Page 45 of When Ellie Falls in Love

“Come on, Elle.” Mason’s arched eyebrow made her look more like Isla than Ellie would ever tell her. “Everyone noticed it.”

Ellie groaned. “Everyone? Even Mom and Mama?”

“Who do you think pointed it out first?”

Mason laughed, but Ellie failed to see the humor. So, herparentsnoticed something? And Mason? Who else had noticed anything? All they had done was hug after the play.

Okay.

Well.

It was a long hug.

And it was a hug that Ellie didn’t think she’d ever want to let go of.

But she and Sadie were just friends. As of now, anyway. Ellie assumed she knew that Sadie was thinking the same thing, but there was no way to know for sure without asking her. And the mere thought of confessing her feelings to someone made her stomach knot up. In her seventeen years, Ellie had never told anyone she liked them.

“Hey, it’s okay.” Mason reached out, putting a hand on Ellie’s knee. “We’ve all liked friends before and been confused over those feelings. It’s hard to know what to do because you don’t want to mess the friendship up.”

“I don’t.”

“But you want to know if there’s something more.”

Ellie tried to shrug nonchalantly. “I guess. But for now, we are just friends.”

Laughing, Mason stood and tossed the pillow at Ellie. “Yeah, see. Here’s the thing. I lost my virginity right over there to my best friend.”

“Who?” Ellie gasped, then cringed. “Alexis?”

“God, no,” Mason scoffed. “Thankfully, I never slept with her. Do you know how weird that would be now?

“No weirder than this current conversation.” Despite not wanting to know, Ellie also couldn’t help but ask, “So, who was it?”

“Morgan Fletcher.”

“Morgan isn’t gay,” Ellie laughed, but Mason didn’t. “Is she?”

“Oh, kid, we’ll have to fix your gaydar.”

Ellie watched as Mason walked over to the kitchen and took two soda bottles out of the fridge. She brought one over to Ellie before sitting back in the bed beside her.

“But take this advice from someone who’s been there. There’s nothing worse than not knowing if someone likes you back. Well,” she shrugged, “I mean, thereis, but you know what I mean.”

“I think so.” She nervously tapped the lid of the water bottle. “So, what am I supposed to do? Walk up to Sadie and be likehey, I like you.”

“That’s a start,” Mason chuckled. “But I saw you two playing pool the other day. It was very Julia Roberts inMystic Pizza.”

Ellie blinked, confused.

“Who?”

Mason’s brow furrowed. “Julia Roberts,” Mason repeated slower. Then gasped. “Have youneverseenMystic Pizza?”

“I dunno,” Ellie shrugged. “I don’t think so. Is it new?”

“Is it new?” Mason repeated, seemingly stunned. “It’s a classic eighties movie.”

“I was born way after that. And so were you.”

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