Page 56 of A Dead Girl's Guide to Living
I studied her as she ordered, noticing how carefully she subtracted ingredients, pointing them out specifically on the menu, putting extra emphasis on theno thisandno that. Iwondered if her restricted diet came from the heart surgery or the after effects of it. I frowned slightly, remembering Liv’s mocking words earlier. Something about getting through chemo.
Ellis’s eyes flicked back to mine just as the waitress left, and I quickly looked away, taking a final gulp of my water. She turned to stare out the window, and I didn’t miss the way the afternoon light hit her hair. Her red locks caught the sun, a soft glow surrounding her as she looked out, appearing deep in thought.
“Can I ask you something?” I said, the words spilling out before I could stop them.
Ellis turned to me, something tight in her eyes. “You just did.”
I rolled my eyes and leaned back in the booth, getting comfortable. “Do you always approach life like it’s a project to manage?”
She paused, tapping the edge of the table with her thumb and forefinger. “Maybe. Is that a bad thing?”
I shrugged. “I mean, not really. You do you and all that. But you—you’ve been acting like this road trip is something you can… like you can bullet-point your way through. But you’re on the road with astrangerand some sort of ghost tornado in human form… or ghost form.”
Ellis seemed to think carefully before responding, chewing the inside of her cheek for a moment before letting out a resigned sigh.
“I don’t like chaos,” she said, her tone tight. “I don’t react well to it. I need structure. I need a guideline. Today has been literal chaos. I mean, I started the day stealing human remains.”
“Borrowing,” I corrected.
“Still a felony.”
I found myself grinning, unable to help it.
“Well, for someone who doesn’t do well with chaos, you handled today better than I would’ve expected.”
“I smashed a mirror,” she pointed out, in that dry Ellis tone I was beginning to recognize as her default.
“For a good cause,” I said, still grinning. Once again, the muscle in her cheek twitched, like she was fighting her own smile.
“You screamed bloody murder,” she added, leaning on her elbows.
“You screamed too.”
“Iscreamed afteryouscreamed,” she scoffed.
“So I startled you into screaming?”
“Exactly.”
Silence fell over us again, but it didn’t feel as stiff as before, and it certainly wasn’t arctic like it had been for most of the drive here.
I glanced around the room and spotted Liv in the corner, slapping an out-of-order jukebox before placing both hands on it.
“I command ye, jukebox, to work! Listen to your dead overlord!” she shouted, shaking it roughly.
The speakers crackled. My eyes widened as the machine lit up suddenly, and a second later, a song from the Grease soundtrack blasted out far too loudly.
“Okay, that was a fluke!” Liv called over her shoulder. “I did not expect that to work.”
“Barbara!” our waitress gasped, and I whipped my head around just in time to see her walking toward us with our food. She set the plates down without even looking at us, her eyes glued to the jukebox.
“How in the world…?”
“Is that what I think it is?” asked the woman who must’ve been Barbara, emerging from the double doors that led to the kitchen. Her mouth hung open. “How did that happen?”
“No idea!” our waitress said, hand pressed to her chest. “It just started playing out of nowhere!”
Liv smirked and blew us a kiss before moonwalking away, flipping a peace sign as she went.
