There was something in her gaze that told me to stop pressing, but I didn’t want to. I mean, I wouldn’t press. If she didn’t want me to, then that was fine. I wanted to know, though.
I wanted to know what they all meant.
“I do have my favorite flower on there, though,” she said before she went back to eating. “Lilies. I’ve always loved them. They come in all sorts of colors, and they all smell amazing. I get them for myself every once in a while. Get them delivered, and all that.”
I hated the fact that she ordered flowers for herself.
Someone should order them for her.
“Have you always liked lilies?” I asked as I took another bite of food. I swallowed quickly. “Or was there something that happened that made you like them so much?”
She just shrugged. “I don’t know. They’re just… pretty. I’ve always been drawn to them for as long as I can remember. Back in high school when I went to prom? King was insistent about buying my corsage. Said that ‘no teenage boy without his dick grown in is gonna buy you what you’re worth.’” She giggled and took a sip of her drink. I watched her mouth carefully. “And he bought me a corsage with lilies. It was beautiful. Most beautiful thing I ever owned by far.”
“Have you and your brother always been close?”
She barked with laughter again and shot me a look. “No. There was a point growing up where we couldn’t stand each other. He always got to do shit I couldn’t because I’m the younger one, and I always made his life hell while he was gone because I was pissed I couldn’t go with him.”
“I bet your parents loved it,” I said flatly.
She giggled with delight. “It was definitely something. But we’re close now. At least, I’d like to think so.”
I used to think she talked too much. The more time I spent around her, however, the more I realized that she probably just had no one to talk to. So I stayed silent while I watched her draw in a deep breath.
She kept going.
Because the least I could do was protect her words while she wanted to say them.
“I think you should get a tattoo,” she said. “Even if it’s just one. I think everyone should have a tattoo. It’s a form of expression, sure, but they’re also just… awesome. You can customize the colors. We could get you an all-black tattoo with shading, since really all you wear is black. It could be, like, your personality or some shit.”
The corner of my mouth twitched up. “What tattoo do you think I should get?”
“A plane, one hundred percent,” she said as she stabbed at her food. “Maybe something memorializing your service in the Air Force.”
I blinked. “Have I told you I was in the Air Force?”
She paused and stared at me for a while before her cheeks tinted a bit. “Not in so many words. But you’ve said enough that makes me feel like that’s where you served. Am I wrong?”
I searched her face for a while. “You’ve been rifling through my things.”
She took a quick bite of her food and chewed.
“Anna.”
“Hmmm?” she hummed as she swallowed.
I tilted my head. “Are you going through my things?”
I expected her to look cheeky. Or do that fake innocent thing where she batted her eyelashes at me before unleashing thestench of her pickle breath. But instead, I saw her do something I never saw her do before.
She caved in on herself a bit.
“It’s okay,” I said, my voice coming out a bit softer than I had intended. “I just?—”
“Your bathroom,” she said with a sigh as she thunked her fork down against the bowl on the pillow in her lap. “I rifled through your bathroom at some point in time.” She pinched the bridge of her nose. “Don’t really remember when, everything sort of blurs together lately.”
I just watched her while she spoke.
“You don’t ever tell anything about yourself,” she said as her hand fell from where she pinched the bridge of her nose. “And I had to go to the bathroom anyway. So I snooped, and I found your wings. I’m really sorry, Bee.”
