Something in the Wine (23 page)

“We don’t need to watch it,” Annie said.

“It’s fine. I told you I like
Star Trek
.”
Stop being so afraid I’ll judge you or think you’re boring.

When they finished their soup, the episode ended and a voice announced that another one was about to be aired.

“Want to watch the next one and have popcorn for dessert?” Drew asked.

Annie looked over at her. “You really want to watch
Star Trek
with me?”

“Why not? I happen to think that Seven of Nine is hot, so I don’t mind watching her.”

“Sorry,” Annie said after blinking twice at Drew’s frank words, “but Seven of Nine is in
Voyager
, not
The Next Generation
. No hot Borg in this one.”

Drew shrugged. “I’ll make do.”

“Okay. If you’re sure.” Annie waited until Drew nodded before she stood. “I’ll get the popcorn if you tell me where you keep it.”

“No, this time, let me go. You’ll spoil me for other women if you keep pampering me like this.” Not waiting to see if Annie was blushing or not, Drew gathered their bowls and carried them to the kitchen. While she waited for the popcorn kernels to pop, she was very aware of Annie’s presence in the living room. Somehow, the house felt different with Annie there.

Better.

She rolled her eyes at herself.
Stop thinking like that. She’s a friend—a straight friend, not a girlfriend who’s here to stay.
She distracted herself by trying to smell the popcorn, but her stuffed-up nose refused to cooperate.

With two sodas and a giant bowl full of popcorn, she returned to the living room; then she glanced across the coffee table at Annie.
Oh. I should have gotten two bowls.
“Want to come over here so we can share the popcorn?” She nudged the dog who was trying to stick his muzzle into the bowl. “Cab, off.”

With an almost human-sounding sigh, Cab jumped from the couch.

Annie rose and rounded the coffee table. When she sat, Cab immediately trotted over and placed his head on her thigh.

Drew grinned.
Seems he’s in love.
She tried to ignore the voice in her head whispering that she might not be so far behind.
Nonsense.
Just because she found Annie attractive and interesting didn’t mean she was in love with her.

With the bowl of popcorn between them, they leaned back. Drew chewed a handful of popcorn, hardly able to taste a thing, and swallowed through a throat that still felt sore.
Ouch. Maybe having popcorn wasn’t such a brilliant idea.
She sipped her soda and watched Annie watch her favorite TV show.

When the bearded commander wandered along the ship’s corridors with the Enterprise’s beautiful counselor, Annie made a face.

“What? Don’t tell me you’re jealous because you had a crush on ...” Drew stopped herself before she said Deanna Troi.
She’s straight, remember?
“On ... what’s the name of the bearded guy? Stryker?”

“Riker,” Annie said. “And no, I never had a crush on him. I don’t watch
Star Trek
for the romance, but if anything, I liked Deanna with Worf.”

“Worf. That’s the Klingon, right? Yeah, they have that beauty-and-the-beast thing going.”

Annie seemed to consider it for a moment. “It’s not that. But sometimes, the most unexpected pairings work best.”

Drew nudged her with an elbow. “Kind of like us.”

Annie choked on her popcorn. She bent over and gasped for breath.

“Hey.” Drew rubbed Annie’s back. She stopped when she realized how intimate the touch was. “You okay?”

“Fine,” Annie rasped. “A piece of popcorn nearly went down the wrong pipe. That’s all.” She gave Drew a sidelong glance. “Watching
Star Trek
with you is dangerous.”

Drew grinned. “Maybe I should come with a red-shirt warning.”

Annie’s laughter filled the room, making Drew’s chest expand with pride at being the cause of Annie’s merriment. “Maybe you should.”

For the remainder of the episode, both of them were silent. Once, their hands brushed against each other when they reached into the popcorn bowl at the same time.

Tingles shot up Drew’s arm.

Annie pulled her hand back. Had she felt it too? Her expression was hard to read.

Wishful thinking, dumbass.

When the episode ended and the theme song accompanied the closing credits, Annie cleared her throat. Twice. “Drew?”

Something in Annie’s voice made Drew hold her breath. She peeked at Annie out of the corner of her eye. “Yes?”

Annie brushed a tiny piece of popcorn off her lips. She glanced from the TV to Drew, then back. “Drew, I want you to know ...”

Drew’s heartbeat picked up until she thought the couch was vibrating beneath her. She turned to face Annie and then settled back when their knees touched.

“I don’t want you to think I’m taking advantage of you.”

“Advantage?” Whatever Drew had expected Annie to say, this wasn’t it. “Annie, I was just kidding before.”

“I know. That’s not what I mean. What I want to say is ... you’re not just some random lesbian I’m using to get back at my bratty brother.” Annie’s green eyes glowed with intensity. “I ... we ...”

Drew decided to help her out of her misery. “We’re friends. Or at least starting to become friends.”

Annie nodded and exhaled. “Yes.”

“And as your friend, I’m fine with whatever you want to do. Getting even with Jake was my idea, remember?”

“Yes, but I’m the one who didn’t want to stop even after ... after Halloween.”

Had Annie changed her mind? Drew studied her, took in the nervous movements of her long fingers. “And now you want to stop? If you want to call off our revenge plan so you can just relax around me ...”

“I am relaxed around you,” Annie said as she gazed at her hands.

Drew wasn’t so sure that was true—at least it hadn’t been true in the beginning. Annie rarely, if ever, seemed to drop her guard around other people. But now that she was taking care of Drew, she seemed less reserved. “Then our plans for Thanksgiving are still on?”

“They’re still on—if you’re okay with it.”

“Why wouldn’t I be okay?” Drew asked.

For long moments, Annie stared into the nearly empty bowl and then picked up a piece of popcorn and studied it from all sides. “Kissing a friend ... kissing me and touching me in a way that makes Jake believe we’re a couple ...” She closed her fingers around the piece of popcorn and looked up. “It might be awkward. I mean, you don’t normally go around and kiss women you’re not attracted to.”

Lack of attraction is not the problem here.
But she couldn’t tell Annie that. “No, I don’t,” Drew said and left it at that. She studied Annie’s nervous expression. “Are you really worried about it being awkward for me, or is this more about it being awkward for you?”

Annie sighed. “Both.”

“Hey, relax. You kissed me, and it wasn’t that bad, was it? I mean ... kissing a woman is not that different from kissing a guy.”
Okay, that was a lie.

Annie didn’t look convinced either. She cocked one eyebrow and gnawed on her lip until she finally asked, “Have you ever kissed a man?”

“He was more of a boy than a man, but yes, I kissed a guy once.”

“And?”

Drew shrugged. “Nothing to write home about. Too much tongue and not enough emotion.”

“Hmm.” Annie finally put the piece of popcorn in her mouth and chewed it slowly.

“Just kiss me in front of Jake like you kissed me after the Halloween party. It was,” Drew swallowed, “very convincing.” At the memory of their kiss, her face flushed, and she could only hope Annie would attribute it to the residues of her fever.

Annie’s gaze flickered up to meet Drew’s. “It was?”

Drew nodded.

“Not too much tongue or not enough emotion?” Annie blurted it out, then blushed.

“Nope. It was a very nice kiss.”

Annie nibbled on her lip. “Nice? Isn’t that what people usually say to spare someone’s feelings when it was really awful?”

“No. No, really.” Drew hesitated. She hadn’t wanted to make Annie uncomfortable by letting her know how affected she had been by the kiss. But now it seemed she had made Annie doubt herself with her lame compliment. “If I hadn’t thought Jake was watching, it would have been downright hot.”
I better not dwell on how hot it was.
She got up and walked to the shelf that held her DVD collection. “Do you want to watch a movie?”

“Why not.” Annie sounded relieved, just as glad to drop the topic as Drew was.

Drew tilted her head to the side and read the titles on the DVD boxes. Movies like
Better Than Chocolate
,
Imagine Me and You
, and
I Can’t Think Straight
dominated the top shelf. But lesbian movies probably didn’t hold much interest for Annie as a straight woman. Drew let her gaze wander over the bottom shelf. “Do you like
The X-Files
?”

“I do.”

“Me too,” Drew said.

“Let me guess.” An amused smile settled on Annie’s lips. “You happen to think Scully is really hot.”

“Actually ...” Drew pulled the
X-Files
movie from the shelf and carried it to the DVD player. After she took the disk from its case, she turned her head and grinned at Annie. “I always had a crush on Frohike.” She fluttered her lashes and managed not to cringe at the thought of the bespectacled older man with the greasy hair.

“You!” Annie threw a piece of popcorn at her.

It bounced off her shoulder, and Drew caught the treat and ate it. “What? Don’t tell me his male charms don’t do anything for you.”

“No, thank you. I’m a nerd, but I’m not that much of a nerd.”

Laughing, Drew settled down onto the couch. A quick glance showed that the bowl now held just a few unpopped kernels, so she set it onto the coffee table and slid closer to Annie. “So, who would be more your type? Mulder?”

“No.”

“Doggett?”

Another shake of Annie’s head. She licked butter and salt off her fingers.

Drew’s blood pressure went up a notch. She forced herself to look away and handed Annie a tissue. “Let me guess. You don’t watch
X-Files
for the romance,” she echoed Annie’s words about
Star Trek
. She grabbed the remote control from the coffee table and started the movie.

“I’m not someone who gets all moony-eyed about some actor.”

“No,” Drew said. “I guess you aren’t.” She had a feeling Annie didn’t get moony-eyed about anyone, and she wasn’t sure whether she should pity Annie or envy her.

Annie turned her head and looked at her. The opening credits threw flickering shadows over her face, contributing to her vulnerable look. “Do you think that’s strange?”

“It’s perfectly fine.” Drew stopped herself before she could pat Annie’s knee. “Do you think it’s strange that I’m about to drool over Scully?”

The movie’s opening scene began before Annie answered. “No. I’m fine with it.” She cracked a smile. “As long as you’re not dripping on me.”

Drew laughed. “I’ll wipe my mouth.”

* * *

Annie had seen the movie half a dozen times. When Mulder and Scully hugged, then moved closer, about to kiss, Annie knew the bee would sting Scully before their lips touched. Still, she held her breath as the sexual tension between the characters rose.

When the bee attacked, she looked away from the flat-screen TV and turned her head to see Drew’s reaction to the almost kiss.

But Drew wasn’t watching the movie. Her eyes were closed, her head rested against the back of the couch, and her chest rose and fell with deep, even breaths. In the flickering light of the TV screen, Drew’s face was still pale and shadows lurked beneath her eyes.

A wave of protectiveness swept over Annie, surprising her with its intensity. She took the comforter from the end of the couch and spread it over Drew.

Drew stirred but didn’t wake. After a moment, she snuggled more deeply into the comforter.

Annie’s gaze flickered back and forth between Drew and the door.
Should I tiptoe out and leave?

But she didn’t want Drew to wake up in the dark living room, all alone and disoriented.

She’ll probably wake up when the next action scene comes on, then I can see her off to bed and say a proper good-bye.

Drew’s head slid off the couch and came to rest on Annie’s shoulder. Her breath warmed Annie’s arm even through the material of her shirt. Goose bumps traveled along Annie’s arm and over the rest of her body.