“Are you….drunk?” I finally blurted out, unable to reconcile the Anna I knew with the girl sprawled next to me. The one who was actually contemplating calling Dom, Snoopy, of all things.
“I’m not drunk,” she retorted, emphasizing drunk like it was a dirty word. “Some of us can’t get drunk because of our super-duper metabolisms,” she informed me, the words dragging. “And really, do you have room to talk?” She accused, rolling her head toward me and wrinkling her nose. “Miss, I’m going to need you to walk a straight line and recite the alphabet backwards.”
I snorted back a laugh as I said, “Can anyone recite the alphabet backwards?” She opened her mouth and I hurriedly tacked on, “Correctly.”
She stared at me for a second. “Z, Y, X, W, V, U, T, S, R, Q, P, O, N, M, L, K, J, I, H, G, F, E, D, C, B, A,” she answered without hesitation.
“I stand corrected,” I replied somehow unsurprised, and also not willing to admit I had no idea if she was right. I couldn’t even recite the alphabet without singing it.
“What’s going on?” I asked bluntly. We hadn’t spoken since the night of the rescue and I hadn’t wanted to tell her, that I’d overheard her conversation with Trent that night. She’d responded back to my texts with brief replies, only enough to let me know she was still alive and talking to me.
“A mutt kissed me and I liked it,” she wailed, startling me as she fell into my shoulder, and leaned her head against me, sniffling.
“Is that a new Katy Perry song?” I asked before I could stop myself. She responded by pinching the inside of my thigh until I yelped.
“Jesus!” I slapped her hand away. “Do you forget you’re ridiculously strong?”
“No,” she replied casually, “But you deserved it. I’m in turmoil over here and you’re joking like Katy Perry is gonna make a comeback.”
I rubbed my thigh, already feeling a bruise forming as I reassured Dom mentally that no I wasn’t being attacked. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have joked about something like that.”
She sniffed. “Katy Perry is no joke,” she answered, snuggling her head into my shoulder as I awkwardly pattered her arm. “What am I going to do?”
“Uh, kiss him back?”
I moved my leg out of the way just in time as her hand came down.
“It’s Trent,” she shrieked, like I didn’t know that.
“Yeah, I kind of figured. What’s the big deal?” She lifted her head and stared at me like I had two heads. In fact, she stared so long I actually patted my head to make sure there was only one.
“I love Caleb,” she replied, the words so dramatic and unlike Anna, I had to fight the urge to laugh.
“So?”
“Caleb, not Trent. I shouldn’t enjoy that mutt dragging me into his arms and devouring my lips like I’m the only woman on the planet,” she hissed, her cheeks flushed as she described The Kiss. I pressed my lips together to hide my smile.
“Sounds like a good kiss,” I said noncommittally.
“Exactly! It was. And that’s what’s wrong!”
“So Trent kissed you and you liked it. You’re not with Caleb. I don’t see the problem.”
“But I want to be with Caleb. I love Caleb. I’ve loved him forever,” she cried, her words strong but her eyes confused as she tried to reconcile what she felt.
“Do you love Caleb or have you had a crush on him so long that you think you do?” I asked gently. She opened her mouth and closed it without saying anything. “You care for him, you’re loyal to him, and you’ve known him for years, but he’s never really paid attention to you.”
“He kissed me in the field house,” she said, a little desperately.
I shrugged lightly, not wanting to say what I thought about that little hookup. “And? How was it?”
“Good,” she declared, her tone defiant. “It was good.”
“I’m guessing there was no devouring going on?”
She reddened when I threw her words back in her face. “Trent has more experience, I’m sure,” she responded tartly.
“And maybe, there’s a little chemistry there too?” I offered.
She shook her head, glancing away. “He thinks I’m special,” she said as her head dropped back onto the couch. “And not in a good way. More like he wants to put me on a pedestal like I’m….” she trailed off, sighing. “Like I’m something to be revered and not a flesh and blood woman.”
“Did he kiss you like you were something to be revered?”
She pursed her lips but finally shook her head.
“You know, Anna,” I said, reaching for her hand. “You can change your mind. Just because you’ve loved Caleb forever doesn’t mean you’ll always love him. At least, not in the same way.”
“Everything’s changing,” she whispered, her voice thick. “Ever since you showed up, it’s like everything I’ve always known has gotten dumped on its head.”