I suppress a smile.
Gino turns to Annie, who is standing there looking a little bewildered.
“And who’s this stunning bambina, Nico? This your girl? She’s too pretty for you.”
She snaps out of it. Her face breaks into a huge smile, a wide grin that knocks me speechless for the second time because I’m so used to her scowling or glaring at me like she wants to flay the skin from my flesh. I ignore the stab of awe in my chest, but I stare at her. I mean, I gotta. She’s a gorgeous pain in my ass.
“You’re right, I am too pretty for him,” she tells Gino, striding up to him to shake his hand. “I’m Annie. I’m his nothing. My sister is marrying his friend, and we’re driving down to the wedding together. Nice to meet you.”
“Gino. Nice to meet you, and congratulations to your sister.”
“Thanks. I don’t think it’s worth celebrating though, since Nico’s friend is a massive?—”
“Annie,” I warn.
Gino turns to me and slaps me upside the head. “Not so smart after all, kid, if pretty Annie is your ‘nothing.’”
“She hates me,” I say, at the same time Annie says, “I’m not his type.”
Gino looks between us. “What’s his type, then?”
“Someone who isn’t a miserable fuckin’ hurricane of serious issues who causes fuckin’ problems for everyone around her,” she says out of fuckin’ left field, with a smile that’s so fake it looks like it’s slapped on and scotch taped. What the hell is that? What…
It suddenly hits me like a battering ram, and I realize with a start that those aremywords. My words from when I was pissed on the beach.
I stare at her some more. At the current forced nonchalance of her posture and smile. And if I’m reading her right… Is that… No. It can’t be. She’shurt. Prickly, thorny Annie Li, with skinso thick that even the weight of the world would barely make a dent, who at eight-years-old kicked a boy twice her size in the nuts because he pushed my little sister, ishurtby a comment I made. “Annie?—”
“Or maybe like a cheerleader or something,” she interrupts, “and certainly not this,” she gestures up and down her body, seemingly at the tattoos that cover every inch. “Didn’t you play football in high school or something?”
Huh? “If by football, you meanDungeons and Dragons,” I reply slowly.
She frowns at me. “I seem to remember you being a dumb sports jock at Stuy.”
“Annie, I was valedictorian. You know this, so fuckin’ enough about that. But I was also the captain of the Science Olympiad team and the Mathletes team. Not to mention president of the chess club and sci-fi club.”
Annie stares at me, incredulous and slightly horrified. “You didn’t play sports?”
“I think I played ping-pong for a minute?” I scratch the back of my head. “But back to that other thing?—”
“Well,” Gino says, clapping his hands together once and cutting me off, “looks like you guys got some issues that need workin’ out, so why don’t you two go sit down and I’ll get you something to eat.” He shoves me towards an empty table, with Annie following not far behind.
We sit. I take her in while she looks me directly in the eyes with another dare in hers. She doesn’t back down, doesn’t flinch, doesn’t avert her gaze. But still, it’s there. I can see it. A flicker of pain, of hurt, of self-doubt. Something soft. And just like that, I have to apologize to Annie “My Worst Fuckin’ Nightmare” Li.
At least, I try to.
“Don’t,” she says quietly, cutting me off. She finally looks away. “I don’t want it.”
Gino takes that moment to plop down two cheesesteaks. “Davey just made these. Fresh off the grill. Bon appétit.”
We mutter our thanks, Annie blasting Gino with that megawatt smile. The real one.
“So how did you help Gino do all of this?” she quickly asks after he walks away, erecting another wall with breakneck speed.
I don’t answer. “Annie. Come on, honey.”
The fire in her eyes reignites. “I’m not your honey.”
I blow out a breath. “Fine.” I’m not going to win. “I taught him about a particular chemical reaction.”
