Page 82 of It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas
Huh. I wasnotexpecting that question.
‘Do you mean whyamI friends with her?’
‘I… guess so, yeah. It’s just that, well, she always seemed so… different to you. I mean, your Spaghetti Tree story hasn’t exactly covered her in glory. Oh, and there was that weird thing with her and Ryan at school for a while. He was like putty in her hands for a bit, do you remember?’
‘Yeah, he had this massive crush on her in, like, Year Ten, it must’ve been?’
‘Round about that time. He was smitten. But then there was that whole “bad breath” incident after they snogged on that school trip…’
‘That was a cruel thing for her to say. I said as much to her at the time.’
‘But did she ever tell you what happened the weekendbeforeshe said that?’
‘Not sure. Tell me what you know.’
‘So they snogged at the wetlands centre and Ryan was on cloud nine and asked her to go to the cinema with him that weekend.’
‘Oh, wow. No, I had no idea about that.’
‘Yeah, and she said yes. So that Saturday they met at Showcase Cinema on the other side of town. She somehow managed to smuggle in a bottle of vodka with her, so by the time the film had finished she was wasted.’
This was all new information to me. I was shocked. She used to tell me every single detail about her non-stop romantic exploits back then – or so I thought.
‘And so was Ryan, I imagine?’
‘No, that’s the thing – Ryan was being really earnest about it all. He’d even arranged for his dad to pick them up after the film and drop her home.’
‘Oh God, I don’t think I like where this is going.’
‘Your trepidation is valid. So, his dad turns up and she’s absolutely steaming, and I reckon Ryan probably endured the most painful twenty minutes of his life. Apparently, she openly flirted with his dad, made fun of Ryan in the third person as if he wasn’t sat right next to her in the back and to top it all off then proceeded to vomit all over the car.’
I’d never felt any kind of affinity with Ryan Seldon, but I blushed on his behalf. Poor bloke – no one deserved that. What had Elle been thinking?
‘Shitting hell.’
‘So… she never told you anything about it, then?’
‘No. Nothing. All I know was that they snogged on the school trip, and then on the Monday she said that stuff about his breath. That was it.’
‘Right, that all makes sense now.’ He looked disappointed and relieved at the same time, though I had no idea why.
‘What does?’
‘Ah, nothing, don’t worry. Anyway, I’ve never been able to get my head around why she did it beyond it being some weird power trip for her. I only heard about this years later, mind. I think Ryan was too embarrassed to talk about it at the time, but once he and Carly got together in their twenties it all came out one night when we were pissed and reminiscing about our, er, teenage crushes. So, yeah, I guess I’ve never held her in the highest regard, to be honest.’
Well, it was all coming out tonight, wasn’t it? I could understand why Tom would feel that way about someone who’d hurt his mate, but I had to stand up for my mate, too.
‘What can I say? Other than she’s my best friend. Has been since she moved next door.’
‘Well, sure, but that’s not necessarily a reason to stay friends with someone, is it?’
I poured myself another large glass of crangria, sploshing a not-insignificant amount onto the tablecloth, and breathed out slowly as I did so. I couldn’t remember the last time anyone had delved into my soul like this before. I had to dig deep for my response, because the roots of mine and Elle’s friendship were sprawling, and always would be.
‘The truth is, Tom, that after everything with Livvie, Elle was the only person I could count on to be by my side. She kept me from crumbling more than once. We became each other’s family – she’s never been that close to hers, and I’ve drifted from mine, as sad as that makes me. And, no, Elle isn’t perfect and our friendship isn’t as… reciprocal… as maybe it could be. But I’m far from perfect, myself. So, yeah, that’s why we’ve stuck together all these years. She seems convinced writing this article will give my career a boost, and I’m happy to help her whenever I can.’
‘Her safety net.’
‘Touché.’
