Page 91 of Downforce

“Let me guess your favorite. Romeo and Juliet.”

“Wrong,” she relishes in a sing-song voice. “I’ll ignore the sexism embedded in your assumption because I’d rather talk about my favorite play.”

“Sexism?”

“It’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” She plucks the play from her shelf and smiles, thumbing through the pages.

“There was no sexism in my guess,” I grumble, taking the book from her hands. “Haven’t read it.”

Her jaw drops. “What are they doing up there on that island?”

I chuckle. “I assume you’re referring to Britain. You are aware that we don’t start quoting Shakespeare the moment we come out of the womb, correct?”

“What a pity.” She snatches the book out of my hand. “You’re missing out.”

“What and your mum put you to bed at night citing Will, did she?”

She smirks. “Something like that.” She shakes her head, some of her red curls moving about her shoulders.

Unable to stop the urge, I reach out and tuck a few strands behind her ear. Our eyes connect briefly before she turns and looks back at the shelf, this time her eyes on the space beneath the television. Where the DVDs sit.

“In middle school, I developed a fascination with movies from the nineties and early two-thousands,” she explains. “A lot of the movies enjoyed were remakes or retellings from popular English literature.”

“Which films?”

She eagerly plucks out a DVD and holds it up for me to see.

“Clueless?” I wrinkle my forehead as I stare at the image of Alicia Silverstone, Stacy Dash, and Brittany Murphy enshrined in a silver heart on the cover. “It’s a Shakespeare retelling?”

Annalise gasps. “I’m going to pretend like I didn’t hear that.”

I give her a look.

“Have you ever seen the movie?”

“A long time ago, I think.”

“You think …” She trails off, her disappointment obvious. “It’s a retelling of Emma by Jane Austen. This one is a retelling of Taming of the Shrew by Shakespeare.”

I hold the case of the new DVD. “10 Things I Hate About You. That one is by Shakespeare,” I say.

“The play, not the movie,” she corrects.

“Right because Shakespeare wasn’t around in …” I flip the case over, “1999.”

I laugh when she rolls her eyes.

“So you watched these and decided you had a thing for Shakespeare?”

“Almost.” She nods. “I watched them and decided I wanted to learn more about the source material. Which led to me majoring in English literature in college.” She pauses. “That’s uni for you Brits.”

I wink. “Got that.”

“That’s where my real love for Shakespeare emerged. And my collection began.” She waves over her collection with her hand.

I nod. “Let’s watch one.”

“Really?” She sounds surprised. “I mean, sure. Which one?”