Page 17 of Nothing Like the Movies

Dammit.

“Oh, you guys are together?” Wes asked—at least someone got it—and he didn’t look like he cared at all. He asked it the way someone would askDo you like the cheese dip?, and something about that stung.

Even thoughIwas the one who didn’t care anymore.

Iwas the one who was over it.

Dammit.

“Yes,” I said, nodding a little too enthusiastically. “We are.”

“We are?” Clark asked, still confused, and then it was almost comical (if it wasn’t so horrifying) when his eyes got huge, and he said, “Yes, we are. Dating. We are dating and I am her boyfriend.”

Oh, for God’s sake.I cleared my throat and said around a ridiculous smile, “It’s new, so, uh…”

“New?” Wes tilted his head and looked at me like I’d just sprouted antlers.

Oh my God, how can this be happening?!

I looked at Wes’s stupid face, his beautiful, awful, terrible face, and just couldn’t believe he was actually there.

That he was there, and I was doingthat.

“Because we’ve been friends for so long,” I said in an oddly high-pitched voice that reminded me of Ross Geller when he saidI’m finein response to Rachel and Joey kissing. “You know how that can be, right?”

So much for pretending you remember nothing, you idiot.

That made something change in his face, and my eyes were pulled to that hard jaw as it clenched and unclenched before he said, “I do.”

Good.

“I still can’t believe it,” Clark said, raising a hand and pinching my cheek while grinning at me so stupidly that I would’ve laughed if—again—the situation wasn’t so horrifying. “One day we were buddies, and the next she was all ‘Clarkie, I have feelings,’ and I was like ‘holy crap, Lizard, I have feelings too,’ and now we’re together. It’s, like, really surreal.”

“Sosurreal,” I agreed, giving a little laugh while wanting to kick Clark’s obnoxious ass. “A whirlwind, really.”

“Itislike a whirlwind,” Clark said way too loudly, smiling and pinching my cheek again, followed by two little pats.

I removed his huge hand from my face—the jackass—and said, “Yeah, so that’s the sitch.”

The sitch?What are you, in middle school, you moron?

“Wow.” Wes looked from my face to Clark’s, and then he gave me a half smile. Said in that teasing tone of his, “Well, you look great together. I mean, the whole she-only-reaches-his-armpit thing never misses. You guys are adorable.”

“Yeah,” I said, nodding emphatically like a lunatic while wanting to throat punch him.

You guys areadorable?What the hell wasthatsupposed to mean?

“Thanks,” Clark agreed, obliviously nodding along.

“Well,” Wes said, looking entirely unfazed by the situation. He scratched his eyebrow and said, “Listen, my friends are probably wondering where I disappeared to, so I should go find them—”

“Yeah,” I interrupted, nodding once more. “Good seeing you again.”

“Oh, you too, Lib,” he said, giving me a wink before turning and walking away.A wink, oh my God.I watched him cross the balcony and duck inside, looking like just another college dude at a party, and I had no idea why I felt so pissed.

For some reason, I wanted to drag him back outside and force him to, like, watch me kiss Clark with obnoxious tongue or something, anything to make him upset.

He wasn’t allowed to be unaffected by me, because that was supposed to be my role.

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