Page 69 of Unspoken Words
“Ellie, what the fuck?”
“Connor Bourke, mind your language,” Mrs Benow barked from beside me.
“Sorry. I …”Whatever.
I took off after her, weaving in and out of dancing people, bright colours and hairspray spinning my head like a record player. “ELLIE! Come back.”
She didn’t stop, instead bursting out of the reception centre and into the car park.
I followed, stumbling into the cool night air, the sudden change of temperature and level of sound sobering me up a little. “WHERE ARE YOU GOING? ELLIE, STOP.”
“NO!”
“Slow the fuck down at least.”
She stopped by my car, which hadn’t seemed so far from the entrance when I’d first arrived. “Are we playing late night cat and mouse?” I asked, hunching over, my hand resting on the hood.
“What’s. Gotten. Into. You?” She pressed her hand to her chest and tried to catch her breath. “Drinking at our year-twelve formal? Really?”
Her judgemental attitude pissed me off, so I stood straighter and leaned against the car. “What’s it to you? You haven’t spoken to me in months. Why should you care what the fuck I do?”
“Of course I care, you idiot.”
“Could’ve fooled me.”
Her mouth dropped, her face reddened. “I could’ve fooled you? Ha. You can talk.”
“I can talk? Are you serious?”
Before I could ask if she was drunk, too, she continued her assault.
“Oh, that’s right. Youcan’ttalk. Youdon’ttalk. You just write notes.”
“BECAUSE YOU TOLD ME TO LEAVE YOU THE FUCK ALONE,” I shouted. “I did what you asked.”
“Yeah, well it seems you’ve been doing a whole lot more.”
“I’vebeen doing a whole lot more? You’re the one fucking around with Tristan.”
The fire in her cheeks turned to ash. “What?”
“You heard me. Is that what you had to talk to me about. Him?”
“What about him?”
“That you two are together now.”
“Connor, what are you talking about? Tristan and I are not together. You and I are. At least I thought we were until I saw you with her.”
“You and I haven’t beentogetherin months, after you fucked me and then fucked off.”
Tears sprung from her eyes, and she sobbed. “Is that what you think?”
“It’s what you did, Ellie.”
“But I did it for you. For us. I did it so we could start the next chapter of our lives with no regrets. You wanted to move to Darwin just to be with me. You were gonna sacrifice all your choices for me. I couldn’t let that happen.”
I stepped toward her, pointing. “I’d sacrifice every fucking thing for you. Always.”
