But he shakes his head. “I don’t want to be sorry anymore.”
And he pulls me in, quick and assured, and we’re kissing again. In earnest, for real. No tentative brushes of our lips, just a need to be closer, to swallow each other whole. It feels like relief and punishment at the same time. His hands run down my sides, and suddenly I’m hauled up against his solid body.
We both make noises into each other’s mouths and the kiss turns primal as I find myself pushed up against the wall of the bathroom. I am aware that this hides us behind some greenery, and somewhere in the back of my mind I’m admiring Ellis for this maneuver, for his thoughtfulness even as we’re both completely out of our minds.
His hands touch the skin between my top and skirt. Then they climb up my ribs, gentle and possessive, and I’m lost in the press of his lips, the slide of his tongue when a toilet flushing jolts me out of it. I pull back immediately and so does he. We stare at each other, catching our breaths. We don’t speak as I adjust my top, my hair.
“Fuck,” he says under his breath. “What are we doing?”
“I don’t know,” I say. But maybe I do. “I think we need—”
“Hey, there you are.” Daniel strides into the clearing. “I’ve been looking for you.” He looks between us and smiles for a second before it falters. That’s when I notice my lipstick smeared all over Ellis’s mouth, his neck.
Fuck, indeed.
40
Everything happens so quickly.
Daniel swings his arm back and punches Ellis square in the face. My hands fly up to my mouth. “What the hell?!” I screech. “Daniel!”
Ellis quickly recovers and tackles him around the belly, his arms wrapped around Daniel’s lower back as they both topple to the ground.
“Oh mygod!Stop it, you two! Stop!”
They look ridiculous. These are two men in fine physical shape, but they donotknow how to fight. They’re kind of swiping at each other with both fists and openhanded slaps. Kicking on occasion.
“You aregrown. Ass. MEN!” I yell, throwing my hands up in the air.
But they exist somewhere outside of me at the moment—in some adolescent macho zone that I’ll never understand. I want to pull them apart, but I’d have to get down on the ground and dodge their flailing limbs.
“You littleasshole!” Daniel yells at one point when his arm is braced across Ellis’s neck in a chokehold. Ellis starts coughing dramatically and Daniel looks taken aback for a second, loosening his hold. “Bloody hell, are you okay?”
Ellis responds with a yell and grabs Daniel’s ears. Hisears.Daniel howls at the top of his lungs and people come running at the commotion.
I am about to sink into the earth and die. These idiots!
When I see Ellis’s parents and Marcella’s family, I further want to die. Because I’m standing there with my head in my hands and Ellis’s face is still smeared with my lipstick, and it’s obvious to anyone with eyes what’s happened.
“I’mthe asshole?Me? What kind of bossareyou? Datingmygirlfriend!” Ellis yells as his grip on Daniel slips a little bit, letting Daniel escape and slam his body into Ellis’s again. The crowd gasps and Ellis is on his back with Daniel standing above him, panting so hard he’s wheezing. Ellis is rolled into a fetal position. Good lord.
“Shedumpedyou,” Daniel says. “Why can’t you just let it go?”
“Also, technically she wasn’t your girlfriend!” someone calls out.
All of the coworkers have gathered, too, and Laura says, “I’msoTeam Daniel.”
“No way, Team Ellis,” Parker says.
“There arenoteams!” I yell.
Greg, Ellis’s dad, breaks through the crowd to help Ellis up.
“Fucking sleazy-ass Korean Hugh Grant,” Ellis spits out as he stands up.
“Oh my god,” Greg mutters under his breath.
Marcella chokes on a laugh next to me but then Daniel lunges forward and catches Ellis with a left hook to the side of his head that kind of misses but infuriates Ellis enough for him to swing at him in turn, which turns into yet another grappling match. At that point, Greg and a few of the other coworkers manage to break the two apart.
