Page 150 of Nothing Like the Movies

For a solid thirty seconds after I’d fallen down, I was terrified I was going into cardiac arrest because it’d beenthathard to breathe. Thank God Ross had been there to talk me through it.

I was careful to be quiet as I slipped out of my room (hunched over and shuffling like a one-hundred-year-old man) and ducked into the restroom just across the hall. Everything hurt when I stood, but it was worse when I leaned down to wash my hands.

And then I thought about Liz, which made my heart ache, in addition to my chest.

Does she know? Does she care?

It was totally emo for me to think ofthatat this moment, but I couldn’t help it. It seemed I was destined to spend the rest of my life thinking about the girl who wasn’t sure if she wanted to think about me at all.

So when I came out and crossed the hall, I couldn’t quite believe my ears.

It was her.

“—so just keep resting while I talk, okay?”

What the fuck?I thought as I heard her voice.Am I dead?

Because that sure as hell sounded like Libby.

I stepped into the doorway of my room, narrowed my eyes to a squint, andholy balls, yes, that was definitely Liz’s hair. Either I was dead and heaven was a hospital room, or she was standing there, talking to the privacy curtain that was pulled closed around my bed.

“I can’t wait another second to say this, Wes, so if you’re asleep, I’ll just repeat it all after you wake up.”

She thinks I’m in there.I knew I should tell her I wasn’t, that I was wide awake and listening to her every word, but I didn’t want to interrupt.

I put a hand on the doorframe for support, suddenly able to ignore the pain in my chest.

“Last night, after we got picked up by the cop, IthoughtI was conflicted over my feelings. This morning, too, I thought I was confused about everything. But I was such an idiot, Wes,” she said, and her voice was thick, like she was emotional. “Because when I saw you get hit and you were lying on the field—”

Her voice cracked and she stopped, like she was trying to keep it together, which made me struggle to keepmyshit together becausefuck. Liz was here, in my hospital room, and it sure sounded like she hadn’t enjoyed me taking a line drive to the chest. That was a pretty low bar, I had to admit, but I held my breath and waited for more.

She’s here.

“When I saw you get hit, I realized there isn’t anything confusing about it at all. I love you.Of courseI love you; you’re Wes. You are the only boy I’veeverloved in my entire life. I think I’ve lovedyou—without stopping—since you set me on the trunk of my car after prom and kissed me at 12:13.”

I felt like I couldn’t breathe, but this time it had nothing to do with baseballs slamming into my ribs. I put my fist over my mouth to keep myself from speaking as I listened to her say what I’d daydreamed about her saying for nearly two years.

Hell, what I’d daydreamed about her saying for forever.

You are the only boy I’veeverloved in my entire life.

It was killing me not to be able to see her face, but I was terrified that a word from me would make her—and this moment—disappear.

And I’d do anything to keep this moment from disappearing.

“So I don’t want to waste any more time trying tofigure things outwith us because they’re already figured out, right?” She took in a shaky breath and said, “There will never be anyone else for me—hard stop—so let’s get on with us. I wantusto start immediately. Like, zero-to-sixty, let’s get to the good part where we’re back in a continuous text conversation about something stupid like raccoon memes.”

I opened my mouth to respond, because I desperately needed to look into those emerald eyes while her perfect mouth spoke those perfect words, but then I took a deep breath—shit shit shit that hurts—making it impossible to speak.

I put my hands over my ribs and clenched my teeth to keep from making a noise. But how could my chest hurt so much when my heart was finally fucking healed?

“And it’s incredibly ironic, by the way, that you used the lyricsfrom ‘Illicit Affairs’ on me because I actually banished that song from my life, Wes. Idid. I deleted it after we broke up because two specific lines—the very two that you quoted—were so painfully perfect for us that they brokemeevery time I heard them.”

I tried swallowing, but my throat was too tight.

Of courseI randomly quoted to her a pair of lyrics that she’d already associated with us.

The universe was in on it, the mastermind,I swear to God.

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