Ellis and James started to clean up while Freddie, Anne, and the rest of the party took the elevator down together. They did their best to ignore that Cricket and Glen were practically making out in the corner by the time the elevator arrived on the fourth floor.
“Good night, Cricket,” Bev called as she, Freddie, and Anne stepped off. “Make sure he wears a condom.”
“Good night!” Cricket replied. Then she smashed her face against Glen’s again as the elevator doors closed.
Bev disappeared into her apartment across the hall, so by the time Freddie navigated Anne out of the elevator, they were alone in the hallway.
“Oh, I have keys,” Anne seemed to remember, digging a hand into the pocket of her coat.
It took longer than it should have, but she pulled them out and unlocked the dead bolt, throwing the door open dramatically.
“I need to go to bed,” she said, then she walked forward into the darkness.
Freddie hesitated on the threshold, but she didn’t move to close the door behind her. It stayed open as she shed her peacoat, leaving it in a pile on the floor, then turned on the Christmas tree lights, flooding the room with a warm glow.
“You can come in,” she called out.
So he did.
“Don’t look in the kitchen. I haven’t done the dishes. Cricket uses plastic cups, but I needdishes,you know?” Anne said. She was still wearing her knit hat as she walked out of the living room and down the hall. Then the apartment fell silent.
“Anne?” he called out. When she didn’t answer, he followed where she had disappeared a moment before.
At the end of the hall, he came to an open door and stopped dead in his tracks.
Anne was lying face down on a bed, limbs flailed out like a starfish. The view was so adorable that it took him a moment to realize that the room itself was barely big enough to fit the bed. It also didn’t appear to have any windows.
But then he started to notice the details.
He had dated Anne Elliot for almost three years, was in love with her for even longer than that, but this was the first time he had ever been in her room. He had imagined what it would look like so many times, but the reality felt different. There were layers and imperfections, each one hinting at a different part of her. Theorganized bins labeled for different office supplies above her small desk. The line of books about math and philosophy on the shelves.
His mind flooded with questions, all the details he had been too proud to pursue before, but with Anne still lying face down in bed, he realized now wasn’t the best time, either.
“I like your room,” he said, still standing by the door.
Anne mumbled something into her duvet.
“Sorry?” he asked.
She turned her head and sighed. “I said thank you.”
Her eyes were closed, so she didn’t see as he took a few steps inside. Next to her on the bed was a folder labeledEufloria.
“What’s Eufloria?” he asked.
Anne opened one eye to peek up at him. “Oh. It’s nothing. Well, not nothing. It’s something.”
“That narrows it down.”
She rolled her one available eye. “It’s your sister’s flower shop. But not really. That’s just the name I came up with. She doesn’t have to use it or anything.”
He nodded.
“Anyway. It’s coming along really well,” she said. Then she pushed herself up to sit and pulled off her hat. The static electricity sent her blond hair flying out in every direction. A bigger man would have told her, but he rarely saw this version of her anymore, unpolished and imperfect. He had missed it.
“That’s great,” he replied.
“I’m meeting her tomorrow to go over all the last-minute stuff, so…” Her voice faded as she fell back against the bed again, this time facing up. Her eyes were closed, and for a moment he thought she might have fallen asleep, but then she said, “I just realized something.”
