Page 98 of Nothing Like the Movies

“Pretend he’s not the reason you’ve stayed away for years?”

“Oh myGod,” I bit out, my heart racing as I refused to look at Clark. Or Wes. I felt embarrassed and angry, all at the same time. But I put on a fake smile and said, “I think we should really be talking about the way Michael checked in on Wes and kicked his ass into shape.”

“What?” Michael looked at Wes and said, “How does she know about that?”

I did look at Wes, then, and he was watching me closely, like he was trying to read my mind. His eyes stayed on my face as he said to Michael, “I told everyone the way you threw baseballs at me and made me vomit on the mound.”

I looked down, because the intensity in that direct gaze was too much.

“For real?” Michael said, cracking up. “I thought it was our secret.”

The momentkind ofpassed as Michael shared his side of the story, but Wes got quiet after that.

And so did Clark, who kept looking at me like he was thinking hard.

And he stayed that way, silently introspective, as we closed out our tab and left the restaurant.

He looked downright pensive when we started walking.

“Where did you park?” I asked Joss as we headed down Jackson Street.

“At the pay lot by Upstream,” she said. “Walk with us, and we can get ice cream on the way.”

“Ooh.” I turned to Clark, on my other side, and said, “Ted and Wally’s is on the way.”

“I’m always down for ice cream,” he said, but he was still looking at me in a very weird way, like he was thinking… processing… conspiring. I didn’t know what to make of it, because Clark was usually the easiest person on the planet to read, but maybe I was just overthinking because I was exhausted.

We started walking toward the ice-cream shop as a group, and as everyone talked and laughed, I wished I wasn’t leaving so soon.

Even after the awkward moment, I wanted to stay.

“Are you coming?” Charlie said to Bailey, who was walking behind him.

“These shoes are uncomfortable,” she whined, pointing to her adorable chunky boots that laced all the way up the back. “They aren’t broken in yet.”

“So cute, though,” Sarah said. “What size are they?”

“You’re not borrowing them, because you’re in California,” Bailey said, in a way that made it clear Sarah had overborrowed from Bailey in the past. “Also they’ll destroy your feet.”

“Come on, Glasses,” Charlie said, stopping and looking at Bailey over his shoulder. “You know I’m always willing to volunteer for piggybacking duty. Get on.”

She smiled and in a second, was sprinting and jumping on his back.

“Youliar,” he said as she wrapped herself around him. “If youcan run up on me like that, you little shit, you can probably walk.”

“But why would I walk when I can bury my cold nose in your warm collar?”

I looked away from them, because something about the way they were together felt familiar.

“We need to talk, Liz,” Clark said as we approached the ice-cream shop.

“What?”

He grabbed my elbow, stopping me, pulling me away from Joss and the rest of the group. He gave me a wink before he loudly said, “I can’t do this anymore.”

“Do what?” I said, having no idea what he was talking about.

“This,”he said, sounding frustrated. “Us. It just isn’t working.”

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