When You Least Expect It

by Haley Cass

“Let me order us some dinner and watch something adult-like that we aren’t allowed to when Abbie’s here.” It takes her a moment to register what that implies when she says it aloud, her cheeks coloring at it. “I meant a horror movie or – something.” But her slight embarrassment is so incredibly worth the amused smile that actually reaches Hannah’s eyes. “What, you didn’t mean porn?”

It’s also about the way Hannah tells her one night, “I haven’t had a friend like you in my entire life.”

“You’re going to be so fucked, and not in any fun way.”

Like in this moment, she understands why everything in the world – wars and songs and all of the literature – comes back to this. It makes her think that for once, she understands what she’s been chasing for all of these years. She’s wanted love, and she’s thought she understood what it meant.

Hannah tilts her head back, closing her eyes tightly. “I guess it’s out of the box.”

“Well, I wasn’t about to have my way with you in the hallway, Hannah.”

“I want to kiss you when you laugh and feel your lips smiling against mine. I want to kiss you when you look at me like you’re trying to figure me out, to read my mind. When you roll your eyes at me when you’re exasperated.”