Her mouth pops open, breathing out a slow breath as she takes them in, one after another.
“These are so good, Asher.” The words are simple, but I can feel the depth of her meaning behind them.
She takes the iPad from me, scrolling through more of the designs on her own, and letting out a giggle at one. She spins it back to show me, and that particular one is a favorite of mine, too. A funny, if not scathing, account of humanity, how easy it is to criticize others for exactly what’s wrong with ourselves. People are people. We’re all flawed. Most of us are assholes at least some of the time. Hopefully my panels leave people with the realization of how much better life would be if we all just focused on our own shit, instead of critiquing everyone else’s all the damn time.
“Fuck, that’s brilliant.” She breathes the words, like she’s in awe, and I’ve never felt as proud of my work as I do right now.
I take the iPad back, tap on the screen a few more times. “So I started this Instagram account a while back, started posting all the drawings I’d done over the years.” I show her the account. “It did okay, actually. Took off for a bit there.”
“This is more than okay! Look at your followers, your interactions! This is great, Ash. What do you want to do with it? What’s your long-term goal here?”
I put the tablet to the side, wrap a hand across the top of her thigh, grab her eyes with mine. “I wanna turn it into more, if I can. I’d like to make some money from it, without selling out or aligning myself with brands that are part of the problem. Maybe offer exclusive content people would be willing to pay for, make my own merch, that kind of thing.”
She nods rapidly, agreeing with every idea I throw out there. Her hand comes down on top of mine, and her smaller fingers thread through mine. It’s not lost on me that this is the first time she’s touchedme, willingly—while sober—initiated physical contact. It feels like a much larger concession than the stroke of a palm might ordinarily seem.
“It’s fucking brilliant,” is all she says, but her eyes tell me how impressed she is, and that’s everything to me.
“So I’m here to learn what I can about the business side of things,” I answer her question from last night’s texts, flexing my fingers around hers, milking the physical contact for all I can. “Figure out what it is I need to know to make this not suck. Have a shot at this long-term.”
The way she’s watching me, how intent her gaze is, it’s like she’s picking up all the double-meaning I imbued in that last line. Good. I’m not trying to be a flash in the pan for her. I may have only been around for two decades, but I’m going to put all my mental talents to work here, figuring out how to be what she needs. Give her the things she was missing before, isolate what it takes to keep her by my side, reserve the right to be by hers.
The first thing I needed to get there was for her to stop avoiding me, ignoring what’s between us.Check.
Get ready for what’s next, Ellie.
NINETEEN
ELLIE
The Bestie
I need you to get a new man
Me
Oh really?
Why’s that?
Because we tried to hold a game night with two couples and 1) it wasn’t the same without you and 2) so lame with only the four of us [eye roll emoji]
I could’ve come solo…?
Take it up with Chance, he said it would’ve made you sad to be a fifth wheel
But also…
Aren’t you ready for a new man yet?
It’s been what? Two months now?
Not even that, but I’m working on it
YOU’RE WHAT?!?! (message sent with slam effect)
[Shrek gif]
I should not have said that
