Page 68 of Little Lies

Convinced her so much she was getting caught up in this act. The lines of her character blurred so much she wasn’t sure if what she felt was fact or fiction.

Because she felta lot.

His lips were exactly how she remembered. They were soft, but he held so much control over her with them. They moved the slightest bit and she moved with them. Just like before.

But this was different. Something was very different. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but it immobilized her body—striking straight to her heart and going lower. Much, much lower. It shuddered, her breath stopped, and her thoughts disappeared. She may as well be a fly.

Shewishedshe were a fly. You cannot tell when a fly is struggling to catch its breath, or burning up, or blinking rapidly.

It was painful really, how insane the brief brush of his lips on hers made her feel without a drop of alcohol in her system. There had only been one other time when she felt like this, when she was ready to let go of all sense and accountability for what shewantedto do.

It all happened in a mere second and then he was gone. She sucked in air.

It felt like it lasted an eternity.

A very good eternity.

What?

No.

Scratch that.

An okay eternity.

A very okay eternity.

Nathan searched her eyes for a long few seconds, his nose scrunched apprehensively like he was waiting for a fist to come up and strike him in the neck. But she couldn’t even move, much less hit him. She didn’twantto.

When he was sure she wasn’t going to, he relaxed and nodded past her shoulder to something behind her.

“Now look at them,” he said.

She did as told, running on automatic now.

Oh, right.

She’d noticed the large groups of classmates that were in the building as soon as she walked in, she’d just forgotten all about their presence for the last five seconds.

Now that she remembered them, and looked at them, she blinked at their enormous eyes and slack-jawed expressions.

Nathan could convince a fly, and he could convince the entirety of Richmond.

And her role was to help him. That’s all it was. What she was feeling was as fake as the character she was playing for the audience. Anyone would get used to playing a character after a while.

Method acting. That’s what all the best actors did. They lived and breathed and thought like their characters so they could perfect their roles. Turns out she was a decent method actor.

She’d taken over her character’s shoes. Tully was giddy with puppy love for her wonderful boyfriend, Nathan Rondeau.

That’s the only reason she felt like this.

Together they would be a compelling show of soulmates and crush away any bad rumors. She owed it to Nathan to be an excellent actress.

Nathan said something, but it was hard to hear over the beating of her heart. She hummed in response like she was listening, but it was just a background noise to thethump, thump, thumpin her head.

He kept saying something and took her spot looking at the bowling balls while she kept nodding like she could hear any of it. Whatever she was doing must have been extraordinarily persuasive because he didn’t notice anything was wrong. But then again, he hadn’t looked at her much after he pulled away.

“…dates.” She only caught the tail end of Nathan’s latest sentence, and snapped out of her haze.

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