As Told By Paramours

chapter twenty-one

elijah

THE EXPRESSION ON JOSIE'S FACE AS SHE WALKS IN oddly resembles the one my sister had on her face as she buried her favorite pet fish Clarence.

"There she is," I say to Soo-Ah, gesturing lazily to Josie as she nears us. She's wearing a white turtleneck under a short, light magenta dress that puffed up around the arm and chest with a rectangular neckline and sleeves that slightly open on the ends, casual trainers on her feet. The top half of her hair is loosely clipped back, strands flying or bunching with the others.

"Oh, she's pretty," Soo-Ah says, and she nudges me with an arched brow like I've kept this from her intentionally. I nudge her back, my other hand still outstretched up as Josie walks up.

Then she hugs me.

Didn't know we were hug-greeting now.

"Um," I say.

Josie seems to realize her mistake, because in our embrace, she freezes, and pushes back, face tinting pink, and she says: "Oh my gosh. Sorry. I thought you— oh God."

"It's fine." I feel Soo-Ah's amused gaze on me, so I say, looking at her: "Soo-Ah, this is Josie. Josie, Soo-Ah."

Josie holds out a hand to Soo-Ah, but she smiles and wraps her arms around Josie instead.

"Noah had a date with his girlfriend but I still wanted to come and say hi, with or without him," Soo-ah says with a shrug after pulling back. "Nice to meet you."

"You too. I'm happy to meet either of you... or both." The mortified expression from before is replaced with a fond one. I think she's the opposite of me; she's a people person. Meeting new people is her thing, but I'm fine just sitting back and watching. So that's what I'm doing.

"I go to Rickersen," Soo-Ah tells Josie, leading her over to our table by the window.

Josie turns to me. "You too, Elijah?"

I nod.

"I go to Peters," she says to Soo-Ah again, and I realize that her question was her way of asking me if I wanted to join in the conversation or just listen. As if she's already gathered information about me, or like she's been paying attention. "With a friend. But she graduated early."

"What courses are you taking?"

Josie strums her fingers on the table. "Sports Med., French, a few others I can barely remember even now. You?"

"Same, but I can't understand a word of French for the life of me even though I've been learning since I was two." She bunches her hair up at the top, then lets go.

"Really?" Josie is very intrigued now; she leans forward and puts her chin in her hands. "Are your parents French?"

"Nope," she shakes her head. "Don't know them. I'm a foster child."

I'm surprised she admits it that quickly to Josie, but surprisingly not surprised at all that Josie doesn't wince or widen her eyes, and her smile doesn't falter as she says: "I've been learning since I was born." Then she sort of grimaces at what she says next. "Both mine are French, so I wish I'd taken Spanish 30 instead."

Soo-Ah's smile brightens noticeably. "Lucky you! You'll need to teach me sometime, yeah?" Then she peers over at me. "I just know Jah wishes he was taking Singers 101 instead of Culinary Arts with me."

"Baked chocolate chip cookies last week, so no, not correct," I interject finally, and they laugh.

"Sorry if this is random—" Soo-Ah starts, "But has he given you any tea?" I give her a startled look, but she continues. "He loves tea. When he asked Kait out, he gave her all his favorites."