Page 21 of Nothing Like the Movies

“Yes,” I bit out, “and calm your ass down.”

“But Bennett,” he said, looking at me like I’d just delivered the world’s most shocking news. “I don’t understand. You didn’t know—”

“I knew she was a student at UCLA, but I didn’t know she lived in this apartment, and I sure as hell didn’t know she has a boyfriend.”

“Duuuude.”AJ tilted his head and looked at me like I was a pathetic puppy. “No way did it go down like this.”

“Unbelievable, right?” I still felt queasy about the whole thing,mostly because I couldn’t stop hearing Clark call her “baby.”

Gross. It was gross, right?

“Baby” was an offensive pet name, in my opinion.

Fuck.

“Go,” AJ said, pointing at the door. “Because your face is getting redder by the minute. Get out of here, clear your head, and text me when you get home so I know you made it safe.”

“Thanks, man,” I said, pulling open the door and exiting the noisy apartment. I wasn’t looking forward to discussing this with AJ later—that guy loved talking about feelings—but at least I knew I could trust him to keep it to himself.

I left the building and just started walking, grateful for the fresh air and quiet, but it didn’t take long for me to get good and lost.

UCLA was a huge school, and during daylight hours, I had the area pretty much figured out. But when it was dark, forget about it. My sense of direction went to shit. I gave my car to my sister because I had a whole team to mooch rides off, but figuring out where you were on foot was somehow more challenging than when you were behind the wheel.

I texted AJ:I think I’m walking in circles in the neighborhood by the party. Is there a trick to getting out?

I looked at my display and realized I’d been walking for forty minutes.

I was starting to think my GPS was dicking me around.

Of course, the entire time I’d been walking I was picturing Liz and Clark, so the haze of jealous rage might’ve impaired my nighttime navigational skills.

Yeah, I was insanely jealous.

Jealous to the nth degree.

So jealous it was choking me.

Which pissed me off because it was stupid, right?

But even though my brain knew it was logical for her to date someone else, my body wanted to wipe the floor with Clark for being the one whose arm she wrapped her hands around.

Honestly, I should be happy for her because the dude seemed nice.Really, really nice, actually.But somehow I just knew he wasn’t right for her. I might not be The One (even though I was pretty sure I was), but there was no way Ponytail was, either.

She said “new.”

That they were “new.”

So, how new?

Were we talking days, weeks—what constituted new?

Had they kissed yet?

“No,” I muttered to myself as I walked, the thought of that making my stomach churn. I mean, it’d been years—of courseshe’d kissed someone else by now. I knew that, but seeing her face again and smelling her perfume and hearing the sound of her voice made everything feel so close.

My phone buzzed in my hand.AJ: Airdrop your location

I did, and then my phone buzzed again. I expected it to be AJ, but it was my sister.

---