Page 212 of Haunt Me

Absolutely breathtaking.

I can’t take my eyes off her, and neither can anyone else.

I did not think this through.

As we walk into the premiere, we manage not to get photographed, but for once I am not in a panic. Ren will handle anything that comes up. I manage to stay calm, riding the high of making her so happy.

The first episode is titledRuined. After we’ve watched it, I know why: that’s how I feel. Ruined. I am completely emotionally destroyed. Freaking Wes Spencer and his ideas. I mean, it is absolutely heartbreaking. The idea that Eden has been reading these books for years now fills me with dread.

“Now I get why it’s calledRuined,” she sniffles next to me.

“I’m sorry, baby, I thought it would be a romance… you know, with dresses.”

There were dresses, of course. Lots of them, exquisite dresses and costumes. The period detail was amazing. But there was so much more than beauty. There was pain and grief. And the characters came to life on that screen. They were not actors, they were not people from a show: they were so real, I feel as if I know them to my core.

“It was a romance,” Eden says. “And so much more. I knew it would be dark, I have read the book, remember? And this was almost as good as the book.” High praise indeed. “There is just something magnetic about historical films, isn’t there?”

“Like how?” I suddenly need to focus all my attention on pretending not to be extremely jealous of my best friend who is in a happy relationship. It’s not his fault he stars in the most beautiful and heartbreaking thing I have ever seen on a screen. While looking like a Greek god.

“I don’t know,” Eden sighs. “The shirtsleeves. The way they speak properly, and enunciate. The chivalry, the…”

“Ok, stop!” It bursts out of me.

She starts laughing. “What, are you jealous or something?”

“I aminsanelyjealous.” Oh, great, I said that out loud. “And not just of Spencer, who is empirically considered gorgeous. Of every single person who looks at you. I’m obsessed with you.”

“Oh.”

We are both quiet for a bit. I think both of us lost a little bit of respect for me.

“Did I freak you out?” I murmur eventually.

“No,” Eden says, “it’s nice.”

Nice?

…

“Want to walk with me, Eden?”

“Yeah.”

“You free now?”

“Nownow? I just need ten minutes to get dressed.”

“Great. I’m sending a car.”

Eden and I meet up every single day, but this is the first time since we’ve been in New York that we see each other during the day. The sky is clear, no snow in sight. We almost forgot what the sun looked like. The cold is piercing, but I love the sunshine on my skin, even though it provides little warmth.

We walk by the water, its smooth surface sparkling in the sunlight. Eden looks adorable in her ear muffs and her burgundy coat. She’s leaving for Boston in three days.

“You’ve given me so much time, Isaiah,” she tells me, “all of your time, really. And you’ve been working so hard, not to mention preparing for the tour.”

I shake my head. “I have so much to make up for.”

“You do not!” She stops in her tracks, looking shocked, and I take her hand in mine. We are both wearing gloves, and that just won’t do. I take off mine, then hers, and thread our fingers together.

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