Chasing Memories

[32] Reveals

    "Hey, Ellie! I, uh, don't suppose the wild break-in rumours that are pinging around all my group chats have anything to do with you, do they?" A yawn interrupted Robin's voice, and he muttered an apology as his words became coherent again. "Nat was so right. I shouldn't have stayed up to wait for you. I've been dead on my feet all morning."

    Taking advantage of the distance between their phones, Elise smiled in amusement at her roommate's exhaustion. She had barely slept last night either, and the clear late morning light warming the kitchen's cosy wooden walls did little for her alertness. "Luckily for you, Natalie's the cutest sleep-deprived zombie, so she won't hold it against you," she said, and Robin's audible confusion evoked a laugh from her lips. She peered out of the kitchen window at the open boathouse shutter, the dazzling red and violet strokes of Cadence's sleeve tattoo dancing in the daylight. "Sorry I didn't get back to you last night. Things at uni got crazy on our way out, and they only got wilder when we got back. Me and Cade...I don't even know what's going on with us anymore."

    A murmur of strained patience worked its way down the line, and the sound of Robin's old desk chair rattling over the floor shrieked into Elise's ear. "Like I told you, Ellie, you can't expect everything to go perfectly just because you want it to – especially not with someone like her." As he detected the slight vitriolic twang that had slipped into his tone, Robin cleared his throat and reorganised his thoughts. "Look, whatever she's said, or done, or asked you to do –"

    "We had sex, Robin." Elise shut her eyes as she spoke, racked with both disbelief at the truth in her words and in anticipation of her roommate's reaction. "We had sex and I told her I loved her."

    "Oh. Right." Pockets rustled beneath Robin's voice. After the click of a closing door, he returned to the call, his tone dampened. "How are you feeling about all that?"

    Perched on the kitchen counter, Elise hid her face behind her hand and aired the tense breaths that dwelled in her lungs. "About the sex? It's still not sunk in, really," she said with a nervous laugh, glancing over her shoulder and blushing as Cadence breezed through changing her SUV's tyres. "As for the other thing, she was fine with me saying it, but...she didn't say it back."

    With a huff of uncertainty, Robin tapped his fingers against his handset. "You have a better read on her than I do, Ellie," he began, the enthusiasm sapped from his syllables. "I know you probably imagined this big, amazing romance-novel moment where she tells you she loves you too, but we both know it doesn't really happen like that. People show love in lots of different ways, and that doesn't make any of them less valid."

    Elise raised her eyebrows and took a deep breath. "Gosh, Robin. When did you get so insightful about love?" she asked, groaning as she replayed his words in her mind. "You'd better not start charging for advice any time soon. I think I'd be emptying my bank account as soon as I got paid."

    "I'd keep all my consultations with you free of charge, don't you worry," her roommate said as he let out a chuckle. After a moment, Robin broke the silence. "Though I'm not just good for lectures. At least I hope not, because I was wondering if you wanted to go out tonight."

    "Tonight?" Elise repeated, the notion of a time beyond her immediate future knotting her thoughts into a jumbled mess. "What did you have in mind?"

    "Well, there's a Studio Ghibli symphonic concert over in Weyscombe if you're interested," Robin said with a shot of awkward nerves bolting through his words. "I figured it might be a prime chance for us to geek out together. You can totally say no if it's not your thing, though."

    According to the kitchen clock opposite Elise, Florence would be due back home any minute. Despite dwelling on it all morning, Elise had gained no insight into whether the spark between her and Cadence was love, lust, or a solution of too many reactive elements to name. What was apparent was that their freedom together in the cabin was over, taking any opportunities to figure her feelings out with it. It was time to part from her girl's side.