The After Girls by Leah Konen Page A

outfits before she settled on a dress that looks like my grandmother’s sofa. She showed her cheerleading friends each one of them, sending them pictures from her iPhone. Her favorite band is something awful like Coldplay or Dave Matthews. Her name’s generic yet uncommon — Debra.”
    Mainly she’d just listen, but sometimes Astrid would help out, too: “The guy asked her to come to The Grove, and she asked him if she’d need her hiking boots.”
    Laughter: “Not that she has any.”
    “Of course not.”
    Astrid would never let Ella get too far. “Maybe she’s cool,” she’d say with a shrug. “You can never know what people are really like.” That was one of the wonderful things about Astrid. She always managed to keep people good and honest. For the first time, Ella wondered if she’d ever been able to see how good and honest she was herself.
    They’d talk about the real things, too. Astrid was always good at advice: “What is going on with Sydney and Max?” Ella would ask. “Should we try to distract her?”
    Now, Ella glanced over to see Max leaning in towards Sydney, talking close. She couldn’t decide if it was bad or just harmless band bonding, or if it was even her place to give an opinion. And Astrid wasn’t here to give her advice.
    I miss you, too.
    Ella jumped when she heard a voice behind her. “This seat taken?”
    Startled, she turned around quickly, her elbow knocking over a half-empty glass on the bar.
    “Shit,” she said, as she saw Jake standing right in front of her, quickly grabbing a few napkins to sop up the mess. Stale beer ran down the side of her dress.
    “Here you go,” he said with a nerdy smile, handing her a stack.
    “Thanks,” she said, and she immediately started dabbing even though it was no use. She’d smell like beer for the rest of the night. “What are you doing here?” she asked.
    “Besides helping you clean up?” he asked. “I’m pretty sure you invited me.”
    “I know, but I didn’t think you’d come. Especially after — ”
    “You walked out on me without an explanation?”
    “Sorry,” she stammered, even though she still wasn’t going to give one. She hoped that’s not why he’d come. “It’s late,” she said. “I just didn’t think you’d be here. The show started awhile ago.”
    Jake almost looked annoyed, but he gave her a grin. “Well you didn’t tell me when it started — or where it was. You booked it out of there before you got to those minor details.”
    “Oh,” she said, and she felt like an idiot. Hoping he would come when he had nothing to go on — when she’d given him every reason not to. And yet, he had. “So how did you know?” she asked.
    “The beauty of the Internet,” he said, flashing another smile. “You want a beer? Now that you’ve knocked the other one over.”
    “That wasn’t even mine — ” she started to say, but he was already flagging down the bartender.
    She glanced back at Ben while Jake ordered. He was fully turned towards Carter and hadn’t even noticed the spill — or her new friend.
    In minutes, a can was sitting in front of her. Sweating. Ice cold. Surprisingly appetizing. She grabbed it, taking something between a sip and a gulp.
    “Hey,” Jake said. “We didn’t clink. It’s bad luck.”
    “According to who …
whom
?” she said, correcting herself.
    “The entire world? Come on,” he lifted his can. “We have to toast to something.”
    Ella shrugged. “There hasn’t been a lot for me to toast to lately.”
    “Well,” he said. “Then we toast to each other. To new friends.”
    “Okay,” she said, even though it felt strange. Wrong, in a way. Lose one friend. Gain another. “To new friends.” They smashed their cans together so hard that beer splashed out the top. That finally got Ben’s attention.
    “Hey,” she said, catching his eyes and setting down her drink. “This is Jake. He’s working at the café now. He was Astrid’s cousin.”
    Ben stared at her