Away With Him

05 - Smooth Operator

Ellie let out an ear piercing squeal as soon as the FaceTime call connected. I couldn't help but smile when I saw her face. I was sitting outside at the back of the house overlooking the vibrant green valley. The sun shone brightly but a chilly breeze blew intermittently.

"Oh my God, oh my God. How are you?" Ellie proclaimed.

"I'm so much better now that I can see you," I smiled, "How are you?"

"I really miss you. I've been forced to talk to... other people. Eww, gross, I know. Your mom has called me four times already asking how you were getting on."

"No way! I'm so sorry. She sounded weird when I spoke to her a few days ago."

"It's not your fault. Anyway, I want to know how you're doing?"

I leaned my head back against the cool wall behind me as I tried to decide where to begin.

"Well..." I took a long pause before continuing. I could see Ellie staring at me eagerly. "It's really fucking cold here."

"Hahaha," Ellie burst out laughing, "You know it's only going to get colder."

"Yeah," I whined.

"What's your school like?"

"It's small and old and it smells weird but it's alright, I guess. I have a few friends already. Apparently everyone wants to get to know the American," I laughed. Ellie smiled, raised her eyebrow and gazed directly at me through the phone. I was nervous about what she was going to say.

"Have you met anyone special yet?" Ellie giggled, "Paris is the city of love, so that makes France the country of love."

"Well... I actually kinda have." I wrinkled my face and scratched the back of my neck waiting for Ellie's reaction. Honestly I thought that my phone had frozen because of bad reception but Ellie was just speechless, which was a rare thing.

"Are you kidding me?" she screeched, "Riley I was just joking but you're serious! I thought you'd be just as uninterested in girls as you are at home. Tell me all about her!"

My mouth suddenly went dry and I could barely move my lips. It was pretty clear to Ellie that I was super nervous. Surprisingly she was patient and gave me time to compose myself. Was I really about to do this?

"First of all, it's a boy, not a girl," I revealed quietly. Ellie never changed her facial expression and just nodded to me prompting me to continue. "His name is Max and I just feel different when I'm around him. But it's a good different, I like it." I leaned back against the wall and let out a breath that I hadn't even realised I had been holding. My body suddenly felt much less tense.

"Riley! I'm so happy for you!"

"Wait a minute. You're not surprised or shocked that I'm gay, or bi or whatever?" I stammered

"No, not really. Honestly I always kind of had a suspicion. It doesn't really matter, I'm just happy that you're happy." I wiped away a single tear that was forming in my eye and turned my phone away so that Ellie didn't see. "Are you and Max in many classes together?" Ellie asked.

"No. He's a year older than me."

"So you don't get to spend much time with him."

"Um... actually we spend quite a lot of time together. Because I'm living with him." I gave a bashful look to Ellie and I could feel my face flushing red. "But my problem is that I have no idea if he feels the same way that I do. One minute we're acting like the best of friends and the next he's storming off to be alone."

"Oof," Ellie replied. I nodded silently. The shadows were now rapidly advancing towards my feet stretched out in front of me as clouds rolled in overhead. "My advice would be to go for it if you really like him, which it seems like you do. You're leaving in a few months so you have nothing to lose. The worst he can do is say-"