This last story shouldn't take too long to write.
Someone was shaking me. "Hey."
I shifted in my sleep. Damn, my back was stiff.
"Psst. Xiu Li."
I jolted and woke up.
I don't know what time it was. It was pitch black in the closet, with the exception of a thin line of yellow light creeping in from under the door.
"Morning, Annalisa," I said cheerily, but softly. "You look marvelous."
We both giggled. I felt guilty about how happy I was. I was still kinda on this little fantasy kick about being together back in the housenook. Am I terrible?
I tried to fix my hair in the dark. I eventually gave up. It's short anyway, right? Nobody actually cares. I wasn't envious of Annalisa's long hair, either.
Suddenly, the light blinded us. Mr. DuBolaire opened the door, shoved some food in, and then shut the door. I could still feel the imprints of the light on the backs of my eyes. I blinked, looking at the nonexistent neon silhouette of Mr. DuBolaire inside my eyelids.
It struck me how odd it was that a man who'd gone through so much to be with his daughter would keep her locked away in a closet. It was almost fairytale-like, except for the fact that Mr. DuBolaire was Annalisa's dad and not a wicked witch. I really need to work on my analogies.
We sat there and chatted for a little while, mostly about education. It doesn't seem like the first thing you'd talk about if you were locked in a closet with someone. But Annalisa hadn't been to school in a long time. I told her about Arjun and our chemistry project, and the things we were doing in lit class, and other simple inane things that she was completely unfamiliar with.
"You talk about Arjun a lot," she noted.
"He's my other best friend," I joked.
Eventually we got bored and started playing Truth or Dare.
"Truth or dare, Annalisa?"
"Um... truth."
Darn. I hate it when someone says truth and you don't actually have a truth to give them. I was going to make her lick a coat hanger.
"Uh, okay... something you're insecure about."
"My identity." She answered quickly. "I have no idea who the hell I'm supposed to be."
"Easy," I said. "You're Annalisa."
"Yeah, but Patterson or DuBolaire?"
"Both." I sounded pretty confident, and I was glad she couldn't see my face. "You're both. You can be whichever you want to be."
There was a pause.
"Oh. I'm smiling, by the way," she said. I laughed. "I am, too."
She giggled. "Truth or dare?"
"Dare."
"I dare you to yell something offensive at DuBolaire. Through the door, of course."
I'm going to skip the part in which I had to yell an insult about Mr. DuBolaire's sexual prowess.
It came back around to me. "Truth or dare?"
"Truth."
I was disappointed.
"Okay, here's one for you," I said. "Why do you keep saying truth?"
There was a long pause. "Do I?"
"Yeah," I said. "You haven't picked dare once. And all I was gonna do was make you lick a freaking coat hanger."
That made her laugh. "No, that's not it."
"Then what is it?" Something in her tone was weird.
"I'm half-hoping for you to ask me a certain question," she said.
That was intriguing. "Ooh, what?"
She laughed maniacally and a little too loudly. "Truth or dare?"
"Truth!" I said. "Because I'm not afraid to pick both options!"
"What did you think I was going to say?"
Oh, damn. How was I supposed to answer that?
"That's not fair," I said. "I have no idea what you were going to say."
"I think you do, though," she said. "Or, at least, I hope you do."
"What the hell do you mean?" I asked. "You want me to tell you what I thought you wanted me to ask you?"
"Sounds about right." She was enjoying my annoyance.
"So there's a right answer?"
"Well, yes and no."
"Yes and no?! Come on, Annalisa, what are you talking about?"
"Your guess can't be wrong, because it's what you thought I was going to say. But there is a right answer about what I was actually going to say."
"You're getting way too cryptic."
"You're hiding something," she countered.
"I'm hiding something? I'm not the one who was 'half-hoping you'd ask me a certain question.'"
"Yeah, and I'm not the one avoiding answering a simple guess."
"That's because I don't have a guess!"
"Oh, I think you do!"
She was enjoying herself. I was actually getting mad, though.
"What the hell, Annalisa!? What shit could you possibly be hiding from me?"
"What do you think I'm hiding? Really, Xiu Li?"
"So NOW I'm supposed to be able to read your mind?"
"No. You're supposed to be able to read my body language!"
"Why? I can't even freaking see you! It's dark!"
"Yeah, and you're blind to the obvious!"
"WHAT OBVIOUS?" I was yelling by now. I hoped DuBolaire wasn't listening too closely.
"Oh my God, why are you yelling?" said Annalisa.
"Because I'm pissed off!" I shouted. "And you won't tell me what the hell you're talking about!"
"Because I was trying to see if you knew!"
"KNEW WHAT?"
Annalisa didn't say anything. Then she dropped her voice to a whisper.
"I was trying to see if you knew that I like you."
Oh. Did she mean it... like that? I wasn't sure.
"Well, I like you, too," I said. "What's the big deal?"
"No," she said, really sadly, "I like you. A lot."
Oh.
"So that's what you wanted me to ask?"
She didn't say anything.
"You wanted me to ask if you liked me?"
Annalisa remained silent.
"I can't see you moving your head."
"I'm nodding," she said.
I felt around in the air and put my hand on top of her head. Then I used that knowledge to figure out where her face was.
I leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. Then I put my head on her shoulder.
"I think I like you, too," I told her.
"What about Arjun?" she asked quietly.
I busted out laughing. "Arjun is gay, Annalisa."
"Oh." I'd never seen her this shy before. At least not without the added hostility.
We sat there in the dark for awhile. I know that sounds sketchy, but nothing actually happened. She kissed me on the cheek once and we held hands for awhile. It was essentially an awkward first date. But dark. And in a stinky closet.
We went back to talking about other things for awhile, but then the conversation would drift back to that. I was actually getting worried that everything would just stay awkward. And then, in the middle of an awkward silence, I heard muffled shouting.
And then a rattling. And then the door swung open. My dad, the people from his post office, and Arjun were standing right there. My brain hurt from suddenly processing so much light. Dad came over and hugged me.
Annalisa stood up and offered me her hand. I stood up. It was nice to actually be able to see her. She looked absolutely gorgeous, despite having oily hair and dirty skin. I'd missed seeing that face just as much as I'd missed talking to it. And I temporarily... forgot that my dad and Arjun and the police guy and some other people were there. I didn't bother to stop myself. I wrapped my arms around Annalisa's neck and kissed her.
I hung in limbo for a second, scared out of my mind, before Annalisa kissed me back. It wasn't even a long kiss. Not a makey-outey kiss. Just a kiss that acknowledged the fact that I'd kinda fallen for her a little bit while I lived in a tunnel under the city.
I looked up. Dad looked super awkward.
Arjun didn't.
He sauntered up with the world's most obnoxious face on.
"Xiu Li Zheng," he said, "you are the world's--"
he punched me--
"biggest--"
he punched my other arm--
"hypocrite."
I just grinned.
We went back to the apartment after awhile, and I talked a lot to Arjun. Apparently it was actually his doing that freed us and got Mr. DuBolaire thrown in jail. I thanked him profusely. I wondered what had ever happened to that detective we hired.
Dad let Annalisa spend the night. He was actually in a pretty good mood.
I fell asleep, completely overjoyed that she was only one wall away from me.
Things were getting better.
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