Chapter 38 [Ana]

      “Heres your bracelet, Celia.” I say, throwing it to her. She catches it.

         “You look like you’ve just seen a ghost.” Celia says.

         “Worse… I walked in on Steven… f*****g Ashley.”

         “Ew! F**k, Ana!” Celia says.

         “Except Ashley… he’s a dude.”

         The phone rings. I answer it.

         “Hello?”

         “Hello, is this Ana? I was wondering if I could take you out for a date. Since you know, I punched someone for you. It’s Drew by the way.” Drew says. I don’t know if I should say yes… because then I would be kind of cheating on Reeve. But I mean, Reeve and I aren’t official. So I think I can go.

         “Fine.” I say. “Pick me up at 8:00.”

         “Where do you live?” He asks.

         “Figure it out.” I say, hanging up.

         “Who was it?” Celia asks.

         “Drew’s taking me out tonight!”
         “Why did you tell him to just figure out where you lived?”

         “I don’t know! Why did I! F**k I’m an idiot!” I say, burying my face into my hands.

         “Okay, it’s alright. He can probably get it from work or something.” Celia responds.

         “Okay. You’re right. What time is it?”

         “7:00.” Celia says.

         “I have a f*****g hour to get ready! That’s nothing!” I say.

         “Hurry it!” Celia says, pushing me.

         “Why… why did you push me?”

         “I thought it would help…” She says awkwardly.

         I quickly hop in the shower and wash my sex stained hair. Then I shave my legs. I wrap myself around a towel.

         “What should I wear?” I yell at Celia, running to my room.

         “The green dress!” Celia yells back. The green dress? Is she crazy? That dress is only for Kris. What would Kris think of all of this? Shut up inner voice.

         I grab a white v-neck shirt and a high-waisted pink ruffled skirt. I put my hair in a high ponytail and draw eyeliner and mascara around my eyes. Celia walks into the room.

         “Lipstick or no lipstick?” I ask her.

         “What the hell, give him some lipstick.” Celia says.

         I slab some red lipstick on my lips.

         “How do I look?”

         “Maybe no lipstick.” Celia says.

         I take off my lipstick.

         The doorbell rings.

         “Oh god!” I say.

         The doorbell rings again. And again. And again.

         I run to the door and open it. Drew is wearing a sweat-stained undershirt and I can see his lean figure underneath it. He’s super skinny and it makes me feel self-conscious. He also has a camera around his neck.

         “Damn, Ana. You look edible.” He says.

         “Hey Drew.” I say, disregarding his comment.

         “I just came from a run, sorry about looking gross. I got you these.” He says, handing me some flowers.

         “Aw, thanks.” I say, grabbing them. Honestly, I wish he didn’t give me flowers. I don’t want to run back inside and put them into water.        

         “If you ask me, the whole flower thing is bullshit. I don’t want to wait for you to put those in water.” He says.

         “I was actually just thinking the same thing!” I say surprised. I throw the flowers to the left of me.

         “Shall we?” Drew says, extending his shoulder. I wrap my arm around his. We walk to his old shabby car.

         “Where are we going?” I ask.

         “You’ll see baby.” Drew says. Kris is the only one who can call me baby.

         “My fiancé Kris always called me baby. Kris is awesome, you should meet him. He’s really tall, it’s so cute. He has the cutest black hair you’ll ever see. Its kind of scruffy but in a cute way. He’s always been super romantic and-”

         Drew stops me. “You’re engaged? What?”

         “Oh, he’s dead.” I say, smiling at him. Then I frown.  

         “It’s okay, Ana. I understand. Kind of at least. My parents died when I was like 10. I’ve had to take care of June, my sister, remember her? I’ve taken care of her practically her whole life. It’s hard, I get it.” He says, softly, in a voice I’ve never heard before. It’s sweet, and I like it.

         He stops the car. He grabs my chin, lightly. “Ana, try to get your mind of him for now okay? Try to have fun tonight.”

         I nod at him. “You can start the car again.” I say.

         “Oh, we’re here.” He says. We’re outside of one of the most expensive places in the city. He walks out of the car and starts to walk to the restaurant. Oh, I thought he was going to open my door for me… I get out and run over to him.

         We walk in and sit down. We order our food and it comes after about a half hour.

         “So Ana, I want to know all about you.” Drew says.                 

         “You know what? I talk about myself way too much. At home, with Celia, I’m always complaining about Kris. And Reeve. And my job. And Steve. And you! I have no idea right about what’s going on in Celia’s life right now. I am so involved in myself and not aware of what’s around me. I haven’t seen my family since Kris died, or Kris’s family for that matter. I’m completely selfish. So Drew, I refuse to tell you about myself. You tell me about you.” I say.

         “So you like to recite cheesy speeches? That’s cool.” He responds. “Lets see… I’m a sucker for B movies. I decided at an early age that I would be completely honest with everyone always, whether they like it or not. It gets quite obnoxious at times… but my dad was the same way and I wish I were more like the guy.”

         “That’s cute.” I say, trying to seem cool. He chuckles.

         “You are so sexy Ana.” He says, putting his hands on top of mine.

         “Kris used to say the same thing.” I say. I can feel my hands shaking out of nerves under Drew’s. He squeezes them.

         “Stop Ana.” He says. He grabs one of my hands and kisses it with rough lips. They feel different on my skin then Reeve’s. His are manlier, and Reeve’s were boyish. Holy s**t. I fucked someone and now I’m going on a date in one day. I’m a f*****g w***e!

         “I’m a f*****g w***e!” I say out loud, kind of yelling.

         “You aren’t!” He says back.

         “I fucked someone earlier today. Well last night actually but I slept over… and now I’m going on a date with you. Kris died less than a f*****g year ago.” I say.

         “That is kind of whorey… but it’s okay Ana. Hun, listen to me closely. You’re allowed to do stupid things in times like this.”

         I look down at my food.

         “Come on, lets get out of here.” He says.

         “Don’t you have to pay?”

         “Yeah right, we’re dining and dashing baby!” Drew whispers. He grabs my hand. “Lets get out of here!”

         He yanks me and we run.

         “Hey what are you doing?” Our waiter yells.

         We giggle to each other and whiz past the door.

         “I can’t run for much longer, I have heels!”

         “Get rid of them!”

         “They cost money!”

         “Live a little Ana!”
         I take of my heels as we run and I throw them somewhere random. We run past his car and I don’t know why. But I don’t ask questions. His big hand feels cold. Reeve’s was warm.

         “Here we are!” Drew says. We’re at the same grocery store that I saw him at the other day.        

         “What are we doing?” I ask. It’s dark outside but there are lights everywhere.

         Drew takes out a marker and a folded piece of cardboard from his pocket. He writes something on it and shows me.

         “Take a picture with the world’s most attractive couple! 5 bucks.” It says. I start to laugh.

         “Yeah right!” I say.

         “You just wait.” He responds.

         “Hey, I’ll take one.” We hear a voice say. It’s a mans voice. An old mans voice. I smile at him.

         “Okay!” I say.

         He crawls in between us and wraps his arms lightly around our neck. I look to Drew and he smiles mischievously. I return his look and we both smile at the camera. Drew snaps a photo.

         “Thank you miss, and you sir.” The old man says. He reaches into his bage pants and hands me a 5-dollar bill. Drew hands him the photo and he thanks us and walks away.

         We both burst out laughing.

         “I’ve seen prettier.” A man walking by says.

         We crack up.