Chapter Fourteen.
Things had begun simply enough.
Hannah had offered to hang out with just Ariel, about a week after her party. Things only became complicated when Ariel suddenly decided that she wanted to play MASH.
"Come on, Ariel, I'm almost 22-years-old, aren't I a little bit old to be playing MASH?" Hannah asked, looking at her younger cousin.
"You're never to old to play MASH." Ariel said.
"Ariel,"
"Come on, Hannah, it'll be fun," Ariel smiled, "And then we can do something you want to do."
"Fine." Hannah sighed, grabbing a piece of paper and a pen, "Who goes first?"
Lee was the one who found the piece of paper that Ariel had "accidentally" left in the living room.
"Hey, what's that?" Allison asked, as she entered the room.
"Um, I actually have no clue." Lee said in a puzzled tone.
"Let me see," Allison took the piece of paper from him and then laughed as she realized what it was.
"What?" Lee looked at her curiously.
"It's MASH." Allison said.
"And that would be…?"
"A game teenagers play," Allison said, "MASH stands for Mansion, Apartment, Shack and House. This whole game is about your future, where you live, what you live in, how many kids you have, who you're with…"
"So I don't get what's so amusing," Lee said.
"You're on this list." Allison informed him, "Number one. And seeing as this is Ariel's writing… I would say that you're Hannah's number one choice." She looked at him, waiting for a reaction.
Lee looked pleased, but surprised at the same time, and Allison said, "You like her, huh?"
"Allison…"
"It's okay," Allison said, "Actually, I think it's great."
"You do?" Lee raised his eyebrows.
Allison nodded, "Well, yeah. You're a good guy, and I think you'll be good for her," She smiled, "So are you going to tell her?"
"I don't think it would be the best idea," Lee murmured, scratching his head absently, "I mean, I'm her protection."
"You're her protection, so what? You think that if you get involved with her, that'll jeopardize how much you want to protect her?" Allison scoffed, "Wouldn't it actually be the other way around? If you two get involved, you'll be more prone to protect her, right?"
"Well, I, uh," Lee was stumbling over his words awkwardly.
"I think you should talk to her," Allison instructed, "It's obvious she has feelings for you too."
"Allison," Lee was beginning to feel slightly embarrassed.
"I'm just being helpful," Allison said, smiling.
"What are you being helpful about?" Hannah asked as she and Ariel came into the room together. Ariel spotted the piece of paper in her mother's hand and grinned widely, as Hannah didn't seem to be quite paying attention to what was happening, as she looked around the living room.
"Nothing, sweetheart," Allison replied, "What are you looking for?"
"My bright purple Sharpie." Hannah responded as though this was the most average answer on the planet, "I had it out here when I was with Ariel, but now I can't seem to find it."
"Check the couch cushions," Ariel offered as a suggestion.
Instead of walking around the back of the couch, and lifting up the cushions, like any normal person would have done, Hannah leaned over the back of the couch, so her torso was practically plastered against the back of the couch, and her legs were lifted off the ground slightly.
It took Lee a few seconds to realize he was staring at her, but Ariel noticed right away and smirked.
"Found it!" Hannah exclaimed, standing up. She seemed to notice that Lee was giving her a strange look and said, in a pointed voice, "What?"
"What?" Lee was using the dumb approach again.
Hannah didn't say anything more, she just narrowed her eyes, before Ariel said, "Come on, Hannah, The OC is going to be on soon."
Hannah nodded and then she and Ariel left the room.
Allison glanced at Lee and said, "You should tell her, that's all I'm saying."
"Hannah, can I ask you something?" Ariel asked, as she and her cousin lay on Hannah's bed, watching the opening credits to The OC, Ariel's current favorite show.
"Sure," Hannah nodded.
"Say you knew this person, and you two were super close, practically like sisters," Ariel was getting pretty good at using these hypothetical situations to find out what she wanted.
"Okay," Hannah nodded, not looking away from the screen as Seth Cohen and Ryan Atwood had a conversation.
"Okay, and you knew that there was this other person who really, really liked this person who was practically like a sister," Ariel said carefully, looking at Hannah, "And you have a feeling that this person who is practically like a sister has feelings for the person who likes her. Would you tell this person who is practically like your sister what you think?"
Hannah looked at Ariel, with a slightly strange expression on her face, and then said, "Well, yeah, I mean… I guess so."
"Okay," Ariel nodded. She left silence for a few moments, and then said, "Hannah, Detective Scanlon likes you."
Hannah's dark eyebrows shot up her forehead, "What? Where did that come from?"
Ariel shrugged, "It's the truth."
"Oh, because Lee confides his deep dark secrets in a fifteen year old girl?" Hannah raised her eyebrows skeptically.
"The reason you're being so defensive is because you know it's true." Ariel said calmly.
"It's not true, Ariel. He could have any girl he wanted, and I'm 105% sure that the girl he wants is not me." Hannah said.
"I beg to differ." Ariel said.
"Why, because you're getting a vibe?" Hannah made a face.
"No, because I had a dream about it the other night." Ariel said.
Hannah's gaze snapped away from the television to look at her cousin, "Excuse me?"
Ariel nodded. "Yeah, the other night, I had a dream that you and Detective Scanlon were getting married."
"Are you sure that wasn't just wishful thinking?" Hannah asked.
Ariel shook her head, "It was too real to be wishful thinking."
"Well, Ariel, Lee and I aren't getting married." Hannah said seriously, "And he doesn't like me, so don't say he does."
"But he does!" Ariel exclaimed. "Why do you think he'd ask you to dance at my birthday party?"
"Because he felt lame not dancing with anyone?" Hannah knew that this was not going to hold up as a reason as to why he asked her to dance.
"Or because he's totally in love with you, and you are in denial." Ariel said confidently.
Hannah shook her head, "Or maybe I'm the realistic one here, and you are in denial, little cousin." She pushed herself up off the bed, "I'll be back. And let this argument go while I'm gone, ok?"
"Forget about it!" Ariel called after her.
When Hannah entered the kitchen, Allison took this as her time to talk to Hannah about Lee, while Lee was helping Joe bring in things to paint Hannah's bedroom.
"Hi, sweetie," Allison smiled.
"Hey." Hannah sat down across from her without Allison having to say anything. "So, Ariel has it into her head that Lee likes me."
"You don't say," Allison smiled faintly.
"It's crazy," Hannah rolled her eyes, "I mean, why would he like me?"
"Hannah, why wouldn't he like you?" Allison looked at her seriously, "You're a wonderful person, and you're beautiful, not that looks come first in a relationship." She leaned across the table and squeezed her niece's hand.
"But I'm also a freak who has dreams about the guy who wants to kill her, and in case you haven't noticed, my mother's kind of insane too, and most people find that kind of a turn off."
"I honestly don't think he cares about that stuff, sweetheart," Allison said, and then paused, "Do you like him?"
"No." Hannah's response was a little too quick for Allison's satisfaction, so she raised her eyebrows at her niece, and Hannah sighed deeply, "I don't know, Aunt Allison. I mean… We're really great friends, obviously, he's spent practically every moment of every day together for the past three months, and he's an awesome guy, honestly," Hannah paused, "I just don't think he'd see me that way, you know?"
"You never know, honey." Allison said, "Sometimes the best relationships develop out of friendships."
"Yeah, but most of the time, I'm pretty sure in the best relationships, the guy isn't 8 years older than the girl," Hannah said.
"I know this isn't a good example, but both your mother and your grandmother dated men much older than they were," Allison said.
"And look at how well that turned out." Hannah said sarcastically.
"Well, Giselle's endeavors may not have turned out very well, but your grandma dated three men who were quite a bit older than her, and those three relationships lasted the longest of any she's ever been in." Allison said fairly.
"But wasn't Grandma Birdy also the one who dated all the mobsters?" Hannah asked, raising her eyebrows.
"Hannah, are you just arguing for the sake of arguing?" Allison asked.
Hannah shrugged, and Allison said, "Listen to me, you'll never know until you try, and if you don't even try, you're going to hate yourself years from now, because you're going to be wondering what would've happened if you had tried."
"But, Aunt Allison, it's not that easy,"
"Sweetheart, it isn't that hard either," Allison informed her, "Just give it a try, okay?"
Hannah looked hesitant, and Allison thought she was about to respond when Lee came into the room, "Uh, Hannah? Joe wants to know where you want what colors in your room."
"Okay," Hannah nodded, and stood up from the table. She walked past Lee, and Allison said, in an undertone "I wish you two would stop being so stubborn."