Kaori & Ellie prt. 15

Ellie stopped brushing her teeth when she heard a noise of a text on her phone. She didn't even have to look. It was Kaori checking up on her. They always texted first thing in the morning, but not this morning.

Micky needed to see her.

"What?" Ellie couldn't think of a reason why.

"What is it?" Now Nico looked at her with shock, too.

"I dunno what Micky wants." It wasn't like she and Nico hung out with Micky and his boyfriend. Ever so often they came over to dinner and they played a card game after the shop closed down on a Friday night. OK, so they hung out together on the weekends. Yugi was easy to get along with. Still, she probably wouldn't mention it to anyone.

Before they knew it, someone was at the door. Nico opened it and there were the three of them. One was out of place. She looked them over. And then Ellie thought her eyes might cross.

"Huh." Oh, she felt herself laugh on the inside. Could it be? Had to be a doppelganger. Had to be.

"He..he came looking for you, last night," Micky said.

"It was the middle of the night." Yugi clarified.

"Huh.." Ellie still found it hard to speak. She couldn't believe anybody in their right mind would come this far. She shook her head, as if it were all a big joke. But nobody was laughing, just some hairy guy crying.

He hugged her, as if it were a long time coming.

"I didn't think you would do it." Her voice was muffled and her English was broken, but he kept hugging her. Besides, he'd told her this in a chat six months ago, and she had hardly heard from him since. What had came over him?

He smelled of nicotine and breath mints. She thought of her dad. Of course, her dad always reeked of alcohol.

She stiffened to Milo's touch. He didn't belong here. No way could she offer him anything. But at the moment it was a sticky situation.