Page 19 of Coping Skills

Chapter Nine

“What up, bitches?” Megan’s voice rang through the house, announcing her arrival along with Lance and Abby. The sounds of the additional people reached Elena in the kitchen, where she dumped a bag of chips into a bowl.

Hannah shot her a smile and raised her eyebrows, a silentWhat can you do?before heading into the living room to greet their guests.

The Thursday night football pregame show was already on, but muted, since Matt found the announcers annoying and would argue with every other statement they made. Which he’d been doing a half hour ago until Hannah went into the living room, muted the TV, and told him to help clean up the house before everyone got there. “But they used to live here,” he’d protested. “They don’t care what the place looks like. They’ve all seen it look way worse than this.”

“I don’t care, Matt. They’re guests, and we’re not having the house look like a sty. Quit arguing with people who can’t hear you and make yourself useful.”

He’d muttered to himself while moving his laptop from the coffee table to his office, but had quieted down by the time he came into the kitchen to take out the trash before everyone got there. Elena had had to hide a smile at how obedient he became when Hannah told him what to do and kept a tight rein on the urge to make a whip sound as he went outside to put the half-full bag in the big trash can.

With a deep breath, she steeled herself to go in the living room. It had been Matt’s idea to have everyone over. Chris’s team was playing tonight, and he was expected to make an appearance on the field. Apparently he didn’t every game. She had no clue how all that worked. Maybe she should pay attention tonight, though, so she had some idea of what was going on at the homecoming game next weekend. Lance and Matt were both friendly, and she figured they’d answer her questions. Since they both used to play, who better to learn from?

Thinking about football and homecoming brought her mind to Daniel. Not that it took much for him to come up in her thoughts. She’d debated asking him to come over tonight. He was friends with everyone here, too. It’d be like a reunion of the group from their trip, minus Chris, of course, who’d only be there through the TV screen while he was playing.

But she hadn’t, waffling too long, until the day had come. With a glance at the clock, she realized he wasn’t even done for the day yet. And he’d have homework. And need a better meal than chips and dip and the junk food they were having tonight. And everyone would think they were together, instead of just friends.

And they were just friends. Firmly in the friends category. With a few side benefits, of course. But they weren’t dating. He wasn’t her boyfriend. She didn’t have time or space for a boyfriend right now. He was a distraction from all the other crap when she needed a vacation from her brain.

“Elena? Are you going to come say hi to everyone or hide in the kitchen all night?”

Hannah’s smiling face had popped through the doorway while Elena had been lost in thought. Now she forced her lips into a smile of their own.

“Of course! I was just finishing up.” Tossing the spoon in her hand into the sink, she grabbed the chips and dip and brought them into the living room, where she was greeted by a shout of general cheer at her appearance and a smile from Abby. Man, Matt’s friends were a rowdy crew, and he was a lot louder when they were around.

Lance slung an arm around her shoulders and gave a little squeeze. “Hey, Elena. Good to see you.”

“You too.”

As soon as he let go, Megan swooped in and squeezed her hard in her signature hug. “I haven’t seen you in so long! Thanks for having us all over!”

Elena laughed at Megan’s enthusiasm. “It was Matt’s idea. Thank him.”

Megan dismissed that with a wave of her hand. “Don’t give him too much credit. He’ll get a big head. We need to keep it under control, or he won’t fit in the house.”

“Hey!” Matt protested.

Megan shot him a sassy grin and stuck her tongue out at him. “I’m kidding. You know I love you, Matty. But I live by myself now, so I don’t get to give anyone shit.” She let out a drawn-out sigh. “It gets boring.”

“You can’t be that bored, Megan,” Lance cut in. “You spend all your time at our place when you’re not in your art studio. I’m surprised you didn’t try to move in with us.”

Her face straight, Megan looked him in the eye. “I didn’t know you were into that, Lance.” Then to Abby, “You up for a sister wife?”

Abby, in the middle of taking a drink of the soda she’d gotten while everyone said hi to Elena, choked and spluttered, her cheeks turning red. “No, thanks, Megan. I’ve lived with you before. You’d be a shitty sister wife.”

Megan cackled in response, not disagreeing. Lance, laughing, pulled Abby in for a kiss. “I love you. You’re awesome.”

She grinned back. “Love you too.”

The game started soon after that, and they all settled down, the two couples taking the couch, Megan claiming the armchair, and Elena lounging on the floor next to the couch. Elena tried following the game, but couldn’t get into it. After asking questions once or twice and either being shushed by the guys or one of them interrupting himself to yell at the TV and forgetting to finish his answer, she stopped trying. She got up and grabbed the book she needed to get through for her poli-sci seminar, deciding to get some homework done at least, but not be completely anti-social by holing up in her room. The shouting from Matt and Lance, and even sometimes from Abby and Megan, distracted her often enough that she ended up watching them more than the game.

Since there were four people on a three-person couch, it was a little crowded, which meant that Abby was mostly in Lance’s lap. Except for when he’d shift her to the side, almost planting her on Hannah’s lap, half standing to yell at the game. For her part, Abby seemed to be just as into the game, standing when Lance would move her off his lap, her eyes glued to the screen, settling back into her place when Lance sat back down.

Catching Hannah’s eye, she and Elena shared a smirk. Hannah was clearly not as into football as the rest of them.

A chorus of, “Ooh!” and, “That deserves a penalty,” went up, drawing Elena’s eyes to the screen. Two of the players from opposing teams seemed to be getting into it, getting in each other’s faces, shoving at shoulders. A ref stepped in, trying to push them apart. Off to one side, another player lay on the field, another ref at his side, followed by trainers coming from the sidelines to check on him.

They all watched in silence as the player was taken off the field, and the ref announced a fifteen yard penalty. Elena wasn’t clear on exactly what happened, except that someone got hurt, and his teammates seemed angry about it.

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