Page 79 of Nothing Like the Movies

“Why’d you have to stay after practice?” Wade asked, grabbing three pieces and dropping them onto a paper towel.

I didn’t really know what to say, so I just told the truth. “They want to send someone with a camera to Omaha this weekend to get pictures of my house and my high school field.”

“What the fuck?” Wade asked, looking offended. “How come no one wants to go to my hometown with a camera? I’m a better player than you, and I’mnotfrom NebraskaHoma.”

“You arenotbetter,” AJ said, shoving pizza into his mouth.

“Bullshit.” Wade made a face and said, “Well, I’masgood, at least.”

Wade was funny because he was obnoxious and cocky, only he wasn’t. He was all douchey attitude, and I would’ve hated him if that was truly who he was. But he was, in fact, a really decent guy who thought it was hilarious to behave like a jackass.

“Regardless of the fact that I’m better than you, it’s only because during my interview I talked about having to go home when my dad died, and then come back. So it’s just because they like the story—it has nothing to do with my game.”

The entire team knew my story, but no one had ever spoken about it; not with me. Everyone just pretended I was a freshman, the same as every other freshman, and I preferred it that way. I kind of suspected that one of the coaches made some sort of an announcement when I committed, because it was odd that no one brought it up, but I’d also never asked.

“Who are they sending?” AJ asked, getting up to grab a beer from the fridge. He had zero issues drinking during the week, but I liked to avoid hangovers when I had homework to do. “Is it gonna be Liz?”

“I think so; I’m not sure.”

“Of courseit’s gonna be Liz.” Wade ripped off his crust, then rolled it into a ball. “She’s from there, so she’ll know all the spots. I wonder if she’ll bring Waters.”

“I still can’t believe they’re a thing,” AJ said, looking at me and shaking his head. “He’s a cool dude and I like him, but they seem more like brother and sister than a couple.”

“Yeah, that is weird.” Wade took a bite out of his crust ball like it was an apple. “Like, they’re always together, but they have always beenalways together.”

“You sound smart,” I muttered.

“Fuck right off—you know what I mean,” he said. “They don’t act any differently than they’ve ever acted together. Last year she told me he’s her ‘platonic soulmate,’ so now he’s more? Like, when he puts his arm around her, it looks no different than my dad putting his arm around my sister.”

“Can we not talk about this? I don’t give a shit about their relationship,” I said, sounding harsher than I’d meant to.

“Oh, it sounds to me like you really do.” Wade reached over and pulled off another crust and started rolling. “And I get it.”

“Same.” AJ nodded. “Like, she’s cute, but that’s not the thing. It’s the way she’s so damn chill, right? Dating someone that cool about everything would make everyone else seem like… too much.”

I took a bite of pizza, blown away that that was how they saw her. As a super chill cool girl.

And they weren’t wrong. That was exactly who she was now, but it was wild because she’d been chill aboutnothingback in the day.

I’d fucking loved it, how quickly she got riled up.

I’d loved it, yet my new obsession was the confident content producer with the quiet one-liners.

I was dying to get to know her better.

“I have to think that after dating Liz, you would forever care about her relationships.” Wade took a bite of his crust ball and said, “How the hell do you get over someone like her?”

Yeah, that was a loaded question. I grabbed a Gatorade out of the fridge and absolutely knew the answer.

You don’twas the answer.

You don’t get over her.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

“She gave me a pen. I gave her my heart, and she gave me a pen.”

—Say Anything

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