For a while, I don't comprehend it.
Apparently, everyone knows that Ellie, and the rest of the Harmons, are moving. Even my mother and my sister, who never even hinted.
But I realize now that Ellie's mother had almost dropped the news. Ellie herself changed once she found out the second her parents got home.
It makes sense.
I know. I know it all now. And I found out from a drunken football player.
Ellie's gone. Her and her parents left Sunday, like said, and they'll be back Wednesday, New Year's Eve, to gather up the rest of everything. Their eccentric jobs are relocating them to Venice, California on January 5, so they'll be gone officially before that week is out.
Los Angeles is 3000 miles away from New York. So from Venice Beach, where they're going to live, it'd take an even longer time.
And she wasn't planning on telling me.
I sit at the coffee shop, in the same exact booth that we'd sat in just days earlier. Her absence makes everything cold, even if I'm mad at her. I want to feel her shoulder pressed against mine, like it had been before.
I passed my test yesterday with a B, which is so rare that I don't think I've ever made a B before. But she isn't here for me to tell her that.
I only wanted us to get closer, not spread further apart.
"Hi." A familiar face slides into the adjacent booth, a mug in her hands. She's wearing a huge red trench coat, and I almost don't recognize her sober.
"Madison?"
"I figured you'd remember me." she says, sighing. "I'm sad to say I don't remember your name."
"Carson." I offer.
"That's right. Sorry, it was bothering me. I don't think I've ever met you before Saturday night."
"You live in Brooklyn?"
"I'm from Manhattan, actually, but I do live here now. I'm not in school here quite yet."
"That's probably why. Are you a senior?"
"Junior. Just got a job here, actually."
"Really?"
"Yeah. I'll start next Monday, so that means I we'll see each other a lot more, yeah?" She smiles at me, and a pang of emotions strikes my bones.
"Maybe." I agree. Madison (when she isn't drunk) seems like a cool girl. I think I'll definitely try to get here more. My time slots have opened up anyway...
YOU ARE READING
Clouds || E & C
ChickLit"Is something wrong?" she asks. I quickly regain my smile. "No, it's amazing. I really am an awesome teacher." I brag. "You really are," she says in a quiet voice, eyes flickering between my own and my lips. Slowly, she leans in, and our mouths me...
