"What were you doing outside?" was the first thing Ellie's mom asked her when she entered their apartment, smiling way too much.

"Nothing," Ellie replied, "just hanging out with Dylan."

"Oh, that's that friend of yours, right?" her mom said, not even looking at Ellie. It made things for her easier, because she hadn't told her family who Dylan exactly was, and lied a bit about him – lying has always been something Ellie was the worst at. She was surprised she's managed to keep lying for this long.

"Yeah." Ellie didn't feel the need to talk about it more, and her tone was signalling the end of the conversation.

Her mom didn't mind, Ellie knew that. She was one of those moms who know everything about their kids, and she never thought Ellie would lie to her. Or even if she did, she didn't show any signs of it. Either way, Ellie had the chance to have her meeting with Dylan still be kept secret.

"Was it okay?" she heard her mom ask right when she was about to close her bedroom door.

"Yeah. We had fun," she answered, smiling at the door as she closed it. She could only thank God that her mom wasn't really curious, and she knew that one day she will have to tell her about Dylan. Her mom knew it too, and that's probably why she never asked.

The blonde wasn't surprised to find out she was completely alone in the room – her sister for some unknown reason preferred to spend her free time roaming the hallways of the hotel to spending it with her family. It was kind of ironic, how this was supposed to be a family trip. Or maybe not; Ellie couldn't decide.

Either way, being it a family trip or not, she mainly came here only for Dylan. Okay, not maybe only because of him – but he was a big part of the reason Ellie's wish to go to LA existed. It made her way more than just happy to even meet him, let alone find out he liked her. He actually liked her. And that not on just a friendly way.

It felt really weird, in fact, to have someone to like her. Ever since she was a little girl she'd have crushes, but they would never like her back. She had gotten used to that, not something else. But it felt different on a good way, and Ellie just thought she didn't fully realize what it meant just yet. Frankly, all she could think about was his awkwardness when he told her about his crush, how confused and nervous he was.

She had been told many times that every time you fall in love, it feels different. But the blonde was far from sure what she was feeling towards the actor. As she had previously told him, she liked him a lot, but she personally thought she was too young to actually love. It was her first time actually catching really strong feelings for someone, and that made everything even worse.

Ellie was just a teenager – a teenager with enough stress from school, pressure from her mother, literally spending twenty four hours in a damn circus, and although finding she has strong feelings for someone wasn't going to be on her to-do list for another while. Of course, she wanted to fall in love – like every sane teenager wants – but didn't really expect it to happen.

Heck, there she was again, thinking about being in love with Dylan. She was not in love with him. There's a difference between loving someone and liking them a lot, and she was absolutely positive she haven't crossed the line, at least yet. She had been told that if you love someone you have to let them go, to see if they come back.

But then again, there was this insanely strong feeling of remorse in regret that was beating in her veins along with her heart, equally strong. It was practically touchable, as she put her hand on her cheeks – they were warm, but she wasn't blushing. She felt extremely under pressure, constant worry that something had been done wrong, yet she had no clue what.

Back then, half an hour ago or so, she had told him everything she thought. She had already known there was no point in lying or hiding things, since stuff like that needed to be get over and done with reasonably and honestly. He knew she meant it honestly, and he understood. It was for the best, she was sure, and she was also sure he knew it too.

Still, it felt wrong. Something felt deeply wrong. She couldn't determine what, because she'd done everything perfectly right. Maybe – just maybe – it had been a little against her feelings, but would it actually work for them? They lived miles and countries apart, it's not something you just decide to forget. But then again, is there a possibility this would actually work?

Five minutes later, Ellie couldn't take it anymore. Thinking about him on any other way felt extremely weird and unusual, but not on a bad way. So she took her phone and sent him a text message, breathing out. She had no idea what she was doing, or going to say, but she felt as if something needed to be done.

It didn't take long until he replied, and she frowned as she read it; the message was emotionless, and something like that hadn't happened in a while. 'what's wrong, did i do something?' was the first thing she typed in, before completely erasing it; it felt wrong. Instead, she sent a simple text asking if he was in a bad mood, with a sad face at the end.

They talked for a while, and Ellie spent it mostly overthinking. The thing about her was that she exactly knew when she was doing that, but she didn't know how to stop it. He didn't reply back as fast as he usually would, and she totally knew something was up. She could only hope it wasn't her fault.

But a few moments later she realized that Dylan actually seemed annoyed with her. She bit on her lip, breathing heavily. She thanked god for having earphones in her ear so she didn't have to listen to the silence – it was the worst, when something bad was happening, and the silence was all around her.

So she put her phone away, burying her head in her hands, still having trouble breathing; it was happening again. She'd overthink the situation, and then have breathing problems because of guilt or whatever she was feeling – it wasn't just one feeling. The worst was that she knew what she had done was the right thing to do, and neither of them should feel bad. But that's exactly what they were feeling like, bad. Even though she wasn't with him at the moment, Ellie could tell something was up.

Something was definitely up, both with him and her – and she couldn't stand it.

Ellie got up from her bed, after spending five more minutes on her phone, texting Dylan and trying to apologize for being an asshole. But since he wasn't replying – probably ignoring her – she decided to give up. She had already started feeling dizzy and having a headache.

As soon as she entered the room her sister winked at her, grinning. "What's up, dude?"

Ellie smiled, although she wasn't feeling well. "Hey you too, Elinor. Had fun trying to find rats in the walls?"

Her sister stuck her tongue out at her, dancing around the apartment to the music on her phone that played on the table. Their mom was on her own phone, talking to their dad. Ellie figured it was the perfect moment to talk to her sister.

"Can I talk to you for a sec?" she asked as she walked over to Elinor, stopping her from dancing. Elinor nodded, and the twins walked into their sleeping room. "I'm not feeling very well, do you think it would be a problem if I skipped the tour tonight?"

"Oh, I'm pretty sure your boyfriend can wait for you to finish the tour," Elinor muttered, jumping on the king bed they shared.

Ellie shook her head, taking a seat beside her sister. "It's not about Dylan. And we're not dating." She sighed and looked away, all feelings from earlier coming back in a rush. "I'm actually feeling really bad."

Elinor spent a long minute only looking at her sister, while Ellie was barely holding herself from falling onto the bad because of the dizziness. "Ellie, I'm joking. I'm gonna tell mom you're feeling really bad and you can't get out of the bedroom, you just make sure you're in the bed when she checks you before we leave. Then, you're going to meet Dylan."

Although the ill blonde smiled, she shook her head. "I told you, it's not about Dylan."

But her sister only rolled her eyes. "Look, I know what you feel like. Trust me, it's totally about him. And also, if you waste a freaking perfect opportunity to tell him how you feel I will absolutely kill you."

"He knows. I've got nothing to tell him," Ellie replied, avoiding to look at her sister.

"He knows?" Elinor was stunned. "But...why aren't you guys together then? He doesn't feel the same way, or what?"

"He does."

"Then?"

Suddenly, Ellie felt attacked – both by her own sister and her own thoughts and feelings. "It's complicated.

Elinor sighed, and put hands on her sister's shoulders. "Screw that. Profess your love for him on the most dramatic way, propose to him and get married in Las Vegas. Get twenty one puppies, and give that one to me, I want a puppy."

Her sisters' words actually brought a genuine smile to Ellie's face; despite them spending most of their time fighting over stupid things, they were best friends nonetheless. Ellie knew she could always confide in her, and the only thing Elinor didn't know was Dylan's last name and who he really was – the reason why Ellie didn't want to tell her was because Elinor was a Teen Wolf fan as well and Ellie didn't know how to tell her sister she's dating one of the cutest actors on the show.

"But I'm not in love with him, Elinor."

"Oh, right." Elinor rolled her eyes again – she sort of reminded Ellie of Mason few days ago – or was it yesterday? Ellie didn't even know anymore. "You've been talking about him for the past two weeks and there's no way you're not in love with that boy. It's nothing scary. I mean, it's scary as hell, but it's a good thing. And if he likes you too, get your ass out there and tell him. You'll regret more if you don't do it."

There was something about Elinor's words that actually made Ellie realize two things: (a) her feelings towards Dylan had probably crossed the 'in love' line today, and (b) her sister was one hundred percent right.

"Okay," Ellie breathed out. "I'm staying here. And you help with mom."

Elinor smiled widely and nodded, already on her way out.

"And thanks!" Ellie shouted at her before Elinor left the room, closing the door.

The blonde took her phone in her hands, and spent good ten minutes texting Dylan before her crush finally decided to text her back. It turned out he wasn't even getting her texts – what annoyed the hell out of her – but he agreed to meet her in the park. In the meantime, her mom and Elinor came to say goodbye (Elinor winked at her knowingly before she went out) and she got ready in less than two minutes.

Before Ellie left the hotel, she took a deep breath, knowing that this was probably going to change her life – or at least a part of it.