“Oh, but I did.” She grins gleefully.
“I told you not to bring me up.”
“Yeah, well, I ignored that—and you’ll be glad I did.”
“I doubt it,” I remark dryly. I sigh. “Okay. Give it to me. Tell me the damage.”
“So I brought you up with Patrick—”
“I already hate this.”
“No, no. Let me finish. It’s a good thing.”
“Imagine if Patrick had been the one to bring Ellie up. What’s the first thing you’d do?”
“I would tell you, obviously.” At my pointed look, she protests, “That’s different.”
“Howis it different?”
“Because boys are stupid,” she says, likeduh.
“Boys aren’t as stupid as we like to think they are,” I argue. “They’re only stupid when you don’t want them to be. When it would work in your favor for them to be stupid, they’re always way too damn smart.”
Madison waits for me to finish ranting. “Are you done?”
“Fine.Fine. What did Patrick say? And what didyousay that he parroted back to Ellie?”
Maybe this can be remedied.
“Hesaidthat Ellie really likes you too.”
“Too?Too?Youtold PatrickI like Ellie?”
This shouldn’t be so horrifying. I’m a grown-ass woman, and I’ve experienced worse things than a guy finding out I like him. But also, I’mnota grown-ass woman, and this isEllie.
“Are you listening?Ellie likes you. Patrick said he was just embarrassed because it was his first time, and he was all in his head about it.”
Sparks of nervous excitement jolt through me—Ellielikesme!—but I tamp them down. How pathetic am I to be excited about this? I’m old enough to know that mixed signals are just another—more painful—form of rejection.
“I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do with that. I mean, it’s nice to hear he likes me—” But I already knew that, didn’t I? Ellie once admitted he’d had a crush on me at the start, and knowing that had only served to make me feelworse. The issue here isn’t Ellie’s emotions—it’s his actions. “But I can’t exactly go up to him and scream,I know you like me. He didn’t even bother to text me.”
“But Patrick said hethoughtabout texting you a whole bunch.”
“Well, unless Ellie decides to turn those thoughts into actions—preferably with an apology—I’m going to focus on other things.”Like what a great distraction Alex is.
I slump back against my pillow and stare at her, my mind racing. To a certain degree, this is false bravado. Despite my wonderful dinner with Alex, there’s a history between me and Ellie. I just need it to happen the right way. I refuse to chase after him like a puppy dog, and besides, history has proven that doesn’t exactly work.
“Enough about me—how was Patrick?”
“Patrick’s good.”
“That’s it? He’s good?”
“What do you want me to say?”
“How about ‘He’s the best. We fell madly in love and jumped each other’s bones’?”
She frowns. I guess I am laying it on a bit thick.
