Ellie crossed her arms over her chest, frowning. 'What's Jo talking about?'
We waited patiently – or at least Jo and I did – for Hannah to finally let us in on whatever secret she was harboring. 'Just … don't tell Mum.'
'Why not? Are you doing something illegal?' Ellie huffed. 'I'm starting to get really concerned.'
I knew Hannah well enough to know she was only just refraining from rolling her eyes. 'It's nothing like that. I just don't want everyone to know. It's too depressing.'
'Fine, I won't tell Mum. Now spill.'
Exhaling heavily, Hannah leaned back against her pillows and stared up at the poster on her ceiling. It was a sexy black-and-white shot of the front man of one of the world's most famous rock bands. 'Two years ago I met this guy. Marco. He's a few years older than me. He helped me out when a couple of boys at school were bullying me anytime I missed the bus. Anyway, I kissed him one day.' She rolled her eyes at herself. 'I thought he was kissing me back, but he pushed me off him and avoided me for a while. Then he started talking to me again, but he pretended like nothing had happened. He graduated last year.' She turned her head on her pillow now to glance between Ellie and me. 'We've stayed in contact. Texting. Facebook. Sometimes meeting up just to hang out and talk. Nothing has ever happened between us, although I think I've made it clear I like him.' A pained expression, a deep hurt that caught me by surprise, entered Hannah's eyes, and I suddenly knew that this wasn't some silly little high school girl crush. She liked this boy. Really liked him. 'I know there's been other girls, I'm not stupid. But it's different when you actually see it for yourself.'
'What happened?' Ellie reached out to take her hand.
Hannah's lip trembled, her throat working as she fought to control her emotions. 'A few weeks ago I saw him kissing this girl outside the cinema. Like, really, really kissing her.'
Ellie sighed, a deep-seated understanding in her expression, and from everything Ellie had told me about her past with Adam, she really understood. 'So you finally decided to move on and accepted a date. This is like déjà vu,' she muttered, squeezing her little sister's hand.
'Scott' – Hannah flicked her gaze to me – 'the date from last night. He's a nice guy. He's in the year above me. A lot of girls like him. So I said yes.'
'What happened?'
'Wait for it,' Jo murmured, her mouth twisted in annoyance. 'It's bloody typical. Men,' she huffed.
'Marco moved here from Chicago. He's living with his aunt and uncle. They own D'Alessandro's.'
'Oh, my God, I love that place.'
'Liv – ' Ellie bugged her eyes out at me. 'Stick to the program.'
'Oh. Sorry.' I winced. 'Continue.'
'Marco works for his uncle at the restaurant, something he never actually told me.' She seemed perplexed by this. 'He goes to Telford College. He's studying to become a carpenter. I didn't know he was working too.'
She was silent a moment as she got lost in her own thoughts.
'Hannah.' Ellie shoved gently at her leg. 'The rest of the story?'
'Scott took me to D'Alessandro's.'
We all sucked in a breath, suddenly realizing where this was going.
'Marco was bussing tables. He saw us together and he looked … ' She shrugged, seeming lost. 'He looked furious. When Scott went to the toilet, I tried to talk to him, but he just … he barely looked at me and then stormed off. Disappeared.'
We were all silent for a moment and then I offered unhelpfully, 'Sounds complicated.'
'Sounds epic.' Ellie smiled at her little sister.
'This is why I didn't say anything.' Hannah glowered up at Jo while gesturing to her sister.
'Hey,' Ellie snapped, not something she did a lot, considering she was a pretty sunny person. 'Stop treating me like some fluffy romantic. I can be useful, you know. In fact, I'm an expert on guys who push you away for inexplicable reasons when it's obvious they fancy you.'
Her sister eyed her carefully. 'That is true.'
'I say let him hang.' Ellie shrugged. 'When I shut Adam out, that pushed him to make his move.'
'Wasn't that your tumor?'
Els glared at her. 'The tumor was a catalyst, but believe me I was wearing him down with my absence before all that.'
Hannah bit her lip at Ellie's tone. 'Sorry. I didn't mean to sound cavalier about your tumor.'
'Forgiven.' Ellie blew air out between her lips. 'So? What are we going to do? About Marco, that is?'
For a little while we sat around debating the best move, all of us considering it seriously, since it was plain as day that this was no ordinary crush for Hannah. This mysterious Marco guy, whoever he was, meant something to her, and I wanted a description so I could go into D'Alessandro's and check him out. Hannah did not seem interested in playing games with him and was leaning more toward Jo's advice to try and get him to talk to her. As the girls left the room ahead of me at Elodie's call upstairs, I was suddenly hit with a realization.