Elly in Love (The Elly Series) (16 page)

Elly suddenly felt compelled to give her an affectionate hug. Snarky Teenager’s body straightened awkwardly. It was like hugging a rain stick. “I agree with you. I just wanted to see what your case for this place was.”

Snarky Teenager pulled out of the hug. “I hate you.”

“No, you don’t. But we have to come up with a name. A real name. It can’t be Red Zen.”

Snarky Teenager whipped her hair around. “Yeah, I guess it really doesn’t fit this place. We can’t just keep calling it Store B.”

Elly gasped. “Oh my gosh, yes we can. That’s the perfect name for this place!”

Snarky Teenager tilted her head. “Store B?” She walked around the industrial space, all steel and light, and turned back to Elly with a huge grin on her face. “Store B: Posies reinvented. It’s
perfect
.”

Elly turned to the hallway. Zachary was standing in between the floor-to-ceiling windows, hands shoved deep into his pockets and staring at Snarky Teenager, who bent over, fixing a strap on her shoe.

“We’ll take it,” Elly said. “We’d like a one-year lease, and we can pay for the first three months up front.”

Zachary blinked at her. “I’m sorry, what did you say?”

“I said, we’ll take it.”

Zachary blinked again. “Seriously?”

“Seriously.”

“Wow, you guys are easy!”

Elly glanced over at Snarky Teenager, who was rubbing glittery lotion on her arms in slow massaging circles, and laughed. Store B’s roots were planted.

The rest of the day sped by in a blur of signing documents, touring the rest of the office building and the delivery dock, and taking Cadbury on the world’s longest walk. Five p.m. came rather quickly, and Elly suddenly found herself at a loss of what to wear for dinner with Dennis.
What does one wear for a first conversation with her broth
er
?
She asked herself
. A dress would be too formal, but jeans might say we are comfortable with each other already, which we aren’t. A skirt was lame, and khaki pants implied she was some sort of teacher.

Frustrated, she called Kim. She could hear an intense wailing in the background. Oh, Hadley. “What do I wear on my first date with Dennis?”

She heard Kim call Sean loudly, followed by a “Here, take him!” Kim took a deep breath. “Okay, first of all, don’t call it a date. It’s not. That’s weird.”
Oh
. “Second of all, why do you care what you wear? Just grab the first thing that comes to mind.”

Elly frowned. “Yoga pants and my Cardinals T-shirt?”

Elly heard a loud sigh. “How do you live without me? Never mind, don’t answer, I don’t want to know. Wear jeans, a nice shirt, and a cute pair of flats with dangly earrings.”

Elly grinned. “Okay, thanks. Give Hads a kiss for me.”

“Don’t call my kid Hads.”

“Okay, Kimmy.”

“Arrgghh.” Elly felt her heart warm as she hung up the phone. She was so blessed to call Kim her best friend. And now she had something to wear.

Elly wrung her hands together nervously as the elevator chugged up to the third floor of the Holiday Inn Express. Elly had promised Keith that she would text him through the night to keep him up to speed on what was happening. Keith was suspicious of Dennis’s vague intentions, and it brought Elly some comfort to know that she wasn’t navigating this minefield alone. The elevator doors drew open, revealing a long beige hallway dotted with small lanterns. It was pretty nice, this place. She should know, it would have cost her about seven hundred dollars if Keith hadn’t insisted on paying.
Thank you Keith
, she thought. He was such a generous man, even though she imagined that he only made about as much as she did from Posies.
Which wasn’t much
.

She arrived at room 237 and took a deep breath.
I can do this, I can do this, he’s been through so much, just try to be cool….
Elly knocked on the door. “Hello? Dennis, it’s me, Elly.”

He opened the door, blocking the entrance. Dennis was wearing a similar outfit to the one she had seen him in the first time she had met him—but this time he had on a
Star Wars
T-shirt with acid-washed jeans. With a start, Elly realized that they hadn’t offered to buy him clothing. Maybe tonight, after dinner, they could run by Target.

Dennis stared at the floor. “How’s it going?”

“Good, good, good.”
Why did I say that three times? What is wrong with me?
She tried to change the subject. “How is your hotel room?”

A smile cracked on his weary face. “Uh, it’s pretty awesome. Did you know they have free breakfast here? And cable? And a bathtub? I’ve been watching this show called
The Sopranos
—have you seen it? It’s pretty awesome. There’s this mob boss, and he kills all these people and he’s like ‘It’s for the family! Bam!’” Dennis chortled and then fell silent. “I mean, whatever. The hotel works. It’ll do.”

Elly suppressed the urge to push his long blond hair out of his eyes. “Well, I’m glad that you like it. It was nice of Keith to get this for you.”

Dennis shrugged. “I don’t like that guy.”

There was an awkward silence as Elly gazed past Dennis into his room. It looked like a disaster—towels everywhere, the bed linens stretched to the side of the bed, and breakfast trays and pillows littered on the floor. Also, there was a noticeable body odor lurking around.
Ugh.
She tightened her hand on her purse. “Hey, could I leave my umbrella here? I think the rain has stopped.”

“Sure,” Dennis mumbled, without inflection.

Elly brightened her voice as she put her umbrella down, taking a better look into the room. Was he a hoarder? “Shall we go? Do you like burgers?”

Dennis nodded and meandered out the door, not bothering to grab anything. Elly continued awkwardly. “I know this great place in University City. They supposedly have the best burgers in St. Louis.” Her brother—her brother!—gave an ambivalent shrug and headed down the hallway.

Elly waited until he was a few feet ahead of her and quickly flung the “Do Not Disturb” sign into the bedroom. That room needed to be turned over, badly. She smiled as she caught up with him in the hallway, trying not to convey the unease tightening in her chest. The elevator door opened with a loud chime, and Elly and Dennis stepped inside. They rode down the three floors in silence, then walked out of the hotel lobby into the bright May light, making their way to the car.

Dennis let out a hefty sneeze that made Elly jump. “Bless you.”

Dennis looked at her like she was an alien. “Yeah. I have allergies.”

Elly pounced at the opportunity to make conversation. “Oh yeah, like hay fever?”

Dennis rubbed his eye with his meaty fist. “I think so. It wasn’t really a problem in Ohio, but I can’t stop itching my eyes here. And sneezing. I haven’t even left the hotel.” He let out another loud bellow. “Do you have allergies?” he asked as he wiped his runny nose on his sleeve.

Elly fought back a gag at the stream of snot on his shirt. “Uh, nope.”

Dennis rested his arm on the hood of Elly’s little Tercel. “Well, I guess that’s one more shitty thing that was only passed on to me.”

Elly felt herself freeze. A wall of awkwardness, thick as glass, came down between them.
This was weird. How would this ever work?
Elly caught Dennis’s angry look before it shot to the ground. “Sorry. I’m a downer.”

Elly felt a counterfeit smile pass over her lips. “Don’t worry about it.”
He is so peculiar, she thought. Almost as peculiar as I am.
There was a deafening silence as they drove to University City. Elly flipped on the radio. An upbeat Celine Dion song pumped out of the back speakers. Elly tried to sing along, figuring that if she was singing with the radio, she wouldn’t look as nervous as she felt. After wailing her way through “Because You Loved Me,” she looked over at Dennis, whose face had paled. He looked like he was about to vomit. “Are you not a Celine Dion fan?” she asked.

“Is anyone?” he replied. She turned the radio down and he looked out the window with a huff. When they pulled up in front of the bright neon lights of Blueberry Hill restaurant, his face lit up. “Thanks” he said, and pressed his nose up against the window.

“This place looks semi-interesting.” Elly grinned as a piece of curly blond hair fell in front of her face.
Well, it was something
. They were seated quickly at a booth in the back, surrounded by toys and pop-culture memorabilia. Above Dennis’s head, Beavis and Butthead dolls stared down at their table, and scantily clad waitresses swaggered past Roy Roger dolls and comics. She glanced over at Dennis, who was looking all around them in wonder. “Cool, huh?”
Kids said ‘cool’ these days, right?

“Bangin’.” Dennis raised an eyebrow in her direction and shrugged. “I guess.” He was lying. Elly could see a joyous little kid longing to burst through his eyes.

She casually picked up a menu. “Well, get whatever you would like. Apparently the burgers here are world famous.”

Dennis gave a slight nod and gazed at the menu. Ten long minutes of silence passed before a sickeningly cute waitress tottered up to their table, her ponytailed bright-pink hair bouncing with each step. “Hey guys. I’m Carlie. What can I getcha?”

Dennis stared at her chest, which was threatening to spill forth from her tight button-down uniform. Elly, annoyed, snapped her fingers at him, and then instantly regretted it. She turned to Carlie. “Yes, I’ll have the jerk-chicken sandwich, with fruit and an iced tea, sweetened. Thanks.”

Carlie turned to Dennis with a sly grin. “And you, you big boy, what will you have?”

A blush spread up Dennis’s cheeks as he stammered out his order. “Um, I’ll have the pretzel sticks with nacho cheese to start with, the chili mac after that, a chocolate shake, and a barbecue burger with cheese.”

Carlie gave a bouncy nod. “Hungry?”

Dennis stared back at her chest. “Uh … yes, ma’am.” The waitress walked away.

Elly smiled kindly at Dennis. “You might have to take some of that home. Their portions are really big.”

Dennis bit his lip and looked away nervously. “Did I order too much?”

Elly felt her heart clench.
Had she made him feel bad?
“No, no, not at all; I’m sure you are very hungry. You’ve had a long journey.”

Dennis lifted and dropped his shoulders. “I guess.”

Elly was reaching desperately for conversation. “So, you don’t like Celine Dion.”

He grinned. “Obviously.”

“What kind of music do you like?”

Dennis leaned back in his chair. “Um, I like a lot of bands and music, I guess. I like punk, mostly. You know, the Ramones or The Clash?”

Elly tried to look like not only did she know these bands, but that she enjoyed them. “Oh yeah, totally.”

“Nice. I love Dead Kennedys and Bad Religion. Do you know Propagandhi?”

Elly nodded, totally lost.
Was he talking about propaganda? Or was that the name of the band
?

“Well, they were this Canadian band, none of that bubble gum anarchy stuff. They are really big in the Canadian live punk scene.”

“Oh, well, how interesting.” Elly was vaguely aware of how much she sounded like a grandmother. They paused for a minute as Carlie put their drinks down and flounced off, her short shorts taunting Dennis with each jiggle.

“What kind of music do you like, I mean, besides Celine Dion?”

“Oh, I don’t really like her. I just know that song.” She was lying again.

“Well, you seemed to know it really well.” Dennis gave a chuckle
. Think,
she told herself
, what are some of the weird artists that Isaac, her ex-boyfriend/self-indulgent musician used to listen to?
She drew a blank. “I like the Beatles.”

He gave her an exasperated look. “Sellouts.”

Elly tapped her fingers on her lips nervously. Dennis stared at her. “I do that.” He said, without any emotion. “My dad does … he did that, too. You know, he used to. Before he died.”

“Oh.” Elly tucked her hands into her lap. “Sorry.”

“No, I mean, it’s actually nice to see. That we do the same thing. You know.”

Elly saw fat tears well up in his large eyes before he blinked them quickly away.
Tell me everything about you,
she wanted to demand
.
Who are you? What do you think about me? What happens next?
She couldn’t believe that with all the questions bursting from her chest that they were chatting about bands.
This is ridiculous. Maybe I’ll try to talk to him about something real while we eat
, she decided.

Dennis fiddled with his napkin, ripping it into tiny pieces. “So, do you like
The X-Files
?”

“What?”

“
The X-Files
, it’s like an old show, they play it in reruns all the time?”

“Oh … I don’t really watch TV. I mean, I do every once in a while. I like shows where all the women date the one guy and get a rose at the end….”

Dennis looked disgusted. “That stuff is such trash.” Then his face went from snide to regretful. They sat in silence, the most awkward moment of Elly’s life.
This was definitely not how she pictured starting a relationship with her new brother.

Carlie finally brought their food, which Dennis proceeded to consume ravenously, barbecue sauce dripping down his chin onto his lap.
He’s like a feral animal.