Page 54 of The Burning
“I’m just saying. I also invited you before I knew it was for the baby. And Toni just wants you to like her, that’s all.”
“Why would she care if I like her? She doesn’t even know me.” And I had no desire to get to know her. “What’s with these women?”
“Because you’re, like, the cool girl, so she wants to impress you.”
I laughed. “Me?! Thecool girl?”
“Yes. Since you don’t care if they like you, they want you to like them. Not like me—because I wanted them to like me, they didn’t. You are all . . .” She slowly shook her shoulder-length hair back and forth like she was in a shampoo commercial and changed her voice to what I assumed was supposed to be mine. “All ‘I don’t care.’”
It sounded deep and ridiculous.
“And you dress all cool and you got Martin’s attention, when everyone thought was going to stay single. He never even looks at other girls, and trust me, theyalllook at him.”
“What do they know about me and Kael? And how?”
Ugh, news always traveled so fast around posts. Benning was no exception. I hoped Elodie wasn’t the one telling them about my personal life. I trusted her, and it never even crossed my mind that she would talk about me with her new friends. I purposely stayed out of friend groups because of these types of issues. I preferred my drama to come from television or a romance novel.
“Not much. Just that he was into you and you ended it. But when people don’t know the story they make up their own.”
That was so true. My mom had a saying:the gossiping mouth is never full. Or something like that.
I stood up from the couch. “Yeah, well they aren’t going to get any details. There aren’t any, anyway.”
“Okay.” Elodie raised her hands up, smiling in defeat. “Fine.”
“Thank you.” I gave her a sarcastic smile back.
I busied myself by moving my new chair over a few inches, then back to where it was in the first place. And then I half pondered where it should really be, and half ignored my well-meaning roommate.
“So can I make you a Tinder profile?” she asked.
“No, oh my god.” I shook my head. “No way. I don’t want to date right now.”
She raised her brow. “Right now? Or ever?”
“Both.” I laughed a little.
Who knew my dating life was the topic of everyone’s fascination, including Elodie’s? What was it about dating that measured a woman’s value in life?
“Ugh,” she groaned, throwing a pillow at me. “You’re killing me.”
“You’re killing me! On top of that, you said your baby shower totally sucked and everyone was drunk, so I definitely wouldn’t take Toni’s advice on anything life-related.”
Elodie laughed as I tossed the pillow back at her but was quiet for a few moments before she spoke again.
“People are supposed to be connected to each other, don’t you think?” She asked the question backward, the way she did with some sentences.
She clearly felt some way about my dating life, even though I had assumed she was too busy to even be paying attention.
“What do you mean?” I just had to ask against my better judgment.
“Well, people are supposed to be in love. That’s what we’re made for. Quiteliterally.” She smiled. “It makes us feel good to have someone to share with. I’m not just talking about men. I mean friends . . . family. Just people in general. It makes me worry for you that you don’t have anyone like that. You said yourself that I’m your closest friend and you barely tell me anything about your life. Your brother is leaving and he said—”
“My brother?” I cut her off, shocked that she even knew this. “So your friends and my brother and you all just sit around and talk about me?”
Elodie shook her head. “No.”
“Well, it seems like it. Not everyone is comfortable with everyone else knowing about their personal life.” I hit one hand against the pillow on the chair to make it stand up better, admittedly a little harder than necessary.
