Gravity | ONC 2023

Chapter 4

Alice

We decide on pizza and start making our way to Joe's. I don't put my arm around Eloise's shoulders again, even though I want to. I don't have the excuse that we're "selling it" anymore. Instead, I watch her out of the corner of my eye. She's wearing a white bomber jacket over a periwinkle skater skirt and a pale yellow shirt. She bounces a little when she walks, and it's like her whole...everything moves - her clothes, her long brown hair, her arms. She caught my eye as soon as she and James sat down behind Danielle. Of course, I had no intention of talking to her while she was on a date, but if it had been any other situation, I probably would've gone over and asked for her number.

Instead, I had to watch her shamelessly check out the waitress and struggle through her date's boring stories. Danielle saw me shamelessly checking her out. And since that doesn't happen often, she teased me mercilessly. And while she did tell me to leave it alone, I think she secretly wanted me to jump in and sweep her off her feet. I'm trying. But how are you supposed to ask a stranger out after saving them from a terrible date? My brilliant idea was more food, even though we all already ate.

But she agreed, didn't she? And I bought myself a little more time to remember how to flirt with someone besides Danielle.

But we only make it half a block when Danielle whips out her phone and swears.

I frown at her. "What?"

"I didn't realize what time it was," Danielle mutters, stopping in the middle of the sidewalk. She nearly gets knocked over by three people by the time I get back to her and pull her to the side.

"Your flight. I forgot," I say.

I check my phone for the time. It's nearly seven. Danielle was slightly hungover today, and she slept in until almost noon. By the time we spent time with my mom and got back to our neighborhood, it was dinner time. We thought we'd just stop in and get food and get home. But Eloise happened. I'm not mad about it. But Danielle still needs to do laundry and pack. And her flight is super early tomorrow.

"Flight?" Eloise asks. She does this thing with her head when she asks a question - tilting it sharply to one side like a dog. I watched her do it a few times when she was talking to James. She looks much more interested in this answer than she did during her entire date.

"I'm leaving super early in the morning for a conference in California." Danielle is still staring at her phone, deep in...whatever it is she's trying to find. She probably got distracted texting Micah. "I should probably get home. I need to get some sleep. And pack. And do laundry. Not in that order."

I nod. "Yeah. Of course."

Eloise sticks her hands in the pockets of her jacket. "You can both go home, if you want," she says. I can't tell if she's disappointed or relieved by that possibility. It's impressive, because up to this point, her face has been an open book of her emotions.

"No, no," Danielle says, looking up from her phone. "You two go. Seriously." Always the wing woman.

"We gotta be friends, remember?" I give Eloise a cheeky grin. See? I can flirt.

"But -"

"It's decided." Danielle puts her phone back in her back pocket. "You two get pizza. I'll go home and prepare for my butt crack of dawn alarm."

I peck her on the cheek. "I'll see you later, babe. Text me when you get home, yeah?"

"Will do." She turns to Eloise. "Nice to meet you, Eloise. I hope we can hang out again."

Eloise blinks and smiles. She has a beautiful smile. "Me too."

And then Danielle's gone, striding off the way we came.