Elly in Love (The Elly Series) (21 page)

“Okay, that’s a wrap!”
snapped Gemma. She must have heard Lola. Her shrill, European pitch was hard on Elly’s eardrums as she unbuttoned Elly’s shirt and pulled off the sticky microphone from her ample chest.

“Ouch!” yelped Elly.

“You’re welcome,” said Gemma without actually looking at her, as she gently removed Lola’s mic. “Great job, Lola! You look fantastic! This is going to be our
best
show ever.”

Lola gave a gloomy smile. “I’m sure.”

Elly stood and reached out her hand to help Lola to her feet.
Her hands are so tiny
, thought Elly.
She’s really just a girl
. “I’m sure we will see each other soon.”

Gemma butted between them. “You will. You two have your consultation off-screen together, sometime in the next month.” She chugged from a coffee thermos, wiping her mouth on her sleeve. It was all very unladylike, and made Elly like her more. “Then we’ll be back to film the designing process, the delivery, and the wedding day. Later, we’ll get you to do some voiceover work.”

Elly felt her skin buzz with excitement.
She was going to be on television!
In all the nervousness to meet her celebrity (who turned out to be Lola
Plumb
, she still couldn’t believe it!), she had let herself forget just how lucky she was. This was going to be a defining moment in her career, she just knew it.

A cloud of cloying perfume enveloped her. Snarky Teenager had pranced up beside her and was staring at Lola Plumb with vacant, worshipping eyes. Gemma gave a low growl.

“Hi, I, um….” Elly looked over at her with amusement. It wasn’t often that she saw Snarky Teenager unhinged. She took a deep breath. “I….
Ohmygosh-I-am-your-biggest-fan-I’ve-seen-all-your-movies-and-I-think-you-are-amazing-and-I-am-wearing-your-perfume-right-now
!” She took a deep breath. So that’s what the stink was. Desperate by Lola Plumb.

Lola slipped her sunglasses over her face. “Thank you. That means so much.”

Gemma gestured to the door. “The limo is waiting for you.”

Elly waved. “I can’t wait to meet you again!” she declared.
Was that too much
, she thought to herself?
Don’t seem
too
eager.
“Or whenever.”

Lola made a confused face. “C’mon, Boogie,” she said, scooping her sausage of a dog under her arm. There was a neat, tiny pile of dog poo underneath him. “Oh, sorry,” she mumbled.

“Don’t worry about it. We’ll get it,” offered Elly.

“Damn right, you will,” muttered Gemma, walking out the door. The cameramen dutifully followed, ripping down the black curtains on their way out. Bright, welcome light flooded the studio. The last one leaned toward Snarky Teenager with a business card in his hand.

“Don’t
even
,” said Elly with a scowl, snatching the card from his hand. A blush crept over his handsome features as he shuffled out the door.

There was a moment of silence in the studio, as they all stared at each other. With a wail, Anthony broke the quiet. “Lola Plumb is our bride.
Lola Plumb is our bride!
Forget the Olympian!”

Then all three of them were dancing, all at once. Elly stepped in the dog poo, but it didn’t matter. The
very famous
Lola Plumb was her celebrity.

Later that evening, as the warm sun set outside her bay window, Elly couldn’t help noticing that Keith’s socks had big holes in them.
Why would you ever keep socks with big holes in the toes?
She pointed at the holes as Keith fingered a lock of her hair. “Do you need socks?” she asked. “Does the deli not pay well enough to buy socks without holes?”

A lazy grin crept over Keith’s face.
He’s adorable
, thought Elly
. I could lie here for the rest of my life and be content, just watching that smile crinkle the corner of his eyes.
She shook her head.
Who thinks things like that? Get a grip, lady
. Keith wiggled his toes. “Do you not like my holey socks?” he said. “I was thinking of getting them ordained.”

Elly let out a loud groan. “Horrible. Horrible abuse of humor.”

“I thought it was funny.” Keith pulled himself up and over Elly, so that he was hovering near her face. “Maybe you can come over later and darn my socks.”

Elly kissed his cheek softly. “I have news for you: I will
never
darn your socks.”

“That’s a shame,” he whispered, his lips softly brushing hers, “because
all
my socks have holes.” Suddenly, the door gave a creak, followed by a loud banging. Elly leapt up, sending Keith rolling to the floor. “Get up,
get up
!” she hissed. “That’s Dennis! He must have taken the taxi earlier than planned.”

Keith sat up on the rug, folding his arms. “So?”

“I don’t’ want him to feel
weird
when he comes in. Like we were doing something.”

Keith leaned back against Elly’s coffee table. “We were doing something. We were having a lovely moment. And
kissing
.”

“Shhh!”
shushed Elly. “Coming!” she yelled toward the door. “Keith, can you please just—”

Keith heaved himself off the floor and cracked his back. “Okay. I’m standing. There is no way we could have been doing any kissing.”

Elly gave him a razor-edged glare and walked toward the door.
Try to make him feel welcome
, she thought,
he has no other
family.
Don’t make him feel like this is a burden.
She flung the door open. “Helllooo,” she crowed, sounding like a bad impersonation of the queen.

Dennis stood in front of the door, his blue eyes cast down. The bright-orange backpack hung loosely on his shoulders, the backpack that had once brought Elly so much terror. “Hey,” he mumbled. “Hi!”

Elly attempted to give him a half hug. He stiffened under her arm. She recoiled, embarrassed. “So, come on in. Welcome home.”

Dennis shuffled inside, stopping short when he saw Keith. “Why is he here?” he asked.

Elly tried to navigate this sudden emotional minefield. “Oh, he was just here to help out, if you needed any help with anything.”

Dennis looked himself over. “I only have this backpack. What the hell would I need help with?”

Keith reached out for the backpack. “Then that is what I will help you with.”

Dennis leapt back. Elly was surprised at his speed-to-girth ratio. “Don’t touch that,” he wheezed. “Don’t touch my backpack.”

Keith stepped back. “No worries, dude. I won’t touch it.”

“Don’t call me dude,” Dennis snapped.

This,
thought Elly sarcastically,
is going very well.
“Um, so Dennis, you are going to be in this bedroom.” She led him down her short hallway to the guest room. Keith had aided her in stripping down the femininity of the room, but it was still very womanly. The room was painted a very pale purple—almost a gray—with white trim. There were hand-drawn pictures of Paris, Milan, and Prague—places that Elly had never been—mixed in with vintage photographs of her mother’s garden. They looked lovely against the paint with their drab coloring and wrinkly texture. She had replaced the fluttery champagne-colored comforter with a solid beige one and put a small TV into the corner. Hopefully he liked it, it wasn’t much. “Is it okay?” she asked nervously.

Keith hovered in the doorway, staring at Dennis with an expressionless face.

Dennis plopped onto the bed. “Yeah, it’s fine,” he said, totally devoid of emotion. He must have reconsidered his tone, because then he turned back to Elly, obviously trying to not be a tool. “Thank you. It’s, uh, nice.” Turning over, his eyes lit up. “Does that computer work?” he asked.

Elly smiled. “Yup, it does. Hooked up to the net and everything.”

Keith put his hand on her shoulder. “They don’t call it the net anymore, Elly.”

“Well, you are welcome to use it if you so desire. To turn it on, you push—”

Dennis was already past her, booting up the computer and pulling a disc out of his backpack. “Awesome.”

“Oh, you are, um, is …,” Elly paused. “What is that?”
Please don’t be porn
, she pleaded.
I could not deal with that.

“World of MageCraft,”
Dennis replied. “I’m a level seventy-three shaman, and I was just about to go on a campaign when I left Ohio.”

Elly had never heard him so excited. “That sounds … interesting. Tell me more.”
Anything, anything to engage him
. From the doorway, she saw Keith making a slicing motion across his neck and shaking his head.

Dennis stepped back from the computer. “Yikes, your hard drive is superslow. Uh, well,
World of MageCraft
, or WOM, is an avatar-based, immense, multiplayer role-playing game online. You basically take your character, place him in the appropriate realm—I prefer a PVE or an RP over the traditional PVP, but only because the Alliance works better in RP, in my opinion. Even the hero class works better—
functions
better, I should say—on that level.” Dennis’s blue eyes were brimming with excitement.

Elly didn’t understand a single word he was saying, but she didn’t interrupt him. “I’m part of a gaming guild online; our name is FallenCraft, and our raids are
legend
. I was invited to the clan by Ahora, who is this
insanely
hot druid priestess, and my friend Don and I joined up. We did this raid on the Cataclysmic Castles and the boss in there….” He let out a big belly laugh, deep and joyful. Elly had never heard him laugh, and she felt a slow grin creep up her face. He was so
happy
when he talked about this. “Well, let’s just say the Restoration Druid Bluff couldn’t do
a thing
for Don’s character….”

“So, is Don your friend from Sewell?” Elly asked.

Dennis looked at her like she was the biggest idiot he had ever known. “Uh, no, he lives in Tokyo.”

“Oh. So, you don’t, like, all get together and play?”

“No. Just online with my friends.”

“Oh.” Elly was silent. On the computer screen, the logo for
World of MageCraft
appeared, and Dennis gave a happy shout.

“Oh, oh my god, it worked! It worked!” He flung Elly’s antique chair (she grimaced, as it was kind of a delicate little thing) in front of the computer and plopped down inches from the monitor. Under his breath he kept repeating, “Awesome, awesome, awesome,” as he drummed wildly on the desk.

Elly stepped back from the door. “Do you need anything?” she asked.

Dennis didn’t look up from the screen. “Uh, yeah, maybe something to eat?”

“Sure!” she replied brightly. Keith motioned her toward the living room. “I’ll bring you some manicotti. I made it yesterday.”

Dennis didn’t reply. Elly closed the door softly behind him. She and Keith walked silently into the kitchen. “Wow!” said Elly, “He really likes that
Way of MageCraft
game.”

Keith wrapped his arm around her waist. “
World of MageCraft
. One of my employees plays it. He says it’s really addictive.”

Elly gave a shrug. “He’s probably just excited to be doing something familiar.”

“Absolutely,” Keith said halfheartedly.

Elly turned and faced him. “You still don’t like him living here, do you?”

Keith shook his head. “It’s not that I don’t like him or trust him—he’s pretty harmless and doesn’t move very fast—but I just don’t know if this is the right way to go about doing this. It seems like you leapt straight into the deep end of the pool when you could have waded in.”

Elly stared straight ahead. “Thank you for your concern,” she said blandly.

Keith stepped back. “I’m not trying to argue, Elly. Let’s not talk about it, okay?”

Elly angrily yanked open the fridge. “That’s fine. I don’t want to argue, either.” She did, though. She wanted to argue about this with Keith.
Why, though, why was she so provoked by this? Was it because of her past? Or her own growing doubts about Dennis? With Dennis right in the middle of it?
She tried to find a neutral subject. “How’s Cadbury doing? Did he wreck your place already?”

Keith gave a smile as he helped Elly dish out the manicotti. “He really has a thing for the rug in my bathroom.”

“Aw, what a sweetie, does he sleep on it?”

“Not … exactly,” muttered Keith.

“Oh,” said Elly. “
Oh!
Oh, ew. So sorry about that.”

“Other than that life-changing love affair, I would say that he’s settled in pretty well.”

“Did he take you on a walk this morning?” Elly laughed. “He has a tendency to drag, as you know.” She popped the manicotti in the microwave. “Are your knees bruised?”

Keith rubbed his head. He did that when he was nervous, Elly knew.
Why
was he nervous?
“Uh, no, it was fine. A good walk.”

An alarm went off in Elly’s brain as she stared at him.
He was lying.
She had never seen him lie to her before, maybe because he was so obviously awful at it. He stared at the ceiling, fidgeting nervously. Why would he ever have to lie about walking the dog?
Unless he wasn’t alone,
her brain whispered. She shook the thought loose from her head.
Stop it. Stop it. You’re being crazy. He’s not Aaron, he’s not your ex-husband. This is Keith. He’s crazy about you
.

As if he could hear her thoughts, Keith pulled Elly close to his chest and wrapped his arms around her, burying his face in her curls. “I’m sorry for butting in where I don’t belong. I know Dennis might be your brother, and that you want to treat him like family. I want to help you do that in any way I can. I guess I just don’t want anyone taking advantage of you.” His manly hands ran up her neck, until he cupped her face gently. “You are the only thing that matters.” He kissed her lightly. “You are my bathroom rug.”

Elly let herself fall into his kiss, slowly at first and then with a passion that scared her. His warm mouth made everything fade away, even that nagging feeling that had crept up so rapidly. The microwave gave a shrill beep, and Elly pulled away. “No more!” she whispered with a smile. “Dennis is here! We will have to go your place for kissing now.”

Keith gave a dejected nod. “There’s always your studio.”

“That’s comfortable,” sighed Elly. “Why haven’t I seen your apartment yet? Is it
really
that bad?”