7 Minutes Until the Rest of Our Lives

Chapter 8: 7 Minutes

 Everyone looked around, wondering who would be picked first to step into the closet. We got into our circle, Peter sitting across from me, like last time. But he wouldn't make eye contact with me. He kept staring at the others or the bottle. Everytime I would catch him looking at me, his eyes would dart away to a different place in the room.

"Okay. We are playing a little differently tonight. Someone is going to be the designated spinner of the bottle. Whoever the two people the bottle lands on first, goes into the closet. Simple enough?" Ezra asked us. Everyone nodded simultaneously. He gave a final nod before searching the circle for the spinner.

"Reed. Wanna do the honors?" He asked Reed, gesturing towards the center of the circle where the bottle sat.

"Oh, sure." Reed said, clearing his throat. I understood why he wouldn't want to because if two people end up in the closet that don't want to go together, they'll say it's his fault automatically. But he spun anyway. First person, Marcy. He spun again. Me.

"Don't do anything foolish with my girlfriend, Anna." Ezra said, jokingly. I got to my feet, feeling Peter's eyes on me, and walked to the closet, letting Marcy in first. The closet was very spacious unlike the one me and Peter were in earlier and unlike the one earlier, there weren't any clothes hung up in it so it was empty except for me and Marcy.

"Let's whisper so they can't hear anything." Marcy said to me. I nodded.

"So what were you going to explain to me earlier?" I asked her. She thought for a moment then looked at me with realization.

"You said you didn't know if it was a good or bad thing that the kiss felt like thirty seconds even though it lasted three minutes. Before I explain that, what did you feel when you kissed Peter?" She said to me and I thought for a moment. I could lie or I could just tell the truth.

"I don't know how to explain it honestly. It was weird and then it wasn't." I simply said. I noticed her eyebrows raise in the darkness.

"How did it change, Anna?" She pressed. I knew she wouldn't drop it unless I told her something. Worst part was that she knew when I was lying. I sighed.

"I honestly don't know Marcy. It started off weird because Peter is Peter. But then it changed somehow. We kind of just melted into it. Like it was the right thing to do. And it felt really good. All my fears about falling for someone, disappeared and I actually thought about what it would be like to settle down with someone. It didn't feel as scary when it was with Peter. I was okay with it. With anyone else, I would've freaked out and never talked to them again. But I don't mind it with him. I don't know why. It could be because we are such good friends. But I just know I don't want to lose him, or mess up what we have with all my problems and baggage." Marcy listened intently. I could tell she was absorbing every word I said. We sat in silence for a moment before she spoke.

"Did you try to tell Peter any of that?" I shook my head, then remembered it was dark where we were so I said,

"No. There isn't a point. He looked so uncomfortable when we kissed. I don't want to make it even worse by talking about it."

"Maybe he wasn't uncomfortable. Maybe he was just surprised." She simply said to me.

"What do you mean?" I asked her.

"What I mean is maybe he didn't hate it. What if he actually liked it?" I chuckled until I realized she was serious.

"No way," I started. "He only sees me as a friend. I would've known otherwise." I stated.

"Are you sure?" Marcy asked me.

"Yes."

"Well, you're wrong Anna." I stared at her.