Page 94 of Tricky Girls

‘Hell yeah!’

‘Cool. Be ready in an hour.’ I feel her fidget behind me. ‘Tommy gone?’

‘Mm-hm.’

‘You shouldn’t bring him back here. Nic’s got beef with him.’

‘She’s got beef with me too, but you still insist that I stay.’

Elly sighs, stepping away. ‘Alright, Tilda. You do you.’

‘Wait.’ I pull her back, hating—hating—this weird rift between us. One I caused, of course, because apparently that’s what I excel at. ‘I’m sorry about last night. I was in a pissy mood.’

‘Yeah, no foul.’

‘No,bigfoul. It’s just—’ I put a hand on my forehead and sigh. ‘Nic told me about some bet you and Haz have going on and it pissed me off. I could have been less of a psycho about it though.’

Elly drops her head and groans. ‘Fucking Haz.’

‘Is it true?’

‘Sort of. Just some stupid thing Haz wanted to do when we first met you. She’s a fucker like that.’

‘Right…’

‘We dropped it,’ she insists. ‘Soon as we really got to know you. I’ve not thought of it in weeks. It’s not a thing anymore.’

‘Better not be. That’s pretty shitty.’

‘I agree.’ She takes my fingers and kisses them. ‘You mean more to us than that. Seeing you with Tommy last night fucking killed me.’

‘I’m sorry. I didn’t realise…’

‘Didn’t realise I’m a sad sack of shit?’ she jokes.

‘I just thought this was all a bit of fun, that’s all.’

‘It was. At first.’ She tilts her head at me. ‘Shouldn’t be so fucking perfect, should you? It’s cool, Tilda. I know you’re straight. I know you can’t help it.’ She smiles but it doesn’t reach her eyes. ‘Obviously you’d be with me if you could.’

‘Obviously,’ I whisper. It’s so obvious I’m starting to damn my heterosexuality on the daily. How dare nature prevent me from being with this gorgeous human. ‘I didn’t sleep with him though.’

‘Right, so all that noise…’

‘Fake. All fake.’

‘Wow.Afor effort.’

‘He’s not even my type. Like, literally. I’d rather sleep with you than him.’ Something I mean too, the startling realisation making me giggle.

Elly chuckles at my lack of composure. ‘You’re cute when you’re trying to be nice.’ She raises a pinkie finger in front of my face. ‘So, friends?’

I knock her finger away, pulling her into a hug instead. My heart pounds in my chest. With relief, I think, as well as a deep appreciation for this girl.

‘I’ll take that as a yes,’ she mumbles against my shoulder.

‘You better take that as a yes.’ I pull back. ‘Let me make some food and then we can go live out ourFrozendreams.’

The smell of coffee guides me down to the kitchen. Haz is there, brewing up the deathly stuff. I tried it once; it was rank.

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