*E*
For the first time in a very long time, I wasn't sure what to do.
Elle appeared out of nowhere trying to scare Pip, I assumed, and was instead assaulted with the image of her almost kissing me.
We all stood in silence for what felt like a very long time. I honestly wasn't sure what either of them was thinking, but I knew all I could do was look back and forth between both of them and wonder what I'd gotten myself into.
I broke the silence first. "Hi," I said waving a hand awkwardly. "I'm Theo Archer. You must be Elle."
I reached my hand out to shake, but Elle didn't move. She appeared to be rooted on the spot staring at me. My hand dropped to my side again.
"Elle!" Pip called out. "You can close your mouth now."
Elle's mouth snapped shut, but it wasn't long before it sagged slowly open again. Finally, after a bit of mouth movement with no words, she got out, "You—You're Theo Archer." She pointed a shaky finger at me.
I resisted the urge to tell her that yes, we'd been over this. "Yeah. That's me. Hi."
"Hi. What...? Why...?" Poor Elle. Based off what Cora had said about her, she was probably going through a minor cardiac arrest or something.
Pip picked up on that too, because she crossed over to her and wrapped her small arms around her best friend. "Aww, I know, mon amie," she said. "Come here. Let's go to the living room and E and I can explain." I glowed a bit at her use of my preferred name. I almost didn't catch what she muttered under her breath as she ushered Elle past me: "Kind of."
I almost laughed, but I managed to just turn it into some maniacal smile. There's the Pip I was growing used to.
I followed Pip and the quivering Elle into the living room and sat on a chair catty-corner from the couch they'd collapsed on to.
After a few minutes, Elle seemed to regain most of her basic functions and turned to look Pip dead in the eyes.
"Cora," she said and ducked her head onto Pip's shoulder, "I leave you for less than a week and here you are becoming best friends superstars. Who are you really and what have you done with my Cora?"
I had just opened my mouth to step in and defend Pip when she caught my eye and shook her head, smiling. 'I got this one' she mouthed, and I gave her a subtle thumbs up.
"Elle, mon amie. I need you to listen to me, yeah?" she cooed and when Elle nodded, she continued, "Okay, you know me well enough to know that's not true. In fact, you better than anyone can probably tell me what happened tonight." Elle lifted her head and, to my surprise, had a huge smile on her face. Not like she agreed with Pip, but more like she just found this funny.
Pip gave one nod, like this satisfied her. "Before you do though, what are you doing here? You're supposed to be gone for like another 6 days! Why are you back in town?"
Elle sighed. "Yeah, Mom was having a great time. Me, not so much," she explained simply. At Pip's questioning look, Elle redirected her eyes at me in a meaningful glance. She didn't want me hearing whatever the full story was. Pip followed her gaze and, despite the situation, a grin lit up her face as soon as her eyes hit mine.
My eyes slid reluctantly to Elle and I saw an odd look on her face. Sort of like she'd been sucking on a lemon for so long that, by this point, she was just resigned to it.
Out of the corner of my eye, I watched Pip's eyes follow mine to Elle and soon enough her gaze hit mine, only this time I saw the underlying current of worry and concern for her friend.
I held up both my hands in surrender. "It's all good. I know when to leave." I moved to stand up but was stopped by not one, but two, female voices.
"NO!" Elle and Pip shouted simultaneously.
I gently lowered myself back into the chair from my half-raised position and looked up to see a slightly mortified look from Pip and a half panicked, half terrified look from Elle.
"...Or maybe I don't." I splayed my hand on the armrests and looked between the two in front of me. "Now what?"
Elle spoke before Pip could. "I want you two to explain how and why you were together tonight. I mean, I know your date-thingy was tonight, but that doesn't help much. In fact, it, like, negatively helps."
I sighed. "This one I got," I told Pip. I should really call her Cora more; she has a beautiful name. I looked back to Elle. "So, I was on that date and, long story short, it wasn't the most picture-perfect date." Cora snorted and I gave her a look. "Anyway, Pip here-"
"Pip?" Elle interrupted. "You guys have nicknames. She called you E earlier. How long has this been going on?"
"It hasn't. Not before tonight, at least. And yes, we have nicknames. That's my fault. I didn't know her name, so I called her Pip and I told her to call me E."
I was expecting another outburst from Elle and was not disappointed this time. "Oh, my gosh, that's sooo cute! I was so hoping for something like that!"
"Yeah, well," I said, scratching my neck and feeling extremely far out of my comfort zone. I've been through interviews and mobbed by scary fans before, and that was nothing compared to the one-on-one, no camera situation that I was in now.
I ran a hand through my hair, and I didn't miss Pip's eyes watching me do it intently. I liked that attention from her and made mental note to do it more if I could. "Cora ran into me right after the date ended and because it ended so badly, I didn't exactly get a hearty meal, so I asked her if she wanted some food. We went to a place I've gone to for years and we've just kind of been talking all night and gorging ourselves on pizza."
"Excuse me, but you did most of the gorging Famous Boy! I only ate two pieces. You ate the rest!"
I grinned at her. "Guilty."
"Oh, my gosh!" Elle cried again. "This is too cute! I'm still pissed that I didn't know about this, but it's too cute to be too mad for too long!" she squealed out!
I look to Pip for some help, I may have been around loud and high-pitched girls a lot, but that didn't mean I was necessarily used to it. I got the feeling Elle's an acquired taste, much like Jay is.
"You'll get used to it," she told me.
"I hope so." If she was saying that I would get used to it, that meant that she thought we were going to see each other again after tonight. I did my best not to smile like the complete idiot I am.
Elle was watching us and I could tell that she was about to gush again, so I cut in quickly. "So, Elle. Pip, er, Cora tells me that you're a fan."
It was a standard start to any conversation with any fan or interviewer, but Elle didn't need to know that. By Cora's narrowed eyes, I felt that she knew what I was doing, and I almost backed out.
"Oh, my God, yes! I love your music so much! It's literally all I listen to! I listen to it on repeat because your lyrics are so beautiful and sweet and it always seems like you're speaking from experience..." Elle went on for a bit and I hate to say it, but I zoned out like I always did when this happened. I loved that they loved my music, it's just that it's the same spiel every time. I nodded along and smiled and added in a "oh, yeah" or "right" or "totally" every now and then like I'd trained myself to do even though I couldn't have repeated a word of what Elle had said.
Instead, I found myself thinking back on the night with Cora. She was so beautiful, and it was like she didn't even know it. She was always crossing her arms over her stomach, like she was trying to hide the nonexistent thing, and staring at the ground. I wondered why.
Pip interested me like no one else ever had. She never seemed to get starstruck and, just the opposite, treated me like she was completely indifferent to any social status I had.
Speaking of which, I'd have to be careful to keep Cora away from the media as long as possible. If they got a hold of her now and connected her to me, her life could (and probably would) be screwed up horribly.
"... you know?" Elle finished excitedly and I reeled my thoughts back into place.
"Oh absolutely!" I smiled at her, unsure of pretty much everything she'd just said.
She flushed and looked at Pip. "I like him. I'm jealous of you. Extremely jealous, but you can have him. He obviously likes you, but don't think I'm over the jealousy."
My eyes widened as I took in her lack of subtlety. It dawned on me then, something that might just make her day. "Elle, do you have a boyfriend?" I asked randomly.
Two pair of eyes snapped to me as I fired off the question.
"No, I don't. Though I don't know why you'd care," Elle answered cautiously, eyeing Pip worriedly, like she worried she was wrong about who I liked. (Hint: she wasn't.)
It occurred to me how blunt I'd just been. I couldn't take it back, so I'd just have to move on. "I just know a guy I think you'd really like." I shrugged. It was in her hands now. She could take it or leave it. If I had to guess, she'd chose to do the former.
"A guy?" Called it.
I nodded. "I'll bring him with me next time so I can introduce you two. He's..." I trailed off when I saw Cora yawn. I pulled out my phone to check the time and felt my eyebrows start to recede into my hairline. "I should go. It's late." I showed them the glowing 2:16 on my phone. I looked at Pip who looked to be falling asleep as we talked.
She managed to push herself to her feet. "I'll walk you to the door."
As we started out into the hallway, I heard a muffled yell from behind us. "Behave, you two!" Pip rolled her eyes and grabbed my hand, pulling me along quicker.
We made it to the door, and both paused. I had a question I'd wanted to ask her all night, but I wasn't sure how she'd respond, so I had put it off. If I was going to do it, it was going to have to be now.
"Pip," I said. "Can I ask you a question?"
She stifled a yawn. "You just did."
I sighed through a grin. "Ok. Pip, I have a question."
"Shoot," she replied, smiling in return.
"It's got a bit of a back story. You gonna stay awake?" I half joked, receiving a slap on the arm.
"Yes. Now ask before I do fall asleep."
"Ok, well, my best friend, Jay, and I are fighters. We compete in tournaments in stuff." I figured explaining this in small bits would be best.
Pip's eyes widened and she no longer looked tired. "Seriously?"
"Yeah. We have a tournament coming up actually."
"Do you guys get, like, hurt and stuff?"
"Usually. That's kind of what happens when two guys beat the shit out of each other."
"Oh." Her voice was small, and I could tell she was trying to process it all.
"Look, it's an underground MMA fighting ring so no one but me, him, and now you know about this. We can't have it leaking to the public, but I wanted to tell you because I want to ask you something about it." I'd committed thus far; I might as well go the whole way.
"Ok. What?"
"Will you come to the tournament for me?" This was the part where she shoved me out of her house and told me she couldn't believe I'd ask such a question and to stay the hell away from her because why would she ever condone such a violent sport?
I got my surprise though. She grabbed me around the waist in a tight hug that I only paused for a second before returning.
"Duh," she replied.