Branded (Book 1), Page 2

  Chapter 1

  “What’s the deal? Is her flight on time?” Noah called out as I studied the large arrivals screen overhead.

  “Supposed to have landed a few minutes ago.” I checked my watch and stuck my hands back in my pockets, watching the people as they began hovering around the arrival doors.

  “Did you miss her?” Noah teased, giving me an annoying shove to the side.

  “Whatever,” I laughed. “She’s like a sister to me, man.” I thought back to Christmas Day when Anna had told me she would be leaving to spend the next few months with her parents in Africa. A wave of emotions was triggered by her announcement. At first I was excited for her because I knew how much she had missed her parents since they left last summer to build a community in Africa, but then I felt a shot of disappointment as I knew I would miss her. She always knew how to make fun out of nothing, and only living three doors down, I could count on her to keep me company on short notice to watch a late night flick or go for a canoe ride across the lake to our secret island. So maybe I missed her a little. That didn’t mean I was crushing on her. That would just be plain weird.

  “What are you smiling about?” Noah’s voice penetrated my thoughts.

  I shrugged it off and pretended to check my phone for new e-mails. Texts. Missed calls. Something.

  “Jake, I’m your best friend, remember? I can see right through you.”

  “So what’s the deal with you and Lexie these days?” I said, squinting toward the arrival doors and hoping for a conversation change.

  Noah scrunched his eyebrows and sucked in a breath, puffing out his chest—a sign that he had no idea how to answer the impending question.

  “What are you waiting for, man? She’s hot. She likes you. What’s the problem?”

  “I don’t know.” Noah shrugged. “She’s alright. Still scoping out the new talent at school.”

  I laughed. “Is that seriously what you’re waiting for? You’re afraid you’ll commit to her, and then you’ll meet someone new?” I shook my head. “That’s not likely to happen this far into the school year. It’s almost April, man. You should just give Lexie a chance.”

  Noah answered with a smirk. “You’re not one to give relationship advice, dude. You’ve had the perfect girl right in front of you for the past three years and you’re too blind to see it.”

  “Okay,” I gave in, “even if Anna is the perfect girl, what makes you so sure she thinks I’m the perfect guy?”

  “Oh, please, like you haven’t seen it.” Noah kept his eyes on the big glass doors ahead of us.

  “Seen what? What do you mean?”

  “The way she looks at you? The way she drops plans with her friends when you call? The fact that she hasn’t had a boyfriend since she met you?”

  “She has so,” I defended. “What about that Clinton kid in grade nine?” I realized how stupid that sounded the moment it left my lips. “And she went on a couple of dates with Eric last year.” I shuddered at the mention of his name. Eric was all about one thing and one thing only, and because Anna was the only girl that didn’t drool when he walked in a room, the thrill of the catch kept him interested. I wished he’d give up on her.

  “And that’s it,” Noah finished for me. “A chick as cute as Anna should have had dozens of boyfriends by now.”

  “She’s had lots of guys ask her out,” I reminded him.

  “And she’s said no to them all, why?” Noah raised his eyebrows. “You, dude.”

  I closed my mouth. He was probably wrong anyway, but it was an intriguing thought.

  “This must be her flight,” Noah announced, taking a few steps toward the gathering crowd.

  My heart began to pound louder and my mouth felt like the dry African plains. We watched droves of people slowly descend the escalator, filter through the doors and head toward the luggage belt. Just when it looked as though the last of the passengers had arrived, I noticed a familiar brown, sticker-plastered suitcase coming down the escalator, followed by tanned legs in a white tennis skirt, a curvy yellow tank top, silky blonde hair and the warm smile I had been missing for the last three cold months. There was no question about it—Anna was different.

  “Wow,” was the only word that slipped from my lips.

  “Does this change anything?” Noah jabbed his elbow into my side. “’Cause if not, can I call dibs?” He left my side and headed to meet Anna.

  “Shut-up, man,” I said, keeping my eyes on Anna as she walked through the doors and toward Noah, who lifted her into the air.

  What had Africa done to her? She was all grown up and so different. And as hard as I tried to fight it, I was drawn to her in such a weird way. It felt unnatural and natural all at the same time.

  “You look fantastic, Anna,” Noah said.

  “You too,” Anna’s sweet voice responded. She sounded more refined and mature. “Look at you. You must have grown six inches.”

  “That’s what lots of rain will do to you,” Noah teased.

  Anna’s smile faded as she looked down. “Where’s Jake? He didn’t come?”

  I stepped away from a small group of people. “Did you think I’d bail on you?”

  Anna spun around and the elated expression on her beautiful face nearly knocked me over. Where was sweet, little Anna? Who was this woman in front of me?

  Her eyes scanned me up and down and her cheeks turned a rosy pink. I loved how her face betrayed her feelings.

  “It must have rained a lot here,” she said as she left Noah’s side and smoothed her hair.

  “You look great, Anna,” I said, innocently studying her new figure. “It’s good to have you home. How was your flight?”

  She skipped toward me and wrapped her warm arms around my waist. I took in a deep breath of her lavender-scented skin, which reminded me, if only for a second, that she was too familiar to find attractive.

  “Flight was fanificent! No turbulence or anything. And it feels so good to be home.” She held on tighter.

  “What did you say?” I pulled away and studied her bronze face.

  “It’s great to be home?”

  “No, you said your flight was fanificent?”

  Anna laughed and nodded. “Yeah, it’s my new word. Do you like? It’s a combination of fantastic and magnificent.”

  “Still making up your own words and definitions for things, I see. Guess some things never change.”

  Noah trailed Anna’s luggage behind him as he slowly headed toward the luggage belt. “Do you have more bags coming?”

  I laughed, “Did you honestly think Anna Taylor could go away for three whole months and only have a carry-on?”

  Noah smacked his forehead. “What was I thinking?”

  Anna ignored my comment and said, “I have three more pieces, Noah. They all match that one.”

  Noah looked down at the battered luggage. “When you say ‘match,’ do you mean they’re all ugly?”

  “Hey!” Anna slapped his arm. “Don’t knock the luggage. Those have gone all over the world with me.”

  “Maybe Santa will bring you a nice, new pink set next Christmas,” Noah teased as he walked toward the conveyer belt.

  I shook my head and snickered, “He sure doesn’t know you, does he?”

  “Pink!” Anna scoffed. “Like I’d be caught dead toting pink lug . . .” Her voice trailed off and her face turned red as she tried to bury it in my shirt.

  “What?” I laughed, looking around. Then I saw her. A tall, pretty girl about our age walking past with high heels and . . . pink luggage.

  “I don’t think she heard you,” I whispered.

  Anna covered her laughter. “She totally heard me.”

  “Not possible,” I said. “She had to have been a good ten feet away.”

  “Me and my big mouth,” Anna laughed.

  “Well, it’s not like you know her, and you’ll probably never see her again, so don’t worry about it.”

  Anna pulled away from me, leaving a cold draft i
n her place. “You’ve always been good for that,” she said. “Making me feel good about my mistakes.”

  “It’s a good thing too because you make a lot of ‘em.”

  Anna’s mouth fell open as she pushed me aside. “Jerk!”

  “Miss me?”

  “Oddly, yes,” she admitted, and then wrapped her arms around my waist and laid her head against my chest. “I definitely missed you.”

  Immediately, I felt slightly embarrassed. It wasn’t uncommon for Anna to snuggle up to me, but this time it made me nervous. What was happening?

  She pulled away and studied my face. “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing. It’s just different having you back, that’s all.”

  She stared at me blankly for a second then quickly looked away. “You’re right. It’s different. Sorry.”

  What did I do? It wasn’t that I didn’t want her to be cuddly, or maybe it was. I couldn’t explain it. I felt different now with her, and I didn’t want it to ruin our perfect friendship. This was all Noah’s fault. I hoped she couldn’t tell what I was thinking.

  “So, do you have a girlfriend?” she asked as she pulled a pale yellow sweater from her carry on and slid it on.

  “Don’t you think I would’ve told you that in my e-mails?”

  “I would’ve thought, but maybe not.” Her tone suggested she didn’t want to hear it if it were true, anyway.

  “I don’t have a girlfriend,” I answered honestly. I looked up at Noah who was dutifully watching the luggage going around. “But you know, there’s lots of girls out there so we’ll see.”

  It was a stupid thing to say, but I was desperate to get the awkwardness out of the air and bring things back to the way they were supposed to be between us—me dating girls and her giving advice.

  Anna bit her lip and produced a small grin. “One can only hope, right?”

  On the drive home Anna sat up front with me, while Noah sat in the back seat with his head between us. He and Anna talked the whole time about her trip, most of which she had told me through her periodic email updates. But this was different. This time I got to hear her voice. Her sweet, energetic, calming voice.

  “You were quiet,” Anna said after we dropped Noah off at his house. “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing,” I lied, keeping my eyes on the road.

  “Jacob Rovert, do you think we just met yesterday? You are the worst liar ever!”

  “I’m not lying,” I lied again.

  “Then why are you chewing on your bottom lip?”

  I quickly released my lip and gave her my best ‘confused’ look.

  “Okay, fine.” She threw her arms up in defeat. “If nothing’s bothering you, then I’ll just see you tomorrow at school.”

  “Don’t be mad, I’m just tired.” I pointed at the clock on my dash to confirm it was nearly two o’clock in the morning and I had every right to use it as an excuse.

  “Okay,” Anna allowed, “but tomorrow you better not be tired.”

  After a moment of silence, I finally got the nerve to say, “So, you’ve changed a lot. Africa was good to you.”

  Anna looked down at her arms, rotating them in the moonlight. “You like the tan?”

  Among other things. “Yeah, I’m envious.”

  “My hair grew fast over there too. I couldn’t wash it every day like I do here, and apparently that’s good for your hair. Who would’ve thought?” Anna pulled her hair out from her sweater. “Feel it?”

  I hesitantly reached over and entangled her hair in my fingers. It was smooth, like silk. It slowly slipped from my fingers and fell onto her shoulder. I wanted to pick it up again, pull her face into mine and . . . Wait! What the hell? I quickly retracted my hand and let it rest on the steering wheel. “Nice,” I mumbled.

  Anna tucked her hair back in and zipped up her sweater. “Hard to get used to the cold here.”

  “I bet.” I clenched my jaw and tried to convince myself that it was just going to take some time to get things back to normal with Anna. She was like a sister. I had known her since grade eight. We used to catch frogs together and race our bikes down the hill at the park . . . she was not girlfriend material.

  I wondered what she was thinking. Did she think I was being rude? Could she tell I was having a hard time being around her right now? Did she feel the same way?

  When I couldn’t bear the silence anymore, I looked over and found her tracing a circle on her leg with her finger, and smiling.

  “What are you doing?” I asked.

  She began laughing, making it very clear that she wasn’t upset with me. “You’re so adorable, Jake.”

  “Why?”

  “You’re acting all weird and stuff.”

  “Okay?” I said, confused. “And that’s adorable, why?”

  “I don’t know. It reminds me of when we first met and you were so shy.”

  “I was not!”

  “Yes, you were.” She poked me in the ribs. “And you know it.”

  I shook my head and rolled my eyes. “I guess some things never change.”

  “How so?”

  “You’re still stubborn,” I laughed.

  “Whatever,” she said with feigned disappointment. Then she chuckled. “I missed this. I hope tomorrow things are normal again.”

  “They will be,” I assured her.

  “Promise?” she asked, reminding me of our solemn vow when we were fourteen to never break a promise.

  “Promise.” I smiled.

  “Best friends?” She held out her pinky.

  I hooked mine with hers and said, “Just don’t tell Noah.”

  “He’s got nothing on me,” she laughed.

  You got that right.