Evening the Score // Book One

Chapter 7

Elena knew there was a huge elephant in the room with Andy and Chrissy. Both girls were engaging in such mindless small talk it was actually annoying Elena to no end. But Elena didn't really want to discuss Harry. Not even with her best friend and teammate. She felt like her relationship with Harry was still fragile. What if something happened that broke them apart? The last thing she wanted to do was have to explain that to other people.

Andy and Chrissy weren't about to let the entire dinner pass without at least some details.

Chrissy wiped her mouth and set her napkin in her lap,

"So...he's gone?"

"Yes." Elena answered stoically, keeping her eyes on her plate of food.

Chrissy quirked a brow and cast a sideways glance at Andy before she looked back at her best friend. Elena never kept anything from Chrissy. In fact, Chrissy was usually the one telling her to slow down when Elena was telling her a story. But this...this was new.

Chrissy set her fork down with a light clang on her plate,

"Elena?"

"What?" Elena asked, refusing to look up.

"What is going on?"

"Nothing. I'm hungry."

"You're eating like someone's going to take it away from you." Andy commented.

Elena sighed and set her fork down. She slumped back into her chair, wiped her mouth and looked up at her two friends,

"Alright...what do you wanna know?"

"Well for starters I wanna know why you don't wanna talk about it?" Chrissy asked.

Elena shrugged,

"Because it's new. And I dunno what's happening."

"You're dating him, no?"

Elena pushed her hair off her shoulders,

"Yes. I mean...no. I mean...I dunno. I guess so."

"You didn't establish that before he left?" Andy asked.

"We established that we liked each other. We slept together the night before he left."

Chrissy's eyes widened,

"Yo-you WHAT!?"

Elena closed her eyes and waved her hand,

"Slept. As in sleeping...not-" She set her hand on top of her head, "See? I'm not good at this. And I don't want to ruin anything. So I was just...staying quiet."

Chrissy's eyes narrowed as she looked at her best friend. Elena had never been this evasive about anything in her life. It was disconcerting to say the least. Chrissy leaned forward,

"Elena...are you alright?"

Elena leaned onto her elbows as she contemplated the answer to that question. She was ok. Maybe more ok than she ever had been. Things with Harry were perfect. She missed him much more than she expected to for it only being the first 12 hours since he'd left, but every time her phone buzzed in her pocket she knew it was him without even looking. No one had ever made her a priority in their life before, she never realized how much she needed that until he did.

She tried to hold back the smile from exploding across her cheeks along with the crimson blush that would surely go with it. But it was no use. Chrissy watched as her best friend burst with joy in front of her,

"Yeah." Elena said, a tiny giggle escaping her mouth that she quickly hid behind her hand. She took a couple breaths to calm herself and then nodded, "I'm really alright. So alright. More alright than I ever have been." Elena caught herself gushing and stopped.