Page 65 of He's The Reason Why

“Yes, please. Let’s do the whole thing front to back.”

The reader said the lines for her snarky map.

She felt a little stiff as she said the next few lines, but this wasn’t a real take, so she didn’t worry about it too much. Instead, she tried to remember how it felt in Blake’s living room, doing lines with him and Marshall.

“Will you please go away? I’m not in the mood for games.”The line she’d just said rolled off the screen, and Blake’s part took its place.

He was supposed to say, “Oh it’s not a game, Princess. It’s an adventure.”

When Blake didn’t say anything, she glanced at him.

He tilted his head in a move she’d come to associate with Jesse and grinned. “Whatareyou in the mood for, Princess? Are you in the mood for a story? Love? Adventure? I’m up for anything, as long as I get to tag along wherever that map leads.”

He pointed at the invisible map in her hands.

She fumbled for a line to say. Her next line wouldn’t fit anymore. Then she realized he was playing the same game they’d played in the living room.

This was a warm-up, after all. Not the real thing.

She could go anywhere she wanted.

She felt a rush of adrenaline and excitement. She turned the screen off and instead focused on what Blake had just said. He wanted the map she was carrying.

Why?

Right!

The line came to her in a flash, and she said it out loud in her best scornful voice. “You can’t even read a map.”

“I can too.” He thrust out his jaw.

She rolled her eyes. “It’smymap and there’s no way I’m telling you what it says.”

“I already know what it says.”

“Oh really? Prove it.” She pretended to stow the map behind her back. She’d slipped into character so easily she wasn’t sure when it happened, but she loved it.

She loved being Princess Jewel.

This was fun. She liked ad-libbing like this. It felt creative and free, and it reminded her of how it felt to be on stage. That fun, alive, being-lifted-into-another-world feeling was addictive.

She wanted more of it. A lot more.

He crossed his arms and looked smug. “It shows the secret lair of a powerful dragon that’s hoarding a one-of-a-kind protection stone.”

She blinked. “You can’t know that.”

“Am I wrong?”

“How did you know?”

He leaned toward her. “Can you keep a secret?”

“Of course.”

“So can I.” He turned his face away, looking smug.

She stomped her foot. “You’re…you’re…”

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