Not Now (Sequel to Man Overboard) *On Hold*

10. I Like the Ones Who Say They Listen to the Punk Rock

The interrogation with Anne had not been as bad as I'd anticipated. I tried to sneak into the apartment, unlocking and opening the front door as quietly as I could. Unfortunately for me, Anne was already awake (it was only nine in the morning, so I'd had my hopes) and was drinking coffee as she sat at the kitchen table, a newspaper open in front of her.

"And where the fuck have you been?" she asked as I walked in. She didn't even have to look up from her paper to know that it was me. The only other person who had keys to the apartment was Mark, but he was at Disneyland with Skye for the weekend, so he was out of the running.

"You know where I've been," I answered as nonchalantly as possible, making my way over to her. "We were celebrating Pappy's birthday."

"Yeah, yesterday." She looked up and raised an eyebrow at me.

"We ended up having to stay the night," I shrugged. Maybe if I acted like it wasn't a big deal, Anne would do the same.

"Ohhh," Anne drew the word out dramatically. "Well, that makes sense. If you had to." Her suspicious look hadn't faded, making it clear my tactic wasn't going to work.

I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms over my chest. Obviously Anne wanted to have a full conversation about my trip, but I refused to sit down at the table with her. "Yeah, we did. We drank too much, and Connie wouldn't let us leave."

"Alcohol and exes spell a recipe for disaster."

"We're friends," I emphasized. "Nothing happened, Anne." She narrowed her eyes at me, and I shifted my weight between my feet. She wasn't going to let it go. She knew. Even if she hadn't suspected anything, I didn't think I could lie to her for very long. "Okay, fine," I caved. "We slept in the same bed. That's it."

Anne's eyes widened and her lips parted in surprise. "You slept together!?"

"No! Well, yes. We slept." I uncrossed my arms and pulled down on the long sleeves of my dress. "We both agreed that it was a mistake and to pretend it never happened, satisfied?"

"Willow..." Anne's voice was filled with hesitation and concern. Understandably so. This wasn't the first time Tom and I had crossed the boundaries of our new founded friendship and then declared to just forget about it.

This time was different though.

"Anne, it's fine," I assured. "I'm serious. I know Tom and I are never getting back together. He's happy with Jen, and I'm happy for him. This was just one mistake and it's not going to happen again."

"Alright..." Her reluctance reminded me of her brother's reaction when Tom and I had started talking again. The siblings were so similar when it came to their concern for me. "I just don't want you to get hurt again."

"I know." I wasn't going to make any promises this time, other than to myself, that I wouldn't.

With that, Anne let it go, agreeing that she wouldn't tell Mark since I assured her it didn't mean anything. I could always tell him myself when he returned that week, but I didn't deem it necessary. I had a feeling it would only anger Mark and give him another reason to be upset with Tom as they worked on their new album.

The album that I got to hear a few days after my conversation with Anne. It was just demos that the band had been writing and recording for the past few weeks, but I was still excited to hear the rough cuts. Listening to demos always reminded me of the first blink songs I had ever heard from Buddha.