The mattress creaked. I propped myself up on my elbows and looked at Ansel. He perched on the coner of the bed. " Another heartwarming mother-daughter bonding session?"

" You know it." I rolled onto my back. " Are you okay?" he asked.

"Yeah." I put my hands on my temples, attempting to massage the new throbbing pain away. " So-" Ansel began. I turned to look at him. My brother's teasing smile had vanished.

" So what?"

" About Ren. . ." His voice thickened. " Spite it out, An."  " Do you like him? I mean for real?" he blurted.

I collapsed back into my bed. My arms covered my eyes, blotting out the light. 

"Not you too."  He crawled towards me. " It's just," he said. " If you don't want to be with him, you shouldn't be." 

Beneath my arms my eyes snapped open. For a moment I couldn't breathe. " We could run away. I'd stay with you," Ansel finished in voice almost to low to hear. 

I sat bolt upright. " Ansel," I whispered. " Don't ever say anything like that. You don't know what . . . Just drop it, okay?"