“I wasn’t asking, Glyndon. Either movie night or party night.” I tilt my head to the side. “By the way, if you leave me on Read again, I’ll jump onto your balcony and abort the nice phase.”
20
GLYNDON
“Oh, please, that’s such a lame fantasy.”
I pause at the entrance of the flat upon hearing Ava’s voice. After further inspection, I find all three girls huddled up in the living area withPride & Prejudice, the 2005 version, playing on the TV.
Annika’s obsession aside from Tchaikovsky.
I drop my bag in the nearest corner and join them. Cecily gets up, smooths the wrinkles on my bag, and hangs it before coming back again with a cup of tea in hand.
Her T-shirt for today saysManifesting the ability to punch people on the internet.
“Glyn!” Ava leans against me because she has no sense of boundaries. “Back me up on this.”
“What are we discussing?”
“Fantasies,” Annika says. “Cecily said her fantasy is finding a nice, normal man since that’s so rare nowadays.”
“It is.” Cecily takes a sip of her tea. “Sorry, I’m lame.”
“You’re lying.” Ava crosses her arms over her fuzzy pajamas. “A year ago, you said your fantasy was to be ambushed in a dark place and taken against your will.”
The cup of tea shakes in Cecily’s hand and she pales.
“Hey…” I inch to Cecily’s side and put my hand on her shoulder, then glare at Ava, “We agreed to not talk about that again.”
“Don’t act high and mighty. You said something similar, too. What was it? Oh, you want to fight it and be forced to take it, even when you say no. I can’t be the only one who remembers that.”
My cheeks go red as the memories return. I definitely said that back at Remi’s birthday party when the three of us got drunk and talked about our forbidden fantasies.
Then we realized how fucked up those sounded and agreed to never talk about them again. Before Ava disappeared on us in the middle of the night.
Was I anticipating what would happen with Killian?
I can’t believe I’m caught up in a classic ‘be careful what you wish for’ scenario.
Cecily’s shaking. She’s not the type who shakes. Now that I think about it, she looks paler than usual today, as if she’s seeing a ghost everywhere she goes.
I tighten my hold on her shoulder. “We were drunk, Ava.”
“It was the truest thing you two prudes have ever said.” She shrugs, then grins. “What’s your fantasy, Anni?”
“Uh, am I supposed to have one?”
“Of course you are. What’s the first thing you thought about when you were growing up and thought to yourself, ‘Shit, my parents should never know about this side of me’?”
“Oh. You mean that.” Annika slides her fingers over her phone’s sparkling purple case. “I guess, I always wanted to be kidnapped.”
We all stare at her, dumbfounded.
Ava is the only one who chuckles. “Damn girl, now that’s what I call go big or go home.”
“It’s not in the sense you think. I don’t want to be taken from my life and family for good, I just…want to be kidnapped on the day of my wedding. You know, like in those movies? Yeah, I know it’s fucked up, but uh, I guess in my mind, that’s better than an arranged marriage.”
“I’m sorry,” I whisper.