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maradovan · 1 year

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a fic for the 6 ellnastacia fans still out there

There were worse ways to start a party than getting shoved into a closet by Anastacia Alcroft LeBlanc.

It was unlike Ellie to ever be caught dead at a Conch party without Lottie or Jamie for backup. She had tried hard to get either of them to go, but it was the night for Lottie’s monthly and apparently un-reschedulable video call with Sayuri. Jamie wouldn’t go simply because he was Jamie. Really, Ellie should have seen that one coming. Percy was a no-go too, because he was already going to the party but would assuredly be off in the corner with his boyfriend the whole night rather than displaying any loyalty to Ellie and Ivy House as a whole on principle. Traitor.

It wasn’t so bad as she thought it might be entering Raphael’s dorm room alone. Her stage presence walked in with her, which always guaranteed confidence. She hung her leather jacket on the makeshift coat rack that was Raphael’s lamp and began her lap around.

It didn’t take long to find Raphael Wilcox at the center of a linearly growing crowd. He was in the middle of telling some animatedly narrated tale that enraptured everyone when he saw Ellie and broke off midsentence. He excused himself from his group of followers and made his way toward Ellie. Before he reached her, he turned to the side and frantically waved his arms over his head and signing something with his hands. Soon enough, Percy was by his side, his hand in Micky’s, trailed by Lola. The four of them approached Ellie, each with the same mischievous expression copied and pasted onto their faces.

Ellie folded her arms over her chest. “I don’t like that look. What is going on in that demented little hive mind of yours?” she asked.

“What took you so long?” Raphael diverted.

Ellie checked the watch on her wrist. The party had only started a little over an hour ago. “Hardly.”

“Where’s Two and Three?” Lola asked, uncharacteristically smirking.

“Lottie’s phoned up with the Missus, and Jamie’s likely spending his night in the company of Vampy, which is riveting by his standards at least.”

Lola and Raphael exchanged a glance followed by a nod. “Good,” Raphael replied. “That makes it easier.”

“Make what easier?”

The four of them giggled ominously. Percy smiled his crooked smile and lightly shoved Ellie’s shoulder. ‘Stephanie Gallo is here.’

Ellie’s eyes widened instantly. Stephanie Gallo. Just at the thought of her, Ellie’s hand went absentmindedly to her lower back, where there was still a scar on her sensitive skin from the henna she’d commissioned Stephanie for two years back. The hairs on the back of her neck stood straight, like they were still being caressed by the ghost of Stephanie’s delicate hands.

Ellie’s lip quirked. “Is she now?”

Raphael nodded. “She was asking after you. We told her you’d be here.”

“You know how she doesn’t like to be kept waiting.”

This was something Ellie knew all too well. Her younger, meeker, loved-riddled self had waited too long to make Stephanie hers in any meaningful way, still hurt over the memory of Saskia’s flirtation and foolishly wanting after Lottie, and so the window on Stephanie had closed.

But apparently, it might be opened yet. Ellie shook out her wrists and cracked her neck to the side. “How do I look?” she asked.

“Fiendish,” Micky marveled.

Ellie knew him well enough to take it as a complement. She ran a hand through her slicked short hair and rolled her shoulders back a few times for good measure.

Raphael reached a hand out to her shoulder. “Need a wingman?” he asked.

Ellie smiled but shrugged out of his grasp. “Thanks, but I think Gallo’s more impressed by heroic solitude.”

Raphael let out a surprised laugh. “Suit yourself, Wolfson.” He drummed his hands on Ellie’s shoulder blades when she turned her back to make her way into the crowd in search of Stephanie’s tall hair. “Make me proud!” Raph hollered after her. Oh, she would.

Or, she would have, given the chance. Before she knew what was happening, the world whirred around Ellie, and she was plunged back-first into Raphael’s closet.

Though they were equals while sparring and bickering, Ellie’s lithe body was unprepared for the strike and easily fumbled back when pinned by Anastacia’s toned arms. Ellie did not remember Anastacia’s arms being so toned. Was she getting extra lifting done outside of fencing practice? Ellie would have to step it up.

Anastacia slammed the door shut behind her with her foot and met Ellie’s eyes with a level of ferocity that was only slightly more deranged than her usual demeanor.

Ellie glanced down to where Anastacia’s hands were still gripping her upper arms. “I didn’t think I’d have to tell you this, but this is a party, not a bout,” she said. “Where’s your sword at, anyway?”

Anastacia’s glower darkened further, if that was even possible. She pressed her fingers harder into Ellie’s arms. There would definitely be bruises on Ellie’s ghostly pale skin tomorrow. “Mon Dieu, Wolfson, for god’s sake, be quiet for once in your life!”

“Nice to see you too, LeBlanc.” Ellie squirmed a bit beneath Anastacia’s hands. “As touching as this little conversation is, I really thought that this close to graduation we could put this rivalry to bed. Or at least let it nap a bit. I don’t expect it’ll stay down for long, but we’re persistent, you and I, so with us working together-“

Anastacia clapped a hand over Ellie’s mouth, which wasn’t surprising because it wasn’t something Anastacia wouldn’t do, but it wasn’t something she ever had done, so it succeeded in catching Ellie off guard. She lifted an eyebrow.

Unbelievably, Anastacia didn’t just seem mad now that Ellie was really looking at her. Never in a million years did Ellie think she would say this, but Anastacia looked desperate. It almost made Ellie feel bad for her, which she knew would have infuriated Anastacia, so that at least made her feel a little bit better.

“My ex is here,” Anastacia hissed.

Ellie’s pulse quickened, and she made an effort for it not to show on her face. Saskia San Martin was around often her, but somehow it never got more comfortable. Back when they had first met, Ellie had been certain Saskia was into her, and this being the first time a girl had ever expressed interest in Ellie that Ellie was capable of expressing interest back to, Ellie had been embarrassingly ecstatic over it.

That was all until the messy breakup that revealed Anastacia and Saskia to have been together the whole time. Ellie was often feeling stupid about things, but that had been a new all time low. She and Anastacia were far from friends, but she had been riddled with guilt from all the near-kisses, the flirty quips, the eye contacts that lasted too long. She knew now that it had been on purpose, a ploy to get closer to Lottie, the assumed princess, but idiotically, it all still felt very, very real to Ellie.

Not that she’d ever let it show. She plastered on the snarky mask and yanked Anastacia’s hand from her mouth. “Get out of town. A Conch prefect? At a Conch party? Someone call the authorities, for I am floored.”

A moment too late, Ellie realized that her deflection of her own feelings for Saskia could only bounce onto Anastacia in that moment, which was just cruel and unfair. Anastacia managed to look hurt for a moment before she covered it up with her usual annoyance.

“She’s with a girl,” Anastacia elaborated.

There were many possibilities of how Ellie could spin this into a cheeky quip, and on any given day she might have. But on this day, that brief flicker of pain on Anastacia’s face gnawed at her conscience. With a sigh, she asked, “Why are you telling me?”

“I came here alone,” Anastacia spat out self-pityingly, which was not at all a good look for her.

Ellie continued to watch her blankly.

Anastacia rolled her eyes. “You came here alone.”

There was a memory of Stephanie’s beautifully hennaed hands and Ellie could have pointed out that she didn’t intend to leave alone. That was when it struck her what Anastacia had just implied.

Ellie couldn’t repress her chortle at this. “And you want me to…”

Anastacia groaned and covered her eyes with her hands. She nodded meekly.

Ellie shouldn’t have been enjoying this quite so much, and yet. “Say it,” she said.

Anastacia lowered her hands and glared daggers at her.

“If you want me to do it,” Ellie said, “you have to say it.”

Anastacia pressed her fist to her mouth and began to pace the small closet. “For the love of- please don’t make me say it.”

She was really enjoying this too much. “Then what’s in it for me?”

Anastacia quit the pacing and leaned against the door with an aggravated huff. “Please, Wolfson,” she said, like the very “please” itself was what was in it for Ellie. “Is that what you want? You want me to get down on my hands and knees? You want me to sing your praises? Make a fool of myself? Throw the final fencing tournament? What horrifying means will satisfy you?”

Ellie lifted her eyebrows. “That last one would do it,” she replied, because like hell the Wicked Bitch of the West Dorms would ever lose a tournament for Ellie’s benefit.

Anastacia’s eyes flicked to her. “Really?” she asked, hopeful.

So the world really was ending. “Christ alive, LeBlanc, I was fucking kidding. Like I need you to throw the competition for me to win it, anyway.”

That last part was really just to see Anastacia’s fire return to her and prove this was still the Ani she knew and loathed. Luckily, it worked, proven by an exaggerated eyeroll. “Like hell you’ll win it,” she muttered.

Ellie didn’t push it into a fight like she normally would, knowing that what Anastacia really needed was a little boost to the ego. She hummed pleasantly and pushed past Anastacia to crack the door open just enough to peek outside of it. Anastacia protested and pulled on Ellie’s arm, but she shook her off. As Ellie scanned the room for Saskia, all the emotions were flooding back. The smug look on Saskia’s face was unbearable. She felt like a stupid kid all over again, reading into all the wrong signals. Ellie still didn’t know the full extent to Saskia and Anastacia’s relationship, but she knew it involved a lot of heartbreak, and from what she could tell, it wasn’t one-sided. Maybe the closure she really needed could be found in a look of dismay on Saskia’s face at seeing her former pawns together. Anastacia held a lot of leverage when it came to girls’ hearts, and Ellie was big enough to admit that they made for a devastatingly attractive pair. Really, truly, life-ruiningly stunning.

Sure enough, there was Saskia on the other side of the door, with her arm wrapped around… For god’s sake, was that Yasmin from gym class? What kind of sick and twisted lineup of Ellie’s past flings had Satan sent to curse this night? She would have been better off with Jamie and Vampy at this rate.

“She’s got a type, I’ll give her that,” Ellie muttered.

“What’s that?” Anastacia whispered.

Ellie quietly shut the door. “Nothing. Here.” Ellie reached out and ran her fingers through Anastacia’s perfectly straight chestnut hair. When she began to shake it thoroughly, Anastacia slapped her hands away.

“Mes cheveaux!” Anastacia gasped indignantly. “What on earth do you think you’re doing?”

Ellie then rang her fingers through her own short hair and broke through the gel to mess it up around the sides. “I’m setting the scene.”

“The scene?”

“I believe it involves you and I, alone in a closet for several minutes. Not very subtle, but effective.” She put one hand on the doorknob and the other in Anastacia’s. Before she could open it, Anastacia squeezed her hand too tightly.

“What? Why?”

“It’s got to be believable. You’re the one that wants to-“

“No. Eleanor, why?” Anastacia asked. The question burned, and it was unrevealing, but Ellie knew what she meant. Why are you going along with this?

Because the only emotion stronger than the disgust at being with you is the satisfaction of Saskia’s reaction. “Because I’m a gentleman,” Ellie lied. “Now, let’s go on.”

As a testament to and confirmation of Ellie and Anastacia’s power as a collective duo, all heads turned to the sight of the two of them fumbling out of a closet with hands locked and hair messed up. The two of them were catching onto each other very quickly; Ellie was grinning toothily, and Anastacia was laughing at whatever Ellie was supposed to have said.

Ellie looked out over the crowd. They were still watching them. Ellie shot them her best menacing smile and pulled Anastacia closer into her. She kept their hands clutched as she wrapped her arm around Ani’s shoulder.

“Didn’t your mothers ever tell you it’s rude to stare?” she laughed. “You all act like you’ve never seen lesbians at Rosewood Hall before.”

Anastacia let out a surprised laugh and shoved Ellie’s shoulder with her own. Ellie cackled and pulled Anastacia over to the counter to get them some drinks. The crowd’s trance seemingly had worn off. Without the attention burning at her, Ellie suddenly wondered whether or not Anastacia’s laugh had been a real one or a fake one. She reminded herself that it didn’t really matter.

The ruse was working well, and it was working quickly. Just over Anastacia’s shoulder, Ellie could see Raphael in the distance, staring at Ellie in bemused shock and confusion. Ellie would explain later. For now, she reveled in his surprise by leaning against the counter closer to Anastacia so that their arms were touching and weaving her arm into Ani’s elbow. She ran her frail hand up and down Anastacia’s lower arm. The material of Anastacia’s expensive blouse was hypnotizingly smooth.

It didn’t escape Ellie’s notice how Anastacia watched Ellie through the corner of her eyes at first with a cool expression. She seemed to then remember herself and fix her face to admiration. Hesitantly, she rested her head on Ellie’s shoulder. Ellie got a whiff of Anastacia’s shampoo, and it was the sweetest smell she’d ever encountered. She didn’t even want to think about how much money she dropped on it. No wonder her hair always looked so flawless. Ellie had the sense to be self-conscious about her cheap product for the first time in her life. She had the money to buy better gel if she wanted to, but it had never seemed to matter until now.

There was a loud clearing of someone’s voice behind them. Ellie jumped and turned.

Saskia wasn’t wasting any time. She had just appeared at the other side of the counter. Her hand was still around Yasmin’s waist.

Anastacia looked her with all the nonchalance in the world, but Ellie could feel her whole body stiffen next to hers. She leaned in closer to her. She told herself it was for Anastacia’s benefit, but it was just as much about getting moral support for herself, too.

“I hope we’re not interrupting anything,” Saskia said with a smile saccharine and cheap.

Anastacia’s eyes narrowed. She was now standing up straight and leaning away a bit. Ellie tapped her foot against hers to remind her what she was here for. Then she leaned her head on Anastacia’s shoulder to remind Saskia what she was here for.

“You are,” Ellie said. She rubbed Anastacia’s shoulder. “But that’s alright. What’s up, Saskia?”

Anastacia remembered herself and pressed her cheek into Ellie’s hair. She placed her hand over Ellie’s on her shoulder.

Saskia’s eyes flickered back and forth between Anastacia and Ellie for a fraction of a second, blink-you’ll-miss it kind of ordeal. Ellie swore she saw her lip twitch. “Oh, I just thought I’d say hi. I was expecting to see you here, Ellie, without your Wolf pack.”

Saskia was behaving just as she always did, and Ellie was shocked she never realized how fake she was. There was nothing unintentional about her niceness, and niceness really was the word for it, rather than kindness.

Yasmin seemed to notice Saskia’s snakish niceties too; she was getting bored fast. She sprawled her fingers around the back of Saskia’s neck. “Do you want to go in the hall a minute?” she whispered loudly to Saskia.

Saskia smiled falsely at her in response. “Maybe in a minute.” She turned back to Ellie, waiting for a response.

“They got the night off,” Ellie explained. “No need for any extra company, anyway. I’m just here for my girlfriend.”

Anastacia smiled and turned her head to the floor. She was a killer athlete, but in that moment, Ellie thought she’d missed her calling as an actress.

This time, Ellie was sure she clocked a lip twitch. Saskia’s face never faltered but she did take a little step back that didn’t seem intentional. She knocked Yasmin a bit off her balance, which earned her an eyeroll. Yasmin stalked off into the crowd.

“Girlfriend?” Saskia raised an eyebrow.

Suddenly, there was a hand raking through Ellie’s hair, and long, perfect acrylics scratching her scalp. Her legs suddenly went weak. It was a chore to stay standing. Anastacia leaned Ellie into the counter to keep her upright.

“You heard her,” Anastacia replied coolly.

Saskia wrapped her arms around herself and barked a very forced laugh. “Wow. Don’t take this the wrong way, but you are literally the last people I expected to ever get together.”

Ellie narrowed her eyes and snarled. “Makes perfect sense to me.” Anastacia was clearly working hard to keep it together so she just nodded tersely.

“Don’t get me wrong. It’s just that you’re so similar, and I figured I was both your types rather than each other.”

Ellie knew the color flooding her pale face wouldn’t be concealable. Anastacia’s head snapped instantly to stare Ellie down.

“What?” she demanded.

Ellie was a caged animal all in a moment’s notice. “I-“

“Wolfson?” a new voice asked. All three heads spun to see a beautiful broad girl with a beehive of hair stacked on top of her head. Her brown eyes burned into the spots where Ellie’s skin met Anastacia’s.

“Why do you hate me, God?” Ellie groaned.

“What?” Stephanie and Anastacia asked in unison. Ellie stared at the ceiling like it might make her evaporate. As if she would ever be so lucky.

“Ellie, I was waiting for you,” Stephanie continued. “I see now that maybe I shouldn’t have.” Just like that, she vanished back into the crowd.

“Stephanie!” Ellie called. She might have followed if she didn’t feel glued to Anastacia’s side.

“Just what the hell is going on here?” Saskia asked. She didn’t bother to hide the interest on her face.

Anastacia looked mortified. Ellie hated herself now more than she ever had, and she was the self-proclaimed princess of self-pity.

“This was a mistake,” Anastacia whispered, and suddenly her chestnut hair was flying behind her out the door into the hall.

Only Saskia and Ellie were left, staring each other down. Saskia slinked a bit closer. She reached her hand out toward Ellie’s. “If you wanted my attention this bad, you could have asked,” Saskia said with a smirk.

Ellie took a step back and grimaced. “Bring that hand any closer and you lose it.” She then did what she never thought herself capable of and walked away from Saskia. Walking quickly turned to running, and she was suddenly sprinting down the hall and catching the door Anastacia had come out of before it shut.

Anastacia was a vision leaning in the gazebo by the Conch pool. The light in the blue water reflected beautifully off her hair. She looked a bit like the sirens from Lottie’s Peter Pan books.

Ellie also realized that she had never seen Anastacia cry before that moment. She had done a great job of keeping the tears out of her eyes past the initial ones, but the mascara running down her blushed cheeks gave her away.

Ellie sighed and strode over to plant herself beside Anastacia. She was shocked when Ani allowed her to take her face and try to wipe the mascara off her face. Key word: try.

“This is some grade-A shit, LeBlanc,” Ellie said, trying the mood. “It’s not budging. Just as stubborn as you are.”

Anastacia sniffled miserably. Ellie sighed again. She knocked her wrist against Anastacia’s, which was leaning on the railing of the gazebo so that she could fix her gaze on the pool rather than Ellie.

“Stephanie Gallo?” Anastacia asked suddenly. “I had no idea.”

“I’m sorry,” Ellie told her. “I didn’t know she was going to be here. I mean, I did know she was here, but I didn’t before I got here, and it’s just… It’s long over. I swear.”

“Whatever. You don’t need to explain yourself to me,” Anastacia replied.

Ellie realized she was right. She didn’t owe an apology to Anastacia over Stephanie. But oddly, it still felt like she did.

“I’m sorry,” she tried.

“Oh, don’t, Wolfson. It’s not your fault. I was stupid to think it would work.”

Ellie brushed her hand against Anastacia’s. She could plausibly play it off as an accident if she needed to, but she didn’t move it away. “You aren’t stupid.”

Anastacia quivered a sigh. “What did she mean that she was your type?”

Ellie got that caged animal feeling again. “I’m really sorry, Anastacia. I didn’t know at the time that you two were together and… As soon as I found out, I never felt that way about her again. But I didn’t know until you were already broken up.”

Anastacia turned her head finally. She stared inquisitively into Ellie’s eyes. Out of habit, Ellie didn’t back down. She stared right back.

“You too?” she asked Ellie. She pointed to her heart, and Ellie knew just what she meant.

“Yeah,” Ellie whispered weakly.

All was quiet for a moment. Quiet was unbearable for someone like Ellie who felt things too strongly and expected everyone else to, too.

“Why aren’t you yelling?” she asked.

Anastacia looked at her. “I’m not mad. At you.”

Ellie gave her a disbelieving face.

“I’m not mad at you!” Unexpectedly, Anastacia smiled a bit. “I didn’t think you had human emotions.”

Ellie couldn’t contain her laugh. “Yeah, I think that breakup was the first time I realized you had any, either.”

Anastacia rolled her eyes, but it was better than tears, and her lips were still quirked into a smile. She pressed her ankle to Ellie’s. “Aren’t you cold?” she asked.

Ellie shrugged. She was. “Aren’t you?”

Anastacia shook her head. “Do you want to go back in?”

Ellie looked from the pool water to the shining gloss in Anastacia’s hair. She shook her head.

Anastacia gave her a funny look. She pressed the rest of her wrist up against Ellie’s. “I know you’re cold,” she said.

Ellie sneered at her half-heartedly. “Cold-hearted, maybe.”

“Oh please.” Now Ellie’s face was in Anastacia’s hand. She tilted her chin closer to her, and they kissed hungrily.

Ellie’s hands were in Anastacia’s hair right away. She recalled all the times she had watched Anastacia braid it in the locker room before practice, and then unbraided it at the end. It was crazy to her how Anastacia seemed untouchable even by her own sweat. Her hair was never made unperfect, no matter the circumstances. It was so annoying that it even felt perfect to the touch. Smooth and soft.

One of Anastacia’s hands gripped at Ellie’s shirt. The other had a finger wrapped through her belt loop. Ellie inhaled audibly when Anastacia pulled her closer to her by the hips.

“I don’t actually do this a lot,” Ellie admitted breathily. Immediately after, she had the sense to be mortified because it was Anastacia. That was very dangerous information in the hands of the enemy.

“Doesn’t show,” Anastacia mumbled. Merciful.

Ellie smirked at how easily Anastacia let her off the hook for that and pulled her in close again. She wrapped her ankle around Anastacia’s and let her push her into the beam of the gazebo.

Ellie kissed Anastacia’s jaw in three spots, and then her ear, mostly just so she could venture further into that insane hair. Anastacia was clearly pleased, and her mouth went to Ellie’s neck. Ellie’s eyelids fluttered closed. She grabbed Anastacia’s hand and guided it over her hip, her ribs.

By the time Anastacia’s lips met Ellie’s again, Ellie brought her fingers up to touch where her teeth had grazed her neck.

“That’ll bruise,” she said. Anastacia pulled her head closer to hers impatiently.

Ellie smiled. She pulled back just so again. “It’ll match the ones from where you tore into my arms in that closet.”

“Shut up, Eleanor.”

Anastacia bit Ellie’s lip. She shut up.

#i miss writing fanfic its literally been like 5 years :/#ellnastacia #ellie wolf #anastacia alcroft #anastacia alcroft leblanc #ellie x anastacia #rwch #the rosewood chronicles #rwch fanfic #undercover princess #princess in practice #the lost princess #princess at heart #princess ever after

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