Page 100 of Fall is Brewing

“Hey!”

She twirls the pencil between her fingers. "You've rewritten that same note four times."

"I have not."

"Willa." She flips the notebook around.

Every previous sentence is scratched out beneath the fresh one.

I sigh. "...Okay, maybe my notes are similar. But they’re not the same.”

Lena sets another empty tasting glass beside me before brushing flour from her hands onto her jeans. "You don't usually second-guess yourself this much."

"I don't usually have this much riding on one competition."

June snorts. "Oh please." She grabs a slice of pizza from the box. "You've had this much riding on every competition since you were eighteen."

"I don’t think this is about cider," Lena says softly. The words drift through the room as gently as the smell of apples hanging in the cool air.

Outside, a breeze rattles the leaves against the open window, carrying with it the sweet smell of apples waiting to be picked.

Finally, June sets the pizza crust she'd been absentmindedly chewing back into the box. "Alright." She folds her arms. “That’s it. What’s going on?”

Neither of them says another word.

They just...

Wait.

It's somehow worse.

I stare into the amber liquid swirling in my glass. "Brooks and I kissed.” I pause for a moment. “And… more.”

More silence.

June blinks.

Lena's eyebrows shoot halfway to her hairline.

Then—

"You what?" they say in perfect unison.

I let out a nervous laugh.

June slowly sets the donut back into the paper bag like she's handling evidence. "Back up."

Lena is already grinning. "You and Brooks Calder?"

I nod.

"The Brooks Calder?" June asks.

"There's only one."

"The Brooks Calder you've spent the last month calling arrogant?" June continues the interrogation.

"I've also called him handsome,” I respond.