He pressed his hand to his cheek. “I’m so sorry, Anna,” he said, and he seemed genuine. “I know I shouldn’t have done that. I just… I really wanted to kiss you.”
I was a little flattered, if I’m honest. “Well, that’s all nice and all, but you can’t just control people like that. You can’t make people like you, and kiss you, for crying out loud.” I really was appalled.
“I know. You’re absolutely right, Anna,” he agreed. “But I just… I just really like you, Anna.”
“Don’t you have, like, a million girls to choose from?” I asked, confused. I wondered what was so special about me.
“They’re nothing like you,” he said simply, like it was so obvious. Well, it wasn't obvious to me.
“What am I like?” I asked, curious.
“You’re sweet. You’re like a kid at Disneyland. You’re excited about everything you see. You’re always drawing in your notebook, and making birds out of paper. You’re an artist, like me.” I had no clue he was an artist -- the truth was, I knew almost nothing about him.
“And sometimes, it feels like you can see right through me,” he carried on. “And those big green eyes of yours are smashing.”
I was speechless.
“And those freckles are pretty cute, too,” he added in a playful tone.
His eyes caught a hold of me again, and I found myself entranced by him once again. I’d been too busy listening to him shower me with compliments, and I’d completely forgotten to keep my gaze away from his eyes. I leaned slowly into him.
My lips pressed against his again.
Loud voices brought me back, and I snapped back to the present moment, appalled at myself once again. My heart fell into my stomach when I saw them standing in the distance; Brianna and Leo. They both seemed heartbroken.
I felt nauseated. I had hurt Leo, it was the last thing I’d wanted to do. I wanted to explain, but I couldn’t find the words.
“Well, don’t you two look cozy? Look at you in your matching costumes,” Brianna snarled. “I didn’t know you two were a couple.”
I sprang to my feet. “We’re not. We’re not a couple. I swear.”
“Well, sure looked like it a second ago.”
“The lady just fell under my spell for a second,” Ace offered. Exactly. I did. I literally did. Couldn’t they see that?
Leo was staring a hole in Ace’s head -- he looked like he wanted to swing a baseball bat at his head.
My eyes grew wide.
It was baseball. It was that photo. That photo on the bookcase. I’d briefly glanced at it, for a second, tops. Those horrid yellow and red uniforms. Mason and his baseball team. There were just a few women amongst the group. The redhead stood out. I hadn’t realized it at the time. I hadn’t really noticed her at all.
“I know who the redhead is.”
30
Leo eyed me with a confused look. “The mysterious redhead?”
Ace and Brianna both looked confused as hell. They had no clue what we were going on about.
“Yes!” I said. “There was a redhead in his baseball photo,” I explained. “One of the photos on the shelves at the Hendersons.”
“You’ve got something,” Brianna asked, hopeful. Although Brianna was not my favorite person, we all really cared about finding Haley. “Something about the redhead?”
“You’ll have to see the photo because you know what she looks like,” I said to Leo. “I don’t.”
He nodded, but didn’t say a word. His hands were in his pockets. He was still broken-hearted and it completely ruined me, but I couldn’t focus on that -- I had a case to solve.
“Let’s go,” I said. “We need to tell Simone right away.”
