Page 110 of The Rom-Commers

“Rewatchable?” Charlie asked, like he couldn’t fathom what that meant.

“The kisses that you rewatch over and over.”

Charlie just frowned.

“Kisses so good, you’ll watch the movie again just for the kiss.”

Charlie shook his head.

“Kisses so good, you’ll rewind them a few times before you even finish the movie.”

Now Charlie looked at me like I was fully bananas. “Nobody does that.”

“Hello?Everybodydoes that.”

“I have never rewatched a kiss.”

“That’s because you refuse to let yourself be happy.”

Charlie sighed.

“This is important,” I said.

Charlie narrowed his eyes. “Is it?”

“There is exactlyone kissin your screenplay as it stands, and it’s the tragic Charlie Brown Christmas tree of movie kisses.”

Did I have a full, curated collection of dramatic kissing clips from around the world bookmarked on YouTube?

Yeah. Doesn’t everyone?

I don’t want to show off or anything, but if these clips had been artworks, I could have started my own very impressive museum.

I had clips from all over the world: Turkey and Japan and Azerbaijanand Iceland. It was almost an anthropology project—curating the best human efforts at kissing. I’d subdivided them into categories of style, too: Accidental, Gentle, Drunk, First, Pretend, Angry, Practice, Stolen, Forgotten, and Goodbye. Not to mention Kisses on Horseback, Rooftop Kisses, and Wall-slams.

Through it all, Charlie sat very still, like a captive.

“Why are you fighting me on this?” I asked.

“I’m not fighting you,” Charlie said. “I’m just not writing a whole, big, ten-page love scene.”

“Onepage,” I said.

“You do it,” he said.

“We’re supposed to do it together.”

“I’ll rewrite the ending at the wedding,” Charlie said, like he could escape.

“Uh,” I said, “that’salsogoing to have a kiss in it.”

Charlie dropped his shoulders, likeSeriously?

“Yeah,” I said. “This first kiss gives us a sense of what’s possible—but they don’t get their happy ending until they get their happy ending.”

Charlie shook his head.

“Just pay attention, okay?” I said. “You might learn something.”

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