Page 39 of Crash & Burn

“Take a picture, it’ll last longer,” I tease, figuring that our usual,comfortableexchanges will extract the tension in the air, but the usual cadence of my teasing isn’t coming through.

“You don’t have to do that,” Eddie responds, surprising me.

“Do what?” I ask.

“Pretend.”

“Pretend what?”

“Pretend that I didn’t just see what happened.”

So, it looks like I’m not getting out of this with any dignity.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” is what I decide to go with, hoping that he drops it.

“Does that happen a lot?”

I wrap my arms around myself, not because I’m cold, being that it is the middle of the summer, but because maybe it’ll protect me from this conversation.

“Like I said, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“The dream seemed pretty intense.”

“What do you mean?” I ask. He only saw me when I woke up. There is no way he could know that I was having an out-of-the-ordinary dream. “It was just a dream.”

“You were moving around a lot, and you looked uncomfortable.”

“I looked uncomfortable?” I ask, not even hiding the annoyance in my voice that he is, in fact, not letting me out of this conversation.

“Your face was all scrunched up. Like you were in pain.”

“So you were watching me while I slept? Pretty creepy if you ask me.” I try to ease the tension again, and it works for a moment because I see a tiny crack in his serious demeanor, so I play into it. “Forget what I said. Taking pictures of sleeping girls is frowned upon.”

“Is that what they say in your crime podcasts?” I’m thankful that he plays along, hoping my eyes tell him the words my mouth doesn’t. His features soften, so I know I have my in, but I also have a feeling this is just a temporary pause on the conversation.

“They actually specifically warn against drummers of rock bands,” I tease.

“I warn against those for you too, sunshine.” My stomach flips, not only because of the use of that nickname again but because even though his words are warning me, his smirk is doing anything but.

“Why do you keep calling me that?”

“What?”

“That’s the second time you’ve called me ‘sunshine’ today.”

“Every rainy day needs some sunshine.”

I roll my eyes because this has to be the opening for a punchline or something, and I am in a fragile headspace after all this whiplash. “Ha. Ha. Well, then what does that make you? The rainy day?” I tease.

“Not when I’m with you.”

My jaw drops, and I think I’m still asleep because there’s no way my brother’s best friend just said that to me.

My feet are glued to the concrete, and I can’t do anything but watch Eddie take the gas nozzle from the car and put it back on the pump as he smiles to himself. I hear him let out a chuckle, and I know that this round just went to him.

I see him glance towards the door of the gas station shop before looking back at me. He lowers his face, so he is just a few inches from my face, and I know for a fact that I’m still asleep because I think Eddie Ramirez is about to kiss me.

Alarms go off in my head, but I ignore them all because, for some reason, I want this to happen. It is a bad idea in every single way, but nothing sounds better than saying “fuck it, it’s fine” and leaning in.

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