Anna steals a kiss from an unsuspecting Joe and runs away. He catches her soon and makes her pay. Read how the hopelessly romantic Anna and the strictly casual Joe try to get along.
"I'm hungry," Marge whines for the hundredth time. I understand her feelings completely. I'm hungry, too. Lizzie, Marge, and I have been standing in a roadside queue since five in the morning to buy a limited edition pair of sneakers for Lizzie. It's nine o clock now.
Lizzie's sneaker addiction is going to get us killed one day.
"Just ten more minutes and we'll be in," Lizzie says. It would be nice hearing that if she hadn't already said the same thing twenty minutes ago. The queue is too slow.
"Shit. Don't turn around," Marge whispers to me. Okay, now I want to turn around. "It's Mason. He's coming towards us," she says. I was just hungry up until now. Now I'm going to be both hungry and murderous.
"Anna," Mason says. I look at him. "I knew it was you," he says smiling. It's so cruel to me that I miss that smile. He looks as swell as ever with his boy next door charm still intact.
"What do you want?" I ask him sharply. He stops smiling. "Anna, I know you're still upset with me. But I'm hoping we could still be friends."
"I have friends," I say, pointing to my left and right at Lizzie and Marge. "I don't need you."
He sighs. "Okay. You don't want to talk to me. I get it. See you later, then," he sadly says and walks away.
"The nerve on that boy," Marge says beside me. I agree. I can't believe he just walks up to me to talk, like we're some good old friends who haven't seen each other in a while, after what he did. He must've gotten delusional since we broke up.
I open the register and pocket some cash. I go to the kitchen at the back, pick three steaming hot coconut buns that have just come out of the oven, and stuff them into a paper bag. I come back to the reception desk and wave the bag at Lizzie and Marge. "Let's go."
We're at one of the three bakery shops my parents own. I often drop by the shops to get some cash and snacks. As my friends and I head to the exit, I hear a female voice call my name. When I turn around, I'm looking at Joe's sister, Ruth.
"Stocking up on sweets?" she says. "It must be great to have a family that runs sweet shops."
I smile. "True. You here to get something?"
She shows me a filled paper bag with our shop's logo on it. "Already got it. So how's everything between you and my brother?" she says.
"Good. It's all good," I say sounding like a bad liar. I don't know if it's because she's a lawyer but Ruth has this intimidating persona in spite of her dainty appearance. Or I've just seen too many episodes of How To Get Away With Murder. "Great," she says. "Will see you on Saturday then?"
"Saturday?" I ask. "Yes. My family is going on a day trip to the lake. My mom told Joe to invite you. He didn't say anything?" she says.
"He must've forgotten. You know how he's like," I say smiling. Even though I myself don't know how he's like, I can imagine him forgetting something like this.
"Right," she says. "Good thing then I caught you now. We'll be leaving at seven in the morning and it'll be night time by when we return."
"Oh, I – uh – I won't be able to come. Got a family event to attend. Thanks for inviting me, though."
She nods, smiling. "I guessed right," she says, confusing me. She guessed I've a family event this weekend? "Can I talk to you alone for a second?" she asks.
"We'll wait outside," Marge says before she and Lizzie leave us. I'm beginning to worry. "What is it?" I ask Ruth.
"I know you're not really dating Joe," she says. I feel like a mistress caught by the wife in a Spanish drama. "I know why Joe is doing this. What I don't know is why you are going along with it. And I don't need to know, either, as long as you keep up this charade with him so that he and my dad could get along better. So if you bail on it, I'm sure whatever reason you're doing it for, you wouldn't want everyone to find out the truth, do you?" she asks.
I shake my head. She smiles like a parent who has just told their child that the cops would take him away if he doesn't listen to her. "Good," she says. "Then see you on Saturday, yeah?"
I nod. She smiles again and leaves the shop. Oh dear, what sort of blackmailing family I've kissed myself into?
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