Page 75 of Reckless Love
I went into my room and paused before leaning against the headboard. Diego texted again, but I ignored it. It wouldn’t make me feel any better to go out tonight.
I closed my eyes and woke up later to my phonebuzzing. My light was still on and I’d slept an hour. The phone screen blurred, so I rubbed my eyes and answered it.
The screen blinked and there she was.
“Hey, Rhodes!” she sang.
“Where are you?” I said, sitting up straighter.
“The back of an Uber.” She grinned at me and my eyes narrowed. She sang all her words when she’d had a little too much to drink.
“Are you alone?”
“Yep.” Theppopped.
“Fuck, Elle. Where is Calista? You shouldn’t be alone in an Uber when you’ve been drinking.”
“Who says I’ve been drinking?” She turned the camera toward the driver. “And say hello to Shelby. She’s a very lovely human.”
“Hello, Shelby,” I grumbled. “Please get my girl home safely.”
“Will do,” Shelby said.
“See?” Elle sang, turning the phone back to herself. “I’m being totally responsible.” She pointed at me. “You, however, are not.”
“I’m really sorry I was late calling you. It was out of my control tonight, Elle. But it’s no excuse, I’ve been shit at staying in touch and I’m sorry.”
Her voice flattened, as if she was suddenly sober. “Yes, you have.” She sighed. “And so have I.”
“Come see me.”
“I can’t, Rhodes. I just changed jobs and…I don’t love how I feel after a visit to Miami.”
I brought the phone closer. “Really? Why? What do you mean?”
She angled the screen away from her face, but not before I’d seen her glassy eyes.
“Elle love. Talk to me. What’s going on?”
I heard a sniffle and wished I could reach through the phone and hug her.
“Elle,” I said louder.
She cleared her throat and the screen showed shadowy lips that only brightened with an occasional streetlight. “I just miss you. I miss the way we used to be. Everything feels so…you’ve got such a different life now and I don’t fit. I come to see you and I feel like a stranger.”
“With me? I’m not a stranger. I’m still the same.”
She laughed, but another sniffle quickly followed. “The first time I visited, your friends didn’t even know your best friend was a girl. The second time, you were called away to an unexpected event…which wasn’t your fault. The third time, I liked the new crowd fine, but it didn’t seem like any of them were interested in getting to know me beyond your guy friends flirting with me.”
“I fucking hated that they were such assholes,” I said.
I’d taken Elle to lunch and we ran into some of the guys from the team, who wouldn’t stop flirting with Elle.
“How do you even remember that? You were preoccupied with those girls…”
“What girls?”
She snorted. “What girls? One sat in your lap and the other one put a chair between me and you—when there wasn’troomfor a chair—just so she could sit by you.”