Rainbow Central Complete Series

Chapter 13

Jo

JoThe weekend passed in no time and before I knew it, I had to get ready for the Plaza party. I would’ve been more excited if I wasn’t so nervous to see Ellie again. How would I feel the next time I saw her? Would I still get that strange flutter in my stomach? Would she notice I was looking differently at her?

No, I couldn’t think like that. I was going to act like normal, be normal, and then everything would be fine. Nothing was going to change, something that was both a relief and painful.

I agonised over all this for the past few days and now it was finally the day of the party. Ellie was five minutes away from picking me up so we could go for dinner and then start drinking at her place.

I could still cancel. I could lie, tell her I wasn’t feeling well, and just skip the whole thing. If I put some distance between us, surely, I’d be over her in no time.

My thumb hovered over her name on my phone but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. Lying to my best friend was wrong, especially for such a pathetic reason.

With a sigh, I put my phone in my pocket and admired myself in the mirror. Did I look too casual in my white shirt? Should I have gone for a dress, even if that wasn’t really my style? And what about the lipstick?

The doorbell rang, putting an end to my dilemmas. I’d have to go as this and that was that.

With a last glance at my reflection, I left the bathroom and made my way to the door. Ellie’s excited expression made me feel bad that I almost cancelled on her. She was clearly looking forward to this.

“Hey hey!” she grinned, pulling me in a tight embrace.

Her flowery perfume surrounded me and I inhaled a little deeper than necessary. I’d recognise her smell anywhere but it wasn’t until recently that I’d realised just how much I liked it. Even though it was a very popular brand, it didn’t smell this good on anyone else. It was so typical Ellie.

She bounced up and down, her voice raising an octave. “Almost party time! Are you excited?”

I tried to ignore how her body was pressing against mine. “Very excited,” I mumbled. “A little worried about how my liver is going to cope with all the alcohol.”

“Pfff, a little alcohol never killed nobody,” she sang.

“I don’t think that’s true…” I protested weakly. “I feel like I’ve been drinking a whole lot since we started college.”

“Nobody is making you,” she countered.

“I guess it feels like since everyone is doing it, it"s not problematic and I should do it too,” I mused.

“That’s just good old peer pressure.” Ellie paused to look at me. “You don’t have to drink, you know that, right? Nobody cares what’s in your cup, so long as you’re having fun.”

“I suppose…” I set in motion again, not wanting to stare into Ellie’s eyes for too long.

Luckily, it was time to grab a bus to Ellie’s dorm. She lived closer to the Plaza and we were going to save some money by drinking at her place instead of paying through our nose for overpriced beer. If that wasn’t problematic, I didn’t know what was. And yet, I was still going ahead with it.

“I’m so excited! Eeeeep!” Ellie looped her arm through mine and pulled me into a skip, ignoring the weird looks from the people around us.

I envied her confidence.

“Our first real party together. I’m so excited.”

“Me too,” I agreed as we arrived at the bus stop. I untangled myself from my best friend and sat down on the bench, shivering as the cold from the metal penetrated through my pants.

Ellie shivered too despite wearing much more clothing than I was. I counted three layers of hoodies, sweaters, and jackets, and that was the only stuff I could see. A little overkill when summer had barely ended.

“Maybe I should find myself a hot guy to keep me warm,” Ellie reasoned.

I smiled through my bitterness. “Yeah, maybe.”

My best friend chuckled as she looped her arm back through mine and snuggled into me. “Nahhh, why do I need a hot guy when I have you? You’re basically a walking radiator.”

I shouldn’t enjoy her proximity, especially when it wasn’t meant as anything else but a friendly hug, but I did. The way her body fit with mine, it was just so perfect.

I rested my head on hers, reluctantly allowing myself to enjoy the snuggle. It wasn’t like I was doing anything wrong or inappropriate. In fact, we’d been doing this for almost as long as we’d known each other. It would be weirder if I pulled back.

After a couple of minutes, our bus came around the corner and I jumped up, glad to have a reason to get out of the hug.

“What’s the hurry, Jo?” Ellie complained.

“I want to get good seats,” I lied, hurrying to where I thought the bus would stop. I made sure to let two old men get on before me, but didn’t extend the same courtesy to the other young people. The bus already looked full and I didn’t want to have to stand.

I hopped up on the bus, scanned my pass, and picked out two seats in the back. I put my backpack down on the spare seat to save it for Ellie and endured the glares of the other passengers as they searched for their own place to sit.

Ellie was one of the last to get on the bus and with a bemused smile, she occupied the seat next to me. “You’re always so good at finding seats.”

“That’s because I don’t want to stand. Remember what happened on the school trip to the beach?”

She laughed. “You were like a bowling ball. Do you think our teacher has forgiven you for his broken tooth?”

“I don’t think so. He was really upset.”

“I remember his face. And the faces of those other two girls. What were their names again? Bette and…”

“Clara. They were always together.”

“Yeah. I think they were lesbians. What do you think?”

“I don’t know.”

“What? I thought you had some kind of gaydar or something.”

I chuckled. “I’m not sure if that’s a thing. And besides, I have no clue what I’m doing.”

Ellie laughed. “Me either. It’s not my thing.”

I swallowed a lump, trying to keep my composure. I knew it wasn’t her thing, I knew that all too well… If it was… maybe we’d be more than just friends.