Page 122 of Nothing Like the Movies

“I just thought, since your dad was intense a lot of the time, that you might enjoy hearing about him being kind and giving me probably the best parental advice I ever received.”

“?‘Little assholes’ is the best advice?” I teased, my voice a little choked by emotion. “Come on, Helena.”

“Your dad knew, Wes,” she said, her voice quiet. “He knew what his kidsreallyfelt, even when their words said otherwise.”

I took in a deep, jagged breath, wondering if she might actually be right. “Thank you, Helena. You’re really—”

“Incredible, I know,” she interrupted, sounding like she, too, was a little choked up. “And you’re welcome. Now let’s get back to our keggers, shall we?”

“Yeah, we probably should,” I agreed, clearing my throat.

“Take care, kid,” she said. “And I’ll see you at Christmas break.”

“You will?”She’s probably forgetting we’re no longer neighbors.

“You want these homies, don’t you?” she said, and something about her mothering was really getting to me. Especially when she added, “I’ll be pissed if you don’t come get them.”

“Then I will make it a priority.”

“Later, then, Wesley,” she said.

“Later, then, Helena,” I replied, staying on until the call dropped.

It was probably a random coincidence, but that night, for the first time in years, I had a long night of deep sleep without a nightmare to be found.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

“Look, I guarantee there’ll be tough times. I guarantee that at some point, one or both of us is gonna want to get out of this thing. But I also guarantee that if I don’t ask you to be mine, I’ll regret it for the rest of my life, because I know, in my heart, you’re the only one for me.”

—Runaway Bride

Liz

“I cannotwear this.”

“Why not?” Campbell stood behind me, looking at my reflection in the mirror over my shoulder. “If you want to trick him, this is the way. He’s going to be looking for a Liz-coded costume, so he will never even consider that this is you.”

My stomach was full of nervous butterflies. It was all well and good what my dad said, about me not having to worry about my confusing Wes feelings, but it made things feel precarious when I was preparing to go to a party that could end with me having to go on adatewith him tomorrow.

Did I want to?

Definitely not.

But his idiotic balcony attempt had left me shaken. I wasn’tLittle Liz anymore, but I wasn’t unaffected by the lengths he’d gone to either.

I looked at my reflection and wanted to cover myself with a cardigan. I was wearing Campbell’s costume, which was a black latex Batgirl dress paired with thigh-high black boots. The dress was short and showed some cleavage, but the part that had me feeling like I looked obscene was how tight it was.

Skintight, shiny black, no room for secrets.

“Yeah, but it’s so…” I trailed off, turning around and making sure it covered my ass.

“Watch yourself before I’m offended,” Campbell said, crossing her arms. “You look hot, and your face will be covered. No one will know it’s you unless you want them to.”

I looked at my reflection again.No one will know it’s me.

“Just enjoy it and have fun.” She tilted her head. “Feel sorry for me, that I’m stuck wearing the cat costume.”

“The costume fromCats the Musicalis cute, though,” I defended. “You’ll look adorable.”

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