Page 134 of Nothing Like the Movies

I’d intentionally turned it on because she used to love that movie, so I was shocked as hell when she hit the arrow to forward to the next song.

Oh-kay.

Unfortunately, my music was on shuffle, so the next song that came on was “Club Sandwich.” Which meant that instead of romantic date music, Alice’s interior was now being soiled with a punk/rap song about eating a sandwich inthe club.

Great running song, but not so great for a date.

“What isthis?” she asked, and when I glanced over, she looked like she was fighting back a smile.

Which made everything okay.

“?‘Club Sandwich,’?” I replied around a laugh because it wasridiculousthat my perfect-date song had been replaced by Joey Valence & Brae. “It’s a great lifting song.”

“I’m not sure I believe you,” she teased, a smilefinallycurving her lips.

I’m in the club with my sandwich

Yo, call that a club sandwich…

“Yeah, I get that,” I said. “But kudos to me for finding a song Liz Buxbaum doesn’t know, right?”

“Sure,” she said, deftly stealing the Bluetooth connection with her phone. “Here—palate cleanser.”

I knew it from the first note, even though she probably assumed I didn’t. I’d listened to a lot of LANY in the Secret Area when I wasdepressingly alone in Omaha, and “Cowboy in LA” had been one of my favorite ways to pick at the ironic scab that hadbeenmy new life.

“Where are you taking me, by the way?” she asked, her eyes out the window.

I thought I’d selected theperfectplace, but her knee-jerk deletion of what I’d considered the perfect-datesonghad me second-guessing my decision. So I said, “It’s a surprise.”

When we moved to LA two years ago, we’d always said we were going to go on a date to the restaurant fromLa La Land. So my thinking, for tonight, had beenWhat better place to take her for dinner while her favorite song from the soundtrack played on the way?

She didn’t say anything when the restaurant came into sight, and I worried I’d gotten it wrong. I wanted to give her the perfect romantic night, a new beginning to the version 2.0 of our story, and I honestly thought I’d killed it.

I didn’t know why it was wrong, but I could tell it wasn’t right.

“Is that okay?” I asked.

“No, that’s great,” she said, pushing up a very fake smile. “I’m excited.”

It wasn’t, and I suspectedshewasn’t.

But why?

Did she hateLa La Landnow? God, she used to love that movie, even though it made her cry every time.

I hate not knowing her like I used to.

I was fascinated by the person she’d become, but tonight felt like one of those times when I needed to nail the correct answers. So I wasn’t happy when, as I pulled up to the valet stand, the car madea weird noise. It sounded like a cough, then it sputtered, and then it turned off.

No, no, no, no.

“That’s not good,” I murmured, turning the key and giving it gas, but the car just whirred and wouldn’t catch. “Come on, Alice.”

Shit.

“Good evening, sir,” the valet said, pulling my door open as the man looked at the car like it was going to be physically painful for him to have contact with it.

“Miss,” I heard another fancy employee say from the other side of the car as he opened Liz’s door.

---