Page 34 of The Fate Of Us

I scoop up some of the pie on my fork and plunge it into my mouth, hoping the actionwill cause everyone to carry one where they left off before they clocked I was in a daze.

“Well,” Flo starts, sliding her knife and fork together in the centre of her plate, ever sopolitely. “I was going to ask about how the shoot is going.” Mine and Nate’s eyes lift to meet each other, our faces staying put before another laugh blurts out of Flo. “Guys, relax, I didn’t mean you two; I meant, how is it looking? You know, the actual movie? I was obsessed with that book when it came out, and I never usually like romances.”

“Weirdo,” I butt in, before one of Flo’s peas she left on her plate meets my temple.“Hey—”

“I just wanted to make sure they’re doing it justice. You know how these adaptationscan be. Half the time, it’s like these writers never read the book.” she admits, before throwing me a napkin to wipe the gravy from the side of my face.

I scoop up another piece of pie. “It’s going well. I don’t think either of us has met theauthor yet so I can’t say whether she’s happy or not—”

“I met her.” His voice rings across the table, stopping me mid-sentence.

I should be used to how rude he is now, but I’m not.

“Oh,” I slip out, eating the bit of pie and washing it down with the cocktail next tome.

“Yeah,” Nate breathes, mimicking Flo’s plate and grabbing the glass next tohim, his eyes hopping over everything but me. “She came in last week, only for a second, but she said she’d watched the two scenes that had been filmed so far and was happy with them.” Before the rim of the glass meets his lips, he says, “She mentioned that she really liked how you were playing Anastasia.”

The second his words coat my ears, coupled with the way he’s actually holding mystare, something weird happens. Warmth. Right in the centre of my chest. For a second, I think maybe Jacobdidspike the pie, and I was having a bad reaction to it.

But I’ve felt this before. Years ago. When I first met him. When I was hanging halfmy body out of my window, trying to get a better look at who I’d accidentally attacked with my water balloon, the moment I saw that fresh meadow gaze and floppy brown hair, I felt what I was feeling now, pooling in my chest.

“Really?” I whisper slightly, like I can’t quite believe the man who just laughed in myface as I was crying was relaying a compliment.

“Yeah, said you made her even more fiery, and likeable.” He chuckles, and it’s crazyhow much my mind is confusing that sound for hope. Dangerous, heartbreaking hope.

I have to shut my eyes for a second, reminding myself that he laughed at me while Istood there like a lamb, quietly pleading with him to stop all this and just be honest about why he left me.

Reminding myself that this was all an act.

The man sitting across from me can’t stand me, but because our best friends arehere… it’s like our history never happened. The man who brought me and Amber coffee last week after finishing a scene doesn’t want me in his life, but because there was someone else buzzing around us? He liked me.

“Well,” I croak, “I’ll have to thank her when I see her.”

Silence clouds the table after that, looming over the four of us like the dim, exposedlightbulbs, shining light on everything we’d left unspoken.

Sometimes I wish there was a way to let Florence and Jacob know about our pastwithout actually having to tell them. It was a conversation that was well overdue for Jacob, and Flo deserved to know just as much.But how could we tell our friends about what happened if we can’t even talk about itourselves?

“Well, I think it’s time for dessert!” Flo announces, breaking the silence. “Addy,wanna help me dish up?” She asks, and I give her a nod.

We slip off our chairs and round up everyone’s plates. “Jacob, that pie was to die for;I’m gonna steal the recipe if I find it while I’m in there,” I say, pointing to the kitchen.

He beams a more than proud smile. “Wait until I tell my moms that people arebegging me formyrecipes now.” he chuckles, as does Nate, who eyes me as I take his plate.That warmth I’d felt before hit me like a punch to the gut. I snapped my eyes awayfrom him, reminding myself that it wasn’t real.

My ballet flats tap me into the kitchen, finding Flo pulling a tray of something thatsmells hauntingly familiar out of one of the ovens. “Oh my God, they smell incredible! What on earth are they?” I ask as I slide the plates into the dishwasher, brushing my dress free from crumbs before I hover over her shoulder.

My lungs turn to ice blocks when my eyes land on the tray in her hands, my bloodrunning glacier cold. Too cold for something that looks so yummy.

Universe? Is this some sort of sick joke?

“Look! I made cinnamon buns!”

Chapter thirteen

Nate

Twelve Years Ago

“Cinnamon buns?”Addy questions, as she leaps up onto the counter. Her hands griponto everything she sees, spilling the open bag of flour as she does.“Oops.”

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