Cuts

6. A boy named Jerry - Jerry and Brenda

Friday night.

Seattle was on fire.

The girls were getting ready for a night out and Ellie was staying with Brenda for she didn't want to go back to Bainbridge. Though she knew she would probably end up the night with Chris even if they haven't had sex yet. In Brenda's petite bedroom in the apartment her friend shared with two colleagues from college, the girls stood in front of the mirror finishing their makeup.

"So... what's up with you and Chris?" Brenda asked running her lipstick over her lips and watching Ellie curling her eye lashes with mascara.

"Nothing is happening." Ellie shrugged while dipping the mascara brush in the bottle. "Why are you asking me that?" She approached her face to the mirror and started running more black taint on her lashes.

"I know you, El..." Brenda gasped, putting her lipstick inside the makeup box. "Ever since you met him that you have been all mysterious... you barely spend time with us... you found yourself a whole new group of friends..." Ellie interrupted her there.

"You like them!" She pointed out, looking at Brenda with her gray glare.

"I do." Brenda nodded. "I have nothing against spending time with them. They're funny and nice people... but where's Danny? You don't even talk about him anymore..."

"He's with his friends." Ellie shrugged.

"Ellie..." Brenda smiled. "All you talk about is Chris..."

"Nothing is happening between me and Chris." She affirmed, though she was lying.

They were seeing each other every day after college or her apprenticeship in the company downtown. She spent hours thinking about him. She thought about him all the time. They had been inseparable since the night they met and though she hadn't told him, she knew she had fallen for him. Danny meant nothing but she didn't know how to end it. In secret, Chris and she were dating, hiding from everyone but they haven't gone all the way though it was getting harder and harder to keep it that way.

"If you say so." Brenda breathed, grabbing her purse. "Are you ready?"

"I am." Ellie smiled.

"El..." Brenda grabbed her arm to stop her from walking. "Chris likes you. The way he looks at you doesn't lie." Ellie smiled.

"I like him too, B." She confessed, after all Brenda was her best friend. "I didn't want to..." She started shaking her head but Brenda interrupted her.

"You can't avoid feelings."

"We better go." Ellie looked away and released her arm gently.

The girls left the apartment in silence. When the girl got to the street, they shivered for a cold breeze was blowing in the air. Though it wasn't raining, the sky was still gray because it had been raining the entire day. It's no coincidence that Seattle is known as the rainy city. The humidity could be felt in the air as they breathed. Some sort of salty droplets that invaded your nostrils and travelled along the breathing canals until your lungs and purify it. They walked just a few meters down the street until Brenda raised her arm to make a cab stop near the curb and it didn't take long until they reached their destiny. The streets near the bar area were full of young people ready to party all night long. Seattle was so alive that it could be compared with many huge metropolises around the world. Seattle was on fire, and that was the best time to live there. When the cab stopped in front of the Crocodile, Brenda threw a bill at the driver and opened the door to get out, not even waiting for the exchange.

"Come, El." She almost yelled, crossing the street running.

"Jesus... and I thought I was excited!" Ellie followed her.