Alice's Umbrella

Chapter 10: Broody

"You guys wanna go to a college Halloween party?" Jade asked once she's sat down at their lunch table, tossing her tray down. It clattered loudly, and everyone looked at her, pausing in their varied states of eating- except Alice. She took another bite of her sandwich, barely sparing the other girl a glance. Food was always more important than social activities, as far as she was concerned. "It's this weekend."

"Who's throwing the party?" Noah asked, resuming devouring his slice of pizza.

"It's this guy my brother knows from community college; they have some classes together," Jade answered. "His name's Gale. He seems pretty cool. I was talking to him, and he invited me. Thought I'd ask you guys. They're likely to have a better selection of alcohol than any high school party, too."
Alice made a face, briefly glancing at Elliott. "Do we have to go in costume?" She asked, swallowing her bite.

Jade shrugged, but Maya laughed. "You always try to find the least fun way to do things, A," she accused, and Alice pursed her lips, hiding he scowl behind her sandwich. She felt just felt stupid in costumes. High school was supposed to be the brief reprieve you got between adolescence and college where you weren't expected to dress up for the holiday anymore-at least, that's how she saw it, anyway.

"I don't know. I mean, I think you can, but you probably don't have to. He didn't specify," Jade replied, pulling out her phone. "Wanna see a picture of him? He's pretty hot." She fiddled with her phone for a minute, then she flipped it around. Maya took her phone from her to look at the photo first. Her eyebrows shot up.

"Oh, wow, he is totally cute," she said, awed. "Are you two-?"

Jade laughed. "Nah. I mean, I'd do him, but he is way too broody for my tastes." Maya passed the phone to Annie, and Noah peered over her shoulder. Jade grinned slyly then, shooting Alice a meaningful look. "Alice, though...I think he's right up her alley. She does broody very well."

Rolling her eyes, Alice held her hand out. "Shut up. Let me see," she said, snatching the phone up when Annie passed it over. She arched an eyebrow at the photo. It was a picture of Jade smoking a cigarette with her brother and another guy, Gale, she assumed, as she didn't recognize him. He was tall and rugged, his hair falling into his eyes; his expression was serious, like he didn't know how to smile for a camera. But they were right: He was attractive. "Yeah, he's not bad," she admitted.

Elliott leaned over to examine the photo, too. He scoffed to he answer. "Are you normally attracted to your relatives?" He asked wryly, and she shot him a perplexed look.

"Huh?"

He smiled at her and pointed to the phone. "He looks like he could be your cousin. Your brother even! Look at that hair and that skin. He's even got the same eyes as you. That's weird. I didn't even know you were into incest," he joked, and she shoved him lightly, frowning.

"It's not incest if we're not related. And all I said was he's not bad-looking."

Elliott shook his head, still smiling as Alice handed the phone back to Jade. "How do you know you're not related? What if he's a long-lost cousin?"

"Hey, in this case, that's not illegal," Noah jumped in, grinning. Elliott laughed, but everyone else shot him disgusted looks, even Annie, who shook her head in admonishment. Jade pocketed her phone and scooped up her burger to take a bite.

"Anyway, you guys in?"

Maya nodded earnestly, and the others shrugged. Elliott looked to Alice for confirmation, and she lifted her shoulder noncommittally. "Sure, why not?" she agreed. It wasn't like she had better plans for Halloween.

"Awesome. Well, it's this Friday. I'll text you all the address," Jade said.

"I've got a match Saturday morning, so I won't be able to drink," Elliott interjected. Alice smirked at him.

"Great, so you can be the driver," she told him. He rolled his eyes.

"Aren't I always?" He asked rhetorically. Then he grinned at her, his eyes twinkling. "Are you going to dance for us this time? Show us some of your old ballet moves?"

Alice never liked to dance, especially ballet. Her mom made her do it when she was in elementary school. She dropped out in the middle of seventh grade. She pinned him with an exasperated look. "I hate you," she grumbled. He chuckled and pulled out a brownie from his lunch bag. Unwrapping it from its Saran Wrap, he split it in two and handed her one half. She took it eagerly and bit into it. "I take it back. I don't hate you," she said with a smirk.

His grin widened, a dimple creasing his cheek. "Aw, is that a confession of love, Alice?" He teased. "How very heartfelt." His eyes gleamed, and he reached up to brush a brownie crumb from her mouth. Her stomach tightened, and her heart fluttered as his knuckle grazed her lip. She froze, staring at him, but he turned away to finish his lunch.

Well, shit. That was weird.

Flushing in embarrassment, she quickly looked around at the rest of her friends to see if they had been watching. She caught Jade's eye, but the other girl quickly averted her gaze to respond to something Maya said; Alice wasn't sure if she'd been watching them or not. Damn, now she was paranoid. Damn her friends for planting this irrational fear about her relationship with Elliott in her head.

They were wrong, she told herself. That was all there was to it.

She tried to eat the rest of her brownie after that, but it felt like chalk in her mouth.