“Were you raised by wolves?” she demanded.
Luke lifted his hands up and laughed. “Geez, you offered.”
Yeah, to Brendon. She sniffed. Her bacon, her rules; she was under no obligation to share.
Only . . . everyone was looking at her like she’d lost her mind, including Elle, including Olivia. She stared at Margot, hands still cradling her mug of tea, her lips parted in apparent shock, and—
Margot flung a strip of bacon at Luke’s plate. “Enjoy.”
She wiped her hands on her napkin and pushed away from the table. “I’m going to—”
Elle stood so fast her chair almost toppled over. “Come to the gift shop with me?”
She swallowed her sigh. No point in delaying the inevitable. “Sure.”
They made it out of the restaurant and through the lobby without speaking. By the time they reached the gift shop, Elle appeared to be practically vibrating out of her skin with the restraint it was taking to hold her tongue. Her eyes were wide as she stared at Margot, her lips a thin, pale line as she pressed them together. Elle’s eyes might actually fall out of her eye sockets if she stared any more meaningfully.
“Stop looking at me like that.” Margot chuckled, slightly unnerved. “It’s freaking me out.”
Elle held up her hands. “I can’t look at my best friend? My best friend who should know she can tell me anything and I’ll listen. Eagerly, even.”
Margot’s eyes narrowed. “I’m on to you.”
“What?” Elle feigned ignorance, her blue eyes flaring with faux innocence. “I didn’t say anything.”
“Elle.”
Elle gave a tiny shrug. “Like I said, whenever you’re ready to talk, I’ll be ready to listen.” She smiled guiltily. “So . . . are you ready to talk yet? Or do I need to dig deep for a little more patience?”
Heaven forbid.
“It hasn’t even been twelve hours.” Margot shook her head but wasn’t able to churn up any true exasperation. “Hours.”
Elle bit her lip, brows rising, expression eager. “That was before you smacked Luke’s hand away from your bacon.” Her brows wiggled.
“It’s breakfast meat, Elle. It’s not that deep.”
Elle jutted out her lower lip.
Margot rolled her eyes, aiming for affectation and missing by a landslide when she swallowed, her throat suddenly parched to the point that her gulp was audible. Fuck. “I don’t even know where to start.”
“At the beginning?” Elle suggested, nodding in the direction of the ski apparel. There were several racks of options at the back of the shop, most in garishly bright colors that made Margot cringe at the thought of sliding down a mountain looking like a traffic cone.
“The beginning,” Margot repeated, rifling through a rack of jackets. “Which beginning? The beginning eleven years ago? The beginning when Liv and I met in kindergarten? Or the beginning where we ran into each other last month?”
“Either? All?” Elle shuffled awkwardly on her feet. “Or I guess I could tell you what I already know?”
Margot froze, one hand wrapped around the hanger of an ostentatious coat in pea green. “What you already know . . . which is what, exactly?”
Elle bit her lip and winced. “Um, the walls of the hotel are thinner than you might think.”
“What.” Margot gripped the metal rack and stared.
“Um, was that a question?” Elle laughed through another sharp cringe. “I—yeah, so last night, Darcy and I sort of . . . heard some things. And this morning, when you answered the door, you were wearing the sweater Olivia had on last night. It was, uh . . . A lot of things suddenly made a lot of sense.”
The rush of blood to her head left Margot dizzy. “Ah. I see. That would be, um . . .” Awkward laughter burst from her lips. “Illuminating.”
“Oh my gosh. You’re blushing, Margot.” Elle giggled.
“Well, yeah. You just told me you heard . . .” She trailed off, making a vague gesture with her hand that didn’t mean much of anything but communicated plenty.
“We lived together for ten years. It’s not the first time one of us has heard the other”—Elle mimicked Margot’s hand movement—“you know. I mean, for goodness’ sake, my mom walked in on you freshman year.”
And to this day, Mrs. Jones wouldn’t look Margot in the eye. Margot maintained that if Mrs. Jones hadn’t wanted to see Margot naked, astride the RA, she should’ve knocked before entering the dorm room she and Elle shared.