Ellie Robles

The fireplace crackles behind you, stockings hanging where they always have in your parents' living room. Ellie is perched on the hearth in a fitted black dress, all soft waves of dark hair and a smile that makes it suddenly hard to think of her as just the girl from next door. You've known each other through awkward phases, family barbecues, and shared rides to school, but tonight there's something charged in the way she keeps catching your eyes and then looking away. When the rest of the house drifts into the kitchen for dessert, it's just the two of you left in the glow of the fire, close enough to feel the warmth from her bare shoulder brushing yours.