perfecting the cloud nine

ten

anna

"hey, if you don't mind me asking...you're never like this. is there something wrong?" dink asked me. i was sitting on the kitchen counter waiting for the milk to heat on the stove. dink was leaning against the kitchen island looking at me.

i weighed my options in my mind. i could either confide in dink and risk him spilling my secrets to will or keep my feelings to myself and leave dink in the dark.
he doesn't deserve that.

"promise you won't tell?" he instantly straightened. his look hardened into a more serious stare.
"cross my heart. you can trust me." i nodded my head and stirred the milk.
"right but dink this is super serious. it's about will so i, like, really need you to be serious about this." dink's eyes softened a little and he nodded his head.
"of course, anna. will's my friend but so are you." i believed him. his voice was so sincere.
"okay...well..i might have a little, tiny, really small crush on will." dink blinked at me and laughed. i groaned and rolled my eyes at him.
"well, will has like a major, massive, huge crush on you. i really don't see the problem here." my cheeks heated at his confession.
"what?" dink nodded his head.
"he's never specifically told me, but trust me. i can just tell." i rolled my eyes.
"well kayla and will were hardcore flirting when i left the kennel. i saw the school newspaper article about them holding hands at lunch. doesn't really scream he's interested in me, now does it?" dink seemed to mull over what i said in his mind.
"that's weird. i could have sworn he was into you." i threw my hands up in the air.
"well, apparently not! now i'm just stuck watching from the sidelines as my sister takes the guy i have a crush on." dink sighed and started to mix the cocoa powder into the two mugs of milk i had just poured.
"maybe you need to take your mind off of will and kayla for a little while. tell you what. we're going to watch a movie tonight. then tomorrow, since you're off, why don't you come ride with me?" my heart warmed at how sweet he was being.
"wait, aren't you supposed to be hanging out with will tomorrow? since he's off too?" dink shrugged his shoulders.
"you need me more than will does. he can go hang with kayla for all i care." dink winked at me, causing me to laugh. he picked up the two mugs and carried them up the stairs to my bedroom as i followed right behind him.

after two harry potter movies and a disney movie, dink and i were sitting in the floor of my bedroom playing a card game. just as i was laying the final card down to beat him once again, his phone rang. he checked it and then showed me the screen. will's face smiled back at me from the small screen, signaling it was will calling him.
"what should i do?"
"answer it. it'll be more suspicious if you don't." dink nodded his head and answered the phone call.
"hey, what's up?" dink looked down and saw that i was going to beat him again and rolled his eyes. "yeah, sure man. just give me a sec...i'm about to leave anna's house. what? no. i was just checking on her. be there in a few. bye." dink pulled the phone away from his ear and ended the phone call.

he gave me a weak smile.
"will wants to go grab pizza. i'm sorry to leave like this." i shook my head and leaned forward, pulling him into a tight hug.
"thanks so much. for everything. i'll catch you tomorrow morning, yeah?" he nodded his head enthusiastically and stood up.
"i'm sorry about will and kayla but i don't want it to keep you down. you're a beautiful, talented girl. goodnight, anna." i smiled at dink and slowly nodded my head. his compliments warmed my chest.
"thank you. goodnight dink." with a small wave, he left my bedroom, leaving me alone with my thoughts for the night.