Page 9 of Begin Again
“Hey man, you think we could hang out after school, I don’t have work today?” Noah asks as we walk down the hall to the lunchroom.
“Sure,” I say, already scanning the hallway to see if Annie’s heading toward the cafeteria or not.
“I’ve got to retake my math test now, but I’ll see you later?” He turns before I can reply and heads toward the math wing.
Annie’s bright orange-red hair snags my attention as soon as I walk into the cafeteria. She’s at a table with Emily, a brown paper bag sits unopened in front of her and she’s got her nosein a book. I can tell from here that it’s a classic, I just can’t tell which one. Emily doesn’t seem to mind though, she’s looking all gooey eyed at a guy who’s wearing a football jersey. He’s looking at her the same way and neither notice when I slide into the seat next to Annie.
“Hey,” I say, and she looks up, her smile hits me straight in the heart. We haven’t hung out a ton lately, since I spend more time with her brother than I do with her, but she’s a familiar face—at school and lately in my dreams.
“Hey yourself,” she says, and she reaches for her lunch bag and starts to open it. “No Noah today?”
I shake my head as I pull out my own sandwich. “He said something about having to retake a math test.”
She smiles at me again and looks around the table then back at me. “Sorry about Emily and Landon, they just started dating.”
I glance at the couple who are now so close to each other I half expect them to start making out right here. High school is weird, I can’t wait to get out of here. I turn to Annie and as I move my hand across the table to grab a chip, my hand bumps into hers.
I notice, not for the first time, all of the freckles that cover her hand and move up her arm under her sleeve. I like her freckles; I like a lot of things about her.
“It’s fine,” I say, trying to shake my thoughts about how I like her freckles from my mind. This is Annie, my best friend’s little sister. One of my friends. But no matter how many times I tell myself that, I can’t shake the crush I have on her.
She laughs—a soft, sweet sound that makes my heart start beating faster in my chest. I want to make her laugh all the time.
“It’s not fine, it’s awkward. I’ve told Emily this before, but she doesn’t seem to care. All she seems to care about is if she can kiss whichever guy she likes this month and right now, that’s Landon.”
I glance at the two lovebirds who haven’t started kissing—thankfully—and look back at Annie. Her lips are a dark pink color and they look soft.
I cough and tear my eyes away. What is happening to me? Everyone has lips, why do hers make me feel something? Will they ever stop making me feel something? I have to get a grip.
I focus on eating my sandwich and she eats her food. The chatter in the cafeteria isn’t overwhelmingly loud, but loud enough that it’s fine we aren’t talking.
“You two are so cute!” Emily’s voice snaps me out of my own thoughts and I look up to see her beaming at us.
“What?” Annie asks, she sounds absolutely horrified. I don’t dare look at her. “I don’t date.”
My stomach turns, I set down my sandwich, appetite gone. I know she said she didn’t want us kissing, but I thought it was just because we barely knew each other, because we were brand new friends.
Emily laughs. “But you two would be so cute together. Sam is so taller than you and it’d just be so cute. Plus you both have gorgeous eyes. Your kids would be so pretty.”
My mouth drops open but no words come out, I sneak a glance at Annie and she’s refusing to look in my direction. Her entire face is red.
“Emily,” she whines quietly and Emily just smiles.
“I promise I’m a good matchmaker, aren’t I, Landon?”
“She is,” he agrees, and I shift uncomfortably in my seat.
“We’re just friends,” I say, trying to make Annie feel less awkward. And we are just friends.
But friends don’t think about how soft their friend’s lips look and wonder what it would be like to kiss them,I tell myself but then shake away the thought. Annie and I are friends.
“Right,” she says quietly, “we’re friends.”
Emily shrugs. “Okay, but I still think you’d be cute together.”
“Can you please drop it?” Annie hisses at her best friend and I bite my lip. I like seeing her like this. She’s normally so put together and nothing seems to phase her. But this, Emily’s teasing, it’s getting to her and I want to know why, even if I shouldn’t. I want to know if she feels something between us too.
Emily gives her a smile. “I’m making you uncomfortable, I’m sorry. I’ll stop.”
