Branded (The Branded Series) (2 page)

“I don’t know.”
Noah shrugged. “She’s alright. Still scoping out the new talent at school.”

I laughed. “Is
that seriously what you’re waiting for? You’re afraid you’ll commit to her, and
then you’ll meet someone new?” I shook my head. “That’s not likely to happen
this far into the school year. It’s almost April, man. You should just give
Lexie a chance.”

Noah answered
with a smirk. “You’re not one to give relationship advice, dude. You’ve had the
perfect girl right in front of you for the past three years and you’re too
blind to see it.”

“Okay,” I gave
in, “even if Anna
is
the perfect girl, what makes you so sure she thinks
I’m
the perfect guy?”

“Oh, please,
like you haven’t seen it.” Noah kept his eyes on the big glass doors ahead of
us.

“Seen what?
What do you mean?”

“The way she
looks at you? The way she drops plans with her friends when you call? The fact
that she hasn’t had a boyfriend since she met you?”

“She has so,”
I defended. “What about that Clinton kid in grade nine?” I realized how stupid
that sounded the moment it left my lips. “And she went on a couple of dates
with Eric last year.” I shuddered at the mention of his name. Eric was all
about one thing and one thing only, and because Anna was the only girl that
didn’t drool when he walked in a room, the thrill of the catch kept him
interested. I wished he’d give up on her.

“And that’s
it,” Noah finished for me. “A chick as cute as Anna should have had dozens of
boyfriends by now.”

“She’s had
lots of guys ask her out,” I reminded him.

“And she’s
said no to them all, why?” Noah raised his eyebrows. “You, dude.”

I closed my
mouth. He was probably wrong anyway, but it was an intriguing thought.

“This must be
her flight,” Noah announced, taking a few steps toward the gathering crowd.

My heart began
to pound louder and my mouth felt like the dry African plains. We watched
droves of people slowly descend the escalator, filter through the doors and
head toward the luggage belt. Just when it looked as though the last of the
passengers had arrived, I noticed a familiar brown, sticker-plastered suitcase
coming down the escalator, followed by tanned legs in a white tennis skirt, a
curvy yellow tank top, silky blonde hair and the warm smile I had been missing for
the last three cold months. There was no question about it—Anna was different.

“Wow,” was the
only word that slipped from my lips.

“Does
this
change
anything?” Noah jabbed his elbow into my side. “’Cause if not, can I call
dibs?” He left my side and headed to meet Anna.

“Shut-up, man,”
I said, keeping my eyes on Anna as she walked through the doors and toward
Noah, who lifted her into the air.

What had
Africa done to her? She was all grown up and so different. And as hard as I
tried to fight it, I was drawn to her in such a weird way. It felt unnatural
and natural all at the same time.

“You look
fantastic, Anna,” Noah said.

“You too,”
Anna’s sweet voice responded. She sounded more refined and mature. “Look at
you. You must have grown six inches.”

“That’s what
lots of rain will do to you,” Noah teased.

Anna’s smile
faded as she looked down. “Where’s Jake? He didn’t come?”

I stepped away
from a small group of people. “Did you think I’d bail on you?”

Anna spun
around and the elated expression on her beautiful face nearly knocked me over.
Where was sweet, little Anna? Who was this woman in front of me?

Her eyes
scanned me up and down and her cheeks turned a rosy pink. I loved how her face
betrayed her feelings.

“It must have
rained a lot here,” she said as she left Noah’s side and smoothed her hair.

“You look
great, Anna,” I said, innocently studying her new figure. “It’s good to have
you home. How was your flight?”

She skipped
toward me and wrapped her warm arms around my waist. I took in a deep breath of
her lavender-scented skin, which reminded me, if only for a second, that she
was too familiar to find attractive.

“Flight was
fanificent! No turbulence or anything. And it feels
so
good to be home.”
She held on tighter.

“What did you
say?” I pulled away and studied her bronze face.

“It’s great to
be home?”

“No, you said
your flight was fan
ificent
?”

Anna laughed
and nodded. “Yeah, it’s my new word. Do you like? It’s a combination of
fantastic and magnificent.”

“Still making
up your own words and definitions for things, I see. Guess some things never
change.”

Noah trailed
Anna’s luggage behind him as he slowly headed toward the luggage belt. “Do you
have more bags coming?”

I laughed,
“Did you honestly think Anna Taylor could go away for three whole months and
only have a carry-on?”

Noah smacked
his forehead. “What was I thinking?”

Anna ignored
my comment and said, “I have three more pieces, Noah. They all match that one.”

Noah looked
down at the battered luggage. “When you say ‘match,’ do you mean they’re all
ugly?”

“Hey!” Anna
slapped his arm. “Don’t knock the luggage. Those have gone all over the world
with me.”

“Maybe Santa
will bring you a nice, new pink set next Christmas,” Noah teased as he walked
toward the conveyer belt.

I shook my
head and snickered, “He sure doesn’t know you, does he?”

“Pink!” Anna
scoffed. “Like I’d be caught dead toting pink lug . . .” Her voice trailed off
and her face turned red as she tried to bury it in my shirt.

“What?” I
laughed, looking around. Then I saw her. A tall, pretty girl about our age
walking past with high heels and . . . pink luggage.

“I don’t think
she heard you,” I whispered.

Anna covered
her laughter. “She
totally
heard me.”

“Not
possible,” I said. “She had to have been a good ten feet away.”

“Me and my big
mouth,” Anna laughed.

“Well, it’s
not like you know her, and you’ll probably never see her again, so don’t worry
about it.”

Anna pulled
away from me, leaving a cold draft in her place. “You’ve always been good for
that,” she said. “Making me feel good about my mistakes.”

“It’s a good
thing too because you make a lot of ‘em.”

Anna’s mouth
fell open as she pushed me aside. “Jerk!”

“Miss me?”

“Oddly, yes,”
she admitted, and then wrapped her arms around my waist and laid her head
against my chest. “I definitely missed you.”

Immediately, I
felt slightly embarrassed. It wasn’t uncommon for Anna to snuggle up to me, but
this time it made me nervous. What was happening?

She pulled
away and studied my face. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. It’s
just different having you back, that’s all.”

She stared at
me blankly for a second then quickly looked away. “You’re right. It’s different.
Sorry.”

What did I do?
It wasn’t
that I didn’t want her to be cuddly, or maybe it was. I couldn’t explain it. I
felt different now with her, and I didn’t want it to ruin our perfect
friendship. This was all Noah’s fault. I hoped she couldn’t tell what I was
thinking.

“So, do you
have a girlfriend?” she asked as she pulled a pale yellow sweater from her
carry on and slid it on.

“Don’t you
think I would’ve told you that in my e-mails?”

“I would’ve
thought, but maybe not.” Her tone suggested she didn’t want to hear it if it
were true, anyway.

“I don’t have
a girlfriend,” I answered honestly. I looked up at Noah who was dutifully
watching the luggage going around. “But you know, there’s lots of girls out
there so we’ll see.”

It was a
stupid thing to say, but I was desperate to get the awkwardness out of the air
and bring things back to the way they were supposed to be between us—me dating
girls and her giving advice.

Anna bit her
lip and produced a small grin. “One can only hope, right?”

On the drive
home Anna sat
up front with me, while Noah sat in the back seat with his head between us. He
and Anna talked the whole time about her trip, most of which she had told me
through her periodic email updates. But this was different. This time I got to
hear her voice. Her sweet, energetic, calming voice.

“You were
quiet,” Anna said after we dropped Noah off at his house. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” I
lied, keeping my eyes on the road.

“Jacob Rovert,
do you think we just met yesterday? You are the worst liar ever!”

“I’m not
lying,” I lied again.

“Then why are
you chewing on your bottom lip?”

I quickly
released my lip and gave her my best ‘confused’ look.

“Okay, fine.”
She threw her arms up in defeat. “If nothing’s bothering you, then I’ll just
see you tomorrow at school.”

“Don’t be mad,
I’m just tired.” I pointed at the clock on my dash to confirm it was nearly two
o’clock in the morning and I had every right to use it as an excuse.

“Okay,” Anna
allowed, “but tomorrow you better not be tired.”

After a moment
of silence, I finally got the nerve to say, “So, you’ve changed a lot. Africa
was good to you.”

Anna looked
down at her arms, rotating them in the moonlight. “You like the tan?”

Among other
things.
“Yeah, I’m envious.”

“My hair grew
fast over there too. I couldn’t wash it every day like I do here, and apparently
that’s good for your hair. Who would’ve thought?” Anna pulled her hair out from
her sweater. “Feel it?”

I hesitantly reached
over and entangled her hair in my fingers. It was smooth, like silk. It slowly
slipped from my fingers and fell onto her shoulder. I wanted to pick it up
again, pull her face into mine and . . .
Wait! What the hell?
I quickly
retracted my hand and let it rest on the steering wheel. “Nice,” I mumbled.

Anna tucked
her hair back in and zipped up her sweater. “Hard to get used to the cold
here.”

“I bet.” I
clenched my jaw and tried to convince myself that it was just going to take
some time to get things back to normal with Anna. She was like a sister. I had
known her since grade eight. We used to catch frogs together and race our bikes
down the hill at the park . . . she was
not
girlfriend material.

I wondered
what she was thinking. Did she think I was being rude? Could she tell I was
having a hard time being around her right now? Did she feel the same way?

When I
couldn’t bear the silence anymore, I looked over and found her tracing a circle
on her leg with her finger, and smiling.

“What are you
doing?” I asked.

She began
laughing, making it very clear that she wasn’t upset with me. “You’re
so
adorable, Jake.”

“Why?”

“You’re acting
all weird and stuff.”

“Okay?” I
said, confused. “And that’s adorable, why?”

“I don’t know.
It reminds me of when we first met and you were so shy.”

“I was
not
!”

“Yes, you
were.” She poked me in the ribs. “And you know it.”

I shook my
head and rolled my eyes. “I guess some things never change.”

“How
so?”

“You’re
still stubborn,” I laughed.

“Whatever,” she
said with feigned disappointment. Then she chuckled. “I missed this. I hope
tomorrow things are normal again.”

“They will
be,” I assured her.

“Promise?” she
asked, reminding me of our solemn vow when we were fourteen to never break a
promise.

“Promise.” I
smiled.

“Best
friends?” She held out her pinky.

I hooked mine
with hers and said, “Just don’t tell Noah.”

“He’s got
nothing on me,” she laughed.

You got that
right.

I was running
. Faster and
faster, until the trees were a blur and my legs felt like they were on fire.
Ahead in the distance I could see a clearing through the trees and someone was
standing in the middle. As I got closer, the figure started to glow. Her long
hair blew in the wind and her silky white dress clung to her perfectly sculpted
body.

She was an
angel—a picture of absolute perfection. She reached out to me and that’s when I
knew that my purpose was to save her. From what, I didn’t know. Suddenly, my
legs became so heavy that I could no longer move them. The angel’s smile
quickly faded and she began screaming a heart-wrenching cry for me to help her.
I fought with all of my strength to get to her, but I couldn’t. Then, a figure
of black darkness galloped across the field toward her. Silence fell over the
angel and her face mirrored horrific fear. As I stood helpless, the black
darkness absorbed her.