Ring by Spring

3 - Max

At dinner, I was telling Brett and Ric about Erickson's gutsy move to impress Clover - and how it had quickly turned near-catastrophic - when the girl of the hour herself walked by us, accompanied by Ellie. I waved, and the girls turned around, heading back our way. 

"Come sit down," I said, "there's space." 

"Thank you, Max," said Ellie, rewarding me with a pleased smile, and sitting down across from Brett, who grinned.

"Clover, that's Max, who you know works with Bertie, and here's Brett; who I know from class and - ?" She'd been gesturing with her fork, but stopped when she realized there was an unfamiliar face and slowly lowered the utensil as she blushed.
"I'm Ricardo." Both the girls received gallant handshakes from him, but I knew that the apple of his eye was Clover from the way he started talking to her as soon as Ellie turned away. It was like he'd been released of the obligation to make small talk with her. This had to be a common occurrence - she couldn't be oblivious of it - but Ellie wasn't bitter. She didn't try to manipulate Ric, or upstage his conversation with Clover by being louder, bolder, or flirtier with Brett or me, but just gave a little resigned sigh, smiled, and began talking to Brett about coursework. Midway through, she turned to me.

"You're a Marketing major, Max," she said, "but we probably had some of the same gen-eds, and I know a lot of the business professors because of Bertie. Did you ever have - ?" and she started listing professors and enfolding me into the conversation. 

We were trading first-semester horror stories when Brett pushed his chair back from the table and stood up. (Ricardo and Clover didn't even notice - they were so close that if one of us gave them a nudge from behind, they'd bump foreheads.)

"Where are you going?" asked Ellie.

"I have a meeting with the Dean of the School of Humanities, the chair of the Communications department, and some of my film professors."

"Oh, this is about that thing. Good luck!"

"What thing?" I said. How did Ellie know about this and I didn't? But they did have some introductory courses together....

"The Communications department takes 16 students for the summer  -  two guys and two girls from each year, usually - and go up to New York and out to California to work with professionals in their respective fields."

"That sounds really fun and useful! I wish we did that! Will you be applying for this summer, Ellie?"

"Not this summer," she said. "But I might think about it another year. Honestly, I was too torn between locations. We went to California once when I was a little girl and I'd love to be back, but New York is just as good, if not better, and it would be cheaper because I could stay with my parents. But I don't know if I'd want to do that."

"You live in the city? I know a few people there." But that was where I stopped. It was highly unlikely that she'd ever encountered the people I knew, and, if so, only in star sightings.

"No, I'm from Westchester. It takes a little under an hour to get there from my house. But I still consider it my home. Is that silly?"

"Not at all." 

"Well, good luck, then -  I hope you get in," she said to Brett after smiling at me. 

"I think it's more than likely. Gerald said I could stay with him while I was there if I wanted to, Max." That was news.

"How do you know Gerald? Don't tell me you met him at the reading, too!"

"Can't I just know people, Max?" 

"Go, Brett," Ellie advised - surely she knew it wouldn't be a serious argument, but it was at least going to turn into lots of questions - "You don't want to be late." She accepted his gratitude, and we watched him leave before she asked me,