Page 60 of Nothing Like the Movies

“Nope,” I said, allowing myself to stare into her eyes for a second under the guise of polite eye contact.

My happy place.

“Why not?” she asked, her eyebrows going down. “I promise that we’ll give you total control during the interview, and this will give you the chance to make your story what you want it to be.”

I shrugged, knowing my story would always be the story I didn’t want it to be because it centered on my dad’s death. “I just don’t.”

“What can I say to convince you?” she asked, sounding—and looking—a little desperate. “We’ll let you review footage, we’ll cut anything you want us to cut, we’ll reshoot—”

“I’m not doing it,” I interrupted, hoping she’d just accept it and move on.

“Why won’t you at leastconsiderit?” she asked, her pitch rising in frustration. “It’s one tiny interview, Wes.”

“That I would like to pass on,” I repeated. “But thank you.”

“Gaaah,” she said, then continued through clenched teeth, “why are you so stubborn about this?”

“Why are you so hell-bent on making sure it happens?” I asked, and as soon as I said it, I realized that was it. The thing that I was missing. “I seriously doubt that you care to hear my making-it-back-to-LA story, so what’s the deal?”

She blinked fast. “I just think your experience—”

“Bullshit,” I interrupted.

She blinked faster. “Don’t you want to tell—”

“No,” I bit out, running a hand over my head. “What’s in this for you, Liz? Why are you trying so hard to talk me into it?”

“Because I don’t want to let Lilith down, okay?” she said, her voice rising as she squinted into the sun. “I don’t expect you to care, but Lilith is, like, a really big deal in the industry. She has a million connections that could mean everything for my career someday. So if I have a chance to do her a favor, Iamgoing to be hell-bent on making it happen.”

Her cheeks were red, her eyes hot, and my chest was burning as I watched her crackle.

“Please just consider starting the interview,” she said, reaching out her hand and setting it on my arm. Squeezing just the smallest amount, the physical manifestation of her need to convince me. Did she even realize she was touching me? “If it’s too intrusive, you can stop, but at least try.”

I still didn’t want to do it, but I couldn’t deny Liz what she wanted.

I was a weak, weak man.

I looked into the eyes that I saw every night when I closed my own and said, “Okay, I’ll do it.”

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

“As you wish.”

—The Princess Bride

Liz

“What?” I wasn’t sure I’d heard him right. “You seriously will?”

I couldn’t believe it.

When Lilith asked me that morning if I’d be willing to talk to Wes for her, to put in a good word and convince myold friendto consent to the interview that he’d refused (multiple times, apparently), I knew it was a terrible idea.

Wes would either mess with me for funsies or just straight-up refuse.

Either way, I wouldn’t get the win for Lilith.

But here he stood, his dark eyes serious as he watched me, almost like no one else was there. Like he couldn’t see the people going around us and into Kaplan, and his only thought was on me and our conversation.

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