The Art of Living

[8] What Are You Having?

"What are you having?"

The voice made her jump and nearly drop her glass. She turned around and looked at Brian who was standing right behind her. She had to lift her head quite a lot to look up at him. He was really tall, the height difference was much bigger than the weekend before because Ellie wasn't wearing heels, or any shoes at all.

"I'm just.. I don't actually know yet. I was just deciding. What are you having? Maybe I can get some inspiration from that."

Brian shrugged and rubbed his arms. "Uh.. I don't know either. Something else than Guinness for once."

Ellie smiled and nodded, turning back to the table. She continued to look through the alcohol bottles. "Something simple? Lemonade and vodka?"

"Whatever you made will do fine. I don't know too much about fancy drinks, so.. go ahead."

Ellie nodded and got a second glass for Brian before she mixed some simple drinks for them. "I would decorate them a little but .. as you can see there's nothing to decorate with."

Brian chuckled and smiled. "Don't worry. I will imagine beautiful decoration. Thank you." He lifted his glass with a smile.

Ellie chuckled as well and nodded. "You're welcome." She didn't really bother saying more or giving him a chance to say anything else before she returned to her pillow on the floor. She sat down and tried to ignore the suggestive look Lynn gave her. This was going to be fun. If every time they hung out together would be like this then Ellie wasn't sure how she was going to handle it. Persistance was key as it seemed.

Not soon after she sat down, Lynn decided to abandon Mike and join Ellie once more.

"El, what are you doing? Are you blind? He's so flirting with you. Maybe you don't see it but this is the way he flirts. Discreetly, but sweetly. C'mon, even you have to see that."

Ellie sighed and took a sip of her drink. It was good. Hopefully Brian liked it. Wait what? Why would she care. She didn't care. She even stopped herself from looking at him. Ignoring him, persistance.

"I do see it but I don't care. I don't want anything from him, nothing at all. I'm not being rude, but that's it. I don't want anything from him, I'm being polite, and if he doesn't get that - after I told him very clearly - then it's his fault. No one else's."

"What is your problem, El? Why don't you just give him a chance?"

"Because, okay? I don't want to. It's my life. I don't like him that way at all, I don't need a relationship, especially not him. He's so clingy, he's overdoing it so much. I don't need that in my life. You know I don't. I'm not the type for that. Not at all actually. So just drop it. Once and for all, okay?" Ellie leaned back a little and looked at Lynn.

But Lynn didn't let it go. "Are you just going to avoid him then? I'm going to be hanging out with this group a lot more, so will you just dig a hole and hide everytime he comes up in a conversation?"

"You don't get it, do you?" Ellie asked, getting a little frustrated. "I don't care. Why would I try to hide or avoid him if I don't care? He has no influence on me at all. I would love to hang out with you and this group more, and he doesn't have an effect on that because he's just another guy. Nothing special, neither in a bad nor in a positive way. Why is that so hard to understand?"

"So you're just going to treat him like he doesn't exist?"

Ellie shook her head more. "No. No, okay? I just told you that, my god. It's not hard to understand, is it? I will treat him as exactly what he is. A guy of this group. Like Freddie, like Roger, like Dave. He's one of them. They don't make me freak out or have any kind of strong emotions, and neither does he. It's simple, just listen to."