The next morning, I dodge the few questions Mom throws my way, giving some vague, non-committal responses about things not being great between Elle and I right now. Lucky for me, my mom's too busy with preparing the usual Thanksgiving feast to spend any time grilling me for more details. Lee seems to be giving me the cold shoulder, but that's probably because I'm still refusing to contact Elle. Whatever. If she really wanted to talk, she could've come to the house, or even called.
Instead, she's just firing off sporadic text messages, asking me to call her when I can, to meet up and talk. Well, I can't. I just can't. Not today. After helping Dad set up outside, I make my escape, driving around pretty much aimlessly until it's time to go get Chloe from the airport. The traffic's awful as always, but when I eventually get there, I park the car and wander into the terminal, heading to the arrivals hall.
Looking up at the massive information board, I scan the list of incoming flights and see that the one from Boston has landed. Thank God. I could really use my friend right now, even if this wasn't exactly what I had in mind when I invited here to come. Chloe's face splits into her usual big smile when she spots me standing near the bottom of the escalator, and I attempt one in return. She bounces over and wraps her arms around my neck, laughing.
"Hello, stranger."
"Hey, welcome to LA," I say, returning the hug maybe a touch more fiercely than I normally would.
Chloe doesn't say anything, she just lets me cling into her for a few beats, before I release her. She leans back, searching my face, a frown creasing her brow.
"What the hell happened?"
Having a female best friend is a double-edged sword. Her intuition has often been a blessing during the last couple of months, but at this particular moment it's more of a curse, and I shake my head.
"I really don't want to talk about it right now, Clo. Let's just say my surprise didn't go as planned and now I'm not sure if Elle will even be there today."
"Oh, no," she pouts. "I'm sure whatever's happened, you'll be able to sort it out. We're here for a few days anyway."
Shrugging, I take Chloe's bag from her. "Yeah, I guess. Come on, my folks are dying to see you."
In truth, I don't think 'sorting it out' is on the cards. I spot Mike's Jeep in the driveway when we arrive at the house and try not to stiffen at the thought that Elle could be inside after all. She wouldn't stay home by herself, right? Surely not. I'm torn between wishing she would stay away and hoping she hasn't.
"We're back!" I call out as we walk into the entry hall.
"Hey!" Dad grins past me towards Chloe as I wheel her bag in. "Ah, Chloe! Good to finally meet you."
"Oh, well, it's lovely to meet you too," she smiles, stepping into his offered hug.
"Yeah. Come inside." Dad gestures her in while I stand by, avoiding looking down at who might or might not already be here.
"Ooh, wow!" Chloe says, looking out at the view through the glass wall at the back of the house as she walks up to the railing. My pasted on smile drops when she draws my attention downstairs. "Oh, and Elle, you are here!"
"Yeah, and so are you."
Elle looks surprised, and I guess, why wouldn't she be? Asking Chloe to come here for Thanksgiving was a last minute decision after her other plans fell through. I'd planned on telling Elle all about it yesterday, but... well, I never got the chance.
Chloe chuckles, and I feel bad that I haven't told her the whole story yet. "Noah said he wasn't sure that you would be."
Elle's surprise gets an edge to it. "Really? Is that what he said?"
Fortunately, before things can get any more awkward, Mom appears behind Elle, announcing to everyone that dinner's ready.
"We'll be down in a minute!" I call out, pointing Chloe in the direction of the guest room.
I set her bag down as she closes the door behind us.
"Okay, you need to tell me right now - what is going on with you two?"
I let out a long breath before giving Chloe the 30 second version of what happened yesterday, as her eyebrows climb up her forehead.
"Fuck. Right. Okay. This should be interesting." She grips my shoulders. "It'll be fine. We can do this. It's just one meal." She tugs on my forearm, leading me back out into the hallway. "Come on."
Downstairs, everyone's making their way out to the patio, and I introduce Chloe to all the extended family, who are mostly all from Mom's side, before we take our seats. The whole time, I avoid looking at Elle whenever possible. There seems to be something up between her and Lee, too, because once we've all started eating, Elle tries to get him to go talk with her.
Really? Lee's the one she wants to talk to? When she couldn't be bothered really trying to talk to me since yesterday? Then again, I shouldn't be surprised. She's always cared more about maintaining their friendship more than our relationship, about his feelings more than mine. Picking at my food with my fork, I can't hold it in any longer, and when she asks Lee again to go talk, I interrupt.
"Talking. I always feel like talking's better when it's face-to-face."
Elle sighs, ignoring me. "Lee."
My brother chooses that moment to finally start speaking.
"So, Chloe, I hear Boston sucks."
Chloe chuckles. "I'm not really sure how to answer that."
What is his problem, anyway?
"It's fine if that's where people want to live, but you shouldn't lie about it."
Excellent point. I also have an issue with that where Elle's concerned.
"Lying. Lying is an interesting topic of conversation."
Chloe gives me a look as I say that, clearly wanting me to drop it. But Lee's back on the case before I can say anything more, anyway.
"Of course, people aren't always making decisions alone. You know, sometimes they need convincing to do the really stupid shit." That last part is aimed squarely at me. Interesting. Guess he must've finally found out about Elle applying to other schools.
"Lee!" Mom admonishes him from the end of the table.
"You need to shut your mouth," I tell him. His petty possessiveness is more than I can deal with today.
Elle finally speaks to me, leaning in across the table to tell me off.
"You know what? You need to leave Lee out of this."
"Why are you acting like I'm the one that did something wrong?"
Elle's expression is shocked. "Noah, you... you don't wanna go there right now."
Oh really? There's a part of me that would like to just get it all out in the open, but this probably isn't the right setting for that discussion, so I stay quiet, going back to stabbing the vegetables on my plate with my fork instead.
She turns away. "And, Lee, listen. I am actually really sorry about applying to schools in Boston, and, Rachel, I don't even know why you're mad at me right now."
Rachel shakes her head in disbelief. "So you're just gonna pretend that Lee never told you that we needed space from you constantly hanging around us?"
Elle's taken aback. "What?"
Rachel scoffs and Elle turns back to my brother who's suddenly quiet.
"Lee, you never... Lee, you never said that."
"Yes, he did!" Rachel objects. "Lee, tell her."
There's a long pause while the wonder twins stare at each other, and I'd almost feel bad for Elle if not for everything that's happened between us.
Lee turns to Rachel, dropping his fork to the table. "I tried to," he whispers. "But... Rach. Rach."
"Ah. Oh, my..." Rachel starts to get up from the table. "I am so..."
"Rach," Lee tries again, but she stands, mumbling a thank you to Mom for the invitation before hurrying away through the house.
Lee runs after her, and Elle slumps in her seat, looking defeated. I guess it wouldn't be Thanksgiving without some family drama, right? Mom does her best to salvage the situation, distracting everyone from the tension that's still hanging over us by asking each of us to share the three things we're thankful for this year.
She starts it off, then my aunt and uncle take their turns, before Mom asks me.
"I am grateful for family..." I begin, and Mom smiles at Dad down the other end of the table.
Looking at Chloe, I realize not for the first time that she's one of the only people keeping me afloat right now, something I'm very grateful for today of all days. "Uh... my new friend," I smile, putting my arm around the back of her chair.
"And..." Here's where it gets tough. My final answer would have been very different yesterday, but a lot has changed in the last 24 hours. "My motorcycle," I finish, looking across the table at Elle.
She looks angry and upset. But you know what? Join the club.
"Um, okay," Mom says slowly, and I know she's less than impressed with my behavior. "Elle?"
"Oh. Wow, what a tough act to follow. Let's see. I'm thankful for my family, for that I just, you know, won some money for school, and..."
Elle's voice starts to rise and I look at her, wondering where she's going to take this.
"Oh, yeah, oh, my God, I am super-duper thankful that, um, that I found Chloe's earring."
She stands, pulling the tiny object out of her pocket and handing it across the table to my friend. Chloe leans in, taking it from her. "Oh, my God. Where did you find it?"
No. No way. It can't actually be Chloe's. Right? This has to be a joke. What the hell?
I look up at Elle, in time for her answer.
"Under Noah's bed."
She looks at me, betrayal written all over her face and I finally get it, why she was so adamant that something must've been going on between me and Chloe. Somehow, Elle knew that the earring belonged to her. Had she been trying to catch me out in a lie when she asked me about it? Still, the fact was that nothing had actually happened and Elle hadn't trusted that I was telling her the truth. She'd still gone and kissed someone else while we were together. She was the cheat, not me.
"But what I am most thankful for, is that I found the earring... before I did anything crazy, like rearrange my whole life for someone."
The bitterness swirls in me, so real I can taste it, and I have to take a breath before responding.
"You know, it kind of looked to me like you'd already rearranged your life."
Elle's face falls, and Chloe tries to intervene.
"Hey, guys. I think that maybe we should just—"
Elle cuts her off. "You know what? This has been lovely. Chloe, always a pleasure, but I think it's time for me to head out too. So..."
Mike calls out to her as she walks away. "Elle. Where are you going?"
She stops, turning back around, sniffing back tears. "To fix something that's actually worth saving."
Her and Lee, Lee and Rachel. Those are the relationships she's referring to. Because in her mind, she and I aren't worth it. I wonder how long she's felt that way. After she came to Boston? Maybe even before?
To say the atmosphere is awkward after Elle's departure is an understatement. Mike's glaring at me, Mom's glaring at me, hell, even Aunt Maureen's glaring at me. I feel bad for dragging Chloe into the whole mess, more than anything, and as soon as we can make our excuses, we escape, driving to a pool hall down by the beach. It's kind of a dive, but it's one of the only places open today.
I grab us drinks while Chloe racks up the balls, letting me break. We trade a couple of shots but eventually I miss, my mind still stuck back at that disaster we just came from.
"You know what I can't figure out though? How did your earring get under my bed in the first place?"
Chloe looks a little contrite, gripping her cue as I take a seat on a stool at the bar. "Okay, about that... Um, don't get pissy, but when you were out of town for a football game, I... sort of crashed at your place after getting into a fight with Jason and the earring must have just fallen off then."
"Why wouldn't you tell me that?" I groan, letting my head fall back. "That's just—"
Chloe interrupts my spiral. "I said don't get pissy. Now that we know what's happened, we can fix this."
"Yeah, I'm not sure if I wanna fix it. You know, I can't stop thinking about that kiss. I can't believe that she thought I'd actually cheat on her, you know? That's the whole reason I was lying about us hanging out in the first place. I was trying to avoid this whole situation."
"Listen to me," Chloe starts, moving around the table to take her shot. "Just to give you things from Elle's point of view, you used to have quite the reputation, right?"
I don't deny it, even if we both know it was pretty overblown. Chloe sinks one ball before continuing.
"And Elle has no idea that I am one of the few women on the planet immune to the charms of Noah Flynn."
She grins at me and I snort. Immune doesn't begin to describe her. Never have I thought for so much as a second that Chloe was in any way even remotely attracted to me. She sinks another ball.
"And then she finds my earring, which couldn't have been very helpful to a woman who's missing her guy all the way on the other side of the country."
She sinks another ball while I shake my head.
"I don't like it when you're right."
"Well," she grins, lining up her next next shot. "I do sleep where I'm not supposed to from time to time, but overall..." she hits the white ball without taking her eyes off me, sinking the black for the win. "I'm a very talented individual."
She chuckles and I grab a few peanuts out of the dish behind me hurling them in her direction before leaning my head on my hand. Chloe's right, of course, but that doesn't mean I can get over what Elle did. I don't know if I can forgive her for actually cheating, even if I can see how maybe she thought I had already done the same.
Did she do it to get even? Or to try and get over me? Did I even factor into the equation? My stomach churns, as I wonder if maybe I had nothing to do with Elle's decision to kiss Marco. Maybe she's stopped thinking about me altogether, because she has feelings for him instead. It seems pretty clear that, even if she once loved me, it's no longer the case.