Clearly Anna could sense Brooke’s confusion because she quickly added,“you know, since you’re my favorite regular.”
Brooke blushed.“How can that be? Surely you mean Christine.” She teased.
Anna shook her head.“Christine is great. I think Christine and I will be great friends, but you’re still my favorite.”
Brooke’s heart rate spiked. She almost wanted to start making notes in her phone of all the things that Anna said that confused her. This one would go rather high on the list. She also had no idea how to respond.
Fortunately, she didn’t have to. Anna pushed back her seat and stood, holding her hand out for Brooke’s empty plate.
“Whoa, no. Not happening,” Brooke shook her head, standing faster and quickly moving her plate out of Anna’s reach.
“B, you cooked. I can clear.”
Brooke shook her head.“My restaurant, my rules.” She raised her eyebrows in such a way that warned Anna not to trifle with her on this.
Anna just let out a huff of a laugh and handed her plate over without more of a debate. She did follow Brooke back into the kitchen though, and she lifted herself up onto the kitchen counter with ease, balancing her wine perfectly as she did so.“Thank you for dinner, Brooke. Really.”
Brooke smiled as she rinsed their plates and organized them neatly into her dishwasher.“It was my pleasure.”
“You ready to take a million photos with me?” Anna asked, grinning conspiratorially.
Brooke put the leftover bow ties, mushrooms, and sauce into a glass Tupperware container and put that in her refrigerator, definitely avoiding Anna’s question. She wasn’t ready to take a million photos with Anna. She still wasn’t sure she understood why Anna was convinced they needed a million photos together anyways. Christine had immediately agreed with the plan though, so maybe it was a thing. Brooke’s longest relationship, the one that had left her painfully and brutally brokenhearted had, for the most part, been a complete secret. The few women she had dated for either one date or a few months at most had taken a photo or two, sure, but never a million. And she had taken even fewer than that, if at all. She was out of her depths here.
Her pained and confused expression must have been transparent to Anna, as most of her facial expressions seemed to be.“We don’t have to take a million,” Anna said softly, setting her wine glass down on the counter and hopping down so she was closer to Brooke’s height.“I really just think we need to have a few on hand in case Nate wants to see.”
Brooke hummed in thought. She didn’t know why Nate would want to see photos of them.
“And we should have lock screens and wallpaper options,” Anna continued.
“Like for our phones?” Brooke asked, internally panicking (celebrating) at the thought of Anna set as the lock screen on her phone.
Anna nodded, happily.“Yeah, if you were my girlfriend you would definitely be my lock screen.” She said it so easily, so matter-of-factly that Brooke’s brain had a hard time keeping up.
“Sure, yeah. That makes sense,” Brooke said, though the entire concept didn’t make a single shred of sense at all.
“Good, I figured round one should be of us all snuggled up on the couch. Like we’re having a movie night?” Anna’s smile lit up all of Brooke’s apartment.
Brooke inhaled sharply. Anna taking photos was one thing. Photos snuggled up on a couch was another entirely.“Uh? What?”
Anna let out a laugh and reached out and grabbed Brooke’s wrist, gently guiding her back towards her own living room. Brooke realized then that she hadn’t actually given Anna a proper tour. When Anna had arrived, Brooke had been so focused on not burning dinner that she had kind of abandoned Anna to fend for herself, and sure it was an easy enough layout: the front door opened into the living space with dining room to the left creating an L-shape. Her kitchen was accessible by large archways on either side, then leading off the living room was a short hallway that led to both her office and then to her bedroom down at the end, separated by a rather decently sized bathroom, and a small stacked washer/dryer closet. Brooke knew that giving Anna a tour would prolong her photo session, and at the rate in which Brooke’s face was heating up and in which her palms were sweating she couldn’t help but think that was a good idea.
“Tour?” Brooke blurted out.
Anna spun around, her eyebrow raised questioningly.
Brooke forced a weak smile.“I never gave you a proper tour. Would you like one?”
Anna’s curious expression melted into a smile. Brooke had never met anyone who smiled quite as often or in so many different ways as Anna Fourchette.“Sure, that would be lovely.”
“Well, you’ve seen this bit,” Brooke said, gesturing around the dining and living rooms.“And then here’s my hallway.” She led the way down her hall.“This is my office. I work from home, so I’m probably in this room most of all.” Brooke stepped back and let Anna step into her office. Brooke couldn’t help but stare as Anna explored her space. How Anna’s hand would reach up and hover, never touching, but searching in its own right. She hovered at the bookshelves, of which Brooke had three in this room, all of which were overflowing with books.
Anna bit her lip and turned her attention back to Brooke.“Have you read all of these?”
Brooke nodded.“The shelves in here are the books I’ve finished, yes.” She blushed.“There’s another shelf in my bedroom for the books I’ve yet to read.”
Anna’s eyes positively sparkled.“You have more?”
“Yes, it’s a bit of a problem I have. Can you be addicted to buying and reading books?” She poked at herself and her own, very real flaw.
