Flowers and Darkness

Chapter 9

As the night progressed Rose got more and more drunk, and I had a good buzz. Rose and I were cheering on a game of beer pong when I spotted Ellie sitting on the side with a plastic cup in her hand. As if noticing me staring, she met my gaze. I quickly looked away and excused myself to grab another drink. She was my best friend and although I've found a good friend in Rose, losing a friend always hurts.

Ellie stood next to me by the drinks table. "Can you pass me the bottle when you're done?"

I wordlessly filled up my cup and passed her the bottle, not meeting her eye. I felt so tense. 

"What? So you're not talking to me anymore?"

I turned to face her in astonishment. "What?"

"I'm the one meant to be angry here. So why are you giving me the silent treatment?" She put her drink on the table and folded her arms.

"From what I gathered you didn't want to be friends anymore." I put my drink on the table too and matched her stance. "The slap was a big give away."

She shuffled her feet. "I mean, we can still be civil right?" When I didn't respond she sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "I don't want to be friends. There was just a lot of things that built up and...you know. But I also don't want either of us to feel awkward around each other."

"Yeah I-" My voice cut when Dean appeared out of nowhere and snaked an arm around Ellie's waist. He was only wearing a black t-shirt and some dark wash jeans but he looked good. He always looked good.

He noticed me a second later and used his free arm to pull me in for hug. "Vi! I didn't know you were coming. Your brother just texted me to come see you at some point this weekend so this couldn't have come at better timing."

I weakly laughed and Dean went back to his previous position with Ellie. I glanced at Ellie to see a smug smile on her face. This wasn't just any guy, this was Dean. She knew that I had a crush on him for the longest time. She also knew that he would probably never see me as anything other than his best friend's little sister. Was this payback for the boys in the past?

"So, the two of you are a couple now?" I asked softly, my voice cracking at the last word.. I mentally kicked myself when it didn't come out as confident and sassy as I expected in my head.

"There's no labels, it's just been about a week. We're just going slow right now."

Ellie raised an eyebrow at him. "But we're also going pretty fast."

"In a slow way." He slowly unwound his arm from her waist.

"What does that even mean?" I ask surprising them both. I regretted it a second later when the tension thickened and I felt uncomfortable.

"We're not together. I need to go check on the guys inside." He glanced at his watch and pulled me in for a hug. "I'm coming back down with Aaron for your birthday so I'll see you soon."

I watched as he left, not even saying a goodbye to Ellie. I wanted to feel happy and boast about the moment. But when I saw her face drop, I knew I couldn't feel happy about this. She downed her drink within seconds and left the party. Her arms were wrapped tightly around herself like a self hug. If he was just another guy and she was still my best friend then I would be there hugging her. This moment would have gone so differently. But he wasn't just another guy and she wasn't my best friend, so I could only watch as she quietly left.

"What's going on?" Rose, having missed the entire encounter, just saw me looking over at the exit.

I turned to her and forced a smile. "Nothing. Let's just do some more shots."