Page 15 of Can't Take My Eyes Off You

‘Talking leads to laughing and laughing leads to flirting and that leads to my pants dropping to the floor on their own. Sono, we should probably just legitimately move on and have new experiences – figure out who we are as independent adults. That’s what you wanted, remember? Independence.’

He cocks his head. ‘From my asshole family, not you.’

‘This decision affected me more than it will them. I was expecting a blissful summer with my best friend and boyfriend, in our brand new, beautiful apartment. But now I’m doing that on my own and you’re going to be creating a new life that the whole city will fall in love with.’

‘Maybe they’ll hate me; you don’t know.’

‘Yes, I do,’ I say. ‘I know because it’s exactly what I did.’

‘Berkley,’ he says with a sigh, dropping to his knees from the coffee table in front of me. ‘You’re my best friend. How do I live any life without you? Tell me how.’

‘I don’t know, Will,’ I say, sudden tears burning the backs of my eyeballs.

‘Wait a second,’ he says, his face suddenly lifting. ‘We’re best friends. Maybe friends don’t do some of the thingswedo but one thing they always do is talk…’

‘And that means?’

‘It means we can still be friends while I do the show.’

‘Friends?’ I ask. I think about this for a moment. ‘I dunno…’

‘Don’t mull it over silently – speak.’

‘Idon’twant to be on the show, Will. If the world only knows you, the tabloids have no way of ruining us. Your family will be attempting that already and I can’t stand up to the wrath of the all-powerful Adler name.’

‘Tabloids?’ He laughs, moving to sit on the coffee table in front of me. ‘You think this is going to fly into popularity? Have you met Mike, Finn and Felicity?’

‘Yes,’ I remind him. ‘They’re a train wreck, all three of them; that’s binging material. You’ll be mingling with reality-show greats before the apartment is even finished.’

‘No way,’ he says, shaking his head.

‘You do realize you could have gotten a job at McDonald’s, and I’d still love you, right? I’m not with you because you have an outrageous trust fund.’

‘I think you’d love the discount you’d get on food if I worked there most,’ he jokes.

So I have a palate of a five-year-old. It’s comfort food.

‘But yes, I know. I’m in this now, and I’m sorry I hurt you, truly. I also hurt me in the process. I’ve lain in bed for two weeks, mourning our relationship while trying to find some way to apologize properly and get you back.’

‘I’ve got a hundred and sixty-eight of those apologies in my apartment right now.’

He’s sent me flowers every day since I tossed him to the curb. He and the florist are probably on a first-name basis.

‘Yet I know you’re still the most beautiful thing in that apartment.’

‘Bianca’s going to be offended,’ I joke. We are living together until our apartment is ready.Myapartment. God, that’s weird. Who knows if he’ll ever even live there. I can’t think about it or I’ll be in a ball of tears on the floor of my shower when I get home. A place I’ve been too many times over the last couple of weeks as it is.

‘Friends don’t call each other beautiful,’ I say.

‘Yes they do.’

‘Well,youcan’t because it makes me miss you.’

He smirks. ‘Missing me is bad?’

‘In this situation,yes.’

‘Do you think I’m capable of not missing you every second you’re not around? We text two hundred times a day. Our Snapchats arebusy. Who are you going to call at two in the morning when you wake from a bad dream? Hell, who will I call throughout the day to say something I know you’ll love just because I know it’ll make you smile?Missisn’t even a strong enough word. For you, Berkley, I pine. Covet. Desire. Need. Crave. Yearn. Thirst.’ He’s listing off words as he grabs my hand, pulling it to his chest like he’s acting out a Shakespeare scene. ‘Shall I go on?’ He pauses the dramatics.

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