The Friendship List(80)

Life was good. Great, even. She loved the whole sex thing with Keith and she was even coming to terms with Cooper hanging out with his dad.

Okay, coming to terms was a little strong. She accepted it had happened, but she still didn’t like it. But she would fake acceptance until he flew to LA. Then she would sob hysterically the whole time he was gone. Or at least for a few hours.

It was still about forty minutes until everyone met downstairs for breakfast. Ellen scanned her email and clicked on a link for a sale at Nordstrom. It took only a couple of minutes to find three dresses she really liked. Even on sale they were pricey, though. Not Santa Barbara pricey but way more than she was used to paying.

Still carrying her tablet, she grabbed her key and let herself out of her room. She crossed the hall and went down two doors to Lissa’s room, thinking she would ask her if the dresses were worth getting online or if they should go to the closest Nordstrom. A day trip to Seattle could be fun. Maybe Unity would like to come along, as well.

She was about to knock when someone from the housekeeping staff walked by.

“Did you want to go see your daughter?” the woman asked with a smile, then used her master key to open the door.

Ellen knew there was no reason to explain Lissa wasn’t her daughter.

Ellen knocked once as she pushed the door open. “It’s me. I have a fashion question.” She walked inside, quietly closing the door behind her before she turned and nearly dropped her tablet.

Lissa was still in bed, but she wasn’t alone. Luka was with her.

No, Ellen thought, blinking frantically, hoping she was having some kind of seizure and this was all an illusion. No, Luka wasn’t with her. He was on top of her! And they were naked!

“Oh my God! You’re having sex! Stop it! Stop it right now.” Ellen glared at them as the truth slammed into her, making it hard to breathe.

Both teens stared at her wide-eyed.

“What are you doing here?” Lissa asked.

“I wanted to ask about some dresses on sale.” Ellen pressed her free hand to her chest. “This is bad. This is so bad. How could you do this? You swore to your father you weren’t sleeping with anyone. You lied to him.” She turned slowly in a circle, trying to figure out what to do.

“So bad,” she repeated. “Your dad is going to be pissed.” She glared at Luka. “What were you thinking? How long has this been going on? He’s going to kill you, Luka. You know that, right?”

Keith. Oh, no. He was going to find out and then what?

“I wasn’t sleeping with anyone when I talked to my dad,” Lissa said, pulling up the sheet. “It’s no big deal.”

“It’s a huge deal and you know it.” Ellen felt sick to her stomach. “I’m going to throw up.”

“Ms. F, could you turn away, please?” Luka asked. “I want to get up.”

“Oh, please. Do you think I care about your penis, you idiot? Your life span has been considerably shortened. That’s what you should be worrying about.”

“Okay.”

Luka started to get up. Ellen immediately spun away, covering her eyes.

“I don’t want to see you naked, you fool. What’s wrong with you?”

“But you told me—”

“Don’t try to make sense of this,” Lissa told him. “She’s gone over the edge.”

“I’m not over the edge,” Ellen muttered. “I’m close, but I’m not over.”

“I’m dressed, Ms. F.”

Ellen turned back to find Luka had pulled on jeans and a T-shirt. He looked more than a little chagrined.

“I love her,” he said, looking both proud and scared. “I have for a long time. I just got up the courage to tell her.”

Which, under any other circumstances, would have been really sweet.

Ellen turned on Lissa. “So you thought it would be a good idea to have sex with him while on a road trip with your father?”

“I love him, too.”

“Do you really think that has any relevance to this situation?” Ellen clutched her tablet to her chest. “I have to figure this out. We still have to visit the University of Oregon and then tonight and the drive home. If he finds out...”

She pointed at both of them. “We’re all going to die and you’re both to blame.”

With that, she turned and stalked out of the room. But being away from the scene of the crime didn’t help at all. She simply couldn’t wrap her mind around what she’d seen.

Ellen managed to stumble back to her room where she stood by the bed, trying to figure out her next step. Keith was going to be furious and she couldn’t blame him. She totally understood that, but what really got to her was the fact that she was going to have to tell him.

Just thinking about that made her stomach get all flippy and the need to throw up returned. She took several deep breaths to calm herself, which didn’t work at all.

Someone knocked on her door. She pulled it open and glared at Lissa.

“How could you?”

Lissa stepped inside and waited for Ellen to close the door.

“It’s not what you think.”

“You’re not having sex with Luka? Oh, please. I saw you and him. I’m going to have nightmares about it for weeks. I can’t unsee it. So he tells you he loves you and you fall into bed with him?”