Page 58 of Revive Me

“Worth it,” he says, chuckling.

Sighing, I tell him, “Alright, I’m at the one hour and ten-minute mark. Ready?”

There’s a small pause as he finds the mark. “Ready. On three. Three, two, one, go.”

I press play and watch as the movie starts again. But I’m distracted now, more interested in my phone than I am the movie.

“What’s your movie snack of choice?” I ask.

He hums thoughtfully, then answers, “I’m a classic guy. So popcorn.”

I let out a snort. “Classic would not be the word I would use to describe you.”

“I don’t think I want to hear the words you would use to describe me,” Roman responds, his tone dry. “Alright, smartass. What’s your movie snack?”

“ObviouslyTwizzlers. It’s the best candy at the refreshment stand.”

For a moment, Roman doesn’t say anything. Then he sighs and says, “For someone who’s as big of a health nut as you are, you also have the biggest sweet tooth I’ve ever seen.”

“Excuse me, what am Isupposedto eat at the movies? An apple? That would be blasphemous.” Then I frown. “Wait, how do you know I’m a health nut?”

“Liliana, the first thing you did when Fran offered you a protein bar last week was check the ingredients list. Trust me. You’re a health nut.”

“You aresucha know-it-all,” I grumble, absentmindedly reaching over to pet Garfield as I shift my gaze back to the TV screen.

He snorts into the phone. “As if your job isn’t to notice every little detail about my behavior and body.”

Thank God, he can’t see me, because my cheeks flame bright red. And now I’m picturing his body, and the way it looked during the workout I put him through today. His legs are getting noticeably more muscular, and I caught myself staring at the striations on his quads more than once.

I’m snapped from my thoughts when the scene on the TV screen finally registers.

“Wait…is that…?”

And then I’m tossing the phone in my hurry to slap my hands over my eyes.

“Roman!” I shriek, uncaring that I’m not holding my phone anymore. I’m still loud enough for him to hear. “What thefuckdid you make me watch?!”

I can hear his tinny laughter from wherever I threw him. Making sure not to look at the TV, I scramble to the other end of the couch to grab my phone.

“This isexactlywhy I didn’t want to watch this,” I complain once I’ve lifted it to my ear. “There’s just something about the paranormal stuff that messes with my head. I mean…whatwasthat?!”

There’s that full-bellied laugh again. “Just watch, Liliana.”

“Ican’t!” I whine. “I can’t do people crawling around on the ceiling.” I peek through the quarter inch of space between my fingers and immediately look away with a shudder. “Roman, my limit has been reached. You’re going to have to tell me what’s happening. I can’t watch it anymore.”

“And you call yourself a horror fan,” Roman says with atsk.

“It’s just thisonesub-genre of horror. But fine. Take my fan card, I don’t care. Nothing is worth this.” With my hands still covering my eyes, my ears perk up. I hear a scream, then something banging against a door.

“What is that?” I ask despite myself.

Roman pauses, then asks, “Do you really want to know?”

Another groan, this time as I cover my ear that doesn’t have the phone pressed against it. “This movie is taking away one sense at a time. First my eyesight, now my hearing.”

“Alright, alright, just turn it off. Nothing is worth this.”

“That’s what I’m saying!” I scramble for the remote and quickly hit the Home button.

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