“You’re so nosy,” Leigh shot back at her, pinching Angel’s leg. The two of them had a mini-tussle which everyone else ignored other than looks of amusement. They were still focused on looking at Ellie, rather than diverting their attention.

“Oh um... things are good?” Ellie answered, her voice lilting up as though she was asking a question. She knew that wasn’t enough information for them though. “Um, we’re going to sign a club contract.”

“Whoo-hoo!” Lexie pumped her fist in the air with excitement, which made everyone laugh. Kate clapped her hands together in delight while Angel leaned over even further – which helped her avoid Leigh’s fingers – to give Ellie an enthusiastic one-armed hug. Jessica grinned, looking thrilled, and she gave Ellie a thumbs up when she saw Ellie looking at her.

“What’s a club contract?” Leigh asked, looking confused as she finally stopped trying to pinch Angel.

“Something you’ll never have to worry about,” Kate quipped, giggling.

“It’s like an in-club relationship,” Lexie explained. “It sets out all the boundaries and limits of the relationship, including whether or not it’s exclusive, and there’s often a time limit.”

“But it’s only for when you’re actually at Stronghold?” Leigh still sounded a little confused and it made Ellie want to squirm.

Normally club contracts were between people who were only interested in seeing each other at the club, whereas she and Michael already saw each other outside of the club quite often. Which meant it was already going to be different for them. But it’s not like they were going on dates outside of the club or anything. And this was already a huge step for her.

“Unless the contract specifies activities outside of the club, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a club contract that does,” Lexie said.

“So what’s the time limit?” Angel asked curiously, looking at Ellie.

Ellie shrugged. “I don’t know yet, Michael’s sending me the contract to look over tomorrow.”

“Five bucks he doesn’t put in a time limit!” Angel said immediately, her head whipping around to look at the others.

“I am so not taking that bet,” Jessica retorted. Ellie blushed.

Should she want a time limit already in there? Would it be easier to renegotiate at the end of a month? Two months? A year?

The idea of a year made her feel a little panicked. A year was such a long time. A month seemed so short. But what if things started to get weird after just a month and a half and she was still locked in for two more weeks? She’d feel honor bound to just get through it, which didn’t sound appealing at all. Michael would be the same way, and she hated the idea of him spending time with her just because he said he would.