crème glacée [the fate of coincidences 1]

23: Glen

Ella's apartment was smack-dab in the middle of Capitol Hill in a quaint neat little building. It was a wonder how she was able to afford it with her spending habits. Everything was still dark because it was five in the morning as Zack and Glen climbed the stairs to the second floor. Ella opened the door for them and walked into the kitchen, leaning against the door, still half-asleep. They were probably the only two people in the world who were allowed to witness her in this state: hair sticking out at unflattering angles, crust around her eyes, wearing a long pyjama shirt with the words "Princess!" emblazoned across the chest in obnoxious hot pink. She wasn't wearing any makeup or any snarkiness: two things she never dared to leave the house without. In Glen's opinion, this was her most endearing state.

"I just have to watch it for like two days, right?" she asked and yawned.

"Yeah, just until I come back," Glen replied, putting down the carrier with Velvet on the dark-blue couch. "I left instructions in an email."

Zack sat down on the same couch with his eyes closed. "Coffee."

Ella walked over to her coffee maker, which was already on, and busied herself with preparing two mugs. Everything felt sleepy and muted with the dimmed lights and the general dark interior of the apartment. Glen watched the monotonous pattern of the carpet, willing himself not to fall asleep.

"Do you like that kid?" Ella's sleepy voice flowed through the tinkling of kitchenware.

"Who likes kids?" Zack mumbled from the couch.

"Jade." Ella walked over to hand the mugs to Glen and then Zack, something she would never do so caringly if she was fully awake. "She's like two years younger."

Glen scrunched up his eyebrows in a frown. "Jade likes kids? In what way?"

"I'm talking about you, Glen." Ella said as she sat down next to Zack and snuggled into his side. Another thing fully-awake Ella would never do. "Do you like Jade." It wasn't a question.

Glen took a sip of his coffee, instantly feeling a lot more awake. "What are you talking about."

"I think she's talking about Jade," Zack piped in.

"Yeah, you're raising a cat together." She nodded against Zack's shoulder. "And you always talk about her at work."

Okay, maybe sleepy Ella wasn't that much different from awake Ella. Her sharp perception skills were still the same.

"Are you jealous because I'm friends with another girl beside you?" he asked, hoping she would get defensive and drop the topic.

But Ella just giggled instead. "Friends? Wait, are you going to be like, we're just friends, friends text each other during important meetings and fall asleep at each other's houses under the pretense of taking care of a cat?"

"Okay, but like, in Glen's defense, you kissed him sophomore year of uni and you were never anything more friends," Zack said into his coffee. "That's a lot more weird than raising a cat together."

"Shhhh." Ella covered his mouth with her hand, almost knocking over the mug in his hands. "That never really happened because it was outside the U.S. borders. It doesn't count."

"That makes no sense," Glen said, leaning back against the wall.

"Well, do you want it to count then?" she asked giving him a skeptic look.

Glen cleared his throat. "No, thanks."

That trip to Mexico was one of the weirdest experiences of his life and he'd gladly pretend it didn't happen if he was allowed that option.