I'm Coming Down (w/ Episoxtle)

[Galaxie]

I found god, I found him in a lover
When his hair falls in his face, and his hands so cold they shake.​

Elliot Atkins, better known as Ellie to the people she was aqcuainted with, had a long day. In fact, long didn't even cut it - the sun had barely peeked over the horizon when her alarm went up and summoned her to the world. 6 in the morning meant that she had work to do and, though she loved her job with all her heart, ten hour shifts on her feet would never be her thing. She'd take what she was given, though - she'd landed a field placement spot at her first choice of veterinary clinics and she'd just started that Monday. Today was friday - her fifth day on the job and the end of the week for her. 5pm never came so slowly - which was ironic considering the fact that the clinic had several emergencies and non-stop appointments all day.

She'd settled down after that, electing to relax and unpack some of her stuff instead of go out or anything - not that she'd had any options to. While she had just returned to her hometown, all of the people she had once cared for here had left. They were either in school or moved away and Ellie was glad for them - once upon a time she had sworn that she would never return to Willow Creek, but here she was once again. Actually, she'd even missed it over the last couple years.

Eventually, after her books were unpacked and sorted neatly by series and alphabetically if they were standalones, and some more of her dish ware was in the cupboards where it belong, Ellie settled on to a raggedy tan couch. It was a hand-me-down, given to her by her father because this was her first real apartment and he didn't want it any more. She'd scoffed at first, not wanting to take in the old piece of furniture but a week and a half later she had to admit that having a couch to lounge on was better than trying to stream Netflix from her floor. It let her lounge with a glass of wine and her laptop on the coffee table in front of her. Sprawled out on that couch had become her favourite relaxing spot since moving in.

She'd been laying there with the lids of her gray-green eyes heavy and half-closed when the sudden ding of her phone broke her from relaxation. In a sleepy haze, she sat up in a clumsy motion and clicked the screen of her phone on.

Midnight and... an unknown caller? Ellie narrowed her eyes at that combination, rather perplexed. Who the hell was calling her at this time?

"Hello?" The dual syllables came out as a question, and while one hand propped her phone to her ear, the other held her vertical.

I found the devil, I found him in a lover
and his lips like tangerines, and his colour codes speak.

 

[Episoxtle]

Dylan Walker had also had a rough day. He'd been called in for an eight hour shift at the last second, leaving him to listen to his girlfriend, Anna, start to complain about he was never home. Given the two year old he had at home he wanted to be there - the only problem was, well, he probably shouldn't still be in a relationship with said two year old's mother. Anna, quite frankly, drove him fucking nuts. He hated to say it, he really did because he wanted to make things work for Lily's sake, but it just wasn't happening.

He didn't go home after he went to work. He went to a buddy's and chilled there for a few hours before said buddy also had to go to work - and after that, Dylan wandered back towards work. The liquor store was next door to it, and he had just enough money on his debit card to cash in for a 40 ouncer of his favourite throat searing vodka. He ended up at McDonalds next, and ordered a large drink, which he filled with the strawberry fruitopia they had available through the fountain. He left and sipped at it, acting nonchalant.

Until he wasn't as nonchalant. As soon as he realized where he was, any ounce of calmness he had in him faded. Directly across the road from him was a house he'd been to many times, many years ago. Once upon a time he'd been leaving the dream with a girl who loved him and no responsibilities in the world other than to her. He'd given that up for an easy lay and in another life he would have never given up his chance to be in that house.

With a simple shake of his head, he veered in to the park not a block away and poured an ample amount of vodka in to his fruitopia. After that was gone, he drank straight out of the bottle. Night had long since taken over, and he wasn't quite sure of what time it was - nor was he sober enough to really care. He was six ignored texts away from home and more kept coming - he wanted to just tell Anna to fuck off. He deserved to be able to at least go to work without being bitched at.

He glanced over in the direction of Elliot's parent's house and then let out a huff of a sigh before unlocking his phone and going in to his contacts. He hadn't touched her contact since he'd got this phone, but today was the day that he would give in once more.

Half knowing that he was about to make a mistake, he clicked the call button on the contact of the girl he'd never quite gotten over. She responded quickly, or at least it seemed like that, and the goofiest grin lit up Dylan's face when he heard her voice.

"Ellie? It's me."

 

[Galaxie]

Was that... Dylan? The furrow of Ellie's brow deepened and the hand that was supporting her moved to rub her temple. God, that was definitely the last person she was expecting to hear from - she hadn't even got a text from him in... well, months. That wasn't surprising, in fact it was very typical of the relationship they had, but quite honestly she hadn't expected to hear from him again. After all - Anna had started to come around to the fact that Ellie was a part of Dylan's life, and Dylan was interested in a challenge. He always had been - what he had was never enough, what was easily attainable was never enough. He had to push his limits and try to get what he couldn't have.

"Dylan?" Elliot's confusion rang in those syllables as well, and she leaned forwards to lower the volume of her show. "What are you doing?"

 

[Episoxtle]

"Elliot Atkins!" He sounded way too excited to be hearing her voice, but Dylan didn't care. It felt like an eternity since he'd last talked to her. For a while he swore he wouldn't - he'd realized just how much he cared about Ellie, and with that realization came the fact that he couldn't let that get in the way of the little family he'd made. Whether he liked it or not.

He wanted to, though.

"Remember that time we fucked in Stanley Park?" He'd been seventeen and she'd been what... hardly fifteen? It had been their first time after her birthday and it was the day that would have been their first anniversary had they never broken up. God, that was years ago now - he'd be twenty three come July. It still felt like yesterday now that he was thinking about it, though. He remembered the fullness of her breasts in his hands, the salt on her skin against his tongue. He remembered how easily he slipped in to her because his tongue had made her so, so wet.

"Fuck, that was a bad opener wasn't it? Good memory though. Really good memory." He laughed and then shook his head. "What are you doing?"

 

[Galaxie]

The furrow between Ellie's eyes quickly vanished and was replaced with a surprised raise of her brows. She definitely did remember the moment that he spoke up, but she was quite concerned that he would bring it up at all. He definitely wasn't home... Wait.

"Dylan are you drunk?" The slight slur to his voice was Ellie's first clue about her ex's statement. The fact that he actually said that was the second - he was too scared of feeling to actually talk about anything related to them. The only time he did was during manic moments where her phone would light up in messages from Anna asking if she knew if he was okay and messages from him saying he'd only ever loved one person. After the first time he'd done that, she'd learned not to respond - even now she knew she still cared enough that, if he didn't have a daughter to look after, she would take him back.

That didn't stop her from meeting up with him on occasion, when the texts he sent her were more frantic and less about her. Even those moments were nearly too much for her, though.

 

[Episoxtle]

Dylan chuckled at the only thing that Elliot replied with, and he brought the bottle of vodka he had in his hand to his mouth. He gulped back a mouthful and let out a hiss as the alcohol stung on the way down. He shook his head and sipped at his empty mcdonalds cup in hopes of getting a little bit more juice out of it to wipe the sting out of his mouth. When that proved unsuccessful, he tossed the paper cup from his spot on top of the play equipment.

"Maybe I am." I definitely am. So what if he was drunk? He was an adult, he was allowed to get wasted if he wanted to. (Inside he knew why she had that condescending tone, though. Ellie was beautiful but she was a buzzkill sometimes - all "be responsible" and "go back to Anna" even though the last thing that he ever wanted to do with his life was go back to Anna.) Dylan put the bottle of vodka back in his bag and clambered to his feet using his one free arm to balance himself. He hopped down from the highest level of the play set and then down to the lowest. From there he was just a step off of the ground. "What's it to you?"

 

[Galaxie]

"Why are you calling me?" Yep, he was 100% drunk and Elliot had to hold back the groan that wanted to escape her chest. Just then her phone got a text message and she let out a sigh as she read the name that lit up her screen. Anna. Yep, it was one of those days.

"Are you okay, Dylan?" She put him on speaker so that she could check her new message and, as expected, Anna was asking if she had heard from Dylan. She quickly typed in a reply and sent it off. Everyone knew how this worked: Dylan got angry for some reason, Anna worried about him, and Ellie talked him down and sent him safely home. Honestly, Elliot was unsure why he never just left her for good - you could parent a child without being with the other parent, and he was obviously unhappy thing things. (She hadn't even been back home a month and now this was happening, for example.)

ANNA: Hey, have you seen Dylan? He's not replying to my messages... He was supposed to be home hours ago....
ELLIE: Yeah, I just heard from him. He's fine I think.

 

[Episoxtle]

"I'm just fine, why wouldn't I be fine?" Dylan kicked a shovel that was sitting in the sand bit beneath the play equipment. It didn't go far, landing still within the wooden border, and Dylan sauntered over to it and kicked it again. The shovel went flying this time, landing on the smaller set of playground equipment, the one with the slide three feet off the ground. He smirked as it came in contact with the purple plastic roof, letting a satisfying thunk fill the air. He was fine - just fine. The only thing wrong was how Anna bitched at him for everything he did, how he was pretty much never able to see anyone but her. Fuck, he lived with the woman - there was no need for her to see him every second of every day. His two year old didn't even need that much attention.

 

[Galaxie]

"Dylan, you're never fine when you call me drunk. Where are you?" It was a tedious cycle - he would call her or text her, she'd hear from Anna, and she'd know he was having another manic episode. Being the only one who'd been able to talk him down during moments like this, they would meet up, walk and talk for a while until Elliot felt like he was safe, and then she wouldn't hear from him again for months. As repetitive as it was, she was used to it and she knew that in a few minutes she would end up walking over to wherever he was. They'd talk, he'd swear he was going to leave Anna this time and then he wouldn't.

She let out a sigh, and then her phone went off again. After reading the newest message from Anna, saying that Dylan's dsughter missed him and he was needed at home, she replied again.

As always she would be the martyr, giving up her feelings for the sake of doing the right thing. What a mess their lives were.