Page 59 of Fighting Conviction
Chapter Twenty-Two
“Ellie, comeon. Pink or blush?”
Ellie opened her eyes to see Virginia holding up two semiformal dresses that looked suspiciously like the same color.
“Honest to God, Virginia, I can’t tell the difference. You’d look great in both.”
“Jesus, girl, were you sleepin’ standin’ up?”
“Maybe.” Ellie groaned and pretended to snore against the wall. It wasn’t actually that uncomfortable.
Virginia tsked and tossed both dresses back over the changing room stall. “You need to sleep, girlfriend. You can’t be out all hours of the night.” She went into the changing room and poked her head out. “At least not for work. You should do somethin’ fun.” She popped her head back in.
“I’m here, aren’t I?” She didn’t want to be anywhere near the mall, but she needed an outfit for her date with Dev. What she actually wanted to do was curl up in bed and forget about the fact that for the first time she could remember, she wasn’t celebrating her birthday with her best friend.
“Oh my God, do you think this is fun? ‘Cause I think it’s fun!” Virginia called from behind the door. “Be still my beatin’ heart. I’m officially havin’ fun with my roommate.” Ellie snorted and rubbed her aching eyes.
“But seriously, I’m worried about ya, girl. You’ve been burnin’ the candle at both ends. Eventually, you’re gonna run outta wick.”
Ellie huffed in annoyance before replying in as dry a voice as she could muster to hopefully steer the conversation away. “I know what I’m doing.”
“Okay, but like, what if you fall out and I’m the only one around? I’m not like you. I don’t have a sexy giant teachin’ me how to lift buses and shit. I can’t carry you!” A sharp gasp behind the door made Ellie jump and dart her glance around. “Oh my God, I bet you could totally carry me! We should try it on the way to the food court.”
Ellie placed a hand over her rushing heart and tried to relax again by forcing herself to concentrate on laughing at Virginia’s joke. “He uses tires to train me, not the whole bus. And no thanks, I’ll pass on dragging your butt around the mall.”
“Such a party pooper. But on the real… isn’t there someone else who could do your job? I don’t know what all your sister-in-law’s got you doin’ at her law firm, but doesn’t she see you’re workin’ yourself to death?”
Ellie frowned for a moment until she remembered the job at Jules’s firm was the lie she’d told her roommate to help explain why she was gone all hours of the night and couldn’t go to any parties.
The secrecy behind Sasha Saves was perfect for survivors, but the result was Ellie having to lie to everyone around her. Yet another strain on her psyche.
“There’s no one else to do the job.” There, she didn’t have to lie. It was partially true, at least. The whole truth was Ellie didn’twantanyone else to do her job because no one could be as good at helping survivors than a survivor herself. No trauma was the same, but at the core of it, survivors spoke the same language. No one else at the clinic was as fluent as her.
Well, except for maybe Nora… and Naomi…She shook the reasoning away.
“But, El—”
“Leave it, V. ‘Kay?”
Virginia sighed in defeat. “Fine. But will you at least try on that gorgeous dress? That green will bring out your eyes. And with those kick ass gold heels from the store next door? Your man’s jaw is gonna duh-rop.”
Ellie glanced down at the wrap dress. It was nicer than any she’d ever worn, and it looked like something that might even be comfortable to move around in, but it was no Sasha original. The last time she’d needed a fancy outfit, she was going to that stupid party where her whole life changed.
She’d wondered over the past year if she and Sasha were the first to be stolen at a party like that in Ashland County. It was a yearly party, so to think it was a pattern sickened her. The thought had crossed her mind to try to go again this year. She’d even hinted and outright asked Dev if the Crew was going to do anything about the scholarship party, but he always went tight-lipped. At the time, she didn’t push for more answers because she hadn’t had anything to offer to help stop it from happening again.
But now I do…
She’d been practicing self-defense and all manner of survival tactics for the better part of half a year. Maybe she should approach Dev about doing a little recon to help figure out who was behind it all. Familiar faces at the party might even help jog her blotchy memory. She shivered at the thought. She’d purposely avoided digging too deep into her memories out of fear of the panic attacks they caused. But now that she was stronger, she’d go through it a thousand times to prevent someone else from suffering like Sasha had.
“El!” The creak of Virginia’s dressing room door cracking open brought Ellie back to the moment. “Girl, are you fallin’ asleep with your eyes open now? Jesus, I’ll get you home so you can nap before your date. Let me finish tryin’ mine on while you try on yours and we’ll go, ‘kay?”
Ellie glanced around the changing area at all the tiny stalls and slowly shook her head.
“Nah, I think this one will fit. I’ll just take it home.”
Virginia groaned and closed the dressing room door again before tossing a dress over the top. “God, to have your body. I’ve never been happy with anything I haven’t tried on. Must be nice to have the body of a mannequin.”
“Please, I’m not the size of a—” Ellie looked down at her baggy sweatshirt and glanced to the side at one of the aforementioned mannequins. She pulled the bottom of her sweatshirt tight and her jaw dropped as she realized her sweatshirt wasn’t just baggy, it swallowed her whole. Even though she’d grabbed the size she’d worn forever, the dress in her arms might not even fit her.
