Page 24 of Nothing Like the Movies

The girl—Campbell, presumably—gave me a wave and a smile.

“Get your sweet ass in the car,” Wade said, sticking his head out the back window, “?’cause we’re goin’ to Fat Sal’s.”

I wasn’t sure if they were going back to the party after Fat Sal’s or not, but at least I could call myself an Uber from there if that was the plan. I squeezed into the back seat, wedged between Wade and the door as I slammed it, and the driver stomped on the gas.

“What kind of a dumbass walks home when they don’t know where they’re going?” Mickey asked, giving me a drunk grin. “You had our little AJ all worried about you.”

“I’d worry aboutyou, too, if you went wandering around LA in the dark by yourself,” AJ said, which made Wade laugh.

“Of course you would,” he said, reaching out a hand to pat AJ’s knee. “Mama Bear.”

“Why did you walk?” Campbell asked, leaning forward to talk to me around the Wade that was between us. “Couldn’t get an Uber?”

I got tripped up for a second, because this girl was Liz’s roommate, right? I doubted she knew anything about me—yet—because Liz hadn’t even known I was here until a few hours ago, but I had a weird feeling that I should try to make a good impression.

“Something like that,” I said, acting like it was a whim instead of me having a full-on meltdown over her roommate’s current relationship status. “I’m Wes, by the way.”

“Campbell,” she said, smiling. “And you used to date Liz, right?”

“What thewhat?” Wade shouted, even though he was right next to me. His mouth hung wide open for a second before he said, “You went out with Buxxie?”

Dammit.The last thing I wanted was to discuss Liz and my history with Wade.

Or anyone, for that matter.

Well, except for Liz.

“She was my next-door neighbor back home,” I said, trying to downplay it.

“The girl next door?” he said, laughing. “Whooo, Bennett, I gotta know more.”

“It was a long time ago,” I said, dismissing him because I was dying to hear what Liz had said to her roommate about me. I turned back to Campbell and said, “So, yes, I did.”

“That’s what Clark said,” she replied, “but no worries—he’s super chill about it.”

“Oh,” I said like a dumbass, but I had trouble pulling words together because, like… did that mean Liz hadn’t saidanythingabout me? Was her boyfriend the one talking about me? “That’s good.”

And why was Clark so chill? Shouldn’t he be the slightest bit jealous of our history?

And why am I being so neurotic?

“Yeah,” she agreed. “And Wade told me all I could ever need to know aboutyou.”

“Oh?” I said, glancing at Brooks’s stupid smirk, wondering what the hell he could’ve said.

“He said you’re a pitcher from ‘NebraskaIdaHoma.’?”

“All those states in the middle of the country just run together,” Wade said defensively, shrugging. “I can’t be expected to keep track of which one our little lefty comes from.”

“Brooks is a shining endorsement of the Texas school system, don’t you think?” AJ said to Campbell.

“Well, they say everything is bigger in Texas,” she said, “so—”

“That’s right, honey,” Wade interrupted, looking drunk as hell while he beamed at her.

“—I think it’s safe to say ignorance is not excluded from that expression.”

Campbell grinned at Wade, her head cocked like she was waiting for his comeback, and it made sense that she was friends with Liz. They both had a sweetness about them that was surrounded by a layer of smart wit, like they were capable of being kind while also destroying you if you dared to deserve it.

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