Elly & Kent - The Complete Story: Includes Books 1-3 (13 page)

Oh God. Did I stare at Kent like he was a giant ice cream cone dripping on a hot summer's day? I swallowed hard, trying to remember if that was how I acted when I was around him. Sometimes I did catch myself staring at him. Dammit. How could I convince her? What would put her mind at ease. I glanced around and the solution came to me immediately when I saw a four people walking into the lunchroom together. Two couples!

"I'm sorry if I do that. I don't see him like that, I swear. I have a boyfriend." The lie came out easily enough and Jen's face softened instantly.

"Oh my god. You do?" Her hands raised to her lips, as if she were extremely shocked.

I nodded. "Yeah. His name is Jake. He's an online boyfriend, but we're exclusive and stuff."

"Oh my god. That's so great." Her hand came to my shoulder, I was expecting claws but instead there was just friendly vibes. No longer did she see me as a threat. No longer did she feel she had to protect what she thought was hers. I'd essentially castrated myself, so to speak.
 

And I'd fixed it. With just one little white lie. I smiled to myself. Kent was going to be thrilled when he found out. Men were so dumb sometimes and I felt extremely proud that he'd told me the problem and in less than twenty four hours I'd done what he didn't think to do in the past seven months.
 

Chapter Fifteen

KENT

I looked down at my fingers and frowned at the injury Elly's teeth had created. It had only been fourteen hours and I already missed her. I shook my head. It didn't matter. We would find a way to work it out after I solidified my relationship with Jen a bit more.

I was on my way to lunch, my usual, with Jen, when I saw Jen and Elly together. My feet froze and I quickly pushed myself against the nearest locker, watching carefully.
 

For some reason I would willingly take a punch for Elly when it involved a dude but when it came to Jen I was going to stay as far away from it as I could. I couldn't hear what they were talking about, I could only read their body language.
 

Were they talking about me? Was Elly giving Jen a piece of her mind? Judging by Jen's genuine smile I guessed that wasn't it.
 

"Move it, Lytle."

I stammered as one of the football jocks glared at me. "Sorry," I was about to step aside when I looked up again. My mouth dropped open and the world seemed to move in slow motion as I saw Jen hug Elly.
 

"I said move it!" The jock pushed my shoulder and like a cardboard cutout of myself I went tumbling to the ground. His companions laughed amongst themselves and I was too stunned to fight back.
 

When I stood up and looked back again they were both entering the cafeteria together. I quickly chased after them, not wanting to miss out on whatever freaky Friday stuff was going on.

"... long have you two been going out?" Jen asked excitedly.
 

I felt a pinch in the middle of my forehead as I tried to comprehend the question. Elly was going out with someone? Why hadn't she told me that last night when I'd snuck in to see her?

Elly shrugged her shoulders and looked around uncomfortably. It was normally a tell that she was lying, but it was also a genuine reaction when she was talking to strangers. And Jen was practically one since they never talked to each other.
 

I closed in and wrapped my arm around Jen's waist, pulling her into my side, my eyes on Elly's. "Someone was finally interested in taming the Elly-beast?"

I watched her eyes widen and her cheeks flush and instantly cursed myself. It hadn't come out right. Before I could say anything Jen smacked my chest.

"Kent! That's not nice. Any guy would be lucky to go out with her."

I clenched my jaw tightly. I knew that but I knew that Jen didn't. She hated Elly.

"It's okay, Jen. I know how Kent feels about his friend and dating. I'm dating Jake."

I frowned at her. She was either talking about Jake Fitzpatrick, who was the smelliest guy I'd ever met and whose face was a mine of acne, or she was talking about Jake, the online guy who she'd always insisted had a girlfriend and they were just friends. I went with the most obvious choice.

"Jake Fitzpatrick?"

The looks I received from both Jen and Elly, if looks could kill, would've struck me dead in a millisecond. And then Elly's eyes turned glassy and she looked away again.

"No. Thanks for your vote of confidence in my choice in men...and their choice in me. Jake Collins, the guy I've been talking to online for the past couple of years."

"Oh." It was all I could think of to say. "I thought he was involved with someone?"

Jen looked between us, her happy face turning skeptical.

"He was. But she cheated on him. And I've been coaching him through it and... well, you know, stuff happens."

Jen nodded, completely eating up the story. I wasn't buying it.
 

"When did this happen?"

Elly's head whipped around and she frowned at me. "What? You don't believe me?"

"Just seems sudden. And you never talked about it before now."

I shrugged my shoulder and caressed Jen's at the same time, trying at act casual while giving Elly the third degree.

"Well I'm not comfortable sharing my love life with you, Kent. And the feeling is mutual so back off."

I felt my cheeks flood with heat and I nodded and kept my eyes down. She was right. And I was an asshole for doubting her. She broke away from us, pointing over her shoulder to the Coke machine in the hallway. When she was out of earshot Jen finally spoke her piece.

"Is she lying?"

I watched her blue eyes watch me. My mind was reeling as I tried to figure out the best course of action.

"I'm not sure."

"You're not sure? She's your best friend."

As if she needed to remind me. "Yeah but, you know, we haven't been that close lately. And it's not like I would've met the guy or anything."

Jen snickered to herself, "I'm glad her attentions are off you anyway. I don't have to worry about her kissing you or molesting you or anything."

I feigned disgust. "Come on, Jen. She's like my sister."

She smiled and looked ridiculously smug. "That's good to hear, Kenny-poo." She stood up onto her toes and pressed a kiss to my lips. I smiled and shook my head at her silly-ness. Elly into me and wanting to steal me away from Jen was silly.

"I've been telling you that for months and now, finally, you believe me?"

She shrugged her shoulders after she pulled away. "It takes awhile to build trust."

We grabbed our lunches from the line and then sat down at our usual table. I wasn't surprised at all when Elly didn't come back to sit with us. She was probably in the library using the computer to email her new boyfriend. I shifted in my seat, trying to push down the ball of fire I was feeling in the pit of my stomach.
 

The whole cafeteria slowly quieted as the administration announced the daily news. The topic of prom came up and I looked at Jen. She was smiling at me so sweetly. Tickets went on sale tomorrow and I didn't want to be left without one. I leaned in close and whispered into her ear. "Will you go with me?"

She didn't seem surprised by the question in the least as she pressed a kiss to my lips and nodded, "Of course. Who else would I go with?"

I laughed, "I could think of countless other guys who would rather you go to prom with them."

"Yeah, but none of them are my ridiculously cute boyfriend," she purred as her lips found my neck. I shivered and then put my hand on her thigh, our signal that she was embarrassing me.

She giggled softly before pulling away, patting my hand on her thigh. "Sorry. I can't help myself. I have a feeling that prom is going to be a
very
special night." The emphasis made my palms sweat. I wasn't ready to disappoint her in the sack just yet.

The thought of losing my virginity at prom was all I could think of for the rest of the day. I couldn't afford to be distracted, finals were coming up quickly. I met Jen at my locker and pressed a kiss to her cheek when she grabbed my hand.
 

"I think I'm going to walk home today."

"Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, I just need the fresh air. And I need to make sure I look good in my tux." I pressed a hand to my flat stomach and she laughed.

"Alright, tough guy. I'll call you later."

I nodded and watched as she walked away. I started on my walk and exhaled a deep breath that I didn't know I was holding and instantly felt ten shades better. I wasn't ready to lose her. I wasn't ready for her name-calling, her looks of pity. I knew they were coming. I could barely last five minutes in my pants when she was grinding away at me in my car, what was I going to do when the barriers were removed?

I pushed my glasses up my nose as I stared down the sidewalk ahead of me. I'd know Elly's backpack anywhere. I jogged to catch up.

"Elly!"
 

She turned around and where I was expecting a smile on her lips there was only a tightly held line.
 

"You're still mad? I didn't mean it."

She rolled her eyes and kept walking. "Whatever."

"This is an ongoing theme on our little walks lately."

"You being an asshole? I know. You should work on that. Or is that the secret to bagging the hot chicks?"

"Elly. I didn't, I haven't... we haven't..." It was too hard to get it out of my constricting throat.
 

"What a shame. You should do it before you both go off to different colleges. She'll probably go to Harvard or something."

"We both got early acceptance into NU." I was waiting for her to say something but it was becoming quickly apparent that she wasn't going to say anything. "How about you? You wanted to go to McNally, have you heard back from them?"

She nodded and held onto her backpack straps tighter, turning her knuckles white as she stared at the sidewalk in front of us, "Yep. I didn't get in."

 
"Elly. That sucks. But you still have your backup schools. You applied to NU too, didn't you?"

She nodded, "I haven't heard anything back from them yet. I'm going to be the kid who says they're going to take a year off to backpack and stuff and ends up never going to college and works in the grocery store instead."

I laughed, I couldn't help it. The thought of Elly spending the rest of her life here working in a grocery store was absolutely absurd. She was going to go places in her life. See things, experience things. Probably become famous if she let other people in on her musical talent.

"It's not funny, Kent."

"It is. You'll get in somewhere. You're not a complete loser."

"That's not what you implied earlier."

I sighed, "You have to stop holding grudges. I'm a word fumbler and I say stupid shit, often things I don't mean and you know that. But since we're alone... tell me the truth. Are you really in a relationship with the infamous Jake?"

She didn't even blink before she blatantly changed the subject.
 

"Did you ask Jen to prom yet?"

"Yes," I wasn't going to let her off the hook that easily. "Are you going?"

"No. It's a stupid dance."

"But we said--"
 

Last year we'd skipped Junior prom and promised each other during a late night video game session that if we were single for senior prom that we'd go together. I remember feeling ecstatic at the idea. I'd finally have a reason to dance with her and hold her close to me. I'd be able to create that memory and I had hoped it would be enough to carry me through.

Her voice cut through the memory of that night.

"We said
if
we were both single. And we're not. We're both taken. And you have a date."

"Yeah but I always assumed that we'd still be going together...with our dates."

"Yeah, well, that didn't end up happening. You can tell me all about it, though, when Jen is gone for the summer."

"It won't be the same, Elly. I want you there."

Chapter Sixteen

ELLY

"Why do you want me there? You'll be too busy dealing with Jen."

I could just imagine him standing at her side the whole night, holding her little diamond encrusted clutch purse as she laughed and talked about designer clothes or something with the rest of the cheerleaders.

"Maybe she'll be too busy to notice if I slip off and dance with you."

I looked up to the sky and shook my head. What the hell was I going to do with him? Seriously? We were friends, strictly platonic, and yet he wanted to dance with me.

"We can dance in the privacy of my room or yours. We don't need to do it at prom."

He was quiet for a few moments and I wondered what he was thinking. Was he considering the proposition? The thought of his hands on me, even in the most innocent of places, had my gut clenching and my thighs pressing together. I peeked a glance at Kent and he was in the middle of pushing his glasses up his nose.