Page 106 of A Dead Girl's Guide to Living
She spent most of the time with her head tilted over the sheet, brows knitted tightly together, lips pursed as she muttered to herself like she was solving a riddle only she couldsee. She was oblivious to the way Jules eyed her, and I couldn’t place a word for that tightening in my stomach and the burning in my cheeks other than jealousy, followed by the relief that Ellis just didn’t notice she was being flirted with or was simply completely unaware. The latter made more sense to me.
The girls we had joined at the table were nice, if not a little drunk, and it was blatantly obvious that Siena had set her sights on me. I tried to keep it as friendly as possible, but there was no way I would be going home with anyone other than Ellis tonight. The feeling that spread through my body at the thought had been something else entirely.
We were reaching the end of the quiz when Jules got up and asked Ellis if she wanted to help her get another round of drinks from the bar. A simple question, but if Jules knew Ellis, she would have known that leaving the trivia sheet would have been a no-go. I hadn’t expected the rough scraping of the stool beside me, Ellis’s face looking something akin to panic-stricken before she shoved the trivia sheet away from her, mumbled something about the bathroom, and disappeared.
Her sudden absence hit me, and I frowned, blinking in confusion.
“I’d check onthatif I were you,” Liv told me, nodding her head in the direction of the bathrooms.
She hadn’t needed to say it, though, I was already halfway off my stool, heart already tilting, pulling me after Ellis and her flash of red hair. That pull was so deeply felt in my bones, pulsing like a faint ache under my ribs, that I already knew what this was for me now.
I pushed back from the table.
“Back in a second,” I told both Siena and Jules, who were having some sort of conversation with their eyes.
Weaving my way through the tables and bodies of people, I found the hallway leading to the bathrooms, following the bright neon signage, heart pounding slightly, and I was unsure why.
Finding the room markedLadies, positioned between the men’s room and a gender-neutral bathroom, I stepped inside, the door creaking loudly as I pushed it open before slipping through the secondary door.
Ellis was standing by the basins, staring at herself in the mirror, her face grim, as if she had just finished giving herself a pep talk she hadn’t wanted to hear. God, she looked good tonight. Her black sweater fit just right, the collar resting soft against her delicate collarbones, her jeans hugging her long legs almost sinfully. Her copper-red hair fell loosely, a little messy since the start of the night, but still cute.
She looked flushed, alive, radiant and wrecked all at the same time.
Her eyes met mine through the mirror.
“Hey,” I said, stepping inside. “You okay?”
The closer I got, the more I noticed her eyes were glassy. A red flush began to spread up her neck.
“Hey, sorry, I just—I just needed the toilet.”
I nodded once and leaned against the countertop as she began to wash her hands.
“You sure? Having a good night?” I asked.
Her laugh was quick, light, and a little breathless. “Um, yeah. I mean, I think so… I don’t have a whole lot to compare it to. The noise takes a little getting used to.”
She switched off the taps and pulled out some paper towels, drying her hands roughly before bunching them into a ball and tossing it in the bin. “You’re good at this.”
I frowned. “At?”
“People, mostly,” she said, her expression thoughtful. “I mean, you can walk up to a table of strangers and just makethem like you. It’s some sort of magic trick. Like, you don’t even have to try.”
I blinked, a little caught off guard. “Ellis, what—”
“I just don’t get it,” she rushed on, her voice rising slightly. “I mean, you’re just so easy with anyone. You can talk to anybody about anything, even the most inane shit. And… and I can sit next to you and just feel like I’m ten steps behind. I feel like I’m on the outside looking in…”
Her breath hitched, and she cut herself off, eyes darting away as her cheeks flushed a deeper shade of pink.
“Not that it’s your problem,” she went on, shaking her head. “I mean, this is clearly ameproblem. I’m just socially challenged. I haven’t had enough practice.”
Her fingers were clenched, her shoulders curled inward, and she looked so… so small. So guarded. Sotired.
“Ellis,” I began softly, “I work with people on a daily basis. I mean, I was raised around communicating with strangers. It’s second nature to me. I’m not a good person to measure social skills against. I’d beat even the most average person. Besides, not everyone likes talking to strangers, and there’s no problem with that. There’s no issue with who you choose to interact with. That’s your choice.”
“Yeah, well, you’re likable as well,” she bit out.
“So are you,” I told her confidently, and she shot me a look. “You know, like,once someone gets to know you.”
