11
LEO
“Ihate having to leave you,” I whisper to Jillie as we lay in her bed, her head resting on my shoulder, my arm wrapped around her, holding her close.
“I hate it too. It shouldn’t be too long before I come back.”
“Are you caught up on your assignments?”
She nods. “Yeah. Anything to keep from thinking.”
“I can understand that.”
“So,” she begins, turning onto her stomach and looking up at me, “how’s Ella been? Rabid? Clingy? Crying?”
I chuckle. “She’s been fine. Remember I talked to her before I talked to you. She questioned it because you weren’t around. I didn’t explain why you weren’t there and neither did anyone in the know. But I told her, yeah, and that you’d be back.”
She nods. I can see there’s more.
“What?”
“Well,” she begins, looking down at the finger that’s circling the button on my shirt, “I’m just wondering what’s between you two. I know it’s more than random sex, and I know it’s not a relationship because you said you never had one before.”
I nod.
“So, what? Why? Why do you…?”
I sigh. “It goes without saying, what I tell you can’t leave this room.”
“I swear,” she agrees.
“Not even to your girls, Jillie. This can’t get out, okay?” I tell her, looking her straight in the eyes, letting her know how serious I am.
“Wow. Okay. I swear.”
“Okay. End of Freshman year, Ellen was going out with a guy from Waverly North.”
Jillie gasps dramatically. “What did her friends say? She broke the rules!”
“Those girls and those fucking rules. Snobs, every one of them—including Gianna,” I admit.
Jillie nods. “I don’t trust her completely. I don’t know what she’s doing with Elan. Is she using him? Slumming it for a laugh? I swear, I’ll—”
“Calm down,Scarface.”
“Who?” she asks, actually looking completely puzzled.
“Are you serious? Al Pacino inScarface?” I ask incredulously.
“Never seen it. Heard of it though. Never saw theGodfathermovies either.”
I sit up. “I think I might have to break up with you now.”
She shoves me teasingly.
“We’ll fix this as soon as you get back. How can you not have watched these? Didn’t your dad—” I break off and want to kick myself.
“It’s okay. You can talk about him. He watched them. I think he has them somewhere around here. I just wasn’t into that type of movie,” she tells me.
