The Forever of Ella and Micha

silences it without looking at the screen. “Who did you call?”
    I slip my sandals on and check my bag to make sure the house keys are in it. “Blake.”
    She springs up and tosses the apple core into the garbage next to the sofa. “You know Micha’s going to be pissed at you for showing up in Blake’s car.”
    “He won’t be mad,” I point out, opening the door, and sunlight filters in. “Just a little annoyed and you’re the one who suggested it first.”
    “I know I did, but then I realized it’s probably not a good idea.” She sighs as we head down the staircase. “You have a tendency to see things so distorted sometimes. He’s going to be pissed, because you told him you needed to be friends for a while, and then you show up in some other guy’s car.”
    I sidestep a tree and then dodge swiftly to my right as a guy playing football comes running in my direction to make a catch. “You drive and we can say that you borrowed it, and then it’ll be all good.”
    “All good?” She takes a pack of gum out of her pocket and pops a piece into her mouth. “Yeah, we’ll see how good it is with all that sexual tension you two are going to have.”
    She offers me a piece and I take one, knowing she’s right.

Micha
    “It smells like a locker room in here.” Ethan wrinkles his nose as he opens the fridge. “Oh God, there’s leftover spaghetti in here.” He picks up a Tupperware bowl filled with red crap and examines it closely. “Nope, I’m not sure what this is.”
    “Throw it out, man.” I pick up a heavy box marked “dishes” and carry it into the small kitchen that’s in desperate need of a paint job. There are chips in the green countertops and one of the walls has been spackled in multiple places. “It looks like it’s moving.”
    He tosses me the bowl, dry heaving at the horrible smell coming from it. “Your turn. I took the last run of garbage out.”
    I shake my head and head downstairs with the bowl out in front of me. The apartment complex is in a noisy area, especially by the playground. Children are on swings, running around, laughing, yelling, crying. It reminds me of everything Ella, Ethan, and I never had.
    When I reach the Dumpster, a red Mustang flies into the apartment complex parking lot. It pulls up beside Ethan’s truck underneath the carport and I stroll over, a little annoyed when Ella climbs out of it.
    By the look on her face, she knows she’s in trouble. She gives me a tentative wave. “Hi.”
    My gaze skims across the shiny hood of the car. “So the Mustang makes a grand return into our lives.”
    She gathers some of her auburn hair behind her ear. “Lila borrowed it.”
    I press her with an unrelenting look. “I can tell when you’re lying.” When I advance to the passenger side, Lila hops out of the car. “You could have had Ethan or me pick you up.”
    “I know I could have.” Ella lollygags toward the curb. “But I wanted to be able to go home when I wanted to.”
    “I’m going to go inside,” Lila interrupts, glancing up at the two-story apartment. “Which one is it?”
    Without taking my eyes off Ella, I point my finger to the second floor. “Top floor, first door on the right.”
    She nods and hurries up the stairs, which creak with the clicks of her high heels.
    “The car really doesn’t mean anything, Micha.” Ella scuffs her sandals across the asphalt, avoiding eye contact with me. “And I mean that. It was just a car to borrow.”
    “I understand that it might not mean anything to you, but it probably does to Blake,” I assure her, stuffing my hands into my pockets to resist the temptation to run my hands all over her body and try to take claim of her again. “Guys don’t lend cars like this to a girl they have no interest in.”
    She sighs and peeks up at me through her eyelashes. “I probably shouldn’t have come over. It’s too weird.”
    “It’s weird only if you make it weird.” I start for the staircase and she follows me. “Stop worrying so much, pretty girl.”
    “Easier said than done,” she mutters with a frown forming at her lips.
    When we reach the bottom of the stairs, I move to the side and signal for her to go ahead. “Ladies first.”
    She gives me a tentative smile and trots up the stairs, trailing her hand along the railing. Smiling to myself, I walk behind her with my eyes focused on her backside. She has these little red pair of shorts on that are tight enough that a small sliver of her ass