new york city

6 | cosmopolitan

"DID YOU GIVE HARRY MY NUMBER?"

   Anne froze in the midst of shoveling her noodles into her mouth as Ava bounded down the steps. She bit the noodles in her mouth, cutting them off and letting them fall back into the disposable cup. She chewed carefully, watching Ava's face hesitantly before nodding very slowly.

    "Yes?" she asked, watching Ava walk towards her. "Why? Did he text you?" Ava nodded and grabbed Anne's chopsticks from her hand before eating half of the noodles in Anne's cup. The older girl shouted in protest, smacking Ava, accidentally hitting her boob.

   "OW! That was the boob, you bitch!"

   Anne squealed, jumping up from her seat and running to the living room, Ava hot on her heals as the latter chased her for revenge. No one hits the boob and gets away with it, not in this house.

    "I'm sorry! Aahhhh!"

   In the end, Ava had tackled Anne to the floor, attacking her with multiple smacks to the boobs.

   Sounds pleasant, doesn't it?

  The doorbell ringing pulled the girls from their play fight and Anne quickly got up from the floor, pulling up her now-loosened tank top strap. She opened the door, her breath still heavy and hair a mess.

  "Oliver? What are you doin-"

  "Babeeee!!!!" Anne blinked when she heard Ava's voice ringing from the floor in the living room, but quickly had to stifle a giggle. "Who's at the door?"

   "Uh, I didn't know you swung for the other team," Oliver mumbled, looking over Anne's shoulder before noticing her disheveled appearance. "Did I interrupt something?"

  "Oh, I actually swing for both teams, and no, you're not. Just a play fight. What's up?" she asked, stepping outside. She closed the door behind her, still hearing Ava's obnoxious wailing from the inside.

   "I just, uh was wondering if you wanted to go on a date tomorrow. A real one. I promise I wasn't set up by your management. I just... I've missed you Annie."

   She would be lying if she said her heart didn't skip a beat.

   "But, I understand if you don't want to, seeing as your uh, girlfriend inside seems very-"

    "Yeah. I'll go with you. And, she's not my girlfriend. At least, not in the way your thinking. She's just being...herself. When and where?"

  "Dinner? At Per Se. I'll pick you up at six?" he asked eagerly. There was a twinkle in his eye that made Anne smile. It reminded her of college, when he asked her to play one more round of Fifa with him. When he took her to get ice cream at the park. When the talked about their tastes in music while cuddling on the couch in his dorm.

   "Okay. That sounds great. See you then." Oliver nodded and waved before walking away. Anne stood in the hallway for a moment before squealing quietly and jumping up and down a few times.

   Suddenly the door next door opened and she saw Mark and Liam standing there, arms crossed and eyebrows raised.

  'Dammit,' she thought. 'This'll go well.'

  "So you said yes to the guy who you used to hook up with in college."

  "That sounds like the title of a Cosmopolitan article," Anne mumbled in response. She was sitting in front of Mark, Liam, and Ava. For the second time within the past 24 hours. Damn, this was a record.

   "Speaking of, I got an email from Cosmo. They said they read my work and wanted to hire me," Ava said calmly. Anne's eyes widened and she jumped up, attacking Ava with questions.

  "Did you say yes? I hope you said yes. How are you so calm about this? This is amazing! Do you know how much editors there get payed?"

  "Get off me," Ava complained, shoving Anne away lightly. "Of course I said yes. They want me to be an editor."

  "Dude! Editors there make like 63 to 67 thousand a year! You went from like 30 thousand to almost 70 thousand!"

   "Alright, alright, calm down. Congratulations Ava. But Anne, are you sure about this?" Liam cut in, raising his eyebrow at the girl who was practically laying on Mark's lap to get to Ava. She sat up, deflating slightly.

  "I can't really hold anything against him. Since, you know, we weren't ever dating," she murmured, gauging all of their reactions carefully. Mark and Liam shared a glance before they both sighed.

   "We'll have to tell your brothers about this, you know." Anne smiled weakly at them before standing, tugging Ava with her. 

   "I know."

    "Can I be honest?"

   Anne looked over at Ava from the TV. Stranger Things was playing, the blankets were out, ice cream had been opened and dog bellies were being scratched. Along with a head rub for Bucky.

  "Are you ever not?" Anne replied. She looked back over at the screen, spooning ice cream into her mouth. Bucky purred sleepily in her lap and she smiled at him fondly, rubbing his back carefully.

  "Harry asked me on a date." Anne's mouth went slack, and a smile quickly grew. Soon enough, she was laughing very loudly. Bucky had jumped off her lap, silently judging her from the couch beside her instead.

  "What?! Why is this funny?" Ava demanded, turning away from the television set completely to stare at Anne. "Anneeee. It's not funny."

  "Yes it is," she said through gasps of laughter. "That boy. Always moved so fast. God, this is hilarious. I knew he would be quick but this is, this has to be a record."

  "What do you mean?" Anne managed to sober up, taking deep breaths. She picked Bucky up carefully, placing him back in her now idle lap. He curled up, watching Anne's ice-cream tentatively, as though expecting it to flip over and get everywhere. In his defense, it did happen before. But that's a story for another time.

   "Back in college, he texted me saying he met this girl. I forget her name, but I hope she's okay. It must've been a traumatic experience for her. Anyway, they had been mutual friends for a while, but one day, when he was drunk, he asked her to marry him with a shot glass. Turns out she was his cousin twice removed."

   Ava's eyes were the size of saucers and her jaw had gone slack. Anne laughed at her expression, startling Bucky again, who looked very tired of Anne's spastic laughter.

   "Don't worry. He wasn't drunk when he texted you."

  "How can you be sure?" Anne's face fell. Was this her story to tell?

  "He quit drinking a while back. He doesn't enjoy alcohol very much anymore."

   No it wasn't.

     ~Sarah