Fame (Except Not) [GxG Fanfic]

Fourteen

"Um," I say. "Wait. Do you mean...?"

Anna just looks at me.

"I just want to make sure," I say. "So I don't get excited for nothing..."

Anna sighs. She's smiling as she does, but she sighs. Which unfortunately doesn't actually tell me anything.

"I'm just..." I say. "Um. Wondering. What you meant...?"

Anna still doesn't answer.

"Seriously?" I say. "Could you please just tell me?"

I know I'm getting a bit weird, but I'm having trouble dealing with this whole situation.

"I meant that you're right," Anna says. "That what you said is completely right. That now I think about it, yes, maybe we shouldn't go to your party together, just in case...."

"Oh," I say, surprised. "Really?"

"Um, well... yes."

"Oh," I say again.

Anna shrugs.

"So, um," I say. "The just in case. Does that mean what I think?"

Anna looks at me some more. "I'd have thought so," she says.

"Meaning you might want to kiss me later on, yeah?"

"Oh my..." Anna stops herself. She's looking at me. Looking, as if she can't quite believe I actually said that. And that I'm taking the mystery and romance out of this so utterly completely. "Really?" she says.

I bite my lip. I look at her.

I hesitate.

And I don't know why, I have no idea why, but my hesitation seems to mean that now it's suddenly Anna's turn to have a crisis.

"Wait..." she says, and seems unsure, too. She seems confused. Or perhaps she just feels slightly awkward. "I mean, yes," she says uncertainly. "Meaning that. Because that is what we're talking about, isn't it?"

I nod. I'm completely embarrassed. I can't believe I've complicated everything by talking too much. Or thinking too much. Whichever.

"It is?" Anna says, nervously.

"Yes," I say.

"And we both mean...?" Anna says.

"I think so," I say.

"Good," Anna says, suddenly firm, as if she's trying to save the situation. "So I think you might be right. That was all I meant. I think that for now, for tonight, we probably shouldn't go to any parties together."

"Okay," I say, and then, stupidly, I decide I have to make sure. "But really?" I say.

Anna looks at me, astonished, and then nods deliberately.

"Yes, but really?" I say again.

I think I'm just still trying to get used to that idea.

Anna sighs. She's still smiling, but still sighing, too. "Yeah really," she says. "Why wouldn't I? I mean, why's that such a weird idea?"

"I don't know," I say. "I'm me, and you're you, and..." I suddenly realize what I'm saying and stop. Since I really don't want to somehow convince her to change her mind or anything. "Um," I say. "Never mind."

Anna is smiling. Smiling like she's about to laugh. "Are you sure?" she says. "It sounded as though you were in the middle of saying something...?"

I shake my head.

"What were you saying?" Anna says, still smiling.

"Nothing."

"Just tell me?"

"Not a chance," I say.

Anna smiles. She's actually about to laugh now, I'm pretty sure.

"Don't laugh at me," I say. "Please?"

"I'm not," she says, but her mouth looks a little firm, as if she's clenching her jaw to make herself not.