Ellie took a small glance away from the fire after a little while of being lost in the golden flames, to see Sam tilting his head back on the chair, resting his eyes. Ellie smiled inwardly before looking out the window, her head resting on her hand softly.
There had been a few weeks where she hadn't really spoken to Sam. After summer, she really had just focused oh studies she had missed out on, so there wasnt much time for anything. Not even her friends. Still, everytime Ellie spoke to Sam, she always felt giddy, like a little child.
"Hey, Sam?" She spoke up quietly, checking he was still awake. "I have a huge favor to ask." She noted with a huff.

Sam opened his eyes at the sound of her voice. "yeah, of course, anything." he said, sitting up a little as the waitress brought their drinks and food over. Sam inhaled the deep, warming smell of it. Taking the mug of hot chocolate, he slowly picked off all the marshmellows and eat them one by one, savouring their sweet chewiness. He looked up at ellie to answer her question.

"You see," She stated, flashing a grateful smile at the waitress as she delivered their food before looking back to Sam, "I'm going out all next weekend, so I was hoping you would be able to sort Frost and Astra out? If you're not busy of course!" She asked with a slight hesitancy. "I know its chilly, so if you're not up to it, I can ask someone else." She added swiftly, not wanting to put any pressure on him.

"yeah, of course!" he said, smiling as he sipped his warm drink, the cream giving him a moustache. He licked it off and said "just so long as i don't have to do all your fancy western stuff." he said, chuckling lightly and moving a little closer to the warm fire. Sam wondered where Ellie was going, but didnt know if he should ask or not. But he decided to ask her. "where you off to?" he said, tilting his head a little as he puzzled. Ellie rarely went out to places.

"No, you don't have to do any fancy western stuff." She laughed softly, shaking her head softly. "Just turn them out for a few hours and make sure they're warm - and don't forget to give them some feed or they'll get mad at you." She teased softly, leaning back a little. She grinned at his question, taking a small bite of her cheesecake before replying, "Aaron invited me out! We're gonna go to a little theme park before getting dinner. Should be fun." She noted with a light smile.

Sam nodded as she told him what to do, smiling. When she told him where and who she was going to his smile flickered a little, a small burning feeling igniting in him. Stop it, he told himself you arent allowed to be jealous of a girl your not even dating. So he plastered on a smile. "oh cool, sounds fun!" he said, but he couldnt stop it coming off sounding a little fake. He finished his Hot chocolate in silence. Maybe you should get out there, test the waters like Ellie is. he thought to himself. But in his heart he knew he would always keep coming back to her. He had tried to seperate them before, but it had never worked. He sighed, getting up. "time to go?"

"Yeah, it will be fun." She murmured quietly with a small smile. She looked down as she finished the rest of her cake and downed her hot chocolate. The silence of the last few minutes made her slightly uncomfortable. Had she said something wrong? Surely not.

When Sam asked if they were ready to go, she nodded quietly and waved over the bill. She swiftly flashed her card before standing up and giving Ella a rub behind the ears and made her way towards the door, just in front of Sam, waiting for him just outside.

"hey, i would've paid!" said Sam as he walked through the door. "next time i will."

popping Ella in her basket, he hopped on, waiting for Ellie to get on behind him. He was freezing cold but they soon got home and warm. moving in to the barn and out of the cold, he said to Ellie "that was nice, thanks for coming." with a small smile. He would have hugged her then but he felt it would be a bit weird at the time, so he just did an awkward shoulder pat and turned away. Mumbling "bye, Ellie." he trudged off in the cold.

"Thank you for coming." She replied brightly, giving him a grateful smile. She was slightly unsettled by his cautiousness, given that he would have normally been a little more friendly with his partings. She turned to watch as he mozied off, replying sheepishly, "Goodbye!" She breathed out with furrowed brows. Ella, his dog, was still bounding happily around the yard, looking more than happy as she trotted up to Ellie. She kneeled down and tickled her chin, "Go give Sam a proper hug from me, alright?" She told the dog, half teasing herself, before giving Ella a pat on the side and walking off to her little cabin to change and warm back up again.

Sam shivered with guilt as well as the cold as he walked to his place, calling Ella to follow him in. He stepped inside the warm inside of the cabin and sat down on a soft armchair, sighing. What even was that? He hears one thing about Ellie going off with some other boy and he turns all cold and weird? What was wrong with him? it wasnt like him to do this with girls he hadnt even been dating, who havent even said they like eachother yet. He shook his head, getting up and taking some pasta out of the fridge and heating it up on the stove. When it had been warmed up, he curled up next to the fire with Ella, falling asleep fast.