“That’s when you nodded?” Ellie added.
Becca nodded, an unconscious echo of earlier. “Yeah. And you want to know what she said then?” She was grinning. “She saidgood girl. Two words.”
Ellie’s eyebrows shot up. “Good girl?”
“Good girl. Hot, right?”
So unbelievably hot, Ellie thought.Maybe not the dynamic we’re looking for, but as another one-off in future? I’m not ruling it out...
Chapter 16
Ellie messaged Kelly the next morning, as promised, sat in the armchair near the window. Becca was understandably still asleep on the other side of the room… what had happened between her and Ellie when they went to bed had been every bit as intense and passionate, albeit in a different way, as her encounter with Cass.
It took three redrafts to get it right, trying to hit the right blend of honesty without sounding desperate or needy:
Hey Kelly, hope you and Colt are good. We’ve been trying a few things since we saw you, but we’ve realised we’d really like to hang out with you again sometime, see what happens. If you’re open to it let us know, but absolutely no pressure and no rush. Ellie x
The reply came four hours later, long after they’d checked out of the hotel and while Ellie was at the gym. She nearly dropped adumbbell on her foot when her phone buzzed and she saw the message:
Girl YES. I have been hoping y'all would reach out like that. Colt says hi and also yes (he doesn't get a vote but I like to make him feel included). When were you thinking? K x
When Ellie got home Becca had, of course, read it too. There was an excitement to her, entirely different to the almost crush-like response to Cass, that was palpable and, Ellie realised with relief, she felt the same.
"When?" Becca asked.
"I was thinking we let her suggest. No pressure, remember?"
"Right. No pressure." Becca paused for approximately four seconds and grinned. "But also soon, ideally."
***
As it turned out, the timing worked itself out. A week later, Kelly messaged the group chat with a proposition that neither of them had expected:
So my girls Solana and Brooke are coming to Austin in a couple weekends. Solana has her perfume launch on the Saturday so we figured we’d go for a gig at Moody Amphitheatre night before. We got VIP tix. You two wanna come? Would be fun to hang out in a normal setting first, then maybe afterwards we could have our own fun? No pressure obv but the gig is going to be amazing either way. K x
Ellie looked at the message and then at Becca, who was reading over her shoulder.
"Who are Solana and Brooke? What perfume launch?” Ellie asked.
Becca shrugged. “Her friends, I assume. I’m starting to feel like Kelly’s one of those people where it’s her universe and everyone’s welcome to orbit around her… you know, like we’re her friends now and so all her friends are automatically our friends too.”
"And we'd be hanging out with them? People we've never met? Who presumably know about... us and Kelly?”
Becca thought about it. "Is that a problem? It feels like it should be but I can’t work out why.”
Ellie wasn't sure. On the one hand the idea of meeting Kelly's friends, friends who probably knew the score, who knew what Kelly and Colt did with other people, felt like a step into a world they hadn't explored yet. On the other hand, Kelly was inviting them to a gig, not an orgy. It was social. Normal. The kind of thing friends did.
"It's not a problem," Ellie said slowly. "It's just... new. We've kept this so private. Our friends don't know, our families don't know. And now we'd be meeting people who probably do know."
"People who probably know and who clearly don't judge," Becca pointed out. "Kelly wouldn't invite us if her friends were going to make it weird."
That was true. Kelly's whole energy was anti-weird. She was the most naturally relaxed person Ellie had ever met about something that most people would find weird in the extreme.
"Ok," Ellie said. "Let's do it. The gig sounds fun, meeting her friends could be good, and then... afterwards."
Becca smiled. "You’ll tell her yes?"
"You tell her yes. So she knows we’re both keen. It’s got to be both of us.”
