I placed them on the counter, and was about to uncork the wine but she shooed me away.
“I’ll do it,” she grabbed the corkscrew. “I don’t want you complaining about doing all the work again. What did you do all day?”
Think about you…
“I went for a long ride on my bike. I drove sixty or so miles out.”
“You have a motorcycle?” she shuddered. “I’ve always been scared of those things.”
“Well, if you ever allow me to take you on a real date, I can show you they’re not scary at all.”
“I’ll think about it,” she set a plate and a glass of wine in front of me. “Pie for dessert?”
I nodded.
And while we’re on the subject of “pie,” I’m the CEO of the company that’s trying to figure out what’s in your cherry bourbon one and put your mom’s bakery out of business by the end of the year…
She sat down across from me and we ate in silence, occasionally looking up and smiling at one another. I was now convinced that even though she was a good actress on TV, she couldn’t control her real-life blushing at all.
“Okay. Time to play,” Selena sat on the floor, right in front the couch. “And you better not cheat. I’m like the master of Uno so I’ll know if you do.”
“It’s possible for someone to cheat at Uno?” I sat next to her.
She narrowed her eyes at me and I couldn’t help but laugh. I dealt seven cards each and made two separate “draw” piles.
“Wait. Before we start, I think we should play Confession Uno!” she beamed.
I really hope that’s similar to Strip-Uno…
“What on earth is Confession Uno, Selena?”
“It’s kind of like truth or dare, minus the dare, with the colors of Uno cards.”
“What? I’m lost…”
She sighed. “You pick a color before the game starts. Let’s say red for example. Anytime I put down a red card, you get to ask me a question and I have to answer it. The same rule applies to me with whatever color I pick for you.”
“It sounds really confusing…”
“It’s fun! I’ll show you. I pick yellow. What color do you want?”
“Green.”
“Great,” she put down a red card.
I put down a “draw four” and made green my color. She glared at me, pulled her cards, and then put down a green seven.
“This means I get to ask you something right?” I tried not to laugh at her pouty face.
“I could’ve sworn you just said this game was confusing…”
“I’m a fast learner,” I smiled. “Tell me, why did you change into those flannel pajamas?”
She gasped. “What! That’s not a real question!”
“It sounds like a real question to me. Do I need to better enunciate? Why. Did. You. Change. Into. Those. Flannel. Pajamas?”
She put down her cards and crossed her arms. “I’m not answering that!”
“Are you forfeiting at your own game, Miss Ross? Is that any way to play fair? I was really starting to enjoy this.”
“Fine,” she rolled her eyes. “I put them on so I would be less sexually appealing.”
“Well,” I put down a yellow seven, “you completely failed at that. Your turn.”
“Um…Have you ever been in love?”
How cute…
“No,” I noticed a look of disappointment etch across her face. “Have you?”
She shrugged. “I thought I was...Twice.”
“Hmmm,” I put down another “draw four” and made the color green again.
“You’re cheating, Ethan!”
“Because I’m winning?”
She frowned and drew cards.
I took my time thinking of a good question. “If you could have anything in the world right now what would it be?”
She didn’t answer right away. She stared off into space and looked as if she were about to cry. “I would want a friend…I haven’t had one of those in years.”
Damn…
We played in silence for a few minutes—drawing cards, avoiding eye contact, putting down every color except green and yellow.
I finally put down a yellow nine and waited for her next question.
She tapped her lip. “If I had told you to stop pursuing me a couple days ago, would you have really stopped?”
“Probably not,” I kissed her cheek. “Uno.”
“You got lucky! I never lose at Uno,” she sighed. “Let’s see…Has anyone ever told you that you’re a good kisser? Like, a really good kisser?”
“Wouldn’t that be something you would have to tell me?”
“I would if our first kiss was memorable.”
I put my card down. “It wasn’t memorable?”
“Nope. Not at all,” she started to get up but I pulled her back down to the floor.
I held her face in my hands and looked deep into her eyes—waiting for her to give me a look of hesitation, an expression of doubt, but I got the complete opposite.
“So you haven’t thought about our first kiss at all over the past couple days?”
“Maybe you have, but I forgot about it as soon as it was over,” she sighed.
Liar.
I pressed my lips against hers, and gently slipped my tongue into her mouth, never giving her the chance to control the tempo. I ran my fingers through her silky black hair, noticing that she was softly murmuring and her breaths were becoming shorter and shorter.