Page 18 of Saving Sparrow
“I’m male.”
Quentin jumped in as if he hadn’t picked up on the tension. “Well, you can still be our pretty girl.” He smirked at me when I sighed in exasperation. “What? It suits him.”
I rolled my eyes, but Elliott hadn’t disagreed. I glanced over to find him blushing,hard.
“I should go.” He looked around for his things. “My aunt is probably wondering where I am.”
“Can’t she call you?” I asked, heading to the chair near the bookshelves for his clothes.
“I don’t have a phone.”
“Why not?” Quentin asked.
Elliott shrugged. “I never needed one.”
That seemed odd, but thankfully Quentin let it go. Elliott took his folded pants and T-shirt from me.
“Well, since it looks like I’ll be showering alone, I’ll go get started. See you later, pretty girl.” He disappeared into the bathroom.
“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure he only calls you that when we’re alone.”
I thought he’d say he didn’t want Quentin calling him that at all, but Elliott nodded.
Sleeping on the couch made one side of his hair crinkly, and his eyes didn’t sparkle as much, like maybe he was still tired. He was beautiful. The type of beautiful that made you stare too long. I averted my gaze, not wanting to weird him out.
“You can change in the closet since Quentin took over the bathroom. He’ll be in there for a while.”
Elliott headed that way, and I blew out a breath, falling onto the couch to wait for him. Enough time passed that I started to get worried he’d gotten lost in there.
“Elliott?” I tapped lightly on the closet door.
“Come in.”
He stood on the side of the huge closet reserved for some of my mother’s things, eyeing a pink camisole. A look of shy admiration covered his face.
“Maybe you can wear this out with us one day.Ifyou still want anything to do with us after the show Quentin put on.” I hoped my comment would get a favorable response from him.
“Where would we go?”
I sagged in relief. Quentin hadn’t scared him off.
“Good question. That’s a little too fancy for the pizza shop. Maybe a nice dinner somewhere before school starts again?” It occurred to me I didn’t know his age, or even if he’d be attending Locklier High in the fall. Maybe his aunt would hire someone to continue homeschooling him.
“How old are you?”
“Seventeen.”
“Oh.” A year younger than Quentin and me. “Are you enrolling in an actual school this fall?”
“Yeah, Locklier High.”
“Nice. Quentin and I go there. We’ll be seniors. We blew off most of freshman year, so we’re behind.”
“I’ll be a senior too. I’ve had to keep up with my studies on my own for some months now, but I passed all the required testing.”
I didn’t care how eager my goofy smile made me seem. I was too excited to hold back.
“A lot of the kids are entitled pricks, but it’s the best school in the state, and the football team is superior. Hopefully, we’ll end up in the same classes.”
