She looked winded and I frowned, about to ask her if she was sure she was okay when she said, “You’ve seen her more than once. You must like this girl.”
I shrugged. “She’s nice, yeah.”
She nodded and ducked away from me, picking up her laptop.
“I’m gonna go take a shower and get to bed early,” she said.
“Are we good? Elle, I totally would’ve preferred going with you. I can back out of it with Farrah and?—”
“No, don’t you dare. That would be so rude.”
“But I?—”
“No.” She gave me a tight smile and lifted her bag over her shoulder. I’d thought we’d probably end up in her room watching a movie after this and I’m sad to see her go.
“Night,” she said.
“Night.”
I watched her walk away and wondered if there was a way topolitelytell Farrah that I couldn’t take her to the formal.
But Elle had another date by the next night.
Grant Elliot.
It felt like I’d blown my chance with her. It was senior year and we didn’t have much time together. I’d wanted to take her to the dance in the first place, but she’d been with that jerkwad Isaac. She’d shown vulnerability in asking me and I didn’t know if I’d imagined it, but I almost felt like I’d let her down somehow.
I made ruthless fun of Grant’s slicked-back hair and uptight attitude from the get-go and told her she could never seriously consider being with him because Elle Elliot was a sucky author name.
She was still dating him—whichI fuckinghated—by the time her short story was published, but after I read her story, I felt like I’d won.
It was about a girl and her best guy friend, Lane Bow…get it? Rhodes Archer incode. I’d shared my obstacles in becoming a football player with her. I’d grown too fast and had a lot of pain in my knees for years as I was developing, but football was my passion. It meant I had to work extra hard, often feeling like I’d never get there, and at the expense of a social life a lot of the time. In the story it wasn’t football, the guy was heading to the Olympics as a runner, but everything else was the same. His parents were famous and he often felt like people didn’t care about getting to know the real him. They wanted to meet his parents, have an in with someone in Hollywood, or just be close to the money.
And the friendship between Lane Bow and Elsa Wilson…Elle Benton incode…everything about it made my heart hum. It was sweet, poignant, and in places, damn funny. She brought the story to life on the page and also made me feel like I was ten feet tall.
The last lines said, “I only hope when he’s won a gold medal and wined and dined with the world’s most famous people, he’ll remember that he loved me once. Because no matter where life takes us, I’ll love him most of all.”
I’d read those lines out loud to her, shaking her while she laughed.
“As if I could ever forget that I love you. And I love you most. You and I both know it,” I yelled, making her cackle harder.
I pulled her to me and hugged her tight.
“I love this story, Elle. I love it so much. I’m so damn proud of you.”
I leaned back and smoothed her hair away as she looked at me with wide eyes.
“And I sent six copies to my parents. I told Mama it’s coming and she said she’s gonna put it in a shadow box so it’ll stay safe, but I’ll be able to get to it to read it whenever I want.”
She burst into tears and I tugged her back to my chest.
“Fuck. What did I say?” I pulled back again, trying to wipe the tears falling so fast.
“I’m just going to miss you so much. You promise you won’t forget about me when you’re in Florida and I’m in Colorado?”
“We’re still going to see each other. You’ll visit me in Miami and I’ll see you every time the Dolphins come through Denver…” I wiped more tears from her face, feeling close to tears myself. “It won’t be enough. We’ll have to FaceTime all the time.”
“We’ll be in different time zones,”she sobbed.
