By Chance (Accidentally In Luck #1)

13. Invitations, 'Cause Why Not? - E

*E*

For the first time in a very long time, I wasn't sure what to do.

Elle appeared out of nowhere trying to scare Pip, I assumed, and was instead assaulted with the image of her almost kissing me.

We all stood in silence for what felt like a very long time. I honestly wasn't sure what either of them was thinking, but I knew all I could do was look back and forth between both of them and wonder what I'd gotten myself into.

I broke the silence first. "Hi," I said waving a hand awkwardly. "I'm Theo Archer. You must be Elle."

I reached my hand out to shake, but Elle didn't move. She appeared to be rooted on the spot staring at me. My hand dropped to my side again.

"Elle!" Pip called out. "You can close your mouth now."

Elle's mouth snapped shut, but it wasn't long before it sagged slowly open again. Finally, after a bit of mouth movement with no words, she got out, "You—You're Theo Archer." She pointed a shaky finger at me.

I resisted the urge to tell her that yes, we'd been over this. "Yeah. That's me. Hi."

"Hi. What...? Why...?" Poor Elle. Based off what Cora had said about her, she was probably going through a minor cardiac arrest or something.

Pip picked up on that too, because she crossed over to her and wrapped her small arms around her best friend. "Aww, I know, mon amie," she said. "Come here. Let's go to the living room and E and I can explain." I glowed a bit at her use of my preferred name. I almost didn't catch what she muttered under her breath as she ushered Elle past me: "Kind of."

I almost laughed, but I managed to just turn it into some maniacal smile. There's the Pip I was growing used to.

I followed Pip and the quivering Elle into the living room and sat on a chair catty-corner from the couch they'd collapsed on to.

After a few minutes, Elle seemed to regain most of her basic functions and turned to look Pip dead in the eyes.

"Cora," she said and ducked her head onto Pip's shoulder, "I leave you for less than a week and here you are becoming best friends superstars. Who are you really and what have you done with my Cora?"

I had just opened my mouth to step in and defend Pip when she caught my eye and shook her head, smiling. 'I got this one' she mouthed, and I gave her a subtle thumbs up.

"Elle, mon amie. I need you to listen to me, yeah?" she cooed and when Elle nodded, she continued, "Okay, you know me well enough to know that's not true. In fact, you better than anyone can probably tell me what happened tonight." Elle lifted her head and, to my surprise, had a huge smile on her face. Not like she agreed with Pip, but more like she just found this funny.

Pip gave one nod, like this satisfied her. "Before you do though, what are you doing here? You're supposed to be gone for like another 6 days! Why are you back in town?"

Elle sighed. "Yeah, Mom was having a great time. Me, not so much," she explained simply. At Pip's questioning look, Elle redirected her eyes at me in a meaningful glance. She didn't want me hearing whatever the full story was. Pip followed her gaze and, despite the situation, a grin lit up her face as soon as her eyes hit mine.

My eyes slid reluctantly to Elle and I saw an odd look on her face. Sort of like she'd been sucking on a lemon for so long that, by this point, she was just resigned to it.

Out of the corner of my eye, I watched Pip's eyes follow mine to Elle and soon enough her gaze hit mine, only this time I saw the underlying current of worry and concern for her friend.