Page 21 of Next Time Will Be Our Turn
I let my breath out when Iris stalked away, then felt silly for feeling nervous in the first place. There was nothing wrong with Ellery giving me rides home. Like I’d told Iris, Ellery lived here too, so she wasn’t going out of her way to do anything. By then, I’d gotten so used to Ellery’s car. Every time I slid inside, its familiar scent would hit my senses, and my whole body would automatically relax as I melted into the seat. I’d memorized the way Ellery drove—with her knees most of the time and her hands on her lap. Stupid, dangerous, and utterly enchanting. Despite the knee driving, Ellery never relaxed in her seat. She drove slightly leaning forward, her eyes always on the road, very much unlike Iris, who was always slouched in her seat andlooked like she could barely be bothered to pay attention to the road.
My third week there, Ellery started teaching me how to drive. “I can’t believe your parents haven’t signed you up for lessons yet,” she said. “You can’t live in LA and not know how to drive.”
“They probably forgot,” I said, feeling defensive.
“You should remind them.”
I knew I should. But I also thought that if I knew how to drive, then there would be no reason for Ellery to drive me back and forth from school. That’s sixteen-year-old logic for you.
Even though it was already four in the afternoon, she started teaching me because it was way too hot for us to walk. We’d met up at the side gate as usual when Ellery said, “If I walked in this heat I would melt like the Wicked Witch of the West.”
“Okay,” I said, disappointed. The heat was pretty brutal, but I was loath to miss out on my usual Ellery time. I was already thinking of spending the rest of the day alone at home.
“I know,” Ellery said suddenly, “I’ll teach you how to drive.”
My stomach flopped as we walked to her car. “Are you sure about this?”
“Yeah, it’ll be fun. And it’s a necessary life skill.”
“Okay, Grandma.” But I stood, frozen, as she unlocked the car and opened the driver’s door for me.
“Anytime now.”
With a gulp, I slid inside. I could barely reach the pedals. Ellery laughed. “Oh my god, munchkin. Hang on.” She crouched down and reached over me and I died a little at the closeness of her. Her head was mere inches from my nose, and the smell of her shampoo was intoxicating. Musky and floraland so very Ellery. And I could hear her breathing as she fiddled with the controls to adjust my seat, which seemed incredibly intimate. The seat jerked forward, and I crashed softly into Ellery. “Oops, sorry about that.”
I could barely squeak out a reply. Everything inside me had melted into goop. When she asked if I could reach the pedals, I quickly nodded. She slid back out and I was torn between relief and disappointment.Get it together, I told myself as Ellery walked around and climbed into the passenger seat.
“So, you know what’s what?” she said.
I looked blankly at her.
“Do you know which one’s the gas pedal and which is the brake?”
I shook my head.
Ellery’s eyebrows rose, then her mouth drew into a thin determined line. “Okay. That’s totally fine. We can do this.”
Ellery turned out to be the perfect teacher: patient and encouraging, with a great sense of humor. The humor was what really did it for me. I was so nervous, I kept making mistake after mistake. Under my control, her car jerked here and there like it had hiccups, but Ellery remained calm and never lost her temper, even after I made the same mistake four times in a row. Iris would’ve yelled at me and told me I was an idiot, or worse. By the end of the session, I could drive around the complex somewhat comfortably and slide into a parking slot, provided the slot was made out of two slots and I didn’t have to worry about staying within one slot.
“Awesome job!” Ellery said, pulling the hand brake. “I think we can call it a night. You did well.”
“Really?”
“Well, you were terrible to start with. But you improved a lot, and that’s what counts.”
“I’m not sure if that was a compliment or an insult.”
She grinned at me. “Gotta keep you guessing, Tulip.” We got out of the car, and as usual, I prepared to leave. I could never stand seeing her leave. I always had to be the first one out. But then Ellery said, “Wanna come hang out at my place?”
“Okay.” Okay, as though my skin hadn’t just broken out in a multitude of goose bumps. Okay, as though my mouth hadn’t gone bone-dry. I followed her to her block and lingered a few paces behind as she unlocked her front door. I told myself I would still be nervous even if it wasn’t Ellery, even if it was any other friend, male or female. And, looking back now, I think that was true. At sixteen, I wasn’t comfortable in my own skin, was unsure of my own steps and afraid of making any noise. And these apartments were so small and quiet. I crept inside after her and started taking off my shoes.
“Oh, you don’t have to do that,” Ellery said, tracking into her living room with her shoes still on. Well, I say “living room,” but what I soon realized was that her unit was a studio, and the living room was the bedroom was the kitchen.
It was a small space, less than half the size of my own apartment, and I had never been in a studio apartment before. The first thing I noticed were the plants. They were everywhere. Pots and pots of them on the windowsill, next to the futon bed, on the study desk, on the kitchen counter, and scattered here and there on the carpeted floor. There was so much life around me that I felt as though I were inside a living biome.
“Sorry, I know it’s a mess in here.”
It was a mess, but it was a beautiful mess. The kind of mess that fit perfectly with Ellery.
