Page 97 of Nothing Like the Movies

“Cool.” I sat down between Joss and Michael, and I could feel Wes watching. I didn’t look in his direction, but I knew.

“This is the best Italian in the city,” I said to Clark, trying my hardest to act unaffected when I knew that absurdly long-lashed brown eyes were on me. “So choose your dinner carefully.”

“I always choose my dinner carefully,” he replied, looking at the menu.

I felt awkward for the first five minutes when I ran through all the what-are-you-up-to questions with my former friends, butthen it was like we’d never been apart. I mean, it was different being with them when I wasn’twithWes (I connected with most of them because of him), but time and good food had a way of mellowing everything.

Dinner was great. Even though Clark turned on his camera and recorded the casual hangout, it felt like a comfortable old cardigan, warm and soothing and something I’d needed for a long time.

Clark asked a few interview questions while he inhaled portobello ravioli, but they were so braided into the friendly meal that we barely noticed them. Even when he mentioned Mr. Bennett’s passing, it felt like old friends recalling their memories, as opposed to a formal interview.

“Remember how he never got my name right?” Noah said, grinning at Wes as he shoved a meatball into his mouth. “The man called me ‘Isaac’ for half my life.”

“Well, they were both biblical names,” Wes said, laughing. “Almost the same. Can you blame the man?”

“Yes,”Noah loudly insisted. “Because we became friends in thethirdgrade. I’m pretty sure Stu was just messing with me.”

“Oh, for sure he was,” Wes agreed. Then he added, “He thought you were a smart-ass little shit.”

Which made Joss say, “He wasn’t wrong about that, Isaac.”

Everything was perfect until the lemon cake.

Which, for the record, was always perfect.

But I’d just shoveled a huge bite of delicious cake into my mouth when Clark asked Joss and Noah, “So did you guys check on Wes a lot after he quit school, since your college is so close?”

They went to UNL, which was an hour away.

“Idid,” Noah said. “But Joss was so pissed at him about New Year’s that she wouldn’t even let me say his name.”

Oh God.The cake turned to cement in my mouth as I heard them talking like it was in slow motion.

“It’s true,” Joss said, throwing me a wink. “He wasdeadto me.”

Shut up, shut up, shut up, I thought, wanting to disappear.

Wanting everyone to stop talking.

I felt queasy as panic shot through me—as I dreaded every possible word that was about to be spoken. We were having a fabulous time—why the hell did we have to go back to this?

Why the hell did it always go back to this?

Wes was on the other side of the table, and my cheeks burned at the thought of looking at him. I reached for my water because I didn’t know what else to do.

“What happened on New Year’s?” Clark asked, sounding amused, like he expected a funny story.

“Everyone slept late, the end,” Sarah said, and Ididlook at her. We exchanged a knowing gaze, each remembering that morning, and I felt a little lightheaded.

And queasier.

“Oh, comeon,” Clark said, his instincts just as bad as ever. “I need to hear this story.”

“Nothing happened,” Wes said, a warning in his voice. “I got drunk and acted like a jackass.”

“Is that what we’re calling cheating now?” Joss said, and it was clear that she still hadn’t forgiven him either. “That seems like—”

“Joss!”I interrupted—shut up shut up shut up—desperate for a subject change. “Let’s not. Let’s just—”

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