The Funny Thing about Love: Feel Good Sweet Romance stories

by Laura Burton

  “I had no idea.” The revelation both annoyed me and made me smile. “I thought it was dumb luck that I kept ending up with idiots.”

  “No, babe. That had nothing to do with luck.”

  Vern yawned.

  “Oh, Gandalf. I’m sorry, Vee. I’ll let you get to bed.”

  “No! This has been the high point of my day. What are you going to do?”

  “I’m not sure.” I gnawed on my thumbnail. I had left Madden as confused and frustrated as I was, even though deep inside I knew I’d been in love with the doofus since I was eight years old. I needed to do something to apologize for not being ready to see what had been there all along, and tell him I’m in at the same time. “It needs to be good, whatever it is.” I sighed into the brief silence that followed.

  “Well, you’re in luck, because your good buddy Vern might have an idea.”

  “Yeah? Do tell...”

  Chapter Thirteen—Madden

  To: NCgirlEJ@gmail.com

  From: plyr87@gmail.com

  RE: re: re:

  E—

  I hope I’ve given you enough time alone.

  I don’t know entirely what to say. I know your friend has left you confused. Uncertain.

  I also think deep down you know what you need. What you want. “It is not time or opportunity that is to determine intimacy; it is disposition alone. Seven years would be insufficient to make some people acquainted with each other, and seven days are more than enough for others.”

  I think we have determined intimacy, E. And I think I like you, very much. Do you like me? Check yes or no, please.

  It had been three days since I last saw Ellie. She said she needed some time, so I’d given it to her, but I was starting to wonder how long she needed. Because I was pretty sure it had been nearly a lifetime, already.

  She told me to meet her at Vern’s for breakfast this morning, so that was promising.

  I guessed it was promising, anyway. She could want to meet so she could tell me face to face that I’d be better off moving back to Charlotte. I laid my paper napkin across my lap and took a long sip of my coffee, gaze fixed on the street outside as I waited for Ellie. I hadn’t been this nervous since draft day. The uncertainty that had been eating away at me for so long was at last coming to its conclusion.

  I fiddled with my straw, my silverware, the corner of the plastic menu. I hate waiting, hate it with all the passion of a thousand fiery suns.

  And then, there she was.

  Ellie stepped into the doorway, a large handbag slung over her shoulder, and looked right and left before she located me in the booth. It was crowded in here, noisy with the hum of mostly regular clientele since it was September now and past the summer rush. I fancied I heard the noise level dip as she spotted me and made her way through the tables to seat herself.

  “Hey,” she breathed, placing her bag beside her on the bench seat.

  I didn’t reply immediately, but allowed myself a minute to drink her in. Her flyaway blonde hair, piled up on her head in a messy knot. Her lightly bronzed skin, a rosy flush staining her cheeks. Her whiskey-brown eyes serious as she looked back at me.

  “I’ve missed you,” I told her.

  She traced a line on the Formica tabletop with her finger, connecting one golden fleck to the next. “I had some thinking to do.” Her eyes returned to mine. “You gave me a lot to consider.”

  I reached across the table and placed my hands over one of hers, giving it a light squeeze. “And did you consider things?”

  Vern’s arrival interrupted her nod. “Hey, peeps. Ellie, want some coffee? Something to eat?”

  We placed our orders, and Vern swiveled to return to the kitchen. She usually made herself comfortable in the booth for a quick chat, but she must have sensed the heaviness in the air.

  “So, I—”

  “Els, I—”

  We both spoke at once, and as abruptly stopped. Ellie motioned for me to talk, lifting my coffee to her mouth for a sip. She gagged and made a face as the bitterness hit her. I grinned at her and tugged the mug away. “Mine.”

  “Yeah, yeah. I keep hoping that one day you’ll be normal and like cream and sugar, but I don’t think it’s going to happen.”

  “I’m sweet enough without that stuff,” I told her. “Anyway. I’m not good at this talking thing.” I regarded her steadily. “You know that. I’ve always been this oversized brute who’s more confident in his ability to catch a football or tackle a guy than being romantic or—”

  “You don’t need to be romantic with me, Madden.”

  I ignored her. I needed to say this properly because I’d been going about this all wrong. “But I was kind of hoping maybe an email or two have helped bring some things to light?” She dropped her eyes and I swallowed my disappointment. “I’m in love with you, Ellie James. I’ve loved you all my life, even when I was being an idiot and didn’t realize it. But you’re a part of me, and I’ve always known exactly where to find you. You live in my skin. In my head. In my heart.” I thumped a fist to my chest, my eyes blazing into hers across the table. “There’s no chance, ever, of us not being friends. I’d have to carve out my organs to be free of you.”

  Still looking down, Ellie reached across the table and took one of my hands between both of hers. “You know I’ve always looked for signs, especially when I had a big decision to make. I can remember, after every awful date or failed test, after every seagull attack…” She stopped and chuckled before continuing. “I can remember exactly the omen that said run. I always second-guessed myself, though, or if I couldn’t run, prepared myself for the worst.” I nodded. “So, I started looking back, flipping through that mental Rolodex, wondering what signs I’d missed along the way with you.”

  I lifted my chin. I didn’t like where she was headed with this line of thought.

  “Do you remember the day you arrived on the island, and came to my grandma’s cruddy little house on stilts? She had just died and I was looking for a more permanent place to stay.”

  “Sure. It had poured down rain all the way over on the ferry. You were embarrassed to offer me the couch but you did anyway.”

  “Right. When you got here, the rain stopped. And I don’t think I ever told you, but when I went outside later to run out for groceries, there was a rainbow.”

  I was confused. “Are rainbows bad luck?”

  “No. Not at all. And that day we found each other on campus. I was sitting in the dell—”

  “Studying, I remember.”

  She made a face. “Not studying. Pretending to study. In reality, I was horribly distracted because I kept finding four-leaf clovers. They were all over the place. I was thinking it was some kind of karmic joke, because I had a paper due the next day and I couldn’t get any words on paper to save my life. And then you showed up.”

  “And you realized he was your good luck charm, and it was your destiny to live happily ever after, yadda yadda yadda et cetera, et cetera.” Vern plunked two plates down between us, and I realized that the café had gone silent.

  “Vern!” Ellie hissed.

  “Vern!” Vern’s Wyatt, sitting at the counter, half-turned and winked at me. “Give ’em some space.”

  Grumbling, Vern stomped off. I started to call after her, let her know that she set her order pad and pen down beside Ellie’s coffee, but Ellie picked it up and started scribbling.

  “Anyway. Before I was so rudely interrupted…” Ellie mock glared at Vern’s retreating figure. “Were you aware that it’s considered bad luck for a couple to get tattoos of anything symbolic of their significant other? It’s said that nothing dooms a relationship quicker than that.”

  The change in subject gave me whiplash. “Yeah, I think I’ve heard that before. Why, is this about Bee and Rafe’s tattoos?”

  Ellie took my hand in hers and began to idly doodle on it with Vern’s pen. The point of the pen sent a scratchy sensation through me and I restrained a full body shiver. As she held my hand in o
ne of hers, she moved the other, turning it palm-side up on the table and dropping the pen to the table. Looking up at me was a small “M” tattooed in white ink on the inside of her ring finger. With my free hand, I traced the letter and swallowed down the lump rising in my throat.

  “What is this, Els?”

  I didn’t think I had ever seen eyes as serious as the ones Ellie raised to meet mine. “I hurt you the other day, Madden. I’m sorry for that. And…it took me some time to be certain, but I know what I want, now. I want to show you how I feel. I want to prove to you, in the most permanent way I can, that I do trust you. I know you’ll never hurt me. And I’ll never hurt you, Madden. Not ever again.”

  Ellie released the hand she was doodling on and revealed the small E she had sketched on my ring finger. I understood it for what it was: a guide for the tattoo I’d be getting as soon as I left here today. “You tattooed yourself. For me.”

  She smiled at me, tender. “I’ve decided that we make our own luck,” she said, her voice ringing out in the café. “And I’ve decided I’m pretty lucky, because I am in love with and get to keep the most amazing guy on Ocracoke, if he still wants me.” She lowered her voice to a whisper. “You do still want me, right?”

  My voice was rough when I replied. “Always, Els.” Then, standing up in the booth, I hooked my hands under her arms and hauled her up and towards me over the table. There was noise. A whoop, a sigh, laughter and clapping. I heard a dish go clattering to the floor and Ellie squealed when her knee landed in syrup, but then I was kissing my girl, and everything else faded to where it belonged when she was in my arms—a distant second.

  As our lips clung together and Ellie’s hands kneaded my shoulders, I whispered into her mouth, “Just a friend, my big toe. I’m just yours—in every way there is.”

  A note from the author

  — If you enjoyed reading Just a Friend, please consider writing a review

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  books and help authors find new readers! — Thank you!

  Elle Rae Whyte writes sweet and clean romance under the pseudonym Elle Rae

  Whyte, and slightly steamier contemporary romance under E.R. Whyte.

  For more from this author, please follow on social media.

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  RELEASING AUGUST 28, 2020

  Say You Love Me

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  RELEASING SEPTEMBER 15, 2020

  Just a Crush by Elle Rae Whyte

  [formerly Love By the Numbers]

  Book 1 in the Only in Ocracoke Series

  RELEASING SEPTEMBER 30

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