Page 13 of Always Yours

Ellen giggles a little, but it’s almost shy. “I like you too,” she says, her eyes meeting mine.

I cock an eyebrow at her. “So, you wanna go fool around?”

She giggles again, her blush deepening as she doesn’t say anything, just presses her mouth hard against mine in ananswer.

5

Ellen

It’s been a few weeks since the skunk incident and as much as I didn’t want to be all-in with Will like one of those girls who falls in love with a guy the second she meets him, I totally am.

Despite the fact that mine and Will’s classes are nowhere near each other, he never fails to meet me after my last class. It’s been weeks since I’ve spent the night in my dorm room and I have to say I don’t even miss it.

As I walk out of my last class with a small skip in my step and a smile plastered on my face, I find that Will isn’t in his usual spot. Actually, he isn’t anywhere outside the building.

I wish I could say I’m not having a moment of panic as I pace around checking my watch and wondering why he suddenly has failed to show up.

After what feels like an hour of waiting when in actuality it’s only about ten minutes, I head back to my dorm. Seeing as I’m still without a car and it’s absolutely freezing, I can’t just walk to Will’s apartment and see if he’s there. Even though that’s exactly what I want to do.

As I wait for the elevator I pull my phone from my purse checking to see if Will texted me and I just missed it. But there’s nothing.

I’m starting to get worried so I text Will as the elevator takes me up to my floor and by the time I reach my room I still haven’t heard from him.

Opening the door, I find my roommate Alice sprawled out on her bed, and when she takes a look at my face, she knows something’s wrong.

“You okay?” she asks, dropping the book she’s reading onto the floor. “You look like shit. And why are you back here?”

Alice and I were placed together by the fabulous dorm room lottery system, and unlike most college roommates, we hit it off immediately, bonding over our old school names and love of the movieClueless. I totally take no offense to her telling me I look like shit and asking why I’ve suddenly made an appearance after my constant absence.

“Will didn’t meet me after class,” I say, but it’s more a desperate whiny complaint.

“That is weird since he’s been up your ass since the skunk incident.”

I’m still standing in the doorway, phone in my hand, checking it for the millionth time just in case I missed something when it rings startling Alice and me. I actually toss it on my bed and scream out loud making Alice laugh hysterically.

“You better answer that,” she says through hiccupping laughs. “If it’s him you’re going to be pissed you missed his call.”

I scramble over to the bed and flip my phone open, answering quickly and far too out of breath.

“Ellen!” my sister Lauren shrieks and I let out a loud exhale making my annoyance fully known.

“Lauren, what?”

“When are you coming home again? I need you to come home,” she wails and I know this has nothing to do with me,and everything to do with the cute Aussie boy who has been giving her a hard time since his arrival.

“Soon. I promise. I have to pick up my new skunk-free car and Dad said he’d book me a ticket when he gets it,” I say trying to placate her and distract myself. “But you’ve got me on the phone now so what’s the deal?”

“You’re never going to believe what he did.” And as bothered as she sounds I know she loves this attention. She’s fifteen and he’s the first boy to pay an active interest in her. It might all be out of convenience since they’re pretty much trapped at our parents’ vineyard, but it’s still cute.

“What happened?” I ask, an attempt to show I’m fully invested in this coming of age love story she’s got going on.

She proceeds to fill me in on how Jack found a bucket of old grapes in one of the sheds and when she wasn’t paying attention he came up behind her and dumped them on her. She goes through all the emotions she felt and how Jack apologized and offered to take her to a movie to make up for it. Yet somehow through all of this she has completely missed the point that Jack is head over heels crushing on her.

“What do you think I should do?” Lauren asks just as my phone begins beeping, alerting me that someone is calling on the other line.

“I think you should make out with him,” I quickly splutter out, trying to rush her off the phone as I hope the incoming call is Will.

“Ellen, no! He’s…”

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