Page 120 of Nothing Like the Movies

“If we’re making a bet, I’m going bigger, Buxbaum,” I said, feeling like an unbelievable opportunity was presenting itself. “You in?”

“No,” she said, but I could tell she was smiling. I don’t know how I knew, but I did.

“Oh, come on, are you seriously going to force me to make the noise?” I asked.

“The noise?”

“Thebokk-bokkchicken noise because you’re scared to take the bet. You know I know you too well and will find you,” I teased, confident she wouldn’t be able to resist the challenge. “And then you’ll be forced to endure a delightful evening with the charming Wesley Harold Bennett as punishment for losing.”

“Save yourbokking—I’ll take the bet.” I wondered if she was in her room, ready for bed, or if she was studying somewhere. “But there have to be rules. You can’t just walk up to someone and say ‘Liz?’ because then you can luck into winning.”

“Fair.”I love her mind.“How about we have a code word that I have to shout when I see you?”

“A code word,” she repeated slowly, like she was really considering the idea. “I like it. How about you have to yell ‘I am a huge jackass’ when you see the person that you’ll think is me but actually won’t be?”

“I am happy to say that, you little shit,” I agreed, leaning my head back against the wall and picturing her face. “But you will definitely be the person I’m saying it to.”

“In your dreams, Bennett,” she teased.

“Every damn night, Buxbaum,” I replied, wanting to beg her to spend the rest of her life on the phone with me.

Her voice was soft and sleepy when she said, “I have to go study. See you Friday, even though youwon’tsee me.”

I love you.

“See you Friday, Lib,” I said, terrified by the hope that was pumping through every one of my veins. “G’night.”

After she hung up, I sat there with the phone in my hand for the longest time, just staring into space. Liz suddenly felt possible again, like something could actuallyhappenwith us, and that kind of possibility was the scariest thing in the world.

Eventually I got my head out of the clouds enough to write my paper, and I was in the middle of formatting the godforsakenworks citedpage—why did I struggle so much with those?—when my phone started ringing.

I picked it up and wasshockedwhen I saw the name on the caller ID.

Helena Buxbaum.

Why wouldshebe calling me? I’d only spoken to her on the phone once in my life, and that was a couple of years ago. It was right after Liz and I broke up, and I’d seen the 402 area code and took the call, assuming it was some kind of bill that needed to be paid.

It would forever go down as the coolest phone call I’d ever received.

Shut up and don’t say a word. I hate you for hurting Liz, and the Wes Bennett that was her boyfriend is dead to me. However, I want to let Wes Bennett the neighbor kid know that we’re always here next door, no matter what, if he should ever need anything that has nothing to do with our daughter. Okay, bye.

There were very few people in the world I respected as much as I respected Helena.

“Hello?” I answered, a little nervous.

“Oh—hey, Wes. Um, it’s Helena Buxbaum. I can’t believe you answered the phone,” she said, sounding shocked. “I thought only old people answered incoming calls. I fully expected the voicemail.”

“I saw it was you,” I said. “So Ihadto pick up.”

“Do you have two seconds? I don’t want to interrupt a kegger or anything.”

That made me smile and relax. “I’ve got all the time in the world, and I’m shockingly free of keggers at the moment. What’s up?”

“Okay, so the lady who moved into your old house—Mrs. Eggers? Yeah, she seems like a type-A lunatic, by the way, but it appears she found some things in the house that the Bennetts left behind.”

“What?” I’d personally checked every single surface of the place before leaving. “What did she find?”

“Homies.”

---