"Good," said Ellie, coloring slightly. He was still looking, and it made it difficult to concentrate and think of Clever Things To Say. Not that she needed to impress him, exactly -- even if that had been a quiet little hope, in putting all of this together.
She took his hand as it was offered and stood, still clutching the reader. For a moment Ellie wavered -- weak moments still came now and again, even with so much improvement -- but she righted herself again easily, popping up on her toes to ask for a kiss. This isn't something friends do, either.
No. But Ellie was still all nerves, too shaky to tell the truth now.
"You'll see," she told him honestly instead, returning the smile. "Sing Sing is in this book I found... Today. In the library. Isn't that funny? I brought it all the way... All the way here." Before all of this. And you.
Ellie paused then, leaning down to pick up Haunted Northern New York; when she looked up at David again, her eyes glinted with obvious affection. It was a relief not to hide it, now that she'd resolved to try and be more forthcoming about the things that had come into her heart. Quarantine and the infirmary, for as awful as they'd been, had served to clarify Ellie's feelings about so many people and things: an improvement and a complication, so far.