so what? You did it! Now, all you have to do is share the results."
"But don't you get it? My well of courage has run dry." I laughed, holding out my hands. "I've got nothing left."
"Lucky for you," Gemma said, "I do."
The twinkle in her eyes made me nervous.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"I decided to help you out," she said and handed me back my phone. "All I had to do was push a button. You can thank me later."
"Wha—Gemma! Oh my gosh, tell me you didn't!"
The librarian shot me a stern look to which I nodded a quick apology for my outburst. But come on! It'd been completely warranted. My eyes shot back to my phone. Without my knowledge, Gemma had pulled up my account and posted the video.
Not only that, she'd done way more than "push a button." She'd cut the video down to a minute, even added in some text and background music.
"When did you have time to do this?" I asked.
"Just now," she said as if it was no big deal. "While you were stressing. You're welcome."
I had no reply.
The video was out. Sure, I could take it down, but everyone who followed my account would've already gotten a notification. And it looked like she'd posted it at least five minutes ago. It already had views—and they were growing as I watched. There was nothing I could do.
"Gemma," I breathed. "I can't believe you did that."
She gave me a look. "You were the one who did it, Anne. I just shared the thing."
My eyes widened. "And then you added text about how I've been in love with Captain forever? Was that really necessary?"
"But it's the truth, right?" she said, and I crossed my arms. "Most of the videos included something like that anyway. Remember how much fun you had watching those? Well now, you're giving that joy to someone else."
Yeah, but those were probably fake.
This was real. This was my life.
"What if Captain sees it?" I asked.
Gemma shrugged. "What if he does, Anne? Captain was in that kiss with you one hundred percent."
"But—"
"If you want to take it down, go for it," she said. "But if I were you, I'd leave it and see what happens. Feel good about putting a little more romance out in the world. Later, my friend."
Gemma left me there to ponder.
The comments were already coming in, and I couldn't help but read them. I'd been worried about people's words tarnishing the kiss. But most of them were surprisingly kind. I spent the rest of lunch amongst the books.
But when I exited the library, Captain was outside waiting for me.
"Hey," he said, pushing off the wall he'd been leaning against.
"Hey, Captain," I said.
Walking over to my side, he surprised me by reaching into my pocket. The move made me gasp. A second later he pulled out my phone and checked the screen.
"Ah," he said. "So it is working. I was starting to wonder."
I blushed as he handed me back the phone.
"Anne, why are you ignoring me?"
"I'm not," I said. "I was just…"
"Hiding," he finished then let out a sigh. "You know you never have to hide from me. We can talk about anything."
I nodded. "I know."
"Just because we kissed"—my breath got caught in my throat as my gaze shot to his—"that doesn't mean we stopped being friends."
"I know, Cap. I'm sorry."
"About what?" he asked.
So many things, I thought, but I didn't have a ready answer.
Captain waited.
"I just…I'm sorry about how it all went down," I finally said.
"You mean the kiss? Or running away after?"
Wow, he'd really called me out. "Well both, I guess. Mostly for surprising you and then bailing. It wasn't right of me."
"That kiss was definitely a surprise," he murmured. "I didn't see it coming. Why did you do it anyway?"
"It was a challenge," I said, grasping for a bit of the truth—just not the part I was desperate to keep hidden. "Kiss your best friend. It's a whole thing. There are a ton of videos out there."
His eyebrows went up. "Oh yeah? That's interesting."
I forced a laugh. "You know I have trouble backing down from a challenge."
"I do," he said and gazed at me with that same intense expression he'd worn the other day right before the kiss. "But was that the only reason?"
I nodded as the lie got stuck in my throat. "Yep. What other explanation could there be?"
"Ah, I see." He paused to run a hand through his hair. "So you're not…in love with me or