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𝗥𝗜𝗦𝗞

CHAPTER SEVEN
our secret moments in a crowded
room

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REAL LIFE

MARY JANE SCURRIED down the hallway, trying her best to make it back to her and Luna's room without slipping and falling. It was a very big day today — not only had Luna done an outside concert at Jimmy Kimmel earlier which all of them had gone to, but The Secret of Us was officially being released.

Luna insisted that this album was just as much as Mary Jane's as it was hers, but Mary Jane had a hard time believing it. Sure, she had helped write some songs, but she hadn't actually done much. Nevertheless, Luna had insisted that they needed to have a celebration. And that celebration was a listening party with everyone, including chat, right when the album dropped.

Which was what Mary Jane was running late for. Typical.

"Mary Jane," Luna called, her voice traveling down the hallway. "We're starting stream in, like, thirty seconds."

She made it to the room. Yellow streamers and balloons decorated the background, and the whole room, really. Everyone — Luna, Rae, Leslie, Tina, Miyoung, Blau, Meena, and Ellum — were smushed together on chairs behind the stream setup. One of them was empty . . . which was right next to Ellum. Because of course it was. That's just how her life worked.

"I'm here, I'm sorry," Mary Jane said. She then held up the bag of small yellow bow clips she had ordered, which she had just rushed to get. "I have yellow bows for everyone, if y'all want."

"Ooh, yes please," Leslie agreed, reaching out.

Mary Jane handed out the bows to those who wanted them, which was every single person besides Luna, making her way through the crowd of people as she did so. Finally, she landed next to Ellum, just as Luna started stream. She sat down in the chair next to him, trying to catch her breath from literally running to the front door. Mary Jane grabbed two of the bows and pinned them to the bottom of her French braids that she had her hair in.

"Hi chat," Luna greeted. "My album is out! The Secret of Us is out!" Everyone in the room cheered, making Luna laugh. "I thought it would be fun to do a listening party with chat, just like I did with Good Riddance, but this time actually when the album releases . . ."

"Psst," Ellum said, tapping her arm to get her attention.

Mary Jane looked over at him. "Hmm?"

"I like the bows at the ends of your braids. They're cute."

And, just like that, he had the ability he always did to make her be at a loss for words. Did he just call her . . . cute? He thought something about her was cute? Or did he just mean the bows? Whatever it was, Mary Jane literally felt like she was floating up out of the chair into the air. Not good for her, really.

"Uh . . ." Mary Jane trailed off. She then blinked, shaking her head a bit to snap out of it. "Oh, thanks. Um, you want one?"

Ellum looked up at her. "Yeah, sure. Can you put it on me, though?"

Mary Jane felt her heart stutter in her chest. She grabbed a bow out of the bag and reached up, using her one hand to take a piece of his hair and the other to pin the bow in. Oh God, were her hands shaking? They probably were. She had gotten better around him the past couple of days, but that didn't mean the nervousness ever went away. Especially with this new physical touch . . .

Okay, Mary Jane, you're literally just putting a bow in his hair. Let's calm it down. It's nothing.

"There you go," Mary Jane stated, her voice small.

"Thanks," Ellum said. He then turned his head for her. "How do I look? Incredible?"

"Adorable," Mary Jane commented — she tried to make it sound like she was joking, but in reality, she actually did think he looked absolutely adorable, even more than usual.

"I look stupid, don't I?" Ellum questioned, letting out a laugh.

Mary Jane giggled along with him, covering her mouth with her hand — she had come to learn that his laugh was entirely infectious. "Just a bit silly, I think."

"Hey, you two," Luna cut in, turning around to face them. "Is there something you'd like to share with the class? Or do I need to separate you two?"

Ellum put his hands up. "Sorry."

Mary Jane looked at her, her cheeks flushing at the sight of the knowing glint in her eyes. "Sorry, Lunes. What were you saying?"

Luna glanced in between them for a moment longer before turning back to the computer. "I was saying that I was pretty fucking sad while writing Good Riddance, but for this album, I was a lot happier . . ."

Ellum then nudged her arm again. "MJane?"

She looked at him. "Yes, Ellum?"

"We got in trouble with the teacher."

"I know." She laughed a little again, nudging him back. "Be quiet."

They listend to the first song — Felt Good About You — before they finally got to Risk. God, why was it that every time she happened to be with Ellum, this song played? It even happened earlier today. Mary Jane sunk back into her chair, wishing that it would make her disappear.

"Now, a lot of you have probably heard Risk already, but it's an important part of the album, so we'll listen to it," Luna voiced. "This one was actually a product of MJ's imagination."

Mary Jane raised her hand. "It's because I'm delusional."

Ellum looked over at her. "You're delusional?"

If only you knew.

"Yeah," Mary Jane responded casually, even though inside she was just absolutely screaming. "It's a little bad, to be honest."

"Well, thanks to Mary Jane's delusions, this song came out of it," Luna continued. "She also helped write a lot of the other songs on the album, like Blowing Smoke, I Love You, I'm Sorry, Let It Happen, I Knew It, I Know You, and Normal Thing, which we'll get to in a bit. But, for now, this is Risk."

"This one's my favorite so far," Ellum admitted quietly, moving his head closer to Mary Jane's.

Mary Jane felt like she was about to jump out of her skin from the closeness. "We've only listened to two songs so far, dude."

"Yeah, I know. But it's so good, and you helped write it."

And the song is about you, did you know?

She rolled her eyes fondly. "Be quiet and listen before we get in trouble again."

Ellum sighed, settling back into his chair. "Fine." He then leaned back a bit, putting his hands behind his head. "Just wanted to talk to you, but whatever."

Mary Jane instantly flushed at the sight of his arms — Jesus Christ. She swallowed nervously, turning back to face forwards as she tucked the strands of hair left out of her braids behind her ears. Also, did he just say he wanted to talk to her? Like, willingly? Why was her face turning more red at the thought of that? Was it suddenly so hot in this room, or was it just her?

The album continued on, and Luna explained each song as they went by. Mary Jane had obviously heard all of them prior, but seeing everyone's reactions — especially to us. — was really fun.

Finally, after about an hour, they had gone through the entire album. Luna said goodbye to her chat, thanking them for joining and listening, as well as thanking everyone in the room for joining and listening. As Luna was waving, Mary Jane got up out of her chair and ran up to Luna's wrapping her arms around her neck and hugging her tightly. Everyone else got up and joined their giant group hug, and despite only knowing them for a couple of days, Mary Jane felt a sense of family and home.

She pulled away from the hug as the stream ended. Miyoung then said that she was going to make food for all of them in celebration of the album to go along with the cake they were going to surprise Luna with. They all cleared out of the room, yet Mary Jane hung back for a second.

"Sorry for interrupting you earlier," Mary Jane told her, leaning her hip against the desk. "I didn't mean to."

"I wasn't actually mad," Luna replied. "Besides, you laughing with Ellum?" She smirked slightly. "You two are getting . . . what's the word? Cozy?"

Mary Jane rolled her eyes. "There's no coziness. Be quiet." She pushed herself off of the desk and walked towards the door, glancing back. "You coming?"

"I'll be there in a few minutes. I'm just going to call Noah."

Mary Jane paused for a second, giving Luna a tiny frown. "I'm sorry he wasn't here, Lunes."

Luna shook her head. "I told him not to be. He deserves to spend time in Ohio with his family that he barely ever sees. And we came to that decision together that he wouldn't be here for this. It's fine."

"That doesn't mean you aren't allowed to be sad."

"I'll be okay," Luna reassured her. "Go join the others. Be cozy with Ellum."

"Shut up."

Mary Jane then left the room. She descended down the steps, only to see a familiar, very tall figure, leaning against the wall at the bottom. Mary Jane stopped at the bottom, looking up at him.

"Waiting for me?" Mary Jane questioned, trying her very hardest to keep the hope out of her voice.

"Yeah," Ellum responded, and somehow, Mary Jane could tell he meant it. "I just wanted to tell you that I'm proud of you."

"Proud of me?" Mary Jane repeated with a small laugh. "I didn't do anything."

"You did a lot. You helped make some of those songs. Everyone's going to say that they're proud of Luna, but I want to be the one that says they're proud of you."

Mary Jane stared up at him, her eyes widening slightly. Her stomach got all fluttery, and she genuinely couldn't tell how long she was standing there in shock. Were there stars in her eyes? Why were her feet glued to the floor? With anyone else who said this, she probably would've been fine. But hearing it from him was a whole different story.

She managed to find her voice again. "Thank you, Ellum. I appreciate it."

He gave her a grin. "No problem. Now, let's go join the others, shall we?"

Mary Jane followed after him, trying to bring herself back to Earth, but it was a little hard. Ellum had the inexplicable ability to make her feel like she was fucking flying, and Mary Jane had a feeling deep down that she was just so screwed.

＊*•♥̩͙•̩̩͙*˚˚*•♥̩͙•̩̩͙*˚＊＊*•̩̩͙♥̩͙•̩̩͙*˚˚*•̩̩͙♥•̩̩͙*˚＊

TWITTER

jenna :) username • 1h
so . . . is this a safe space to talk about ellum and mj or no . . . because did ANY of y'all see the way they were looking at each other on luna's stream?

💬167 🔁390 ❤️572

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actually invested username • 1h
DUDE OMG I THOUGHT I WAS THE ONLY ONE WHO NOTICED

💬17 🔁102 ❤️422

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blowing smoke stan username • 1h
no there was definitely a vibe there I saw it too!!!

💬10 🔁36 ❤️98

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TSOU username • 1h
them giggling together was so fucking cute like you can just TELL it's so obvious

💬14 🔁74 ❤️328

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imyis / ilyis username • 1h
did anybody else see the way she turned red when he put his arms behind his head 👀 . . . because real.

💬23 🔁79 ❤️296

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mj fan username • 1h
no they'd be so cute together and I STAND on that

💬7 🔁64 ❤️123

-ˏˋ ✩✩✩ ˊˎ-

for the sake of my mental health I'm going to need ellum to Stop putting his hands behind his head on stream

like. please do Not do that I can't survive it

also apologize for the short chapter I've been absolutely going through it the past two days and I simply could not be bothered