Just One Kiss (23 page)

“Beautiful night, huh?” she says, looking at the parking
lot. Despite there being snow everywhere and the weather being far too cold to
be enjoyable, she’s right. It is a beautiful night.

“Yeah, it is,” I say, smiling dreamily.

She snickers. “First love, huh?”

My eyes wrinkle. “What?”

“That smile. It’s only there the first time. Before your
heart’s been broken.” I frown. Why is she telling me this on Valentine’s Day?
Isn’t there like a girl code somewhere the strictly prohibits harshing
somebody’s love mellow?

“Well, hopefully I’ll be able to smile like this for a long
time then” I reply, crossing my arms in front of myself. I’m suddenly feeling
very self-conscious standing next to this girl. She’s the type of girl that
makes me hate my large body. She’s petite and stick thin with a skintight dress
on that makes her look like a sex symbol.

Brayden runs up to the door and rushes in. “Sorry, Baby, I
dropped the keys in the snow,” he says, putting an arm around my waist. We’re
turning to walk back inside when the girl next to me exclaims, “Oh my god,
Brayden Carter?”

We both spin to see her staring at Brayden like he’s her
last meal. My stomach sinks faster than I’d like to admit. “Candi?” he asks,
surprised. Clearly these two know each other.

“Gosh, I haven’t seen you in forever,” she purrs, moving
forward and pressing her body against his. I step back and watch this take
place.

“About six months,” he agrees, stepping away from her. She
doesn’t seem to get it, though.

“How have you been?” she asks, blinking her eyes a few extra
times as she gazes up at him, running her finger up and down his chest.

Brayden gulps uncomfortably and takes yet another step back.
“Uh, good. Really good, actually. You should meet my girlfriend, Anna,” he
says, pointing to me. Candi, as Brayden called her, turns to look at me and
snorts.

“You can’t be serious,” she says in a bored tone. I feel my
bottom lip quiver and I bite it to keep from crying. How can one person so
easily ruin my night?

“Candi,” Brayden growls, his eyes turning a shade darker.
They begin to argue but I block them out and stare at the wall. Soon enough,
Brayden is beside me and taking my hand in his as he leads us outside and to
the car. I’m glad, since I’m definitely not in the mood for dancing anymore.
We’re silent as we walk to the truck and I can’t seem to do anything but stare
blankly in front of me, seeing but not really taking anything in.

After helping me up into his truck, his hand still grasping
mine, Brayden tries getting my attention. I just shake my head and pull my hand
from his. He sighs in a mixture of what I think is frustration and
disappointment before slamming the door closed and walking around to the other
side. When he starts the truck, I whisper, “Take me home,” and I know he heard
it by the way his grip tightens on the wheel. We were supposed to head back to
his apartment but I just can’t really see that happening anymore.

The drive is silent, eerily so, and when we get to my house
he parks the car and sighs. “Sweetheart,” he begins, but I cut him off.

“Goodnight.” I slip carefully but quickly out of the truck
and try to be fast as I walk to the house, but my heels make me slow and it’s
more than easy for Brayden to hop out and stop me.

“Anna, come on, we should talk about this,” he pleads. I hold
up my hand and barely manage to talk past the tightening of my throat, warning
me of the tears about to come.

“Just go home, Brayden.” I sound tired and heartbroken even
to myself.

“Baby . . .” His voice is broken as he grabs
my arm, begging for me to listen.

I can only shake my head as I walk inside. The only thing I
know right now is that I need to be alone.

His Side

I watch Anna walk into her house and I don’t know what to
do. I know that she just needs some time alone but I can’t help wanting to
barge into her home and force her to talk to me. I know exactly what’s going
through her mind right now and I don’t like it one bit. I walk over to my truck
and start it up, thinking about what an idiot I was in the past.

The only reason I was with Candi was for the sex. I’m not
proud of it, but I was a different person then. I didn’t care that she was mean
and had no personality or that she was only with me because she knew my parents
had money. I didn’t care that every time I saw her she complained of me
smelling like grease from the garage. I only cared about what she was willing
to do for me in bed.

We’d been broken up for a couple of months when I met Anna
and everything about me changed. The moment I saw her at the carnival,
playfully fighting with Ro over something that I can’t even remember now, I
knew she’d be different. And she was. The way she talked to Zander, supporting
him and encouraging him, made it so that I needed to get to know her. Then she
got all flustered and adorable and I had to get her number. Then she wouldn’t
even give it to me! Every time I see Ro I have to stop myself from thanking
her, because if she hadn’t been there, I never would’ve gotten to know Annie.

It didn’t exactly take me a long time to figure out how
insecure Anna was, but I didn’t mind, because I knew she just needed one person
to tell her how beautiful she was and I will always be willing to do that. I’d
never been in love before I met Annie, but she makes it so easy with the way
she scrunches up her nose when she’s concentrating, or how her entire face
lights up when she finally understands something she was confused about. How
she blushes at the dirty comments I make, or when she learns something new
about somebody and gets irritated because she feels like she should’ve already
known. Those little things make her so special to me. Those little things make
me patient when I wonder why I bother with somebody who will never accept my
compliments.

But that’s not true either. I’ll see it in her eyes once in
a while when she feels beautiful. It’s rare, but happening more and more often.
She doesn’t fight as much when I call her pretty and she doesn’t seem so
surprised when I say I love her. She loves me back, that much I can see. It makes
it even more special when she tells me she loves me, because I know how hard it
is for her to be open about that kind of stuff.

Instead of driving back to my apartment, I head to my
parent’s house. They’re away at a hotel for the night and I just don’t feel
like being alone in the place that Anna and I were supposed to be. God,
everything went downhill so quickly. I left Anna by the door while I put the
gifts in the car so she wouldn’t have to walk on ice in her heels, but then I
dropped the keys in the snow and ended up juggling the presents while searching
for them.

When I ran inside, I didn’t even see Candi standing there
until she said my name. Then it was like time stopped, and not in a good way.
My entire body tensed and as I turned around, I saw the confused look on Anna’s
face. “Candi?” I asked, even though I knew from the voice exactly who it was.

“Gosh, I haven’t seen you in like forever.” I knew exactly
what that tone meant, and it never led to good things. Almost in slow motion,
she walked forward and leaned her body against me, making the situation
incredibly uncomfortable.

“About six months,” I’d murmured, trying to back away from
her.

When she asked how I’d been, I barely resisted rolling my
eyes. She was never one to care about how anybody else was. “Uh, good. Really
good, actually. You should meet my girlfriend, Anna,” I said, trying to make it
obvious that she didn’t have a chance in hell with me and she should back off.

I knew just before she replied that I shouldn’t have said
anything. I should’ve just walked away and brought Anna upstairs with me. “You
can’t be serious.” I watched as those four little words made Anna’s face
crumble. I could literally see them shredding every positive feeling I’d worked
all night to bestow.

“Candi,” I growled, so mad that I couldn’t even see
straight.

“What?” She exclaimed, holding her hands up. “She’s so not
your type, Denny.” God, I hate that nickname, and she knew it.

I stopped myself from trying to physically scare her and
settled for shaking my head, “You know nothing about her. Not only is she the
sexiest, most beautiful person that I’ve ever met, and yes, that includes you,
but she’s also the sweetest, most kind-hearted person in the world. You will
never say anything bad about her again, or so help me . . . Do
you understand me?” I was practically shaking with rage.

I watched as she bit the inside of her cheek, something she
always did when she was irritated. “Whatever, Brayden, if you need a whale to
substitute for me then go ahead. But she doesn’t compare to the real thing.”

I laughed. “First of all, she’s not a substitute. Second of
all, you’re right, she’s nothing like you, which is why I love her.” Candi’s
eyes had widened at that. She knew better than anyone that I never said the
l
word.

I grabbed Anna’s hand and walked us outside. She was in a
trancelike state that I couldn’t seem to shake her out of. In the truck, she
pulled her hand from my grasp, which was a horrible sign, and now I’m here
walking through my parent’s house about to lie down on my old bed. Alone.

What could I possibly do to fix this? Something tells me
it’s even worse than the fight we had over that jackass Sam, since Anna didn’t
even bother fighting with me about it. Usually I’m the one person she can go to
and just talk—she told me so herself. The fact that she’d rather deal with this
in silence speaks volumes.

Right before I fall asleep, I decide that I’ll head over to
her house in the morning so we can talk things through. Things will have calmed
down by then and she’ll be more willing to hear what really happened with crazy
Candi.

***

I knock on the Holden’s door and try to wait patiently, but
it’s incredibly hard. Sleeping alone at night is one thing when I know I’ll get
to see Anna again soon, but knowing she’s upset makes the night seem so much
lonelier. I’m not surprised to see Anna answer the door and quietly invite me
inside. The living room and kitchen area are all connected and open, so she
leads me upstairs for privacy.

She motions for me to sit down on the edge of her bed beside
her and I move slowly. The look on her face tells me this won’t be pleasant.
“Bray, we need to talk,” she starts, and I snort. Is this really happening
right now? Did my girlfriend honestly just use that line on me?

“No guy likes hearing that, Cutie,” I say, hoping she’ll
smile and put my mind at ease. Instead, she just gives me this sad look and I
know I’m screwed.

“This won’t work,” she whispers, the pain clear in her eyes.

I shake my head, too stunned to truly comprehend what she’s
telling me. “What won’t work?”

Her hand moves back and forth between us. “This. Us. We’re
so different, Brayden, and last night proved it. You deserve a girlfriend who
isn’t going to freak out like this every time an ex-girlfriend hits on you, and
I’m sure there are a lot of sane girls out there.”

“Annie, you’re just upset about what she said last night.
Don’t make a decision like this without thinking about it,” I plead, holding
her hands in mine. Tears well up around the rims of her eyes as she shakes her
head. “I’ve been thinking this for a while now.”

“Baby . . .” I start, but I have no idea what
to say. If I thought begging on my hands and knees would work, I’d do it in a
heartbeat, but I can see that it won’t. Instantly, part of me hates her parents
and the people she’s gone to school with her whole life. If they’d told her she
was beautiful, like she is, she wouldn’t doubt us like this. She wouldn’t be
breaking my heart like this.

“I think you should go now,” she whispers as she walks to
her door. Opening it, she wipes the tears that are the only marker of how much
this is hurting her too. “I’m so sorry,” she whimpers as I step past her.

Before she can shut me out, I put my hand in the way. “I’m
leaving now because I promised never to push you, but believe me, I will be
back,” I promise.

Downstairs in my truck, I slam the door shut and hit the
steering wheel. “Goddamn it!” I yell, more pissed off than I have been in a
long time. Putting the truck in gear, I back up and start driving to Landon’s
house. He’ll know what to do.

The kids are probably having a nap when I show up, so I let
myself in and start searching through the house. I find Landon lounging on the
couch, watching some children’s television program despite both his kids being
out of the room. I guess that’s what happens when you become a parent. “Dude,
come into the kitchen. I need to talk to you,” I say, not bothering to ask.

“Welcome to my home, Brayden. Please, help yourself to
anything you want,” he remarks sarcastically as he enters the kitchen and finds
me searching the fridge for a soda.

“Fuck you,” I growl, even more irritated when all I can find
is grape. It’ll have to do, I guess.

“Whoa man, calm down,” he says, holding up his hands.

I shake my head and sit down in the seat beside him. “I need
your help,” I grumble, not proud about what I’m about to do.

“Well, this is new.” The look I send him makes him realize
how serious I am. “Okay, what’s up?” he asks, sighing.

“Anna just broke up with me,” I say, my voice breaking when
I say her name.

His eyes widen dramatically and his jaw drops. “You’re
joking, right?” he asks, narrowing his eyes.

I shake my head and open the can, looking for something to
keep my hands busy. “Why?” he asks, sitting across from me.

I take a deep breath and explain everything to him. “What
did you do when you first started dating Evie?” I ask, knowing Evie was
actually a lot like Anna once. Her parents were more supportive of her, though.