“I can drink to that,” I say, raising my glass of water. We clink our glasses together and then she asks me if I want to take a walk.

“The last time we took a walk, I fucked you up against a wall,” I say, but she doesn’t react. As if she was expecting me to say that. It’s going to take more than that to shock her.

“True,” she says as I leave a generous tip for the waitress, even though she laughed at us.

“So are you saying it could happen again?” I ask as I hold the door for her.

“We’ll see,” she says, giving me a little smirk. Oh hell. What is this girl doing to me?

The sun is brilliant on Saige’s hair. Almost blinding.

“Where to?” I ask.

“This way,” she answers, pointing. It’s just like the night of our first date, with her leading the way. But only because I let her. I’m still in control.

“So tell me more about you, Quinn Brand. You’ve asked all kinds of questions about me, now it’s my turn.” I have answers ready for anything she could potentially ask me. I’ve done this part so many times before.

“What do you want to know?” She taps her chin as if she’s thinking really hard. Like she hasn’t thought about it until now, which I know is bullshit. She said she doesn’t plan for any day further than today, but now I think that’s a lie.

“Everything. Where did you grow up? Do you have any brothers or sisters? What’s your mother like? How old were you when you learned to ride a bike? Have you ever played Truth or Dare?” That is… a lot of questions.

“Do you want me to answer them all at once?” She laughs.

“You don’t have to. Just start with something. Anything.”

I’d rather not tell her about my fake childhood where I’d paint her a rosy picture of cookies and two parents and Christmases with mounds of toys. I want to talk about something different.

“I have never played Truth or Dare.” It’s nice to be honest with her, at least for this question.

“Never? Seriously?”

“Seriously.”

“How is that possible?”

I shrug.

“No idea. Just never came up. Have you?” I turn the questions back on her.

“What else was there to do at sleepovers once you’d done prank calls and snuck into your parents’ liquor cabinet?” I stifle a laugh.

“Well, pillow fights come to mind,” I say and she lightly punches my shoulder.

“That’s just a male fantasy, by the way. I have never had a pillow fight in my life.”

“Now that is a damn shame.”

“Perv.”

We reach another intersection and she points. I have no idea where we’re going and I don’t care. People pass by and the city noise envelops us, but I’m focused on her.

“What is the craziest dare you’ve done?” I ask. I really, really want to know.

“I’ll tell you if you tell me about your first kiss.” Damn. I definitely don’t want to tell her about that and not because I don’t want to talk about my personal life; it’s an embarrassing story. Beyond embarrassing.

“Deal,” I say. “But you have to go first.”

She sighs as if it’s a huge imposition.

“Fine. But this better be a good story.” I’m sure she’ll enjoy it, even if I hate telling it.

“It is.”

She blows out a breath and looks straight ahead.

“The craziest dare I ever did was when I was sixteen. Oh God, it was so dumb. So we’d been doing Hamlet in school, so I got dared to do Ophelia’s death scene with a Scottish accent in the middle of Wal-Mart. Let’s just say I didn’t get through the entire scene before I was asked to leave and then escorted out of the store. I refused ever to go back to that store afterwards. Good thing that was before a lot of phones could take video on them or else it would probably be on YouTube for all the world to see.” I laugh. I can totally picture her doing that.

“Man, I wish there were a video. That’s something I’d like to see. Maybe you can reenact it for me sometime?” She rolled her eyes.

“Hell no. Now, tell me about your first kiss.” Now it was my turn to sigh and bear my awkward childhood.

“I was ten and it was at camp.” As soon as I start telling the story, I am sucked back in time to that bunk and that girl. Lacey.

“There was this girl, Lacey, I’d had a crush on all summer, but I’d been too shy to do anything about it. Of course I was an idiot and told one of my friends and then the entire boys’ bunk knew and teased me about it. Finally, I had to kiss her just to shut them up. So I passed her a note during lunch and told her to sneak away and meet me in the boys’ bunk during arts and crafts. I was freaking out and had to keep rubbing my palms on my shorts. She came and I remember wishing I’d watched more romantic movies so I’d have the right thing to say. I don’t really remember what happened next, but we ended up sitting on my bunk and I leaned in and kissed her. She smelled like gum and bug spray. She pulled back so fast I almost fell off the bunk. And then she threw up in my lap.”

I cringe, remembering the smell. I’d had to go shower and change and try and get the smell out of my mattress. It stunk a little bit for the last week of camp. But at least no one teased me about not kissing her. Instead they teased me about her throwing up. Because of course that got out as well.

“Oh my God, Quinn,” Saige says through a laugh. She grabs my arm and we stop walking. Then she throws her head back and laughs at my misfortune. I should probably mind, but I don’t. I’d laugh at me too.

“That is the most tragic first kiss story I’ve ever heard.”

“Yeah, I’m sure. It was pretty traumatizing.” I’d been horrified it was something I did that caused her to vomit. Like my breath was bad, or I was gross or something. Took me four years to try again, and luckily that girl didn’t vomit during any of our kisses. She was my first actual girlfriend.

“Do you know what she’s doing now? Lacey?”

“No idea. I haven’t thought about her for a long time.”

“You should look her up online. I bet you could find her.”

“I’m not sure I want to. Sometimes the past needs to say in the past.”  We start walking again and she grabs my wrist to check for the time.

“Shit, I need to get back.” I’ve completely lost track of time but I don’t want to go back to work. I want to cancel everything and just spend the day with her. And the night. But my wants aren’t important. Moving the relationship in the right direction to get what I need is. It’s the only thing that that matters.

“Share a cab?” I ask.

“Sure.”

She hails one and we give our destinations. We’re going in opposite directions and the cabbie is a little disgruntled, but I hand him a twenty and he shuts his trap.

“So what are your plans for tonight? Got a hot date?” She’s definitely fishing for a date invitation. Very nice.

“I’m not sure yet. What are you up to?”

“Homework. As usual. I have exams coming up so I don’t have much time for anything else.” Damn.

She gives me a little sad smile.

“I’d say you could come and watch me study, but it would be very dull for you and very distracting for me.”

“It would definitely not be dull. You could never be dull, Saige Juliette Beaumont.” Her name tastes right in my mouth and on my tongue.

“You overestimate my ability to be interesting when I’m staring at textbooks and typing on my laptop, but I’ll take it as a compliment.” Her eyes do that crinkle thing again and I know I’ve pleased her.

“Well, if you want a study break, just let me know.” We’re at the entrance to her school.

“I will. Bye, Quinn.” She hesitates for just a moment before leaning in and giving me a kiss on the cheek.

“Bye, Saige.” The cabbie pulls away while she’s still standing there on the sidewalk staring at me.

Thirteen

Since I hadn’t gotten any more of the text messages I figured whoever it was had gotten bored of antagonizing me. Of course that’s when I get another one. This time it’s a picture. Of me leaving my office the night before. I only know because I remember what tie I was wearing.