Page 29 of No One's Like You
"Drop me off first," Ruby requests when the three are in a taxi they've decided to share. "My house is closer."
It's a lie; Jerome's is closer, but the guy prefers to drop each of them off at their homes and then head to his own more peacefully. The three remain silent; the moment has disrupted them, each in their own way. How could theyhave imagined that a reunion with old friends would open a door that, in the end, was never completely closed.
Chapter 17
Ellie shivers in the dimness of her bedroom. She doesn't know if it's night or day, but that doesn't matter because she can't think. Her breathing comes erratic and broken, and she keeps gasping. A scorching heat travels across her skin from her chest to her belly, moving down between her thighs as she tightens every muscle in her body, experiencing a sensation that feels pleasurable and delicious. Her fingers twist around the sheets, her hips arch, and a choked, needy moan escapes her throat.
The orgasm hits her in a deep wave and rocks her completely. Ellie moans again, squeezing her legs to hold onto all that pleasure spilling between them until a deep sigh empties her chest and her body relaxes.
Ellie opens her eyes suddenly, startled. She runs her hand across her forehead to push away the damp hair from her face, sweaty after the orgasm, and her pulse races again when she realizes she's alone and she's climaxed in her sleep. She blinks confused, unable to remember what she was dreaming about, or with whom, and prefers not tobecause the first image that hits her as her mind clears a bit is her kiss with Ruby.
The kiss with Ruby. Ellie sits up abruptly, her heart pounding violently against her ribs. Ruby's lips. Her tongue and teeth, the sensation of her hands gripping her waist, the tingling that ran through her entire body while exploring her mouth feeling like she floated through cotton. That did happen, Ellie remembers it. She also remembers the comments and laughter from her classmates like a distant murmur that she couldn't pay attention to because her body was hypnotized next to Ruby. Ruby. Her best friend.
"Oh my God," she sighs and her lungs empty until she's breathless.
Ellie gets out of bed and her body wobbles. It's not from the hangover, nor from the aftershocks of the orgasm, it's from what she felt when kissing her. She still remembers it and can't explain why she experienced something so profound, why she felt that was her place, that her friend's lips were the only mold where she fit, the only place where she felt complete. It must have been the alcohol. Ruby and she are the best friends in the world, she can't feel anything for her.
She shakes her head to push away that thought and opens the closet to get clean clothes and take a shower to clear her mind. She doesn't work today; she and Ruby agreed neither would go to the bar, they'd take the day off to sleep and rest after the party. She steps into the shower and tries to shut down her thoughts, but she can't. Nowshe sees Ruby's expression, her disoriented look after the kiss, dazed like herself, and the silence that settled in the car when they returned home. Neither could say anything, comment on what was supposed to be a silly thing, a game without importance; however, as the minutes pass, Ellie becomes increasingly certain that for her it wasn't silly at all.
She spends the next hour cleaning and organizing her house like a maniac, with music blasting, trying to hum some song that might stick in her mind and stay there all day, but the only thing in her head is an overwhelming desire to taste Ruby's lips again, her Ruby's lips.
"Shit," she mutters, dropping the broomstick.
Ellie needs to talk to someone about this or her head will explode. The logical thing would be to talk to Ruby, her lifelong best friend, but of course, she can't because, precisely, she is the object of the fog Ellie has in her head. She thinks about Jerome then, but immediately rules him out because, although she trusts him blindly, she's always been aware that he and Ruby have a slightly closer relationship than Jerome has with her, so Ellie can't trust that her friend will keep the secret and not tell Ruby. Ellie concludes that only her mother remains, though she'll have to mask the truth a bit; she can't tell her she's sure she's in love with her best friend because Margaret's head would short-circuit. In love. Ellie freezes when her mind processes the word. It can't be that, it must be something else, surely, she's just confused after the kiss.
She arrives at her mother's house and is grateful to find her in the garden. Ellie needs fresh air to have some clarity in that disturbed mind that's been punishing her with memories of a wonderful kiss all morning.
"Ellie," her mother says, surprised to see her. "I wasn't expecting you today, I thought you'd spend the day at home after the party. How was it?"
Her mother sits in a wicker armchair under the shade of one of the many fruit trees in the garden. Ellie drags another armchair over, steals cushions from a third to be more comfortable, and sits next to her.
"It was good, it was fun," Ellie answers.
"And that's it? You're not going to give me any sordid details about any of your former classmates? I'm sure you now know a bunch of gossip," Margaret says.
Ellie laughs and looks at her amused, she's sure that if she had come to see her accompanied by Jerome—and under different circumstances—the three of them would have had a blast sharing gossip about the dinner.
"I want to talk to you about something else, Mom," says Ellie, and she does it with such a serious expression that her mother turns to her and gives her full attention.
"What do you want to talk about?"
Ellie takes a breath and pulls her hair into a ponytail with the band on her wrist.
"Last night, at dinner, there was a classmate with whom I've always kept in touch," Ellie lies, inventing a story to help put her mother in context so she can explainwhat she really wants to. "Let's say that, although we don't see each other often, we're pretty good friends."
"Okay..." murmurs Margaret, trying to understand. "Do I know him? If you tell me his name, maybe I can picture him."
"No, I don't think so. He came in the last year, but we became very good friends then and we haven't lost track of each other."
"Why have you never told me about him?" her mother asks.
Ellie clears her throat, wondering if she'll end up exposing her lie.
"I don't know, Mom, it didn't seem important to mention. After all, we took different paths when high school ended."
"And why are you telling me about him now?"
"Because last night we decided to reminisce about old times and played spin the bottle. You know, you spin it and kiss the person it points to when it stops," Ellie explains.
