Ellie is Cool Now

Chapter 17

Roxy and I both go quiet. Liz pushes through the door, her slingback heels clip-clopping against the tile as she enters the bathroom.

We both stare at her. She stops in her tracks. One eyebrow shoots up.

A slow smile spreads across her face. "Talking about me?"

I am Rizzo and she is Sandy from Grease. How did this happen? In high school I was the quiet, shy, naive type. Adorable sweater-set wearing, doe-eyed ELLIE. Now I've made out with Olivia Newton John's boyfriend and am plotting her demise in the bathroom. I'm the vixen with the wobbly morals, out for blood.

Roxy laughs and out-Rizzos me. "What we need to talk about are those bubble bangs."

Liz sighs and touches her forehead. "I gave my stylist a picture of Taylor Swift and came out looking like Zooey Deschanel."

"I think it's cute," I counter. She touches the puff of her bangs, her hand running down the length of her side braid to pinch the end. A twinkle glints in her eye – gratitude I so don't deserve.

She disappears into a stall. A hard lump of guilt forms in my gut. I look at Roxy with my best deer-in-headlights face and she rolls her eyes.

"How long have you and Mark been engaged?" Roxy asks with a raised voice, leaning back against the sink and examining her nails. She has no shame. The tiny bathroom echoes with a steady stream of pee. Kill me now. I widen my eyes at Roxy, but she isn't looking at me. She's picking a chip of polish and flicking it onto the tile floor.

"A little over a year," she says. "But we've been together since college."

"Since college!" Roxy exclaims, her expression a study in hyperbolic shock.
"Wow. How'd you meet?"

I have to gulp back a laugh. I can't help it.

The toilet finally flushes, and Liz emerges from the stall. Roxy turns on the faucet for her. She looks appreciative as she rinses her hands.

"Just a college party," she says with a shrug. "The usual."

Roxy hands her a towel to dry off. "When's the big day?"

Liz turns sheepish and bites a tiny lip. I remember from the reunion that the wedding date is a sensitive subject. I decide to chime in. "Should we rejoin the group?"

"Hold on." Roxy puts a hand out. Wait. "I want to hear all about the fairy tale."

I watch as Liz's innocent eyes stare up at Roxy, the big bad wolf. Roxy has a way of hypnotizing her prey. Those eyes, sharp green and wide. The way her voice rasps, rough and husky. You adore her even as you're bleeding and gasping for air, her claws sinking deeper and deeper into your back.

Liz doesn't even try to sound optimistic. "It's not much of a fairy tale. Mark's mom left his dad a few months ago, so it's been pretty shitty, actually. We've been waiting for the worst of it to blow over."

The hard lump of guilt twists inside my stomach. I nearly double over with the force of it. Mark's parents are getting divorced?

"Wow, the Wrights are dunzo. How does that even happen? Don't they have like, ten kids?"

"Five, yeah," Liz says. "I guess Mark's mom was cheating on his dad with someone from work. None of the kids are really talking to his mom. Including Mark." She touches a hand to her mouth. "I probably shouldn't be telling you guys all this."