The Favor (A TKB AU)

4. Peace Offerings & Logistics

Twenty minutes later, just as I'm starting to worry Elle got lost, she calls to let me know she's outside my dorm, and when I go let her in she's got a bag from the campus convenience store.

"Peace offering?" Elle asks, lifting a carton of ice cream from the bag.

"You know that only works on Lee, right?"

"Says the guy who always steals our ice cream? And I even got boring chocolate, just for you."

"Worried you'd find yourself without a place to sleep if you brought pineapple mint chip marshmallow?" I'm pretty sure the reason Elle and Lee load up the freezer at home with weird ice cream is so I won't touch it.

"Yeah, kind of," Elle smiles sheepishly. "Look, I'm sorry I overreacted earlier, and I owe you an apology. You're right, I'm the one who asked you to pretend we're dating, I can't get mad that you... I mean, obviously that's why you kissed me, because of this stupid thing I talked you into." Elle's staring at the ice cream carton rather than looking at me, her thumb nervously swiping at the condensation. "And I'm sorry for making this mess even worse by not telling Kara the truth. I guess she hadn't noticed you'd left, and I kind of froze when she asked if it was okay to invite her boyfriend, and I wasn't really thinking about the fact I don't have anywhere else to sleep, and I know I've ruined your whole Saturday night now, with that dinner and the party and now this, so I just figured, you know, maybe ice cream —"

The words are spilling out of Elle increasingly fast, her expression more and more ill at ease, and finally I manage to interrupt by squeezing her shoulder. "Elle, hey, relax. It's fine. And I'm the one who decided to follow you to that party. Besides, I've missed having to rescue you from your own bad decisions. Feels like being back home," I can't help adding with a laugh.

Elle glares at me, but she's smiling a little too. "Yeah, well, you're welcome."

I wonder if I should say anything more, if maybe we should actually talk about that kiss. She's right about why I kissed her, but our stupid agreement doesn't explain why she kissed me back. Or why I made no attempt to stop her. But maybe it's better we not talk about it more, that we leave things at that convenient, incomplete excuse.

So, we do—we say nothing else and just walk upstairs to my room. Thankfully, my roommates are all gone for the weekend or still out—there are four of us with singles connected to a common room—as I don't feel like trying to explain who Elle is or why she's here. Hopefully they'll all sleep late tomorrow and this sleepover can fly entirely under the radar.

Showing Elle around the suite and finding spoons for the ice cream takes all of three minutes, and then things get awkward again as I try to figure out how I'm supposed to entertain her now. I can't just ignore her, can I? Suggesting a movie seems... way too date-like. Finally I remember that video games always make her happy, even if that means having to hang out in my room. The weirdness of the situation fades after a while, and it's fun, hanging out like this again. Never tell Lee, but I do miss the two of them—sometimes. Briefly.

"So, have you decided why we're breaking up?" I ask after Elle defeats me for the third time in a row. The last one, I let her win because I was laughing too hard at her ridiculous trash talking.

Elle's head snaps up, her expression startled.

"What you're telling your debate friends. About the tragic end of our extremely non-fictional relationship."

"Oh, right. Of course." Elle blushes. "I mean, I guess I can say I found another girl's stuff in your room, so I broke up with you."

"No." I immediately veto.