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  Her face brightened a bit. “Good, I’ll go get myself a room. You can pay for this when you’re done eating, and I’ll see you across the street.” And she was gone.

  He could not believe that she just insisted he pay. It was so out of character for her.

  Once Kennedy pulled into the parking lot of the nearest hotel, she glanced into the windows of the diner where she had left Emmerick. He was still eating. Good. She went to the front desk and asked for two rooms, side by side, and had them hold Emmerick’s key for him.

  She went to her room and dumped her bag out on the bed. Hopefully he would take a long time to finish eating. She needed a long shower.

  While the water was warming up, she brushed her teeth and washed her face. After the last of the shampoo was out of her hair, she got out the razor. When she was done, she just enjoyed the hot water.

  Wishing she had more time to stay under the cascade of water, she wrapped the towel around her body and used a hand towel to wipe the fog from the mirror. When was the last time I used tweezers? She wasn’t sure. She ran out of the bathroom and searched her purse. She felt relieved when she made it back to the warmth of the bathroom.

  Once her body felt dry, she wrapped the towel around her hair and pulled her pajamas on. She was almost ready. Hopefully he was back in his room by now. She removed the towel and ran her fingers through her hair using her lilac scented detangler. After a quick application of chapstick, she went into the hall to knock on his door. Their rooms didn’t have a connecting door this time; she had forgotten to specify that.

  His door was propped open by the latch the way families did when a lot of people were going in and out. She knocked softly. There was no answer. She pushed the door open a bit and could hear the shower running. He was either incredibly brave or incredibly stupid to leave the door wide open while in the shower. His room was much colder than hers. He must have turned the air on. It wasn’t that cold outside.

  His bag was where it belonged on the luggage rack, laying open. She noticed a sweater on the top. Without thinking about it, she took it out of his bag and put it on. He made the room too cold, so he could supply the sweater.

  She sat on the bed to wait for him. His iPod was on the table next to her. Not knowing how long he would be, she decided to take a listen. Not bad music taste, she thought. He had Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, and Nirvana, but there was some bad music too: Akon, Beastie Boys, TI. How anyone could stand to listen to that was beyond her. She preferred mellow music.

  Kennedy closed her eyes and leaned against the headboard with her legs stretched out on the bed. She tapped her foot with the music.

  When Emmerick came out of the bathroom, he stood in the doorway for a while. He wanted to see her reaction to his music. She seemed to like it. Her head was moving slightly. She seemed to be smiling, or at the very least smirking.

  He snuck up beside her and shook the excess water out of his hair onto her. She jumped and let out a little scream at the same time. “Please, make yourself at home,” he said with a smile. He noticed her shirt. “Is that mine?”

  “I wasn’t expecting it to be so cold in here. You’re worse than a dog.” She gestured to the water spots on the sweater.

  “Yeah I guess it is a bit cold.” He turned to his bag and retrieved some boxers. Without hesitating, he dropped his towel and pulled them on.

  Not knowing that he could see her in the mirror, Kennedy didn’t look away.

  The corner of Emmerick’s mouth curled slightly upward as he threw on sweatpants and sat in the bed next to her.

  She took the headphones off and put the iPod back where she found it. “Not sure how I feel about your musical taste.”

  “You seemed to be enjoying it. I’m a little disappointed you didn’t start singing and doing your little dances.”

  “Yeah, well…” she started but didn’t finish. “What should we do?”

  “Watch a movie maybe?” he suggested.

  “No, that’s too mindless.”

  “Then why don’t you pick?”

  “Ok.” She seemed satisfied, as though that was where she had planned the conversation to go. “Let’s do twenty questions. I get to ask first.”

  Interesting, he thought. “Sure. But first some ground rules. I don’t want to waste my questions on things you won’t answer. Is anything off limits?”

  “Hmm. I’m not sure. But if you ask something I’m not willing to answer, it won’t count against your twenty. The same is true for questions I ask you.”

  Sure seems like she has given this a lot of thought. Maybe she was planning it when she was listening to my iPod. “I think I can agree to that. What are your questions?” he asked.

  “Let’s start with the basics. Favorite color?”

  “Orange.”

  “Favorite food?”

  “Mexican.”

  “Favorite movie.”

  “Stranger Than Fiction.”

  “Best memory of each sister.”

  “Not a question.” What is she playing at?

  “Add the words ‘what is your’ in front of it.” She stuck her tongue out at him.

  “Ok then. I’ll start with the youngest, Claire. We were on a family vacation to Disney World. She spent the whole day pointing out the characters to me. I was probably six, which made her around thirteen. She convinced me that one of them was my real father, and that if we came across him, I’d have to go ask him why he left my mommy after she had a baby in her tummy. She said to tell him I’m just like him. That we’re peas in a pod.

  “Well, we did find him, and I did everything she told me to do. She just sat back and laughed. My parents were mortified. They apologized over and over to the character, but of course he couldn’t respond. They’re not supposed to talk. Any guesses which character?”

  “Mickey?” Kennedy guessed.

  “I could only be so lucky. Nope. She had me convinced that Goofy was my father.”

  “Well, she got one thing right at least.”

  “What’s that?”

  “You and your ‘father’ are two peas in a pod!” She chuckled.

  “Yeah, yeah. You going to keep making fun of me or shall I move on to Rachel?”

  “By all means, move on.”

  “That’s what I thought. Rachel is nine years older than me. When I was 15, I decided I should run away from home. My parents wouldn’t let me play my video games until after homework and dinner, but by the time that all happened it was bedtime, so no video games. Anyway, Rachel was married and in her own house by then, only a couple of miles from my parents. I packed my backpack, snuck out my bedroom window, and rode my bike to her house.

  “I told her that mom and dad were being unfair and they should have to worry about me for a while. That should teach them to try and control me like that. She let me stay with her for a week, until I got sick of being there. They had a three month old baby, and I could only take the crying for so long. Of course I found out later that she had called my mom and let her know what was going on. They decided that if I came home on my own accord, I’d be less likely to do it again. They were right. I never ran away again.”

  “That is the lamest reason to run away. Who knew you were such a loser?” she teased.

  “I think I’ll take that as a complement. The last part anyway.”

  “Yeah, you would. Ok. Final memory. Next sister.”

  “That would be Emma. I don’t have a lot of memories about her. By the time I was old enough to remember anything, she was out of the house. She’s fourteen years older than I am. Most of my memories of her are when she came over at Christmas. She bought me the bike I’m riding a few years ago. Best Christmas present I’ve ever gotten.

  “That’s one of the benefits about having a sister so much older. She’s more set in her life…more perspective in life, more willing to give, more money to burn through. When spring came, I took her out on it. We spent the day together. It was the first time we really took time to get to know ea
ch other, having not grown up together.”

  “Wow. Sounds like you have quite the family. Except maybe Claire. She seems to like to put you in predicaments.”

  “Yeah, you could say that.”

  “I think Claire’s my favorite.”

  “Mine too.” He smiled. “Next question.”

  “If you could be anywhere in the world…”

  “Exactly where I am now.”

  “I’m serious.”

  “So am I.”

  “Whatever. Most embarrassing thing you’ve done.”

  “Dropping my towel in front of basically a total stranger.”

  She tried to hide her giggle. “Most embarrassing thing you haven’t been caught doing.”

  “Wow, you ask the tough questions.” He looked at the ceiling out of the corners of his eyes as he thought.

  “You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”

  “No, I’ll answer. But remember, don’t judge me for it. I was young.”

  “Oh, now I’m intrigued.”

  “When I was, oh I don’t know seven, eight maybe, there was this girl I liked, and I wanted to kiss her, but I’d never done anything like that before. I wasn’t sure if I would know how, or if I’d be any good at it. I needed to practice. I couldn’t have her laughing at me or pushing me away. So…” He paused for a moment and laughed to himself. “So, I practiced with my sister’s old ‘walk with me’ doll. You know, the life-sized ones.”

  Kennedy burst out laughing.

  “You’re not supposed to laugh. I was little. I didn’t know any better.” He actually blushed. “Never did kiss that girl. Well, not until high school. I actually dated her for a while. Never told her that story, either. Never told anyone that story…” He gave her a sheepish grin.

  Still chuckling a little, she moved on to her next question. “Best memory of high school.”

  “Ditching class and going to the park.”

  “Favorite holiday?”

  “Christmas.”

  She mulled over her next question before asking it. “Blonde or brunette?” She asked it so fast he almost didn’t understand her.

  “Brunette. By far. Hands down.” He smiled and let his gaze drift to her hair before going back to meet her eyes.

  She broke eye contact after a few moments. “Ok, I need a break…you ask some now.”

  “Favorite holiday?”

  “Halloween.”

  “Why?”

  “You can be anything you want to be, anyone you want to be, even if only for one night.”

  “Favorite food?”

  “Italian.”

  “Favorite foreign accent?”

  “Um, British or Irish.” She gave him a half smile, and he looked smug.

  He asked his next question with a perfect Irish accent. “Favorite girly thing ya do, lassie?”

  A laugh forced its way out of her mouth. Did he really just say lassie? “Did you really just call me lassie?”

  “Aye. Now answer the damned question.” He was still using his accent.

  “Pedicures.”

  “Favorite movie?” He dropped the accent.

  “I have a few.” She paused as though she expected him to object, but when he didn’t she continued. “Lady and the Tramp, The Notebook, and 13 Going on 30.”

  “Chick flicks. Figures. You have to spend a month on a deserted island. What three non-survival things do you bring?”

  “A brush, a notebook, and a pen.” She didn’t seem very sure about her answer.

  “Most embarrassing thing you haven’t been caught doing.”

  “Um…” She was hesitant.

  “Remember, you don’t have to answer that.”

  “No, it’s just…really embarrassing. Just don’t laugh ok? Maybe just don’t comment on it at all.” He didn’t respond. “Ok?”

  “Ok, fine. Geez.” He waited for her response, but it didn’t come. He asked again, “Most embarrassing thing you haven’t been caught doing?”

  She smiled a tiny smile. “Smelling your neck.” She blushed an incredible shade of red.

  He opened his mouth to comment on it, but then he remembered his promise. If he would have known it was about him, he never would have made that promise. Too late now. “Ok, now that we got you good and embarrassed, mind if I take it personal?”

  “I think you already kind of did.” The redness in her cheeks wasn’t going away. She sat up with her legs folded in front of her, facing him now.

  “Favorite…position?”

  “I...um…wh—” She was flabbergasted. “I think that will be one of the questions I won’t be answering.”

  He sighed. “I thought it was a long shot. Hey, can’t blame a guy for being curious. It says a lot about a person.”

  “I wouldn’t know.”

  “Which brings me to my next question. How many people have you had sex with?” Upon seeing her look slightly horrified again, he added, “Would it make it better if I answered first? We don’t even have to count it towards your twenty.”

  “Hmm, ok, but that doesn’t necessarily mean I’ll answer.”

  “Ok. I’ve only been with two girls.” He looked embarrassed by that.

  Boys. They seem to think the higher their number the cooler they are. Not so much.

  “Well, in that case, I guess I’ll answer. Just one.” She wasn’t looking at him anymore. She was staring at her feet.

  “Are you serious? Is that all?”

  She glared at him in response.

  “No, I don’t mean it like that,” he said. “It’s just that…a girl like you. No, that didn’t come out right. I just can’t believe…I mean, I’d think the men would be lining up, that’s all. Not to say you’d agree to have sex with anything that came your way. I just...I’m going to shut up now. Next question…”

  She laughed a little to herself. That actually made him uncomfortable. She relaxed a little and switched to lying on her stomach with her feet in the air.

  “First kiss. How old?” he asked.

  “Seventeen.”

  He started to make a comment but changed his mind. “Ok, I’ll turn it over to you now. We both have nine questions left.”

  “Secret talent?” she asked.

  “I can cook,” he answered.

  “Good to know.” She thought for a moment. “All right. You went there, so I’m going to put you in the same spotlight, but since you asked me, I expect you to answer.” He just nodded in response. “Your favorite…position?”

  “On bottom.”

  “Why?”

  “A multitude of reasons.” He didn’t seem to want to elaborate.

  “Humor me.”

  “Well, first of all, a better view. A much, much better view. And,” he continued before she could hit him, “and because, in my experience, it gives the girl a better chance to get into it. She can be in more control. Or at least she thinks she can. And it’s the easiest position to change out of.”

  “If you could be doing anything right now, what would you do?”

  “I wouldn’t change a thing. This is the best night I’ve had in a long time.”

  How odd, she thought. Granted, it was the best night she’d had in a long time as well, but he was so much more outgoing than she. Surely that would make for more interesting times. “Hmm,” she said while she thought about her next question. “Now, just because I’m going to ask you this, or anything I ask you, does not mean anything…significant. I’m just curious. Verifying.”

  “Sure, sunshine. Whatever you say,” he said with a smile. He liked where the conversation was going. Getting her out of her comfort zone. Talking about these kinds of things. It led to possibilities.

  “You like me?” It came out as more of a statement than a question, but she meant it as a question. She wasn’t positive. “Like that?”

  “Yes.” He didn’t skip a beat in answering and her heart fluttered.

  This night could not be turning out any better than if he had planned
it himself.

  “How many serious girlfriends have you had?” she asked.

  “Two.”

  “Non-serious?”

  “None.”

  Two questions left. She had to make these count.

  “Celebrity crush?” She knew it would seem like a superficial question, but she thought the answer could say a lot about him.

  “Kate Beckinsale.”

  “If you won 100 million dollars, how would you spend it?”

  “Let’s see. I’d pay off my parents’ house and each of my sisters’ houses. I’d buy my own house with a 10 car garage, which I would proceed to fill with cars and bikes. I’d travel the world for a few years then settle down and start a family and live off the interest. Any extra I’d donate to some cause or another.”

  She contemplated for a while. Well, he seems decent at least, assuming he was being honest. He anxiously watched her mull over his answers. He wanted to ask the rest of his questions. Hopefully she would answer them all.