The Art of Living

[42] Two Things at Once

Eventually they made it to the top floor, the fourth floor, where Lynn was already waiting for them. "Finally, I thought you changed your mind and left again," she teasingly greeted Brian and Ellie.

"Oh shut up," Ellie told her quietly and hugged her. "It's good to see you."

Lynn hugged her back before she greeted Brian with a simple smile. "It's good to see you too. We have a lot to talk about, I hope you know that. Come on in, Mary and Freddie are already here."

Ellie nodded a little and gave Brian a reassuring smile before they both went inside. "Who else is here? Or who else is coming?"

"Sophia and Charlotte, you've met them, right? And Rick is probably going to join us, we invited Roger of course. And Will, Greg and Thomas might drop by later."

When she heard those names Ellie looked at Lynn pleadingly. "You invited Thomas? Why would you do that to me?"

Shrugging, Lynn smirked a little. "Well, you're here with Brian, so I assumed it would maybe help him get over you."

"Oh for fuck's sake.. I think we're gonna leave again. I really don't want to deal with him, you know how much I don't like him." Ellie sighed heavily which only increased Brian's curiosity.

"Who is Thomas? Why is he bothering you so much?"

Rubbing her forehead a little, Ellie turned to him. "He's.. He's a friend of Mike and he's... for some reason he thinks way too much of himself and he's convinced that I have a huge crush on him because how could I resist him..." Ellie sighed exasperatedly and shook her head. "But I don't like him at all and he just won't get that into his head and he's so annoying and clingy, he always tries to be around me.. He knows I don't have a boyfriend and that I .. well, sleep with a lot of people so he somehow refuses to give up hope. He's convinced that one day he will get me into bed.."

Brian's expression became somber when he heard that. "Oh.."

It was only when she heard how short his answer was that Ellie realised how what she just said must have sounded to Brian. He obviously hadn't liked what he just heard. But there was no need for him to get upset, and Ellie made sure to emphasise that point. "He just.. he's so sleazy and thinks way too much of himself. He thinks he's irresistible even though he's not good looking at all. And he's so arrogant that you want to run out of the room after having heard him talking for a minute."

"Wow.. you really don't like that guy.." Brian looked at her a little surprised. He didn't seem to have expected to hear something like that from her.

Just as Ellie was about to say something in reply to that, Lynn was a little bit faster. "Other than Greg..," Ellie's friend teased.

Ellie glared at Lynn as soon as those words left her mouth.

Lynn just lifted her hands innocently, smirking at Ellie. "Don't look at me like that, you guys have been flirting a lot the past few times you met. I'm pretty sure he is convinced he'll get somewhere with you."

"He's just thinking too much of the situation," Ellie pointed out, trying to stay calm and reasonable. "He thinks that things mean more than they actually do. You know what I do, a harmless flirt is fun. But you of all people should know me well enough that I don't go for people like him," Ellie said, raising her eyebrows a little.

"What do you mean by people like him?" Brian's voice had a suspicious undertone and he looked at Ellie almost warily, something that Ellie didn't immediately notice.

It was only when she saw Lynn pressing her lips together and raising her eyebrows at her that she somewhat caught on. Lynn knew what kind of people Ellie was referring to. Luckily, because otherwise Ellie and Brian's evening might have been ruined. Ellie swallowed and took a deep breath, vaguely gesturing with her hands, trying to find something to say that was far enough from the truth to avoid upsetting Brian. "Uh, you really have to know him to know what I mean.." She gave him a small smile, her mind racing to sort the words in a proper way. "He's... he gets into trouble with the police more often that I would appreciate it." It was the first thing about Greg that came to her mind, it wasn't even a lie, and it would be something that would seem reasonable to Brian. Lynn told Ellie quite often about what Greg had gotten up to again, and very often it didn't end well for him. That was of course not what Ellie had been talking about originally, but it wasn't a lie and that was what mattered.