Be Rude but Love Me | ✔

CHAPTER 4

After Ellie leaves me alone in my bedroom, I pull my hair out in frustration. Why am I fighting with my best friend over a guy I don't even know? Over a guy who doesn't mean anything to me?

Deciding that we need to sort out things right now, I run down the stairs. I look around the living room and the kitchen but she isn't there. When I look out the front door, her car is still parked there. She must be in the backyard then.

As my feet lead me to the back of the house, my hand reaches out to grab the doorknob that leads outside. I kick off my flat shoes and step onto the mown lawn. I wiggle my toes happily, smiling at the feel of the tickling grass underneath my feet. It feels much better than it did yesterday and it isn't so unpleasant.

I move further on the courtyard, admiring all the plants and flowers Ellie takes care of during her free time. The petals of the flowers are soft under my fingertips and I close my eyes, inhaling the dry and cool air of this week of June. I breathe in the blossoming greenery encompassing me, a soft rush of wind wafting out from somewhere, far away from here.

Noise next to me catches my attention and I turn around, facing the pool. The water is sloshing back and forth against the walls of the pool and I notice a form in at the very deep bottom as someone makes their way to the surface.

I go sit on one of the lounge chairs just as Ellie reappears. She doesn't see me at first and just keeps swimming like a fish in the water. Her backstrokes are very good and I wonder where she learned how to swim, she never said anything about swimming classes. I watch her for a few minutes, jealous of her swift figure. I'm like a cannonball in the water. Sure, I can float, but that's about it.

I don't notice when Ellie stops swimming and comes to stand at the edge of the pool, her body in the water and her arms outside, propping her up. She's looking at me with a sad expression on her face and I know that she is no longer mad. Leaving my comfortable spot on the chair, I come to sit outside of the pool, my legs in the water.

"First of all," I start, "let's promise not to get mad this time."

"I promise," she says without hesitation. "I'm sorry for calling you a self-righteous bitch earlier."

I nod. "Apology accepted. I figured if you called me a bitch for him, then the matter of Yann is important to you."

She gives me a bashful smile before saying, "It is. I really do care about him."

I can see on her face that she means it. She really cares about him and I know then and there – without needing her to tell me – that I will have to make an effort and try to see what she sees in Yann.

I smile at her, knowing Ellie's heart is bigger than the universe. "Then why did you never mention him?"

She looks away this time, looking at the house instead of me. "I don't like talking about him to people who don't know him."

I don't get it. "El, I'm not asking you to divulge the dude's darkest and deepest secrets. You could have just said that you had a new friend Yann." I say with a shrug then I add to lighten the mood, "Unless I'm competing against him for the best friend spot here."

That makes her laugh heartily and she nudges my thigh with her elbow. "Don't be silly, the three of you are my best friends. It's just that Yann is a little different from Will and you. I didn't feel like telling you hey, my new friend's name is Yann and just leave it at that, you know what I mean?"

I nod at her, watching as I kick my feet into the water. "I know what you mean, but there must be something that you can tell me, right?"

She frowns for a moment, as if thinking of something she can say and her frowning makes me frown. Is the guy such a mystery?