Blue Violet - By Abigail Owen Page 0,27

own.”

Brian smiled and held out a hand. “That’s okay,” he said, taking her arm. “We need to get going anyway.”

He acted the perfect gentleman, escorting her to the car and opening the door for her. Ellie hadn’t been on many dates, but knew that she did like old-fashioned manners, and appreciated Brian’s attempts at chivalry.

Almost as soon as they started driving, he turned to Ellie and said, “Maybe sometime, just the two of us? Like a date?”

“Wow, Brian,” she stammered, trying to sound both surprised and sincere. “That’s so nice of you to ask me. I’m really flattered. Really.”

“I hear a ‘but’…” He sounded resigned but somewhat amused. Ellie felt relieved. Brian seemed to be a very confident guy. Her rejection was not likely to do much damage to his ego or his feelings.

“Well, there’s someone else…” she trailed off suggestively. As she said it, an image of Alex worked its way into her mind. She mentally shooed it away.

“In Texas?” Brian asked, hitting his turn signal as they came up to a stop sign.

“Mmmm…” He could take that as confirmation if he wanted to. She wouldn’t correct him.

“He’s a lucky guy,” Brian finally muttered after a long moment of silence.

Ellie gave a little laugh. “Well it’s nice of you to say so.” She gave him a sideways look. “Friends?”

“Of course!” He’d taken her rejection so well, if Ellie hadn’t known better, she would’ve been a little miffed.

“Cool.” She nodded, satisfied. “You’re a good guy Brian.”

“I won’t argue with you,” he agreed with a wink.

She rolled her eyes. “You might want to work on that ego, though,” she teased back.

“I’ll think about it.” He cocked an eyebrow and Ellie laughed again. They couldn’t find any space in the movie lot, so they parked in the larger lot up by the grocery store and walked down to the theater. The rest of their friends were already there, waiting outside despite the cold. Most of the people from their lunch table plus a few others had come. Adelaide, Lila, and Nate included.

Ellie noticed a few raised eyebrows among the group as she and Brian walked up together. High school drama could be really fun when you didn’t take it too seriously. Kayla was clearly pea green with envy.

“Hey!” Ellie greeted Adelaide, Lila, and Nate all with her usual careful hugs.

“Are you on a date?” Nate asked bluntly, never shy about asking what everyone else wanted to know. Ellie considered it to be one of his more endearing qualities, even if it rubbed some people the wrong way.

“No,” she said. “We’re friends. We live in the same neighborhood. He gave me a ride. That’s all there is to it.”

“Are you sure?” Nate teased, waggling his eyebrows suggestively.

Ellie chuckled. “Positive.”

“Hey, who was that guy at the pizza place the other night?” asked Lila.

“Griffin’s my brother,” Ellie answered, aware of Adelaide’s power. Hoping to head off additional questions about him, she added, “He… takes care of me.”

She saw Lila and Adelaide exchange a meaningful look. Once again, she resisted using Griffin’s power on the sisters. She’d also avoided using her own power on them, making sure to limit any physical contact. They were already suspicious. What if one of her powers caused Adelaide or Lila to find out her true identity before she was ready to tell them? Griffin still maintained that it was too early to share that secret. And she respected her brother’s wishes. Although her patience really was wearing thin.

“Everything okay?” Adelaide asked her quietly.

“Oh!” Ellie had forgotten to think of an appropriate emergency. She stuck as close to the truth as she could.

“We thought there might be an intruder, but we didn’t end up finding anyone or anything.”

“That’s scary!” Lila exclaimed.

“Yeah,” Ellie agreed. “We checked everything though, and so it looks like we’re okay.” …For now.

Brian held out his arm. “Ready to go in?”

While they were buying tickets, Ellie noticed that Brian actually blushed when he talked to the girl behind the counter. Feeling slightly guilty, but too curious to resist, Ellie tapped into Griffin’s power and tried to see what the connection was.

“Damn, she is so hot. I should just man-up and ask her out, but she’s not interested in me,” Brian’s thoughts came through loud and clear.

The girl, named Juliette, was a bit harder to read, keeping her thoughts close in to her heart. But after poking around a bit, Ellie heard, “Why do I act like such a clumsy moron when he’s around. I should just get over