I could feel something wet against my cheeks. I reached up to touch it and slowly realized it was coming from Vanessa. I gently pushed her to try to figure out what was happening, but she pushed back against me, deeper into the kiss.
"Vannpha... Vannpha... Vanessa!" I managed to finally push her off, gasping for air. I held her back a bit and looked at her. There were tears streaming down her cheeks. "Wha-?"
Before I could get anything more out, she pushed back against me again and kissed me, harder and more passionate than before. This time it was even more of a struggle. I had to focus on the Reality Ring to give me enough strength to finally push her off of me.
"No! No please! Please... no..." Vanessa cried, more tears streaming down her face. Her breath was shaky and rapid as she clenched her fists tightly. Her face was bright red as they burned with pent up emotions. "Please... Not again..."
"Not again? Please what?" I asked, placing my hand on hers. "Tell me." I barely registered the slight heat of the ring, as I was more focused on Vanessa.
"I LOVE YOU MARIA!" She said it like a criminal confessing their crimes after hours of interrogation and mountains of evidence. Her lips trembled and her hands shook as tears slowly hit the back of my hand. Her head stayed bowed, staring at the blanket and her hands.
"I... don't understand," I replied after a bit.
"No... no... no it can't be..." Vanessa said between sobs. I could hear the anguish and sorrow behind each of her strained words. She seemed to be holding on by threads to not have a full blown breakdown. "It can't..."
"Vanessa, please, I don't understand," I said, staring at my friend. I was too afraid to put my hands anywhere else but hers. I wanted to hug her, but at the same time, I was afraid she'd just cry and kiss me more without explaining anything. Once again, I focused on the ring and on Vanessa. "Please, explain."
"I don't just love you, I HAVE LOVED you, Maria," Vanessa said, emphasizing the HAVE and LOVED. "I've loved you for years."
I tilted my head in confusion. "Wait, years? How is that possible? We only met in college."
Vanessa tilted her head up, her eyes starting to turn red from sobbing. "So... you don't remember? High school? Ninth grade?"
"I... what?" I said, dumbfounded, confused, and worried. I had no idea quite what she was talking about. Vanessa looked like she was about to run out of the room, but then my eyes fell onto the Reality Ring. "This worked before, so, please work?" I gently placed my hand on Vanessa's forehead and focused.
In an instant, I was suddenly shunted back to a memory of Vanessa's. It was a Halloween party, everyone was in various costumes, many were pop culture references at the time. I saw Vanessa slowly making her way through a crowd, dressed as a witch, though still modest in what it showed. Eventually, she came across a group of students playing a mix of spin the bottle and truth or dare and took a seat. It took awhile before I realized what had happened.
"I remember this," I said as I looked, seeing my younger self there, one and a half jello shots in and grooving in my seat to the beat of the music. I had nearly forgotten this was the year they lowered the drinking age. I watched as the bottle spun around until it pointed at me.
"Okay, Maria, truth or dare?" one student asked me.
"Truth!" my younger self said enthusiastically.
"What's something you've never done, but you've always wanted to try?"
"Oh, um..." My younger self pondered for a bit before responding. "I've never kissed a girl before." There were murmurs and chuckles in the crowd, but I noticed that Vanessa seemed to fidget a little in her seat.
"Well then, how about you kiss the next person the bottle lands on?" There were cheers of agreement from the crowd and my younger self nodded. Then, I spun the bottle. It turned and turned until it landed on Vanessa.
The crowd was chanting "Kiss! Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!" as my younger self slowly made their way over to Vanessa.
My younger self wrapped her hands around the young Vanessa's face. "Hey, you alright with this?" My younger self asked before Vanessa nodded her head. I watched as the two of us kissed and the crowd went wild. "I did it!" my younger self shouted as she stood up and finished the other half of her jello shot.
I was suddenly taken out of that flashback and into a montage of various other ones, all of them that involved Vanessa watching me from afar.
"So you're going to try to be a filmmaker?" a girl asked the tenth grade me.