Total pages in book: 49
Estimated words: 46967 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 235(@200wpm)___ 188(@250wpm)___ 157(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 46967 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 235(@200wpm)___ 188(@250wpm)___ 157(@300wpm)
My phone dings, and this time, she sends me a picture of a wine glass. I enlarge the picture and read the printed name on the coaster under the glass. The Whiskey Whistler.
A hundred questions come to mind. Who is she with? What is she doing at the bar? Is she okay?
There’s a part of me that wants to drive into town just to see what she’s up to, but I know I shouldn’t, so I text her back instead. “Are you driving? I can come get you.”
I send the text and drop my phone on the top of the kitchen counter. I pace back and forth while glancing at the phone. When it dings again, I grab it and read, “It’s actually Ally’s wine. Don’t worry. I’m not drinking.”
I sit down on the couch in the living room and read the text again. She’s with Ally, Austin’s best friend? Is Austin there? All these thoughts are going through my head, and I have no answers.
I text my brother. “What are you doing?”
He texts me back almost immediately. “I’m at the gym. You want to hang?”
I want to say no. I want to sit here and stew about what Elle’s doing and when she is going to be home, but even knowing that, I'm not going to turn down hanging with my brother. “Sure, I’ll order a pizza. Bring a six-pack.”
He sends me a thumbs up, and I send him the middle finger before setting the phone down.
I could just continue staring at my phone, waiting for Ellie to text me, but I know she won’t. She’s never once initiated a call with me.
Instead, I call in for pizza to be delivered, take a quick shower, and then pull out a beer from the fridge and take a swig. From where I’m standing in the living room, I can see my bed, and all I can think about is Ellie sprawled out there this morning. One taste wasn’t enough.
I’m completely lost in thought when there's a knock at my front door, and then it opens with my brother walking in.
I throw my hands up in the air and move behind the couch so he doesn’t see the semi I’m sporting from thinking about Ellie. “Don’t you knock?”
He sets a case of beer on the counter. “Uh, I did knock.”
I grip the couch. “I mean knock and wait for someone to let you in.”
He laughs. “If you don’t want someone to walk in, you lock the door. So what’s up? Where’s your girl at?”
Fuck, I wish she was my girl. “Uh, my girl is out with your girl.”
His forehead creases. “I don’t have a—”
I don’t let him finish. “What the fuck ever, man. How long you going to deny it? There’s something going on with you and Ally. You’ve been best friends for as long as I can remember.”
“She’s out with Ally?”
I nod and take another drink of beer. Mid-swig, I set the beer down. Maybe I shouldn’t drink tonight. If Ellie ends up needing a ride, I can’t leave her hanging. “Yes, she’s out with Ally. They’re at the Whistler.”
He shakes his head. “Just the two of them?”
I jam my finger in the air in frustration. “That is the million dollar question. I don’t know if she’s on a date… looking to hook up… what she’s doing. I asked for a picture, and I got a picture of a wine glass, that was it. Who knows what is happening?”
When I finish my rant, Austin is openly laughing at me.
“What? What are you laughing at?”
He points at me. “You. You’re a mess. You’re fuckin’ turned upside down for this girl.”
As he says it, he’s typing into his phone.
I’m not even going to deny it. I am turned upside down for Ellie. I point at Austin’s phone. “What are you doing?”
He holds his first finger up, telling me to wait a minute.
I’m about to tell him to fuck off when the doorbell rings. For just an instant, I think that it could be Ellie, but I disregard that thought in an instant. She would just use her key.
It’s not any of my brothers because obviously they would just walk in.
I walk to the front door and open it. I pull a wad of cash from my pocket and swap it for the pizza. “Thanks.”
I’m back in the kitchen and have barely set the pizza down when Austin opens the box and inhales a slice.
I laugh. “Is it good?”
He nods. “Yeah, and look.”
He holds his phone up, and it takes me a minute to figure out what I’m looking at. “What is this?”
“I texted Malcolm and had him send me a picture. That’s Ally, Lilian, and I’m pretty sure that one, there in the back, facing the dance floor, is Elle, right?”
“Who the fuck is Malcolm?”