“Bro, I have three sisters studying psychology,” he says. “You think I haven’t absorbed some emotional intelligence through osmosis?”
Jack takes a seat on my other side and pats me on the leg. “It’s okay to have big feelings, Griff.”
“Alright, pack it up, Mr. Rogers,” I mutter, knocking his foot with mine. “That’s enough psychoanalysis for one night.”
Groaning, I pull my knees up and rest my forearms on them. “What do I do about Eleanor now?”
“With peace and love dude,” David says, getting to his feet and offering his hand. The phrase catapults me back to high school. I can picture it crystal clear–Abby attempting to soften the blow of whatever harsh words are about to leave her mouth. “You have some more pressing matters at the moment.”
“Like what?” I ask, frowning.
“Like breaking up with your girlfriend.”
Fuck me.
“You’re right,” I sigh. “You’re right. I’ll go talk to her in the morning.”
“You know what else you need to do?”
“Damn David, do you just keep a running list of things you think I should be doing?”
“No, but speaking from personal experience,” he says pointedly. “You havegotto stop mixing alcohol and Ellie.”
Chapter 39
Ellie
March, Age 20
“Ellie? …Ellie. ELLIE.”
The shout yanks me unceremoniously back to reality. I’m not sure exactly how long I’ve been zoned out, but I can tell from Jenna’s face that it was long enough for her to get annoyed. “I’m sorry, what were you saying?”
Jenna rolls her eyes in exasperation. “I wassayingthat physics is stupid and Dr. Hayes clearly has a vendetta against me.”
Right. We’re supposed to be studying for our midterms. Something I have not thought about once in the…however many hours we’ve been sitting in the courtyard, enjoying what will probably be the only true spring weekend we get before we go straight into summer heat.
It’s the weekend before spring break, but Texas is Texas, so it’s 75 degrees, even though it snowed on Monday–the warm respite would be much more enjoyable if finals weren’t threatening to melt our brains out of our ears.
Jenna narrows her eyes, shooting me a suspicious look. “What’s the matter with you today? Normallyyou’rethe one keepingmeon the rails. If you’ve lost focus then what hope do we have of passing this final?”
Tossing her textbook to the side, she flops back onto the grass and lets out a dramatic huff, her silky dark curtain of hair fanning out around her.
“You might as well tell me what’s going on. You’ve been weird all day, and you know I’m going to bug the living daylights out of you until you tell me.”
Despite the inner turmoil I’m trying very hard to avoid, I can’t help but smile at the use of the southern colloquialism she used to make fun of me for. I’ve been rubbing off on her.
“Nothing is going on, I think I’m just fried from all of this studying,” I say casually, looking down at where I’m picking at the grass.
She probably already thinks I’m lying, but if I look her in the eyes she will know it for an absolute fact.
Her eyes narrow even further, which doesn’t actually seem physically possible. “Eleanor Camellia, you’ve got to be the worst liar in the history of the universe, I don’t know why you even try,” she says, propping herself up on her elbows to face me.
I wince at the sound of my full name.
No one calls me that anymore.
Shoving that thought out of my mind, I brace myself for her to press the issue, but instead she lets out a defeated sigh and says, “But I also know that if you’ve made up your mind not to talk about it, no amount of bugging from me is going to make you tell me any faster. It’s just going to make me batty, and Dr. Hayes, who absolutelydoeshave a vendetta against me, is already doing that so I’m at max capacity.”
