Just One Kiss (18 page)

“No, Sam, I don’t. Thanks for the offer, though,” I answer
politely.

“Um, are you sure? Because you’ve been looking for something
for the past fifteen minutes,” he says, as he stuffs his hands in his pockets.

“I’m positive,” I answer shortly before starting to dig
through the box again.

“Please?” he says.

I sigh. I really could use some help. “Sure,” I concede
eventually.

“Thanks,” he says, a smile lighting up the face I was once
obsessed with. I’m glad to find that it has absolutely no effect on me anymore.
He crouches down next to me and apparently decides that letting him help also signaled
that I was dying for conversation.

“So, how you been?” he asks, opening up another box.

I ignore him, even though every polite part of me cringes at
the action. He clears his throat and asks, “Anna, you okay?”

I look over at him and nod, still not saying anything.

“Well, um, did you hear what I asked before that?” he asks,
sounding uncomfortable.

I roll my eyes. “Yes, I heard you,” I assure him.

“Would you mind answering me?” Normally that would sound
snappy, but it seems like he’s being genuine.

Taking a deep breath, I say, “I actually do mind a little.
But I’ve been great.” A small smile forms on my lips as I think about Brayden.

“Oh . . . good.” He nods.

I nod back, feeling just a tiny bit bad for not asking him how
he’s been in return. I may be working on forgiving him, but that doesn’t mean
I’m about to forget. I think the saying “forgive and forget” is complete crap.
Yes, it’s positive and healthy to forgive, but forgetting? Never forget. There
is a lesson to learn in every experience, and forgetting would mean dishonoring
all the pain you survived.

After a few minutes of sitting in silence, snowflakes
nowhere to be found, Sam starts talking again. “Look, I wish I cou . . .”
I zone out on what he’s saying to me when I hear a familiar voice behind me.

“Is Anna in here?”

“Anna?” I hear someone ask.

“Anna Holden,” the voice responds.

“Oh, that Anna. She’s right over there, with the boxes and
that guy.”

I jump up and head toward Brayden, giving him a hug and a
kiss before stepping back. “What are you doing here?” I ask, happy and
surprised. We weren’t supposed to hang out until later.

“I missed you,” he replies simply, giving me a sweet smile.

I grin. “I missed you too, but you didn’t have to come to my
school,” I tell him, shaking my head.

“Of course I did. I like your outfit, by the way,” he says,
holding me at arm’s length for an appreciative once-over. I laugh and spin for
him. He mentioned in passing that he, for some reason, likes button-up shirts
on girls. Last night when Ro and I were shopping, I saw one with tiny gray and
black checkers on it. I matched it with my favorite pair of skinny jeans, dark
beige flat ankle boots, and a mixed pastel scarf. Everything that I’m wearing,
other than the jeans, is new.

“Thank you, I hoped you would,” I gush happily. I’m
definitely not the type of girl who only buys things her guy likes. I loved the
shirt as soon as I saw it; it’s just a huge bonus that Brayden likes it too.

He pulls me back to his side and looks around. “What’s
happening in here?”

“The winter formal is Sunday, so we’re getting an early
start on decorations,” I answer.

“Are you going?” he asks.

I give him a weird look. “No, definitely not. I hate school
dances.”

“What? Why?”

“Um, because?” I answer, not sure what the real answer is.

“Well we should go,” he says, nodding his head once as
though to confirm the idea as a plan.

“No, I don’t think we can,” I answer.

“We’re going,” he tells me, smirking when I give him a
doubtful look.

“I don’t have a dress or shoes,” I tell him.

“I’ll handle that too,” he assures me.

“Brayden, you can’t just handle everything on your own,” I
tell him, putting a hand against his stomach, which is firm and delightful
under his shirt.

“Dear,” he says in a condescending tone that I know is fake,
“I can handle anything. Now, on to more important issues; who was that guy you
were talking to?” he asks, nodding his head toward the boxes.

“That’s Sam Erickson,” I tell him with a scowl. I feel his
body stiffen and I stifle a groan. I should’ve lied. Brayden’s had a tendency
to get a tiny bit overprotective lately. It’s endearing most of the time, but
occasionally it can get annoying.

“Why the hell are you talking to that fu . . . prick?”
He asks, not liking to swear in front of me.

“He offered to help. We weren’t really talking, he was just
trying to,” I explain.

“Well I don’t like it,” he says, still glaring at Sam.

“Bray, don’t even worry about it. He’s apologized and I’m
trying to forgive him. I can’t hate him forever.”

“The hell you can’t. What he did was awful, Anna. How can
you just act like it never happened?” he asks, almost too distracted to notice
my glare. When he does, I see him gulp.

“If you think that I will ever just act like it never
happened, then you don’t know me very well,” I tell him, trying to take a step
away from his side. He doesn’t let me go, though. In fact, his arm tightens to
keep me close.

“I’m sorry. I do know you,” he whispers, looking into my
eyes.

I nod, still a little put off. “Sam did something that will
be with me for the rest of my life. I’d just like to grow from it rather than
lose myself in it,” I say quietly, looking down. I’ve become so much stronger
in the past couple of months, but that doesn’t mean it can’t still hurt. “And
that’s a recent development,” I admit quietly.

“Baby, I know,” he says, tipping my face up and pressing his
lips softly against mine. With another quick peck, he pulls back and smiles
warily, clearly wondering if we were okay now.

I grin and begin pulling on his hand, leading him to the
huge mound of boxes. “Okay, so we’re looking for a box with glittery snowflakes
in it,” I inform him, sending him over to a few boxes that haven’t been opened
yet.

He groans, “If I knew you’d make me work, I wouldn’t have
joined you.”

I laugh and shrug my shoulders. “Too bad.”

When I see Sam’s face, it’s clear that he’s wondering who
Brayden is. Then, as I look around the gym, I notice that everybody looks that
way. A little awkwardly, I say, “Sam, this is my boyfriend, Brayden. Brayden,
this is Sam.”

I watch his eyes widen when I say boyfriend, and I get a bit
of smug satisfaction from that. “Boyfriend? Uh, it’s nice to meet you.” He
stands to shake Brayden’s hand, which I find weird. I mean, I can see my father
or brother doing something like that, but Sam?

Brayden gives him the fakest smile I’ve ever seen. It looks
completely wrong on his handsome face, but he grabs his hand. I see Sam’s
fingertips go red and then white, and his face scrunches up a little bit until
Brayden lets go. “I’ve heard a lot about you, Sam,” Brayden practically gags
with disgust at Sam’s name.

I’m just standing here with wide eyes, completely shocked to
see Brayden be physically hurtful to somebody. “I’m sorry, Sam,” I murmur quietly.
“He’s a bit mad at you for last year.” I really don’t owe him any explanation,
but any kind of bullying feels wrong to me. Brayden and I are going to have a
talk about that.

“It’s fine. I deserved it.” He sighs before going back to
the box he was working on.

“No you didn’t,” I say before shooting a glare at Brayden,
who just looks confused.

Finally, I find the snowflakes and hand them off to the
people working on ladders. I can go home now. With a last good-bye to Sam, whom
I now feel a bit bad for despite everything, and Ro, I walk outside with
Brayden close behind me.

“Annie, what’s wrong?” he finally asks as we shuffle into
the freezing weather. I disappear into my leather jacket for warmth, seriously
considering wearing my parka from now on.

“Don’t even pretend like you don’t know,” I scold, just loud
enough to be heard.

“What? I don’t. Are you on the rag or something?” he asks,
making me stop and spin toward him, sending daggers into his face with my eyes.

“Are you kidding me? I’m leaving now,” I snap before
stomping toward my car.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” he snaps back.

I turn again and shake my head angrily. “When did you become
such an asshole? Don’t get me wrong, I like it when you try to protect me and
stuff, but you hurt him in there. Physically. And now you come out here asking
me if I’m on the rag? Like the only reason that I could be angry at you is if
I’m menstruating?” I yell at him. I hardly ever yell, and I feel awful about
it, but this person in front of me isn’t the guy I’ve been falling for in the
past couple of months.

“What do you want me to say?” he yells back, throwing his
hands out. “That I’m sorry I showed him not to mess with my girl? Because if
that’s what you want, it’s the one thing I won’t give you.”

“I don’t want your apology. I want to know what happened to
you. Nothing in the past twenty minutes was like you,” I respond angrily.

“You want to know what’s wrong with me?” he practically
screams, scaring me. “What’s wrong with me is that my girlfriend would rather
take the side of the douche that hurt her, than her own boyfriend! I’ve been
trying to comfort you for the past two months because he hurt you and as soon
as I stand up for you, you’re telling him that he didn’t deserve it! Was any of
this ever about him, Anna? Or were you just playing hard to get and difficult
to manage from the very beginning?” he yells.

After a long silence, with large tears falling down my face,
I whisper, “Stay away from me, Brayden.” Crying, I get in my car and drive away
without looking back.

All Mixed Up

I’m able to keep my tears to a minimum on the drive home, but
as soon as I get inside, the floodgates open. I quickly call Aurora and ask her
to come over. Within a surprising ten minutes, since I easily live fifteen
away, Ro’s knocking on my bedroom door and bursting through.

“Anna, what happened?” she gasps before coming to my bed and
hugging me to her.

“B-B-B-B . . .” I can’t speak past my sobs.

“Shh, try to take a deep breath and then speak,” she says
soothingly.

I try to breathe, but it’s extremely shaky. Luckily, it
still helps. “B-Brayden c-c-came to sch-school and he y-yelled. I th-think I
brok-ke up w-with him-m,” I sob.

Her eyes widen dramatically in disbelief. Only yesterday I
was talking about how I was really falling for him. “What? Why? What happened?”
she asks quickly. It takes a while, but I explain everything to her, starting with
Sam asking to help me.

“Wow,” she whispers, her expression thoughtful. “How about
you lie down and I’ll go get you some water?” she offers with a caring smile. I
nod and thank her before relaxing on my back. Part of me regrets it, because
Brayden is the best thing that’s ever happened to me besides Ro. On the other
hand, though, I don’t want the Brayden I saw today. He was mean and, even
though I yelled first, he screamed at me. How could he even think that my
suffering was all just some ploy or something?

About five minutes later, Ro comes back upstairs with a
glass of water, popcorn, ice cream, chocolate chips, and the DVD we usually use
for her breakups:
How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days.
We always stop it before
the ending, though. I give a teary laugh before sitting up and resting against
my headboard. For the rest of the night, we stay cuddled up under my blankets,
doing everything we can to distract me. Ro even took my phone away, so I
wouldn’t worry about it. She’s truly the best friend a girl could have.

Around nine o’clock, I fall asleep from exhaustion. Crying
always does that to me. I don’t wake up until the next afternoon. At first I
panic, since I was scheduled to work the morning shift, but I see a note from
Ro:
Called Jon and told him you had a family thing. You’ve got the next two
days off.
I give a sigh of relief and thank my lucky stars for her again.

I’m sure my eyes are puffy and my face is blotchy, since I
was probably crying in my sleep, but I don’t even care as I make my way
downstairs. Both my sister and mother give me concerned looks. The guys are
probably out fixing a car or something. I bite my lower lip and move to the
fridge, hoping to find comfort food.

“Anna, are you feeling okay?” Lena asks me carefully.

I simply nod my head, thinking I’ll probably cry if I talk.

“Are you sure? Did something happen between you and
Brayden?” Mom asks, wincing as I spin and burst into a fresh round of tears.
Quickly, I’m surrounded by two pairs of arms. A month ago, this would have been
very awkward for me. Right now? It’s everything I need.

“Come on, let’s go sit down,” Mom coos in my ear. We all
move to the couch and Lena hands me some tissues. I go through about five of them
before I explain, in less detail than I gave Ro, what happened.

“Holy crap, I never would’ve guessed that he’d do something
like that,” Lena whispers thoughtfully when I’m finished.

I shrug. “I suppose it’s best that I find out now, before
I’m in over my head,” I tell her, not really believing it. After a minute, I
sigh. “I came down here for food, but I’m not really hungry anymore,” I say
sadly before heading back upstairs to crawl into bed.

Another hour passes with me staring into space when a knock
sounds on my door. “Come in,” I call out, assuming it’ll be either Lena or Mom.
To my shock and horror, Brayden’s head peaks in the door. My chest tightens as
I pull the blankets over my head. “Get out of here,” I demand.

“Baby, we’ve gotta talk about what happened yesterday,” he
says softly.

“I don’t want to talk. I want you to go away,” I growl. I
can’t believe he’s actually here.