Sasha was just able to close her trunk with all of the swag that her and Anne acquired on their way out.
"Think we overdid it?"
The blonde turned to her friend at the question.
"Nah! I'm still mad at what they did to Infinity Train, so they need to pay."
Anne opened her door and got in.
"Well I'm glad we had fun because we are verboten from entering the Warner Bros. lot ever."
"Mmmm," Sasha mused. "What studio should we get kicked out of next?"
"Maybe next week we can go to Disney."
Sasha raised an eyebrow. "Really, why Disney?"
"I've got a bone to pick with them about how they treated a certain magic girl show." Anne ramped it up for Sasha but she was peeved. "Idiots not giving them a final season."
"Question; has anybody approached you about a book deal?" asked Sasha. "Like about everything we've gone through?"
Anne made her thinking face, which Sasha adored.
"I should ask her MORE questions."
"Book? No. But somebody did call my parents once about an idea for an animated series based on my adventures."
Sasha was visibly impressed by that admission. Certainly would've been interesting.
She drove them out of the parking lot onto the main drag.
"What happened with that?" pressed Sasha.
"Well, they had a time getting clearance from everyone involved. Trouble with something based on a true story. And then they tried changing it just enough so nobody got sued but the other producers didn't like it anymore. Then the government put the kibosh on anything involving Mr. X and the secret agent stuff. Then their lawyers wondered if there were lawyers back in Amphibia and if they caught wind of us using anybody's name or likeness without permission, would they sue? When all is said and done they got cold feet and pulled the plug on the whole thing."
"Boy, making a cartoon is hard work before you even draw anything," quipped Sasha.
A low rumble permeated in the car, causing the girls to briefly exchange dubious glances.
"What was that?" asked Anne. "Your stomach?"
The blonde put her free hand over her midsection.
"Sorry, all this excitement got me hungry."
Anne listened to her own gut instinct. She was starving.
"Oh, yeah! Let's eat!"
"Whaddya think?" Sasha asked. "Very late lunch or early dinner?"
The brown haired girl leaned back, her arms behind her head in relax mode.
"Just take me anywhere!"
She feigned passing out from hunger, making Sasha chuckle.
"Naaaaachoooos," Anne drew out dramatically. "Or anything really, it's not the end of the world!" she blurted out super fast.
Most people would miss some of that but hang around Anne long enough and you begin to understand her verbal hurricanes.
The pair drove for about ten minutes until coming across this rather nice sit down Mexican restaurant. There were a ton of similar eateries but they were mostly takeaway and the girls needed somewhere they could take their time and mentally regroup from the day's activities so far.
They went inside and waited in the foyer for about 12 minutes before finally getting seated. They walked forward but both heads were swiveling elsewhere when a server past them with something hot, possibly spicy, and most certainly delicious.
"A booth just opened up, is that fine ladies?"
Sasha snapped out of her smelling of the nearby cuisine and motioned to Anne.
"That's fine," she smiled and the girls sat opposite each other, their table with a big window overlooking the setting sun.
Menus were already on the table but nobody picked up theirs yet. Sasha and Anne let out a collective sigh and began giggling.
"Man, I thought we were done for back there," Anne said through tears from laughing.
"We got lucky!" nodded Sasha. "The good kind and the bad always seem to find us. Sometimes we win, sometimes we break even."
Anne pointed at her best friend like she had dropped some serious truth.
She buried this thought at the very bottom of her brain but this quiet moment made it bubble up to the surface. And Sasha grew tired of ignoring it.
"Can...Can I ask you something?"
Anne was just opening her menu when she looked up.
"What's up?"
Sasha squirmed in her imitation red leather seat. It made a funny noise when she did so. Really hammered home how ridiculous she felt right now. She prayed that this didn't come out the wrong way.
"Anne...uh"
The blonde almost leapt out of her seated position when a hand landed on top of hers, lovingly?
"Hey, come on" Anne insisted. "What's buggin' you?"
"Not that I'm not having a great time today but what made you want to hang out?"
The Thai girl looked half surprised, half offended.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"NO, NO, NO! You're blowing it! You're blowing it!"
Sasha held up her hands, now free.
"Sorry, I didn't mean it that way. Anne I'm having a blast, really?"
"So what's wrong?"
Those eyes of concern were making Sasha's insides somersault worse than any hunger pangs.
"We've talked here and there but not much," Sasha admitted. "And, well, we don't normally hang out unless its the three of us when Marcy visits."
Anne sat back and crossed her arms, a little defensive.
"So what, I didn't feel like waiting another six months to see you on Marcy's birthday."
"But that's what I mean. We don't do holidays or just what we're doing now. Strictly birthdays and well wishes over the phone for like Christmas and stuff. That's not being friendly, that's being...civil."
"Where's all this coming from, Sash?" Anne asked, shaking her head.
"Where this is coming from?" parroted Sasha. "Where did today come from?"
"I did ask you first."
Anne slunk back into her seat, looking like the booth was going to swallow her whole.
"I don't...um...you, I just...you've been on my mind okay?"
This stunned Sasha to say the least.
"I'm on your mind?"
"I haven't had this much fun since we all hung out for my last birthday. Even my mom noticed. And seeing you back at the restaurant reminded me how much I miss you."
The way she looked as Sasha when she said those last few words made the blonde melt.
"I guess I was always afraid that we'd never be like we were before," Sasha said sadly "Just keep drifting apart."
Those words hit Anne hard. Yes, they gravitated to other friend groups since high school and started doing less and less as a team. Obviously they still harbor feelings that they get together like this. But Sasha had a point. Were they finding less reasons to reconnect on purpose? After what Sasha and Marcy goaded Anne into doing on her own special day all those years ago, the trio turned a new leaf and took birthdays very seriously.
No matter how far they drifted apart physically or otherwise, they would always make a point to do something on their birthdays without fail.
"I haven't been...completely honest with you," said Anne now finding it hard to look Sasha in the eye.
"What?"
Sasha was expecting the worst.
"I think I like you," Anne said in one breath.
She let those words hang dead in the air before raising her gaze to meet with Sasha's.
"Like how?" Sasha asked, trying to sound as neutral as possible despite her heart short-circuiting.
"I didn't know how to tell you this, so I hid behind Marcy and wouldn't dare hang out with you without her there. If its the three of us, then it can't be a date right?"
Sasha was dumbfounded.
She had been racking her brain all day for how to reconcile her feelings and get the courage to come right out and admit to Anne what she meant to her. And here she was apparently having a similar sentiment. Here they were, both desperately trying to play it cool while they have been a hot mess all along.
"Sash," now Anne took back not the one hand but the other too. "Is it possible that you might like me too?"
And Sasha Waybright was pronounced dead at the scene. Doctors say it was her heart beating out of her chest, exploding like a freshly-hatched alien.
The look in Anne's eyes were inviting but really scared.
Sasha squeezed her hands in response.
"Oh, Anne." The blonde begun to tear up, unable to hold it back. "I thought I missed my chance; that I hurt you so much back then and it could never be fixed."
"You're right," Anne said. "We can't change the past but you are forgetting about how much you've changed for the better. Heck, I've gotten better!"
"I guess we were better off not getting together back then; we were...we were..."
"A couple of dumpster fires?"
Anne's ad lib gave some much-needed levity for this emotional confession.
"I love you, Anne. I always have."
Now Miss Boonchuy was the one with eyes welling up.
"I get up every morning," Sasha continued. "And look myself in the mirror. Really look at myself. And you know what? I like who I am. For the first time I am happy with the person I am. And I hoped that I could find someone to share this best version of me with. But the more I thought about it I didn't want anyone else. I wanted you. Only you."
Anne drew in a long, deep breath and held it a second before releasing it.
"Sash?"
"Yeah?"
"Do you want to kiss me?"
This better not be a dream.
This better not be a dream.
This better not be a dream.
"Do you?" asked Anne again.
"Yes!"
The salt shaker and bottle of hot sauce rattled when the girls simultaneously rose from their seats, closed their eyes and locked lips.
Both wanted to touch the other but their nervousness kept their sweaty palms planted firmly on the wooden table.
"I guess you need more time," said the very awkward server with green hair who tried to hide his face. "I'll come back in five."