Gravity | ONC 2023

Chapter 8

Alice

Stupid busy sidewalks. Stupid bumbling idiots who don't look where they're going. This entire night has been tailor made for us. Tailor made to be romantic and whirlwind and just a little bit insane. And yet the Universe will not let us kiss. Instead, it decided that I needed to smash my nose into her eye.

Eloise clears her throat. "Well, um..."

"Yeah," I mumble.

"I did say I'd get out of your hair once I met Jack. And now I've met...well, everyone. So..."

"Right." I scramble for something else, something I could do to keep her here, with me. If I let her go...what if I never see her again? What if the magic of this night breaks, and we wake up tomorrow completely wigged out by this whole thing?

"But -" She pulls in a long breath and gives me a winning smile. "I really want to do this again. With you. I mean...not this specifically. Unless you want to run around the city every time we get together -"

"And go to the hospital?" I say.

"If it's to visit your mom? Absolutely."

I laugh. "Ok. I'd like to do this again, too. Let's trade numbers and figure out a time, yeah? I know we both have weird schedules."

"Yes. Yes. Let's." She pulls her phone out, and I do, too.

There's a text waiting from Danielle, and out of habit, I swipe into it.

DANIELLE: I DON'T WANT TO INTERRUPT YOUR DATE ANY FURTHER SO DO NOT ANSWER UNTIL YOU'RE NO LONGER WITH ELOISE BUT...

DANIELLE: DO YOU KNOW WHERE MY TRAVEL MAKEUP BAG IS? IT'S BROWN WITH FLOWERS ON IT. I CAN'T FIND IT ANYWHERE.

DANIELLE: BUT SERIOUSLY, IGNORE ME UNTIL YOU'RE DONE BEING THROWN INTO ELOISE'S BEAUTIFUL ARMS BY THE UNIVERSE.

I smile and type out a response.

ME: THANK YOU FOR BEING MY CHEERING SECTION.

ME: ALSO, YOUR TRAVEL BAG IS UNDER MY BED FOR SOME UNKNOWN REASON. I SAW IT WHEN I WAS PULLING MY SUMMER CLOTHES OUT THE OTHER DAY.

"Alice?" Eloise asks, waving her phone at me.

"Right. So sorry. Danielle texted. She couldn't find something."

She drops her hand to her side before I can take her phone from her. "She texts you a lot?"

"I mean, I guess. We live together. We're...best friends. We talk a lot." Her face twitches, and my stomach drops an inch.

"You just seem...really there for her. Like...really there for her. Girlfriend there for her, and you're not her girlfriend. Anymore."

My stomach drops farther. "No, but...she's still my friend. I'm still going to be there for her if she needs me."

"But it's so messy," she says, grimacing.

"Life is messy, babe."

Her face goes blank. "I'm not your babe."

"Eloise..." I reach for her hand, but she pulls it away. "I-I thought we had fun tonight."

"We did. I...did."

I should stop talking. I should apologize. I should tell her the truth. That I'm not completely over Danielle. But that she has drawn me in like no one else has, no one since Danielle. That I'm an idiot for being distracted by her. I'm always an idiot when it comes to Danielle. I should be more aware of it than I am.

But what comes out is, "So you're going to throw all of this away? Just like you did with that boy in high school? Because it's a little messy?" What am I doing? "We've had this magical night. It's been crazy. And weird. But we had fun. And we...have this connection. This amazing connection. You can't deny that, can you?"