Genna spent the rest of her Christmas break forcing herself to follow a schedule. She had to make herself get up in the morning, to shower, to eat, to talk to her dad or Ana. Everything reminded her of Brendon. Every word or song or Television show reminded her of something they'd spoken about or laughed at together.
She tried to seem normal, at least. She asked Stephen about his date with Alice. He fortunately kept his obviously exciting story to a low joyfulness so as not to upset Genna. In essence, it was great. Ana had more trouble holding back her excitement when she talked about Nick.
"He's so sweet!" she ranted. "I cannot believe he was interested in me this whole time!"
Genna asked her to elaborate.
"Well, he was in my photography class and it wasn't until recently that we started doing pair projects. So he always chose his best friend, Jakob, of course. And I always ended up with some other girl who didn't have a partner, which is okay with me. You know me; I don't care who I'm with, as long as they're not a pain in the butt. But then suddenly one day he asked me to be his partner for this eco project we had to do! I was so shocked! Happily shocked, I assure you.
"And Jakob was there and everything, he'd just chosen me out of nowhere! So we kind of got to know one another. He's perfect. He's absolutely hilarious, too. We kind of kid around all the time, just like you and…" She froze, staring at Genna with fearful eyes. She'd almost said "Brendon," but Genna pretended not to notice. Genna smiled as a way of saying, "Continue."
"So, anyway, he asked me to hang out on New Year's during one of our photoshoots. Of course I said yes and he was so happy he kissed me!" Ana laughed. Genna smiled good-humoredly. "He's such a dork that way," Ana mused dreamily. "So I guess that's when we started dating. And that was the day before Christmas break. I swear we're more like best friends with benefits. Except we're legit. Not… just… I mean, we really are dating."
Genna laughed mirthlessly. "That's great. I can't wait to meet him."
"Oh my gosh! I completely forgot about that!" Ana exclaimed. "You're going to love him! He's so funny." She paused at the sick look on Genna's face. "I'm sorry, Gen. You know I get carried away. Listen… and I hate to be cliché like this, but there are plenty of fish in the sea. Just wait. A couple months from now, you'll be dating someone who isn't a King."