Bad Boy's Game

[37] A Thousand Miles

B A D
B O Y ' S
G A M E

*Ellie's pov*

I tie my blue apron around my waist one last time and situate myself behind the diner's bar, ready to wait my last customers.

After today's shift, I can mark 'working as a waitress at a diner' off my bucket list.

The whole bucket list thing is a fairly recent invention of mine.

The list includes waitressing, traveling to at least fifteen states, cycling around Central Park, backpacking across Europe, graduating both college and high school, falling in love, and etc.

Let's just say that I've accomplished two things on my bucket list.

Archer and I are doing well, we are spending as much time together as possible. Neither of us has said the three little words though and it's just two weeks before graduation. It's been awhile since I told him that I was accepted to the New York college. Time has passed quickly, a little too quickly.

The diner door chime interrupts my train of thought and a boy in a button up causes my eyes to widen.

I blink a couple of times as if I'm unsure if I'm dreaming.

"I heard that it's your last day," he says with a crooked grin.

Ryder says, Ryder my ex-boyfriend.

I nod slowly and hold onto the counter tightly, the counter could surely protect me from whatever is to come.

"El, you look like you've seen a ghost," he says in response to my cautious actions.

El

He never once called me by that nickname when we were dating, why would he now?

It's what Archer calls me when he isn't referring to me by my last name. Why is he of all people tarnishing the nickname?

"I've seen you, close enough," I reply with an ounce of hostility.

He opens his mouth to say something in response to my remark but stops himself. He bites his lip for a few seconds before speaking again.

"I can't believe that you're dating Archer West, him out of all people," he ends up saying, taking a seat at the bar.

I back up a few steps, wary of any close contact.

"So you came here to slander my boyfriend?" I question with a raised eyebrow.

He shakes his head before replying, "no, that's not why I'm here."

"Then what are you here for? A Cherry Coke?" I ask, ready to show him the door.

I know that you're supposed to forgive and forget, but Ryder Cheating Nilsen makes it very hard to even think about doing either of those things.

"No, I'm not here for a Cherry Coke," he says in response, his voice a lot less confident than usual.

"If you don't buy anything you're not allowed to be in here, this isn't some freeloader's paradise," I state, not sure on as to why he was sitting here.

"I need to tell you something, it's about the girl I went to the Sadie Hawkin's dance wit-" he begins just to be cut off by me.

"I don't need to hear about how great she is in bed or how much better of a kisser she is. I honestly don't care for what you have to say because you're full of cra-" I begin to respond, just to be cut off by him.

"I'm full of crap, I know. Just hear me out, Elliot," he says in a serious tone.

I keep quiet and let him speak.