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But then, before anyone moves, Arden’s phone starts ringing.
Yes!
Saved by the bell…or ring, like literally.
He looks down at the screen and says, “Hey, guys, it’s Willow. Let me take this outside. I’ll be back in a minute.”
Once Arden steps out, Nils and I look over at each other and, shoulders slumping, blow out simultaneous relieved breaths.
“Oh…my…God,” I say. “I can’t believe I almost blew it when I freaking looked up the stairs and said we were having breakfast together. Ugh!” I place my hand on my forehead and shake my head. “I don’t know why I did that. It was some kind of a Freudian slip, for sure.”
Nils says, “Ah, don’t worry about it. You were just caught off guard. You recovered quickly, though, with the news that you’re staying in Atlanta.”
“Yeah, but now Arden wants to go out to lunch to celebrate. Are you kidding me? Nils…” I give him a stern look. “We have to be really careful.”
Shrugging, he says, “Maybe we should just tell him about us at lunch.”
“I don’t know,” I hedge. “I sort of wanted to be the one to tell him. You know, in case he’s really mad. That way I can bear the brunt of his anger. Then I can explain to him that it’s not just some hookup fling-type thing.”
“Nah.” Nils shakes his head. “We should do this together, Ellie. And you’re right—it’s not a hookup fling-type thing. We’re a couple now.”
Though we’ve professed our love, and I know we’re “together,” it’s nice to hear him say the words.
“Are we a couple?” I ask, just to hear him say it again.
Laughing and shaking his head, he says, “You’re funny. You know we are. I love you, and you love me. That pretty much says it all right there.”
“Yeah, it does.” I smile, wishing I could go over and give him a hug. But Arden will be coming back in any second now.
In fact, just as I’m about to say, “Maybe we should just get it over with and tell him at lunch, after all,” my brother steps back inside the house.
He doesn’t look happy, so I ask, “What’s wrong?”
“Oh, it’s nothing terrible.” He waves his hand. “Willow was shopping up by our house, and she came out of the grocery store and noticed she has a flat tire. She called for road service, but I’m going to head up there anyway and wait with her. So…” He blows out a breath. “It looks like we’ll have to postpone that lunch.”
Relieved, because maybe this is the universe telling Nils and me that we definitely should wait to say anything to Arden about us, I hurry up and say, “No worries. We’ll celebrate another time.”
“Okay, but soon.” Arden points at me, then at Nils as he adds, “I’m not waiting too long to celebrate with two of my favorite people.”
Yikes, I hope he’ll feel the same way once he finds out two of his favorite people are in a relationship behind his back.
Nils
We successfully keep what’s now our secret relationship from Arden. But what I told Ellie is true—I think we should tell him together.
I mean, how mad can he be once he knows we’re in love?
This isn’t some random fling.
This is the real deal.
Unfortunately, though, when two people are so in love and into each other, like we are, time gets away from you.
Another week passes, and we put our plan to tell Arden about us on hold. He’s busy with away games anyway, and we still have that lunch to do.
That’s fine.
I’m busy falling deeper and deeper in love with Ellie. We spend so much fucking time together, laughing and loving. It keeps me occupied while my ankle heals, and the next thing I know, I’m cleared to skate.
