Hiccup.

That was Nate's first impression of Ella. He was at some thumping party at Tess Tyler's house that Jason had begged him to come to, because Peggy had invited Mitchie to go with her, and Mitchie didn't want to go without Shane, and Shane didn't want Peggy as a third wheel, so he roped Jason into going, and Jason was too chicken to actually consider the possibility of spending time alone with Peggy, so Nate had agreed to go as Jason's wingman, and so he could bail him out if he got in too deep and started to freak on Peggy. Teenagers are complicated creatures.

So there he was, standing all by himself by the bar, watching Peggy giggle along to something Jason had said, Shane stroke Mitchie's hair as she snuggled up to him on the love seat, and feeling rather resentful that he was dragged along to this excuse for rich, bratty teenagers to get wasted and hook up, when suddenly he heard a loud hiccup from somewhere around his left shoulder. He looked there in surprise to see a small girl with almond shaped eyes and a pretty smile watching Peggy and Jason interact. Nate was entranced for a fraction of a second, before the illusion was broken as she hiccupped loudly, making her whole body sway drunkenly.

"Do you need a glass of water?" was the first thing he could think to say.

"Oh no, I'm fine, thanks," she waved at him dismissively, but then did a double take as if she only just realised he was standing there.

"Hi there!" she smiled brightly at him. "I'm Ella!"

"I'm Nate," he replied politely.

"No duh!" She looked left and right, and leaned in, beckoning to him like she had a secret. He leaned in too, and she whispered in his ear "I don't know if you know this, but you're kinda famous."

"I did know that, but thanks for reminding me," Nate answered uncertainly, not sure what to think of this girl 'Ella'.

"You're welcome!" she grinned, looking back towards Jason and Peggy, who were now holding hands. "Your friend is flirting with my friend."

"I know, I can see that," Nate wrinkled his nose, looking from her vacant expression to the red plastic cup in her hand as she hiccupped again. "Are you feeling alright?"

She looked down at the liquid in her cup with a contemplative glance. "I think someone put Bacardi in the punch. Which is weird, coz it's usually vodka, and I can handle that alright most of the time. But with rum, WHEW!" she exclaimed looking up at Nate with twinkling eyes and hiccupped. "Rum makes me very tipsy, very quickly!"

"I see," Nate nodded, his suspicions about her sobriety confirmed.

"Do you want some?" she held out the cup under his nose, and he gagged from the strong smell.

"No thanks, I'm actually designated driver tonight," Nate took a step back and put up his hands defensively.

"Oh, that's cool," she smiled. She seemed to smile a lot. "Do you wanna dance?"

"Actually, I don't think-"

"Ooh, I love this song!" Ella cried, grabbing Nate's hand and pulling him along with her to the makeshift dance floor in the middle of the living room.

"Uh, okay then," Nate shrugged, swaying from side to side with her as she linked her fingers with his.

"No pain, inside, you're my protection, how do I feel this gooooood so-ber?" Ella sang along, rather ironically.

Despite himself, Nate actually found himself having a good time. Ella was a shameless dancer, not afraid to make a fool of herself, and Nate found him self laughing along with her, getting hopelessly sucked in to her chipper attitude. When they went to get drinks, she handed him a Coke can with a wink, as she poured herself another cup of punch. He found that talking to Ella was even more interesting than dancing with her. She had the oddest outlooks on everything, from fashion to media to politics, and everything she said sounded so sincere that he nearly found himself believing that the Earth was in fact a huge experimental computer manufactured by mice. Finally, they both decided that they should probably find their drunken friends.

"Because some people get really silly when they're under the influence," nodded Ella innocently, stumbling as she stepped on to the outdoor patio.

Nate caught her arm and stood her up, smiling at her befuddled expression at the stair, and he spotted Jason and Peggy grinding together out on the lawn. He turned to point this out to Ella, but her eyes had lit up at the song that had started over the stereo, and ran back inside. Nate followed her, looking for her among the crowd of people, when suddenly he spotted her climbing up onto a table. Nate made as way over to her as fast as he could. Any moron knows that drunk girls and tables are not a good combination. He reached the side of the wooden slab and signalled to Ella to get down, but she only shook her head and waved at him.

"Look at me, I'm Beyonce!" she giggled, teetering dangerously towards the edge.

"Ella, be careful! Just because Beyonce can dance in heels doesn't mean everyone else can!" he exclaimed.

"Yuh huh! Watch!" she squealed, kicking out with her royal blue six inch stilettos, striking Nate in the forehead.

"Oh shit! Oh shit! I'm sorry, Nate! I'm so sorry!" Ella scrambled off the table as Nate clutched his head, trying very hard not to let a single tear of pain escape from under his eyelids.

"Here, show me," she pried his hand away to observe the tiny, circular bruise forming above his left eyebrow. "Oh my god! You're crying!"

"Shh!" Nate hissed at her. "I am not!"

Sensing the pain and humiliation in his voice, she took him firmly by the wrist and led him into one of the guest bedrooms in Tess's humongous house, and made him sit on the bed as she blundered into the ensuite bathroom and ran a towel under a cold tap.

"Here," she offered him the still dripping towel after a few seconds.

He gave her a bemused look and stood up to wring it out, before applying it to his sore forehead and sitting back down. She grimaced at him apologetically, before her face suddenly fell and turned a nasty shade of green. One second she was in the bathroom doorway, the next she was gone and all Nate could hear was nasty sounds from in the bathroom. He stood up in alarm, and walked in to see Ella on her knees in front of the toilet, wiping her mouth.

"Are you okay?" he frowned in concern, kneeling down beside her.

"Peachy," she coughed, before vomiting into the porcelain bowl a second time.

Nate wrinkled his nose and pulled her hair back over her shoulders, so she wouldn't get sick on it. He patted between her shoulder blades awkwardly, but Ella seemed pretty self-sufficient. Once she was convinced she wasn't going to be sick again, she stood up and stuck her mouth under the faucet, taking a long drink of water. Nate just watched her in bewilderment, holding the damp cloth to his forehead.

"What?" she raised her eyebrows at him when she caught him looking.

"Nothing!" he said quickly. "I just think I need to lie down."

"Oh, I know how you feel," Ella nodded, taking him by the hand and leading him back out to the bedroom.

Nate lay down on the left side of the bed, and Ella lay on the right. Tentatively, she reached out and pressed her fingertips against his, grinning as she felt him return the connection. They lay there together for who knows how long, drifting in and out of sleep, before being rudely interrupted as the party was winding down.

"And what exactly is going on in here?" came the distinctive voice of Shane Gray from the door.

"This isn't what it looks like," Nate mumbled, struggling to sit up.

"Really? Are you sure? Because this looks like you got kicked in the head by a girl wearing high heels who was dancing to Beyonce," Shane smirked.

"Wow, he's good," Ella muttered to Nate, to which he responded with an eye roll and a nasty glare to his friend in the doorway.

"You saw, didn't you?" he growled.

"Funniest thing I've ever seen in my life!" Shane replied cheerily.

"Yeah, I'm glad I could be your entertainment for tonight, thanks for all your help. Are you ready to go?" he snarled grumpily.

"Mitchie's gone to pry Jason away from Peggy, so we should be ready to go within the next century," Shane shrugged. "I'll be waiting in the car."

"Fantastic," Nate groaned caustically, turning to Ella, who was smiling up at him vaguely. "I'm heading off. I'll see you around, I guess."

"Thank you for being so nice to me," she beamed at him. "Most people have usually bailed by the time I've started spewing."

"It's the least I could do after you kicked me in the head," he smiled, patting her shoulder.

"I'm sorry," she cringed. "I wish I could say that's the first time that's happened."

Nate laughed. "We should do this again sometime. Except maybe with less alcohol."

"There's a Blacklight Bash next week across town, I'm pretty sure Mitchie and Tess are going," Ella pulled a face as she tried to remember exact details.

"I'll ask Mitchie about it. I might see you there," Nate stood up and waved to her from the door. She gave him a sleepy smile and returned his smile, before her eyelids drooped and she lost consciousness.

"No, Ella, you've had enough!" Nate scolded, holding the bottle out of her reach.

"I just need a little bit more so I can go to sleep!' she insisted, still jumping at the bottle, until her eyes glazed over and she collapsed unconscious to the floor.

Nate looked at the motionless figure at his feet and sighed. It had been like this every time he had seen her at a party. She was a perfectly sociable girl when they met anywhere that didn't have an open bar. But put her in the vicinity of a mixture of boys, loud music and any form of liquor, and Ella turned into a raging alcoholic, drinking anything she could get her hands on. And Nate always found himself the one helping her to the toilets when she was sick, sneaking her in past her parents, and bringing her McDonalds and a couple of aspirin when she woke up with a overwhelming hangover. And he did it because up until the point when she became totally dependant on him, Ella was a complete blast to be around. Nate couldn't remember ever having as much fun in his life as he experienced whenever he was with Ella. Of course, until she became so drunk that she was barely functioning.

Rolling his eyes, he bent down over Ella figure and shook her shoulders. "Ella, get up. We need to get you out of here."

"Don't move me," she groaned. "If you move me, I'll be sick."

"Ella, you can't stay here," Nate groaned.

"I'm going to puke if I move even an inch!" Ella warned.

He pulled her to sit upright and placed a plastic bucket on the floor in front of her. She looked at him ruefully for a split second, before emptying the contents of her stomach into the bucket. Nate jumped backwards to avoid any backsplash, but moved to stand behind her and rub circles on her back once she had stopped retching.

"I told you I'd be sick," she mumbled.

"Sorry, but I couldn't just leave you in the middle of a hallway. You'd be stepped on," Nate sighed, tracing patterns across her shoulder-blades, purely out of habit.

"That would suck," Ella agreed blearily, pushing her hair out of her face.

"Hey, Ells?" Nate crouched in front of her and tilted her chin up to look at her with his index finger.

"Yes, Nate?" she replied in the same flippant tone.

"D'you think maybe the next party we go to, you could not drink anything alcoholic?" Nate bit his lip and braced himself for her reaction.

"Are you crazy? What fun would that be?" Ella giggled, waving him off. "No fun at all, that's what it'd be."

"Please, Ella? Just give it a go?" Nate tried a puppy dog look, not one of his signature moves, but it seemed to work on her.

"Why?" she drawled uncertainly.

"I just think it would be fun if we went together and I didn't have to worry about you," Nate shrugged, avoiding her eyes.

"Aaw, Nate, that's really sweet," Ella reached out and cupped his cheek in her palm, and hiccupped. "Okay, cool. Next party we go to, I won't drink."

Nate's eyes lit up. "Promise?"

"Promise."

The next party occurred sooner than either of them expected. Peggy was throwing an impromptu party at her dad's place, because apparently he was taking a 'business' trip for two weeks, which was code for banging one of his homewrecking theatre sluts that wasn't her mother. So Peggy really couldn't care less if the house got trashed. Nate got out of Shane's car, who had insisted on 'trying out' being a designated driver for once in his life. He gave a wave him as he left him in the car, and set off in search of Ella.

"Hey Natie!" Ella bounded up to him with the same spark she always had in her eyes when she was intoxicated.

"Ella, I thought you said you weren't going to drink tonight!" Nate scolded sternly.

"But I haven't!" she frowned. "I do feel kinda weird, maybe I should go to the bathroom. I've only been drinking water all night!"

"Yeah, right, Ella, I'm sure that's water right there," he scowled at the colorless liquid in the cup in her hand.

"It is! Taste it!" she pushed the cup into his hand, and Nate sniffed at it suspiciously.

"Smells like water," he mumbled in surprise. He took a small sip. "Wow, it is water. Way to go, Ella I'm proud of you."

She beamed up at him, and he couldn't help but return the smile. But he faltered when she tripped over air and he caught her before she hit the floor.

"You're sure you've only drunk water?" Nate sighed, helping her stand again.

"Yes! I didn't want to disappoint you! I'm sober, I swear!" Ella's eyes pleaded with him desperately, and he couldn't argue.

"I'm not disappointed at all, okay? I'm glad you're trying," he patted her on the shoulder, and was taken aback when she wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her face in his chest.

"I'm glad I'm trying too! I'm doing good so far, right?" her voice vibrated across his upper body, and he took a deep breath before returning the hug.

"You're doing great," he whispered.

They stayed like that for a few more seconds, before Ella mumbled. "I have to pee."

"Okay then, go pee," Nate laughed, releasing her.

He watched her in amusement as she tottered across the room, wondering how one person could seem so drunk when they haven't had any alcohol. But his eyes narrowed as a boy he had never seen before stopped her, pulling her into an embrace which she happily returned, and lingered far too long for Nate's liking. But his furtive appraisal of this exchange was cut short by an outburst of cheering and hooting behind him. He turned to see what all the commotion was about, and groaned as he spotted Jason and Peggy making out in a circle of on-lookers.

"It's about time, huh?"

Nate jumped as Mitchie popped up next to him, offering her commentary.

"Yeah. Good for them," Nate shrugged as he turned back to observe Ella and the mystery boy.

"What?" Mitchie noticed him turn away, and followed his line of sight to Ella laughing maniacally at something the boy had said. "Wow, Ella's drunk again tonight, huh? Surprise, surprise!"

"No, she swore she hasn't had a drop," he scowled as the boy leant down and whispered something in Ella's ear, causing her to blush. "Who's that?"

"Oh, I don't know, a friend of Tess's," Mitchie shrugged, paying more attention to Jason and Peggy's shameless public display of affection.

"He looks like a tool," Nate spat scathingly.

"Whatever Romeo, you just don't like him because maybe Ella has someone else to look after her tonight," Mitchie laughed as she waved to Shane, and started to make her way towards him.

"What?" she heard Nate splutter behind her. "No, that's not… Mitchie!"

Mitchie grinned and waved back at him without turning around. Nate ran a hand through his curls in frustration, and looked back at Ella. She was looking over at Jason and Peggy with a wide grin on her face, but the boy she was with had an arm slung over her shoulder and was giving knuckles to another boy who seemed to be wearing the same Abercrombie polo and deck shoes, but in a different color. They were both looking at Ella like she was a prime steak ready to be devoured.

Nate grimaced, and made his way over to them, ignoring the dirty glares he was being sent as he tapped Ella on the shoulder. "Can I talk to you for a moment?"

"Sure!" she smiled, turning to the boy who looked very reluctant to let her go. "I'll be back in a sec, Jake."

Once he had Ella in a relatively quiet place; the kitchen; he turned to her immediately. "Ella, those guys are bad news."

"What are you talking about?" Ella raised an eyebrow and wobbled precariously.

Alarms bells went off in the back of Nate's mind, but he pushed them away to focus on the matter at hand. "I'm talking about how those frat boys out there are looking at you like…"

Nate trailed off, and Ella waited expectantly for a few more seconds. "Like…" she prompted.

"They're just not very nice, Ella, trust me," Nate took her hand and squeezed it lightly.

"Oh, no, Jake's really nice," Ella smiled. "He said I was the hottest girl here! Hotter than Tess, even!"

Nate had to restrain himself from rolling his eyes, as Ella continued. "And then he said something to his friend, who I can remember the name of, and I didn't really get it, but they both laughed really loud, so it must have been funny!"

"Yeah, hilarious," Nate gritted his teeth, as he imagined rather accurately what the joke might have been.

"Don't worry about me, Nate, I'm fine tonight, remember?" she giggled, indicating that no matter what she thought, she was definitely not fine.

"I should be getting back, I asked Jake if he could get me another glass of water," Ella took a step back, but Nate only held on to her hand tighter.

"No, Ella, don't be stupid!" he hissed, pulling her towards him, before his face dropped when he realised his mistake. If there was one thing Ella hated more than anything in the world, it was being called stupid.

"Listen here, mop-top," she scowled, wrenching her hand out of Nate's grasp and poking him in the chest. "I may not be very smart, but I know who my friends are. Capisce?"

"Ella, what does that even mean?" he wrinkled his nose in amusement.

"CAPISCE! Do you capisce?" she shrieked.

"Yes, yes, I capisce! Whatever the hell that is!" he took a step back in alarm.

"Fine," she nodded curtly, stalking out of the kitchen and back over to Josh or Jason or whatever the hell his name was.

Nate wanted to say something else, anything else, but he hesitated for a millisecond too long, and was left clutching at air where she had just been. He sighed, and made his way back out into the throng of people, still keeping an eye out for Ella. He spotted her just as she was accepting a cup from her frat boy friend, who was watching her greedily as she took a sip, batting her eyelashes flirtatiously. Then, all of a sudden, she hiccupped.

Nate gasped as his unsubstantiated misgivings about Ella's situation fell into place, and he started to push his way through the crowd towards her. He yanked the cup away from her just as she was taking another sip, splashing water all over himself, Ella, what's-his-face and everyone else within a two meter radius.

"What the hell, Nate?" Ella screeched, looking down at her ruined outfit.

"Ella, how many glasses of water did Justin get you tonight?" Nate grabbed her by the shoulders urgently, and she glared at him drowsily.

"His name is Jake," she snarled.

"Whatever, I don't care what his name is, I just want to know how much water he's given you," Nate spat, giving Jake a filthy look, which he happily returned.

"Hey man, what's your problem?" Jake's unidentified friend pulled on Nate's sleeve, but Nate shrugged him off and turned on him in fury.

"Don't touch me, you pig!" he shouted, unaware of how quiet the rest of the room was.

As he turned back to Ella, he found Jake with his arm around her protectively. He was consumed by a blind rage, and before he could even register what he was doing, he had Jake up against the wall by the scruff of his neck. If there was one person around them who didn't notice the scene Nate was making before, they certainly had now.

"Nate, stop! What're you doing?" Ella slurred woozily behind him, before releasing another hiccup.

"Don't you get it? Ella, why do you think you feel so crap even though you've only been drinking water all night? Why are you hiccupping?" Nate yelled.

"Um…" she furrowed her brow as Jake sweated nervously in Nate's grip.

"Because this asshole's been spiking your drink!" Nate screamed, pulling Jake forward and slamming him against the wall again. "Haven't you?"

There was a single second of complete silence, as everyone in the room stared at the two boys locked in a death stare.

"Nate, look ou-" Ella yelped, before there was a sharp pain in the back of Nate's head, and everything went black.

The next thing Nate remembered was waking up in the back seat of a moving car, as someone was holding ice to his head as they propped it up in their lap.

"Morning, sunshine!" Mitchie's face grinned down at him, and he winced at the throbbing that reverberated around his skull when she talked.

"Ugh. What happened?" he mumbled.

"Nate!" came a sleepy exclamation from the front passenger's seat. "Nate, are you awake?"

"Yes, Ella, he's awake," Shane reassured her from the driver's seat.

"Oh, Nate, I'm so sorry, I should have listened to you, I don't…" Ella trailed off as her head drooped and she faded out of consciousness.

"How about we just get you two home, and you can do apologies in the morning?" Mitchie suggested.

Both Nate and Ella nodded groggily, as Mitchie and Shane exchanged knowing glances through the rearview mirror.

"What happened?" Nate demanded again.

"Jake's friend sucker-punched you in the back of the head," Mitchie explained, pressing the ice to his growing lump firmly.

"And Jason was like 'oh hell no' and jumped on his back," Ella interjected, suddenly wide awake again.

"And then Macho Man here took up where you left off and was practically throttling Jake," Mitchie glared at Shane, who was suddenly very focused on the road in front of him.

"Jake's a jerk!" Ella sniffed, and then hiccupped. "He is so not invited to my birthday party anymore!"

"Yes, Ella, we know," Mitchie sighed, giving Nate the impression she had already heard that sentence quite a few times.

"Anyway, a huge fight broke out and someone called the cops. We bailed out of there pretty quick," Shane finished off as he pulled into Nate's driveway.

"Thanks guys," Nate felt a sudden rush of appreciation for all his friends.

"Yeah, plus we didn't want to be there for clean up. Jason stayed to help Peggy, but I seriously doubt that's what they're going to be doing when they're alone together in an empty house."

"Classy, Shane," Nate snorted, cringing as he sat up to get out of the car.

"Do you need help sneaking in?" Mitchie bit her lip, gesturing towards Nate's dark, silent house.

"Nah, my folks are out of town for a few days," he shrugged.

"What?" Shane exclaimed disbelievingly, turning around to face him. "How did I not know about this? Why are you not throwing a massive party?"

"Um, hello, did you see Peggy's house just then? I'm not surprised Jason stayed behind to help her!" Nate scoffed. "Excuse me for not wanting to turn my house into a garbage dump!"

"You're excused," Shane retorted irritably, rolling his eyes.

"Are your parents at home, Ella?" Mitchie asked her kindly.

"Yeah, but they're not expecting me anytime soon," Ella yawned.

"Why not?" Shane pressed her for a more detailed answer.

"Oh, I'm meant to be staying the night at Peggy's," she shrugged dismissively.

"What?" exclaimed Mitchie. "Ella, we can't take you back there now! It's late, it's too far away, and Shane and I want to go home! Why the hell did you agree to come with us?"

"I don't know!" Ella groaned, before hiccupping again. "I wanted to see that Nate was okay?"

"Well, what are we supposed to do with you now?" Shane grunted. "My parental units have a hard enough time letting Mitchie sleep over, let alone another girl!"

"Stress less, princess. It's okay, she can stay here," Nate winced as he felt the tender egg on the back of his head.

Mitchie and Shane exchanged glances for the billionth time that night, and they both were thinking the same thing. "Nate, are you sure that's a good idea?"

"Why wouldn't it be?" he narrowed his eyes and looked between them. Neither replied.

"No reason," Shane caved first, and shrugged, looking back out the front windscreen.

Nate glared at him, and gave a haughty goodbye to Mitchie as she helped him get Ella out of the front seat. Ella clutched to his arm as he helped her through the front door, and as soon as she saw the couch in the living room, she collapsed on it wearily.

"Thanks so much, Nate," she sighed, her face in the embellished cushions. "I feel so bad about this, like, you have no idea how bad. Really, really bad."

"Don't sweat it," he smiled, sitting at her feet. "Anything for you, Ella."

"I'm never drinking again," she sighed, rubbing her eyes and smearing her make-up.

"What?" he spluttered.

"You shouldn't have to do this for me! I'm tired of being a burden on my friends," Ella pouted, curling into the fetal position.

Nate slid off the couch and moved to sit in right front of her face, looking her dead in the eyes. "I don't have to do anything, Ells. You're not a burden."

Ella hiccupped and raised a questioning eyebrow. The look on her face told him she didn't believe him.

"Okay, well, you are kind of a burden," Nate grinned. "But it's not a big deal, really."

"No, Nate, it is a big deal," she frowned. "That's it. No more. I'm never going to drink alcohol ever again."

"Like I haven't heard that before," Nate rolled his eyes, and stood up to go get some ibuprofen. Jake's dumbass friend had given him a staggering headache.

He could hear her muttering to herself as he fumbled around his kitchen, and he returned to her with two full glasses of water. She sat up as he placed them on the coffee table, and Nate jumped as inane laughter was suddenly blasted out of the sound system of the television. Ella shrieked as a cartoon flickered to life on the screen. Nate looked around desperately for the remote.

"Ella, stand up!" he yelled over the generic sound effects. "I think you're sitting on it!"

"What?" she shouted back, unable to hear him over the noise.

He grabbed her hand and yanked her off the couch, snatching up the remote that had been squashed underneath her. He whipped round and muted the television, before dropping the remote to the ground and rubbing his temples. That had not helped his headache one bit. He turned back to make a joke to Ella, but she wasn't where he thought she would be. He looked around frantically for a second, wondering where she could have gone, when he realised that she hadn't stopped herself from falling as he pulled her off the couch. She was face down on the floor, her butt in the air, looking like she was eating the carpet.

"Hi," she mumbled when she saw him staring at her dubiously.

"Come on, up you get. You look ridiculous," Nate couldn't stop himself from chuckling as he pulled her back up. "You look like Sid from Toy Story when he's sleeping."

"I love that movie!" Ella exclaimed. "Can we watch it?"

"What?" Nate shook his head. "It's nearly midnight! Aren't you tired?"

"I don't want to fall asleep just yet," Ella sighed, plopping back down on the couch. "I want to stay awake with you."

Nate's throat closed up and he distracted himself from the obvious by looking for his Toy Story DVD. Once he found it, he stuck it in the slot and sat down on the opposite end of the couch that Ella was slumped on, watching the menu with inebriated fascination. But his purposeful separation from her and the inevitable confrontation of his feelings that followed came crashing down on him and she turned and moved to sit next to him, laying down and resting her head on his chest. He hesitantly wrapped his arm around her shoulder, concentrating on not letting her know how much his heart rate sped up when she came near him.

"I'm serious, you know," she mumbled. "I'm swearing off drinking for life."

"You don't have to do that," Nate sighed.

As he inhaled, a few flyaway strands of her hair were sucked towards him, resting on his chin and lips, tickling his skin. He couldn't make himself brush them away.

"You have to make me, okay? Make sure that I don't drink again," Ella tilted her head backwards to try and see his face, and Nate tensed as he felt her nose graze the underside of his jaw.

"I'll try, Ells, but I can't make you do anything you don't want to do," he forced out through his throat that was rapidly constricting again, for some reason.

"I do want this. I want to stop being such a hassle whenever I'm out with my friends. I want to stop waking up feeling sick and wondering how the hell I got to where I am. And most of all I want you to help me," Ella whispered, her breath tingling across his neck.

"If that's what you really want," Nate reached out and tucked some of her hair behind her ear breathlessly. "Then I'll try and help. And besides, if you keep it up for much longer, I'm going to end up with brain damage. I think I've been hit in the head every single time I've been to a party with you."

Ella giggled, and snuggled into his chest further. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Nate shrugged, his brain struggling to form complete sentences when all he could think about was how close she was to him, how he could smell her, breathe her in. He could kiss her right there and then if he wanted to.

But he didn't want to, not at that moment, not while she was so vulnerable. He wanted her to actually remember what it felt like when their lips touched, when he showed her just how he felt about her, because they was no more denying it. He liked Ella. He liked her a lot. He might have even loved her. But he practically never had the chance to act upon those feelings, because ever time he was with her, she had always had too much to drink. But now she had sworn off that, there was a light at the end of the tunnel.

He fell asleep watching the silent Toy Story, his head resting on top of Ella's, and with bright hopes for his future with her now that her excessive consumption of alcohol had ceased, or so she said. No more patting her back while she puked in the toilet. No more pulling her away from seedy men who she drunkenly latched onto. No more being her knight in shining armour. Which was okay with him, as that meant she wasn't the damsel in distress anymore. Yeah, things were definitely looking up.

On a warm night a couple of weeks later, Nate was experimenting with some chords on his guitar when his cell phone lit up with Peggy's caller ID.

"Hey Peg, what's up?" he answered cheerily.

"Nate, where are you? I figured you'd be with Ella, I think it's getting to that time where you need to step in."

"What are you talking about?" he half-laughed in confusion.

"Um, how you're needed on Ella patrol?"

"Ella patrol?" he wrinkled his nose at the label his friends came up with for his care of Ella. "She doesn't drink anymore, Peggy."

"Are you kidding? Have you even seen her tonight?"

"No, I haven't!" Nate snapped. "I got in a fight with my brother and we're both grounded."

"Wait, so you're not at Andy's party?"

"Ella's at Andy's party?" he frowned. She had told him that she was having a movie night with her family. Obviously not.

"Everyone's at Andy's party, Nate, I can't believe you're missing it!"

"Me neither," he sighed, already formulating a plan to sneak out. "I'll see you soon, Peggy."

His mouth was pitted in a tight scowl as he climbed out his bedroom window and into his car. He was probably going to be in so much trouble after this, but he didn't care. All he cared about now was her. He plugged the address into his navigation system and drove to Andy's in a stony silence. As he entered, he ignored calls of greeting from Jason and Peggy, Shane and Mitchie, purely focused on finding Ella. He didn't have to look far. As soon as he stepped in the front hall, he saw her talking out of the corner of her mouth to Tess, as both girls flipped their hair for the benefit of a group of ogling boys. She winked at them seductively, wiggling her hips to the music. A noise from upstairs distracted her, and she turned to see what it was, but she never made it that far. She locked eyes with Nate and her euphoric facial expression turned to one of guilt.

"Ella," Nate hissed though his teeth.

"Nate!" she gasped. "What… what are you doing here?"

He didn't answer. He just glanced from the shameful look on her face, to the bottle of beer in her hand, before turning around and walking straight back out the door.

"Wait! Stop, Nate! Let me explain!" she cried, running after him.

"Explain what? How you're here, getting drunk, again?" he shouted, turning on her spitefully.

"I didn't think you were going to be here! I figured one drink wouldn't hurt!" she exclaimed, throwing her hands up in the air and sloshing half of the beer out of her bottle.

"One drink? Look at you, you haven't just had one drink!" Nate scoffed.

"Yes I have!" Ella argued.

"Don't lie to me!" he roared, taking a threatening step towards her. "How many, Ella? How many?"

Ella looked at the ground so she wouldn't have to stare at the fury on his face. "I don't know, I've lost count."

Nate didn't even know he could feel like this. How could he hate one person so much, and yet love them so much at the same time? How could she keep doing this to herself? And why did he feel the need to stop her? All of these questions had no answers, and he was sick of trying to find them.

"You know what? Fine. Do want you want, I'm done," he sighed, turning back to his car and unlocking it.

"No! Nate, please!" Ella screamed behind him, with such anguish he couldn't help but face her again. But he refused to give in this time.

"You said you would stop!" he yelled. "You're so much better than this, Ella. Why do you need to get smashed at every party you go to?"

"I don't know! I like to have a good time, is that such a bad thing?" she snapped.

"Having a good time is a few social drinks and getting a bit tipsy once in a while!" Nate retaliated. "It does not involve having to get your stomach pumped from alcohol poisoning! And it's never a good time for me, because I'm always the one stuck looking after you!"

"Then why do you do it, if you hate it so much?" Ella shrieked, throwing the nearly empty beer bottle at him. He cried out as it shattered at his feet.

The sound of breaking glass triggered a stifling silence. They glared at each other across the driveway, Ella swaying slightly. After a few tense moments, her shoulders slumped and she sunk to her knees, before hiccupping. Nate took a concerned step forward, and then hesitated. Old habits really do die hard.

"Can you please just take me home?" Ella said, barely above a whisper.

Nate bit his lip, but he knew that he would. He couldn't just leave her there. So he silently made his way over to her, helped her to her feet, and guided her to the passenger's seat of his car. On the drive to her house, he remained silent, as Ella hummed along to the radio and doodled in the fog that her breath left on the window in between hiccups.

He pulled into her driveway and glowered at her across the front seat. "Here. You're home," he snapped.

"Nate, I'm-"

"Don't," he hissed. "Don't you dare say you're sorry. You're not."

"But I am," Ella's eyes watered up, and she took a deep breath and tore herself away from Nate's harsh gaze, instead looking at her house and sighing.

"Wish me luck?" she whispered hopefully. She knew as well as anyone that it wasn't a problem sneaking out to go out for a drink. It was sneaking back in that was the hard part.

"Luck," Nate muttered before he could stop himself. It was what he always said when she always asked him, every time he had dropped her home after a big night.

Ella's mouth twitched into a small smile, and she got out of his car. Nate watched her with trepidation and she staggered up to her side gate, trying to make as little noise as possible. He would usually be out helping her, but he just couldn't do it this time. He wouldn't. He put the car in reverse and started to back away when a loud clatter made him stop.

Ella was crouched low against the side of her house, cringing at the trash cans that she had stumbled into. She could feel the tears surfacing, and she swallowed to try and hold them back, reassuring herself that she was going to get in the house safely, and that Nate would cool off and forgive her, eventually. But doubt was gnawing away at her insides, and it took all her strength not to just collapse and cry her eyes out on her driveway. But as she felt strong arms pick her up from behind, she swelled with happiness.

"This is the last time, Ella, I swear to God," Nate muttered in her ear.

She just nodded mutely and led him around to the back of her house as usual. Nate knew the routine by now. He'd help her up the drainpipe beside her window, then follow her up just to make sure that she got in all right. Once he saw that she was safe in her bed, he would climb back down and drive home. Simple as that. It was only once or twice that he had to climb in her window to stop her from waking up the entire household and physically make her go to bed.

After she crawled in her window, Ella turned and stuck her head back out to look down at Nate. "Thanks, Nate. I really am sorry."

He didn't say anything. He just struggled to keep an emotionless expression on his face as he clambered back down the drainpipe. Ella sighed, and drew her head back in the window. A loud thump a few seconds later made Nate pause, before scrambling back up to see what it was. As he looked in her window, Ella was on her hands and knees, looking at the bag she had tripped over in drunken bemusement. A huge internal battle was raging inside him, but he already knew what side would win out. He climbed in her window after her and helped her to her feet.

She looked at him in confusion, her eyes swimming. "Why are you still helping me?"

"Anything for you, Ella. You know that," Nate sighed.

"You're amazing, Nate," Ella sighed wistfully. "Nobody's ever been as nice to me as you have."

She took a step towards him, and Nate could tell from the look in her eyes that he had made a mistake in following her into her room.

"I just wish I knew how to repay you," she murmured seductively.

Ella gave him a light push to the shoulders, but it was enough to send him tumbling backwards onto the bed. Before he could sit up, she had climbed up and straddled his lap. He squirmed uncomfortably beneath her as she leaned over him, giving him an explicit look down her shirt. Nate gulped and tried to look into her eyes instead.

"Ella, what are you doing?" he squeaked, trying to control all his bodily functions that would give away how much he longed for this.

She answered by locking his head in between her elbows and kissing him deeply. Nate froze up for a split second, before hesitantly returning the kiss, although his mind was screaming about how wrong it was. As soon as she felt him respond, Ella sat back up and pulled her shirt up over her head. Nate lay there, stock still, trying to figure out if he should take her right there and then or run screaming from her house. As all these thoughts swirled around his head, when he could finally look at Ella clearly again, he noticed she had also managed to get off her bra. Gasping, the only thing that he could do was squeeze his eyes tightly shut.

"Ells, please put your shirt back on," he gulped.

"Why? Don't you like the view?" she giggled, and Nate felt her lean over him again. He couldn't bring himself to even crack open an eyelid to take a peek.

When he remained silent, Ella huffed loudly in frustration, and pulled him up by the front of his shirt. The sudden movement made Nate's eyes snap open, and he got one look of Ella's bare chest before his eyes shot up to gape at her ceiling instead. He opened his mouth to protest, but her lips smothered his again before he got a chance to say anything. She wrestled with his shirt, trying to pull it off him. He tried to struggle away, but she was surprisingly strong for such a small girl. Nate winced as he felt Ella get the upper hand, and with a final yank, she had his t-shirt up and over his shoulders. Unfortunately, the resistance Nate had put up was the only thing keeping her upright, and the backwards momentum sent Ella tumbling off the bed, finally releasing him.

Nate sat up and scrambled to help up and opened mouthed, shocked looking Ella.

"Ouch," she stated simply.

He went to wrap his arms around her to get her to her feet, when he realised that the top half of her body was still stark naked. He picked his shirt up from where Ella had dropped in and pulled it over her head, forcing her arms through the sleeves before pulling her up and sitting her on the bed. He gave her a quick once over to make sure she hadn't hurt herself too seriously, before Ella suddenly picked up where she left off, wrapping her arms around his waist and kissing the side of his neck.

"Please don't to this, Ella," he choked out, detangling himself with a great degree of difficulty.

"But I love yooou," she slurred, looking up at him with wide, grateful eyes.

"Don't say that, Ells," Nate sighed, despite the fact he felt like he was heart palpitations. "How much did you drink tonight?"

"I can remember every single thing you have ever said to me," Ella persisted, ignoring his question.

"You can't, Ella, stop being silly," Nate rolled his eyes, as he lay her down on the bed and pushed her sweaty fringe out of her eyes.

"I can!" she insisted, reaching up and linking her hands around the back of his neck. "The first thing you ever said to me was asking me if I wanted a glass of water."

Nate raised his eyebrows, surprised that she actually remembered, and making no move to struggle free of her grasp. "So? You had the hiccups! You always get the hiccups when you're drunk."

"And once you said that it didn't matter that I had blown chunks in my hair, because I still looked beautiful," Ella continued earnestly.

Nate's jaw dropped. That had been merely seconds before she had passed out on the floor of a nightclub bathroom after a wild rave. He was so tired that night he barely remembered what he had said to her to keep her safe, and yet here she was, with a perfect memory of something she should have no recollection of.

"How do you remember that?" he whispered, acutely aware of her fingers toying with the hair at the nape of his neck.

"I remember everything you've ever said to me," she repeated. "Even when everything else is a blur, when you talk to me it lights up in my memory. I remember everything."

Nate suddenly felt as if he had been hit by a truck. He had told a lot of things to Ella while she was inebriated, confident that she would never remember them anyway. Now he had the sudden urge to ask her if she remembered all his confessions, but at the same time, he didn't want to, just in case she was lying.

"Nobody else has called me beautiful before," she sighed.

"I bet they have," Nate frowned, resisting the urge to stroke the side of her face,

"No, they haven't. I've been called sexy, hot, total babe; but never, ever, beautiful. That's only you," Ella reached out and ghosted her fingers across his bare chest, sending chills up his spine.

Nate knew. He had seen the kind of guys that Ella had flirted with when she was drunk. They weren't exactly the gentlemanly type.

"And once you told me that you and I had more chance of getting together than Jason and Peggy! But they're practically joined at the hip now!" Ella babbled on.

"Shush, Ella, that's enough," Nate stood suddenly and pulled back the covers of her bed, not wanting to hear what else she remembered. "I'm going home now, okay?"

Ella nodded, and gestured to him that she wanted a hug. As she wrapped her arms around his shoulders, she kissed his ear and whispered "I really do love you."

"Ella, no, stop it!" Nate exclaimed, pushing away from her. "This is not what it's supposed to be like!"

"Huh?" she looked confused, unsurprisingly.

"Just… don't. You're drunk. You don't mean it," Nate bit his lip and looked away.

"I do, I do! I love you!" she squealed, sitting up and pulling him back in, smushing her lips against his.

Nate kissed her back for a few desperate seconds, wishing that she was telling the truth. But then he remembered her situation, and pushed away from her gently as she tried to deepen the kiss.

"No, no, no this can't happen, not like this," he shook his head and scrunched his eyes tightly shut.

"You… you don't love me. I love you, but you don't love me," Ella's eyes filled with tears, and Nate immediately felt horribly guilty.

Ella never cried when she was drunk, ever. No matter how sick or scared she was feeling, she never uttered a single complaint. In fact, she often expressed disgust at the idea of girls getting drunk just to have a cry. So Ella crying was a big deal, and if what she had said before was anything to go by, she was definitely going to remember his rejection.

"No, Ella, please don't think that. I do. I do love you, okay?" Nate reached out and cupped her face in his hands, wiping at her tears with his thumbs.

"You're lying, aren't you? Like that time you told me Robert Pattinson was outside just so you could get me out of the club?" Ella pouted.

Nate bit his lip uncomfortably, he too remembering all the different lies he had told her to control her wild nights. "No, Ella, I wouldn't lie about something like that."

"Yes, you would. Everybody thinks I'm such an idiot, because I believe the dumbest things, but really I just go along with it to make you guys happy."

"How could doing that possibly make anyone happy?" Nate stared in her incredulously.

"Because that gives me a reason to do what I do. No intelligent, rational person goes out and drinks and drinks until they feel numb. If I act stupid, that way people just assume that's because I am stupid. But I'm not, I'm really not."

"I know you're not stupid," Nate sighed. "But I never did understand why you did this to yourself."

"Me either. I guess it was just something that set me apart. I can't feel like I'm not worth anything when everyone's looking at me," Ella suddenly couldn't stand looking at the disappointment and confusion in his eyes, and rolled over to face away from him, burying her face in her pillow.

"Ella? Ella, look at me," Nate shook her shoulder. When she refused, he leant down and put his mouth very close to her ear. "Don't ever feel like you're not worth anything, Ella. Because you are. You are worth something. You're worth everything."

He kissed her ear softly and stood up and made his way back over to the window.

"Wait!" Nate couldn't help but smile victoriously as he turned back to see Ella sitting up, staring at him wondrously. "What about your shirt?"

Nate looked down at his bare torso, only just remembering that she was wearing his shirt.

"Keep it. I'll be back to get it in the morning. Goodnight, Ella. Love you," Nate smiled and waved, saying their usual farewells. Except this time he actually knew he meant it.

And his smile grew wider as she waved back and murmured "Love you too." Because this time he knew she meant it too.

He stared at her for a few more seconds, before tearing himself away and sticking a leg back out her window, ready to descend back down the drainpipe, go home and face the punishment of a lifetime from his parents, who would have no doubt noticed that he had snuck out by now.

"Hey Nate?" Ella called hesitantly.

"Hmm?" he paused and looked up.

"Thank you. Really. I mean it," she whispered, biting her lip.

"Anything for you, Ella," he grinned, winking at her from the halfway through the window. "Anything for you."

They smiled at each other in a state of mutual serenity, until the romanticism of the moment was broken as Ella hiccupped.

Ohmagaad, that was like the longest oneshot EVEEERR. And it took me about the fifth of the time than it usually takes me to write something half the size. WTF?
So I may have actually kicked someone in the head while dancing to Single Ladies. I still maintain it was his fault for standing so close to the table in the first place.
And I figured Nate and Ella both have the same amount of lines in Camp Rock (BTW UR LIPGLOSS IS SOOO NOT GLOSSY ANYMORE!), but oooh Nate is Nick Jonas so he gets more stories written about him with all the main females. It's not fair, I tells ya! Besides, I think Nate and Ella would make a way cute couple :)
I'd love some reviews on what you thought. 10 points to anyone who caught the book reference!