Chapter 14: No progress with Ellie

THERE WAS ABSOLUTELY no progress on the Ellie front. Dad was sympathetic, Mom and Nicole, too, but they all told me to cool it. I knew they were right but I didn’t want to admit it. Nicole stayed close nights and weekends. It’s not like she didn’t have a social life. Her friends, mostly girls and a guy or two, seemed to be in and out of our house all weekend long.

The girls were a treat to my eyes and nose, yes. I won’t kid myself or anyone else. Even if I’d been interested to developing something, Nicole made it plain I’d have to satisfy her, first. I wasn’t sure what satisfying her really meant, but the way she hovered, which I started to like, meant there wasn’t much chance I’d get very far with anyone.

Mateo was a slightly, very slightly, different story. I wasn’t sure how to get closer to him, but I had not reckoned with the sister network. Nicole and Deborah, younger sister of Mateo and Ellie, had been buddies for years. They were only a couple of years behind us, but we really didn’t pay much attention to them.

I was watching TV one evening, “Westworld,” which I hadn’t seen when it first ran. “Paint It, Black,” by the Stones was playing in the background when this little group of riders totally covered in blankets rode into town. Rodrigo Santoro in black in the lead, accompanied by the totally blonde Ingrid Bolsø Berdal as the inaptly named “Armistice.” If you’ve seen the series you know what happens next.

After the gunfire was over, Nicole settled in beside me on the sofa. She put her hand on my thigh and kissed my cheek. Her hair tickled my cheek, and I felt her breath on me.

“Hi, Nicole.” I didn’t know what else to say.

“Hi, Christopher.”

“What’s up?

“Christopher, I was talking with Deborah yesterday.”

My ears perked up at that.

“You and Deborah are still friends?”

I felt Nicole shrug.

“Yeah, well, things were pretty cool for a while, for a long time, after your trial. I mean, she’s on Ellie’s side, like Mateo. We didn’t talk, really talk, for weeks.”

Nicole kissed my cheek again. This was getting to be a regular thing, and I liked it.

“Look, I don’t want to get your hopes up or say too much, Christopher, but you know Ellie and her family are not totally one hundred percent convinced you were the one.” She held up her hand when I started to speak. “Uh uh, that doesn’t mean what you probably want it to mean. It means they’ve got doubts, mostly because they’ve known you so many years, they know how close the three of you, Ellie and Mateo were, and all. It’s hard for them to believe you did what the cops say you did.”

She paused.

“But there’s the evidence, Christopher. You know what I mean.”

“Nicole, how are things now?” I hesitated for a second. “I mean, what do you think,”

She squeezed my thigh.

“I meant what I said, Christopher. Don’t get your hopes up. I’m going to keep talking with Deborah. I’ll let you know how things are going. Maybe it’s not all black, you know?” She kissed me again, this time on the corner of my mouth, and stood up. “Besides, you have me on your side, right?”

I jumped up and pulled Nicole into a hug like I never wanted to let her go.

“Right, Nicole.”

And I kissed her. On her lips.

She grinned and waved and took off.

Nicole’s little flirtations kept me off-balance. I really wanted to know what she was learning from Deborah. Her only response was to repeat what she’d said before.