catch up with them, when she next looked around the room everyone else seemed to have disappeared so she just drifted from group to group, catching up with people she hadn't seen much around school.

A couple of hours and one very competitive game of beer pong later, Ella collapsed onto a couch in the living room. The party had quietened down, and it was mostly just close friends left. Her head was starting to spin and the buzz from the alcohol was burning off, leaving her tired and ready to sleep. Christian quickly joined her, wrapping his arm over her shoulders, but the smell of whatever was in his cup made her gag. She was done for the night. She leaned into his chest, letting her eyes flutter closed, but her rest was short-lived as Steve's voice boomed through the room. He was being wrestled through the house towards the front door by Sam, telling Ella it was their time to leave. She gave Christian a quick kiss on the cheek and collected Wanda and Bucky who were deep in conversation in the kitchen. She wasn't sure if they were so drunk they were slurring their words, or if she was so drunk she couldn't hear them properly.

On the drive home she rested her head up against the window, it was cold and helping with her dizziness. Next to her, Wanda had already nodded off, her head leant back on the headrest, her mouth slightly agape. Bucky's amused smile masked his disappointment at not being sat next to Ella. He wanted to feel her next to him. He reached out his arm, hanging over the back of the seats. His fingers brushed Ella's shoulder. That would have to do.

By the time they pulled into the drive Wanda had come to, Steve's drunken rambling seemed to have woken her up. They all climbed out of the car, wincing in unison when Ella accidentally slammed the door, the noise loud in the silence of the night.

"Sorry," she whispered.

The five of them trailed upstairs, Wanda went first, finding her way into Ella's bedroom. Sam went next, pulling Steve up with him, Ella followed behind, her hands on the top of Steve's back to stop him from falling backwards, and Bucky brought up the rear.

Once Steve and Sam were shut in the bedroom, Ella opened the door to the guest room. She pointed out everything Bucky would need in a hushed voice.

"Spare pillows and blankets are in there, the bathroom is the first door on the left, if you need painkillers in the morning there's some aspirin in the cupboard, and it looks like someone brought your bag up for you, so you're all set."

"Goodnight, Ella," he whispered as he flicked on the bedside lamp.

"Night, Bucky."

He turned to look at her. They both stood there for a few seconds, illuminated by the golden light from the lamp. Smiles were dancing on their lips as they gazed at each other. The pull towards him was undeniable now, and the look in his eyes told her that he felt it too.

She slipped out the door, closing it softly behind her and made a quick stop in the bathroom on her way to bed. Wanda had passed out fully clothed, her shoes kicked off at the foot of the bed. Ella grabbed a blanket and threw it over her friend before searching her bedroom for something resembling pyjamas, finding a t-shirt and shorts in a pile of clean washing that had been sitting on her desk for over a week. Once she was changed she got in bed and let her tiredness take over.

The next morning Ella woke up early, groaning as she realized she hadn't brought any water up to her room. She rolled out of bed gently, trying not to disturb Wanda who was still out cold. She made her way along the hall, forgetting to miss the creaky floorboard outside Steve's bedroom. Oops. It never failed to wake him up, and she was sure she heard someone grumbling from his room as she went down the stairs.

She was midway through pouring a glass of water when someone else padded into the kitchen.

"Morning, Ella."

She turned over her shoulder to see Bucky leaning against the island. She waved her glass at him, and he nodded at her offer.

When she'd finished pouring him a drink she took a seat at the island and slid his glass over to him.

"How are you feeling this morning?" She asked with a sly smile.

"I was fine until someone woke me up," he jokingly huffed.

Ella laughed, clearly Steve wasn't the only one who heard the creaky floorboard.

"Sorry about that," she said, giving him an apologetic smile.

"So I met Christian last night. He's- "

"Save it." She rolled her eyes, interrupting him. "I know what you're going to say"

He held his hands up in surrender.

"Sorry, I wasn't going to be mean."

"I know, I'm just fed up with hearing it. I think Nat called him a snooze fest maybe 4 times last night alone."

"Do you agree with her?" He asked hesitantly.

Her silence gave him his answer.

"How come you're still with him then? If you don't mind me asking. Steve said you've been together ages."

"Yeah, it's been a while now. He was my date to homecoming in freshman year. This is going to sound worse than it is, but I guess, I just never really had a reason to break up with him, you know? He's a genuinely nice guy, he treats me well, he doesn't judge. And sometimes when I think about breaking up with him I just feel like I'm being really ungrateful. I don't know, I hope that makes sense."

He nodded, confirming that he understood where she was coming from. But something was still bothering him.

"Does he make you happy?" He sounded genuinely curious, so she wasn't offended by his probing questions. In fact, she was glad someone wanted to talk to her about it, rather than just making jokes, and even though she still didn't know Bucky very well, she trusted him. She just couldn't put her finger on why.

"I don't know, I mean, he doesn't make me unhappy."

"Is that enough?" he asked gently.

She shrugged. "I guess after everything, I didn't really know how to be happy, and I didn't think... I don't know...I didn't think I deserved to be."

His eyes gazed into hers as he spoke. "You deserve someone who makes you happy, Ella." She looked up at him and her heart hurt. She knew what he was saying. Give me a chance to make you happy.

She stood up from her seat slowly, ignoring the loud scrape it made across the floor. She walked around the island until she was in front of him, and he stood up straight. Waiting for her to decide what she was about to do.

She slowly stepped forward until he could her breath tickled his skin. She leaned in and pressed a kiss into the day-old stubble on his cheek.

"Thank you, Bucky," she whispered before stepping backwards and heading upstairs.


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