Ellie is Cool Now

Chapter 13

I snatch the phone back from Roxy.

"It's really none of your business," I snap at her. "But it's a work thing."

She purses her lips, pops a hip to one side. "I knew Hollywood was kinky, but I didn't think you'd go that far." She crosses her arms over her chest. "I'm impressed."

"Can you lay off being the antagonist of my life just this once?" She's good at hiding her feelings, but I am better at reading people. Hurt flickers like a tiny flame in her eyes. She stamps it out with a sneer.

"So you hooked up with Kyle." She glances over at the former hot rod. He looks back at us and waves before he makes a V with his fingers and darts his tongue between them. We both shudder.

"I kissed him on the cheek."

"I think that's cheating." She winks at me.

"I prefer to remain STD-free."

She shrugs. "Didn't I see something in there about your high school crush? Isn't that Mark Wright?"

Oh, dear God. I do not want to go there with her right now.

"I don't actually remember," I say. I start to walk away from her, but she steps in front of me so I can't move.

"No, I remember now. I got super wasted at a party and hooked up with him and you never spoke to me again even though I had no fucking clue you liked him."

"You did know," I tell her. My cheeks are on fire, but this time it's from anger. I hate her fucking guts.

"I think I maybe sort of knew that you thought he was hot, but you never talked to him."

"Because I liked him, Roxy," I yell at her. "And if you were a good friend, you would've known that when I like someone, I pretend they don't exist because I'm terrified. Terrified of being rejected by the only person I want to be with. You should've helped me, instead of getting drunk off your ass and hooking up with him, just like you did with every other fuckwad in school."

At this point I realize the room has dissolved into complete silence.

Everyone is looking at us.

I glance around at the sea of wide, unblinking eyes until I spot a familiar pair of brown irises. Mark looks from me to Roxy and then back to me.

"You think you're so morally superior." Roxy's voice is sharp and low, for my ears only. "But your little high school problems were child's play."

When I look back at Roxy, her eyes are glassy, and she swipes a hand underneath one eye. She shoulders past me toward the kitchen.

"Where's the vodka?" I hear her demand from the other room.

I stand still, completely frozen, wishing I could disappear into the ether.

One by one, other conversations pick up and everyone forgets that anything ever happened. Everyone except Mark, who is still staring right at me from his place on the couch. He sets down his beer and crosses the room. For me. Outwardly, I'm not shaking, or I don't think I am, but inside, everything vibrates and pulses. This is a horrible feeling — what the hell is this feeling?

I need to get out of here.

I fidget with the lock on the sliding glass door until it opens and releases me from this blast from the past. I slide it shut behind me and march over to the neighbor's swing set. I hear the door slide open and shut again and footsteps follow me, leaving crunched leaves in their wake.