I Do Until I Don't

Chapter 37

  Fannar: Hey, Ella! I was thinking about how you never applied our flirting techniques to Alex. Do you wanna try tonight when we watch the movie.

Ella-Mae: Do you think I'm ready? I don't want to fail.

Fannar: You won't.

Ella-Mae: Okay, then. But it can't be too obvious or he'll think I'm cheating on you.

Fannar: Hahahaha, that's true. Just do the next to him thing and the compliment.

Ella-Mae: Sounds good.

Fannar: Are you sure about all of this? I don't want to make you feel uncomfortable.

Ella-Mae: That was the whole purpose, right?

Fannar: Right.

*****

"This is such a cr*py movie!" Alex says with a sigh, letting himself fall on the yellow sofa in Sabrina's parents' beach apartment. They're out for the week, on a field trip with their friends, so she has the place for herself. The TV is always open, the art frames and picture frames are all tilted, there are chips and gummy worms everywhere. Oh, and as a"healthy choice," a bowl of blueberries and mango on the round, small, glass table in front of the TV.

"Um, excuse me?" Sabrina starts, closing a cabinet from the kitchen and holding in her hands a bowl of chips and another one of pretzels. "La La Land is a masterpiece. A Mas. Ter. Piece. Like, this is Picasso." She sets her bowls on the table and uses her hand to set a bar on an imaginary chart, "and this is La La Land." She uses her other hand to set another bar on the chart, way higher than the first one. "The directing is phenomenal."

Alex shrugs. "I still think Moonlight had the right to win best movie."

Sabrina shoots him a death stare and ignores him. She sits on the other end of the sofa. The sofa is in the shape of a seven-place L. Fannar has yet to arrive so I can either seat next to Alex who's at the other extremity or next to Sabrina. In an ideal world, I'd be next to Sabrina, but I need to practice my flirting techniques. I inhale, clench my fists and sit next to Alex. I notice Sabrina frown, but she doesn't say anything.

Why am I trying to flirt with a guy I no longer love? Why can't I just call this all quit? Maybe I still have a crush on Alex. Maybe I need to see where this leads me; I can't simply give up on a chance to date the guy who has appeared in my dreams for two years.

"Sorry I'm late!" someone says, opening the apartment's unlocked door.

"No problemo, bro!" Alex says, getting up and greeting Fannar who comes in with a big bag.

"Guys, I know you said not to bring food, but I have so many things and I just thought..."

"That's why I love you," Sabrina says, flashing him a smile.

He smiles back and then raises his head and looks around. He stops when he sees me and smiles even brighter. And his smile makes me want to get up and go as far away from Alex just to jump in his arms and hug him. Hug him tight until all my problems evaporate and I'm just left with him and the night's sky.

Woah.

Crazy thought.

"Hey, Ella-Mae." He comes closer and gives me a high five.

Oh.

No! I can't be disappointed. I can't.

"So," Fannar asks, taking a seat on the other side of the L-shaped sofa, across from me, winking slyly when he notices me next to Alex, resting his arms on the top of it, "what are we watching?"