Page 92 of The Now in Forever
“Hattie. I’ve been hanging out with Chloe.”
My heart plummets, free falls into the pit of my stomach.
“But nothing has happened. We’re just friends.”
“Friends?”
He nods.
“Do you have feelings for her?”
“Chloe?”
I laugh at his absolutely ridiculous question. “Yes, Chloe.”
“No.”
“Is that even true?”
“Yes.”
“How can I know that? Why didn’t you ever return my call?”
“What call?”
“A couple weeks ago, I called when I found the post so we could talk about it, but you never called me back.”
Ed sighs again. He looks so beat. Dark circles under his eyes, his shoulders slumped like the weight of his head is too much. Like his bones are too heavy. “I blocked your number.”
“You what?”The noise of the party falls away.
Ed closes his eyes. “It was too hard not to text you, so I just took away the temptation and blocked your number. This whole not talking thing was your idea, remember?”
“Because you were hardly texting me anyway. I was tired of waiting for it.”
“Was that the real reason? Or was it because you were off with that bartender?”
I sit back and feel like he slapped me. “What?”
“You think I didn’t notice you two flirting all summer?”
I laugh. “All summer? You weren’t even there all summer. You left,again.”
“I had to. You wouldn't understand.”
My pulse ratchets on the side of my throat. “I wouldn’t understand, because I’m not a big fancy author?”
“That’s not what I meant. Look, I can’t deal with this right now.”
“What? Me? You can’t deal with me right now?”
Ed looks at the ground. “I’ve hardly been sleeping—I’ve just been tinkering with the script night and day. I don’t want to fuck it up. This film stuff could lead to something big.”
I nod, feeling the truth of what he’s saying wash over me like a summer rain. What he’s working on is incredible, life-changing stuff. But I thought what we had might be too. “I know. It is. It seems like with you, there’s always an amazing opportunity.”
Ed shakes his head. “Hattie.”
“You know what?” I stand. “That bartender does like me. He even kissed me.”
