21

"You didn't have to buy all of this," I shake my head as I watch Daniella coming back into the house carrying all sorts of cat amenities in her arms. "It's 11 pm, how did you find a place that sells all of this?"

"Target," she says with a smug smile, dropping the stuff she bought on top of the couch. At this point Slippers has woken up and is more than excited to sniff Potato but she's too scared to let him get close, converting my arms into a fortress. "A litter box, litter, food, little bowls... look how cute they are," she says, showing them to me, they are black and have two green eyes on the bottom resembling Potato.

"Are you by any chance trying to steal my cat from me?" I chuckle as I follow her into her room, Slippers happily following close behind us, still trying to get a look at Potato in my arms.

"Why would you say that?"

"We're only staying for the night, you didn't need to buy all of this," I say, playfully squinting my eyes at her.

"But what if there's a need for her to sleep over again in the future?" She raises her eyebrows. "Plus, I don't want to wake up to a turd in my bed."

"You're totally trying to steal my cat."

"She likes me more anyways," she mumbles, making me gasp but she simply ignores my astonished expression. "I thought of buying a little bed but I thought it'd be ok if she slept with us."

"You don't even let Slippers, your own dog, sleep on the bed when we're together on it, but you'll let Potato?"

"First of all, You and Slippers both sleep like there's no one else on the bed, there's no way the 3 of us would fit. Potato is small."

"I thought it was because you didn't want him to watch us."

"That too," she says with a small grin. "But mostly because you sleep like a starfish."

"So you aren't thinking of making love to me tonight?"

She raises her eyebrows, I know that she wants to make a sassy remark but her sex drive won't let her pass up on a good opportunity. "Well, I thought you were too upset to have sex but by all means, let me find a bed for Potato."

"Actually, it's best if she does sleep with us, I don't think she'd like to be left alone in a strange house with a big dog that she's terrified of," I say, looking down at my arms seeing her watching Slippers' every movement.

"Uhum, admit that you just wanted to tease me," she groans, giving Slippers a few pats before leading him outside and closing the door. He sleeps with Lucia when he doesn't sleep with Daniella so there wasn't much of a pushback even though it's always painful to close a door on a dog.

"Am I the tease or are you just that easy to turn on?" I ask teasingly, finally letting Potato jump off my arms and onto Daniella's bed, she's suspicious of her surroundings only until she sees the bowl of food in the corner of the room, quickly jumping off the bed and making her way to it as if she's a regular at Evans' Inn.

She takes the opportunity that Potato is no longer in my arms to give me a proper hug, or so I thought, until she leans into my ear, letting out puffs of hot air as she speaks. "You've been having your fun out of teasing me, and I've been letting you because you're cute, but don't think you can get away with it for much longer without facing any consequences... unless that's exactly what you want," she says, finally letting go of my ear and facing me, and I don't need a mirror to know my face is as red as a tomato. She chuckles at my silent confirmation, giving me a quick kiss on the lips before retreating.

"Are you sure I am the tease here?" I mumble, still trying to compose myself as she sits on her bed, opening her laptop. "What are you doing?"

"I was working on a school quiz for Monday before you showed up," she sighs. "And as much as I want to give you 100% of my attention, I really have to get at least half of it done tonight so I won't need to worry about it during the weekend."

"Well, I'm sorry for interrupting your work, forgive me please," I joke, making her roll her eyes. "I promise I'll be quiet and let you do your thing," I say in an amused tone, crossing my fingers behind my back.

"You do know there's a mirror behind you, right?"

I look back, just noticing it. "Yup, I knew that," I cringe, sitting down beside her on the bed. She leans down on her pillows, allowing me to cuddle up next to her as she typed and it didn't take much longer for Potato to join us, laying down in between our legs.

We've been avoiding the conversation about the whole Denise thing — as in maybe if we ignore the problem then it doesn't exist, and we don't need to worry about the inevitability. Not that I think Daniella would break things up between us, we've come too far to just give up like this but things will definitely change, for better or for worse.

"Are you waiting for me? You can go to sleep," Daniella says, peering down at me. I haven't noticed my eyelids fighting to stay open until now. "This won't take much longer, I'll join you soon."

"I'm not sleepy yet, I'm just thinking," I half-lie.

"What are you thinking about?" she asks, fully stopping what she's doing on her laptop and setting it aside.

"Us."

"Are you scared I'll leave? Tell me you aren't because I assure you that's not happening."

"I know you won't, not by your own volition but I'm afraid we'll be pushed into a corner and have no other option, even if temporarily."

"That's not going to happen either," she sighs into my hair. "Don't worry about it for now, we'll find a way."

"But I feel like it's so out of our control, Denise is dating my dad, it's not like we'll be able to keep this from her for much longer," I sit up, waking up Potato but she simply gives me a side-eye before closing her eyes and falling back asleep. "We are already at a corner with no way out, unless we go back to being secretive about everything as if we're living a prohibited romance all over again."

She looks at me with worried eyes. "Are you thinking of leaving me?"

"No," I say quickly but something in her eyes tells me she's far gone into that line of thinking, and the last thing I want is for Daniella to think she was right about her fear of falling for me, risking everything for me, only to leave her. I grab her hands, holding them tightly with mine. "I would never leave, I'm so in love with you, it'd physically hurt me knowing I won't have you by my side. I chased you for so long and now that I finally have you here, I'll never let you go. I would be the biggest fool in the world."

She sighs, pulling me into her arms, giving me a tight hug. "I just don't want to think about this right now — everything was going so well, maybe a bit too well and now... nevermind," she whispers, looking away but I can still clearly see the glossiness of her eyes, and as someone that will cry by seeing the people I love crying, my eyes immediately started getting teary too. "I'm sorry, I keep making myself look like an insecure little girl, don't I?"

I shake my head no, holding her chin so she's looking at me again. "Is it appropriate if I say that seeing you afraid of losing me this much, makes me a little bit happy? I never thought you'd ever love me to begin with. Sometimes I can't even believe we're really together, I keep pinching myself," I chuckle, lightly pinching her thigh. "It's beyond me how the thought of me leaving you would ever cross your mind."

"Sometimes the people you are supposed to rely on the most are the first to go."

"Are you talking about your dad?" she simply nods her head, falling back on the bed, bringing me along with her. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"My dad had always been the type of man that would choose work over family. I grew up pretty much without his presence, so it didn't affect me as much when he wouldn't show up for birthdays and holidays, but seeing my mom sad was heartbreaking to me... I really hated him," she says, resting her head on her pillow and closing her eyes. "He was a cheater, yet my mom would put up with it in hopes for the very rare occasions where he'd be here because he'd act like the best dad and husband in the world only to leave on the next day."

"She was in love with him," I murmur, stroking her face with my fingers.

"She was a fool."

"And then he passed away?" I ask, trying to get her to continue speaking. Daniella hasn't shared much about her dad or her childhood, and I've been avoiding asking too many questions because I hate seeing her sad, but now that we're already talking about it, I'll take the opportunity to get as much information out as possible.

She simply nods her head, eyes still closed. "It was so strange because it was the first time in years he was spending so much time at home, it was almost as if we were a normal family again and then it happened so suddenly, one day he was fine and the next, he was being rushed to the ER."

"Maybe he knew he'd be passing soon and wanted to spend it with you two."

"That only makes me hate him more, how dare he make us believe he'll stay for good only to leave forever," she says, finally opening her eyes, a single tear falling from one of them but she's quick to wipe it away.

I want to say something, anything that'd comfort her but I have trouble finding the right words. I reach down to her, lightly brushing my lips against hers. "I would never do that... unless you cheat on me with some hot chick or maybe death, I can't control that, but even then I'd definitely haunt you for a really long time," I say, making her chuckle.

"You're such an idiot," she groans, pulling me in for a real kiss.

"And that's why you love me?" I ask, raising my eyebrows but she doesn't say anything, trying to contain a mocking smile.

"Do you want me to lie?"

"Why do you love me then?"

"You make me happy," she says simply, caressing my cheek.

"I was pretty sure you were going to say you love me because I'm hot."

"Also because you're very hot."

"And very smart."

"Uhum, no one is able to calculate the conversion of money to chicken nuggets as fast as you, and from various branches of Fast Food too, it's very impressive."

"And very good in bed," I say, instantly making her roll her eyes.

"Very good in bed indeed, no one sleeps for 15 hours straight, and still wake up tired and ready for another 15-hour nap like you do," she jokes, giving me the cutest sleepy laugh I've ever heard. "Thank you, baby."

"Why are you thanking me?" I chuckle but she's far too sleepy to formulate any more words so I just whisper into her ear. "I love you."

"I love you," she murmurs back.

⁂

My dad didn't notice my absence that night, nor Potato's which means that if I had not taken her with me, she'd have spent the whole night locked up in my room. I'm not sure if Denise ended up sleeping over, and I honestly don't even want to know... even thinking about it makes me gag. Not only because it's gross to think about your dad doing inappropriate things but because Denise's voice is incredibly high-pitched and annoying. I'll bet my life that her moans are horror movie material.

We haven't talked since Friday, in part because I've been avoiding him by hiding at Daniella's house for the remainder of Saturday but also because he hasn't made an effort to speak to me at all. It's Sunday now, and I'll be finally taking Dani on the date I promised. Dad wasn't home when I came in to drop Potato off and to get ready for the night but that was already expected.

I took a quick shower so I had time to spare to decide what I'd wear. I haven't worn a dress since Prom and it's as clear as day that Daniella has a thing for dresses, she hasn't asked me to wear one directly but I can tell she has that kind of hope in her eyes. And she has yet to see me in the ones I bought a few weeks ago with Soph. I was waiting for a special occasion to wear them and this occasion seems pretty special. I picked the simplest of the three I got, a spaghetti strap white dress that makes my butt look mighty fine, and that I'm pretty sure Dani is going to love. The other two are a bit more formal and wouldn't go so well with the restaurant I picked, this one is short but not slutty short, it's a casual dress — even though in my head, all dresses are fancy, there's nothing casual about not being able to sit comfortably.

"I'll be back soon," I say, giving Potato a kiss on her little forehead before heading out. I'll be picking up Daniella in my car this time around which makes this date even more exciting, even though she's still terrified of my driving for some reason, which is quite ironic since I've never run over anyone, she on the other hand...

I shot her a quick text when I was leaving so she was already outside waiting for me when I parked my car in her driveway. She gives me a smile as she walks towards the passenger side but I quickly step out before she's able to come in, she's confused at first but only until she sees what I'm wearing. She walks toward me with a mischievous smile. "You know what? I suddenly don't feel like dining out anymore, what if we dine in instead?" she says, pulling me into her. "You look so beautiful."

"You'll have me all for yourself later tonight," I say in between her kisses. "I really want to show you this place."

"Fine," she sighs dramatically, giving me one last kiss before pulling away and going inside the car. "Where are you taking me?" she asks as I sit beside her on the driver's seat.

"It's a place I used to go to with my dad all the time, they have an amazing outdoor seating that overlooks the entire city. Not many people know about it though, so there are never many people around," I smirk, starting the engine. "The food is pretty good too."

"Better than what I would have at home?"

"Well, I don't know about that," I laugh, taking her hand in mine as I drove. It's been a while since I've been there so it was a bit challenging to remember where to go exactly but I was still able to make it without much trouble, and without Daniella noticing it, she'd roast the heck out of my ass.

"How come not a lot of people come here if it's placed in such a popular spot?" Daniella asks as I park the car in one of the parking slots. "There are quite a few cars here though."

"Don't worry, only tourists that don't know the story come around, we won't be seeing anyone from the town."

"What story?"

"Oh... I don't know if I should tell you."

"Anna," she squints her eyes at me.

"Uh, the last owner might or might not have thrown a few people off the cliff some 100 years ago. My dad is friends with his great-grandson, we get discounts," I say, cringing at my own words as Daniella looks at me with a mixed expression of disbelief and amusement. "The restaurant is now owned by his great-granddaughter though, and I'm pretty sure she hasn't thrown anyone off the cliff."

"No wonder no one comes around, the cliff is a graveyard... I can't believe you're taking me here for a date, Anna."

"It isn't a graveyard... they removed the bodies."

"Good to know," she rolls her eyes, stepping out of the car. "I swear I'll throw you off the cliff myself if something pulls my feet under the table."

"I've been coming here for the last 6 or so years and nothing has ever pulled my foot under the table... I do avoid the bathroom though."

"You're unbelievable."

"You wanted something quiet," I say, taking her hand in mine.

"Quiet, not haunted."

"It's not haunted... just don't look in between the wooden floor boards, people say that someone will look back at you through them," I say in a joking tone even though this is an occurrence people have reported, and you won't catch me looking down even though I don't believe in ghosts.

"Stupid ass."

"Scared of ghosts?"

"Not really but I'd rather not seek proof of existence, I don't need to find out if ghosts exist Anna, and if I do today, you'll also be finding something out."

"What?" I ask amusedly.

"You'll find out if G-d exists."

I laugh as we walk hand in hand to the entrance of the restaurant, the inside is pretty much what you'd expect from a restaurant of that time period but the outside balcony is what makes this place special, for more reasons than the fact it's probably haunted by patrons that probably didn't want to pay for their food.

We greet the grumpy waiter that simply tells us to go ahead and choose any table outside. Other than the creepy story surrounding this restaurant, I have a feeling the grumpy staff might also be one of the reasons the townpeople avoid this place, but I can't really blame them for not being exactly happy working here.

"See? The view is amazing," I say, once we make it outside but Daniella's only reaction is to quickly unclasp her hand from mine. "What's wrong,'' I ask but I don't need an answer to my question as I follow the direction of her eyes. "Shit."