Tomorrow's Blues

3. Ellie

When Ellie opened the door, she said nothing but pulled me into a tight hug. I hugged her back and felt her squeeze me tighter.

She pulled back and said, "It's good to see you." She paused. "I would ask how you are but that's a stupid question."

I smiled slightly. She was right. "It's good to see you, too."

Ellie put her hand comfortingly on my shoulder. "Ana, I can't even imagine how you're feeling. But I'm so, so sorry. If there's anything you ever need, you know I'm here."

"Thank you. But I'm doing okay." Was I? I wasn't really sure.

She nodded and led me inside. "You want a drink? Some Pimms?"

I shut the door behind me as Ellie carried on through to the kitchen, already getting out glasses. "Pimms sounds good. So where's your mum and brother?" I asked, plonking myself on a stool.

"Mum took Blaine and his friend to some football match. She didn't want to go, obviously, but they're too young to go on their own." Ellie was deftly chopping up strawberries, a cucumber and oranges as she spoke before putting them into our two glasses. "She was all like, 'Don't throw any parties while I'm gone!' because she's having to stay the night in some hotel near the football stadium. She won't be back until, like, eleven in the morning tomorrow."

I raised an eyebrow. "It's not like you to listen to your mum."

Ellie and her mum didn't have the best relationship. Where Alice's family were harmonious and organised, Ellie's family were disagreeable and chaotic. Her dad wasn't around – I never fully knew the backstory to that, I only knew Ellie never met him – and her mum was often seeing new guys. Ellie never liked any of them and usually spent most of the holidays at Alice's house, or mine, but of course now we could only go to Alice's.

"Yeah, well, I don't feel like now is the best timing for a party. I would rather have a girl's night in, you know?" She smiled slightly at me, and I nodded. Her smile faded into a frown soon, though. "Dylan's having one in a couple of days, though. Ugh."

"I know. I bumped into him on my run earlier and he invited me." I made a face.

"What an ass. He's so inconsiderate." Ellie rolled her eyes and pushed the glass of Pimms over to me. I took it but didn't take a sip. I just examined the cup for a while.

"Maybe we should go," I said slowly, drumming my fingers on the side of the glass. Ellie glanced up, surprised.

"You want to?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. I said no to him, but like, I don't know. Maybe we could go and just have a bit of fun. You, Alice and me. And maybe we'll see some of our other friends like Ryan or Sam. It'd be good to see everyone."

Ellie narrowed her eyes at me, thinking. "I mean, if that's what you want," she said slowly. "Ry and Sam would definitely love to see you. But – are you sure?"

"No," I said honestly. "But I kind of want to get out. You know?"

"Yeah," Ellie replied with a slight smile. "I do know." Her smile faded. "But, you need to be prepared. At the beginning of the night, when people are sober, they're going to stare and whisper. You need to be ready for that."

I nodded. "And if anyone comes up to me and does that whole, 'How are you doing?' thing, I've got my response ready.

She raised an eyebrow. "Which is...?"

"Piss off, I'm not drunk yet."

Ellie laughed. "It could be fun. But, try and stay away from Dylan. You know what he's like."