Page 36 of Change My Mind
The shopping wasn’t proving a good enough distraction from the whirlwind of inappropriate thoughts, so I pivoted to trying to find something about him that was so incredibly off-putting, it would put the world to rights again. The fact that he was my former enemy wasn’t enough to banish him from my mind, so random questions were bound to bring something up.
“Professor Plum. Not that I’ve played Cluedo in years. You?” Eli answered without hesitation.
Strong start. Not.
“Same. Insufferable know-it-all, you know?”
He came to a stop in front of some acceptable cushions. “You’re not insufferable about it. Not anymore, at least.”
I had no idea what to say to that.
I grabbed two dark-patterned cushions and threw them into the still-empty trolley that I was pushing.
“Just wait until the school year starts. If you could be any supernatural being, what would you be?”
Therewasa right answer.
“Werewolf seems the least stressful. Although I guess it would depend on what lore you’re abiding by. Warlock might be the best, actually. Yes, you would probably have to conceal it, but you can still see the sun and then also not be at the whims of the moon.”
Annoyingly, magic was the right answer. At least to me. This plan was going swimmingly…
“You can only watch one film for the rest of your life, what is it?” he asked as he held up an orange blanket. The colour was hideous, but I reached out to touch it anyway.
It was the softest thing I’d touched in a while. My appreciation must have been obvious on my face because Elichucked it into the trolley, and we moved on to look at rugs.
“Chicago. Very few movie musicals have got it as right as that one,” I answered.
He rolled his lips together before releasing his lower lip with a pop.
For fuck’s sake.
“That’s a good choice,” he said slowly.
I shook my shoulders out. “The best book-to-movie adaptation is…?”
There wasn’t a glaringly obvious answer to the question that would put me off, but I would know it if I heard it, and I mentally crossed my fingers that he would say one that would raise alarm bells.
“The entireHunger Gamestrilogy.”
That’s a bust.
“Fair. I would go withWicked.”
Not technically my actual answer, but maybe his response to that would give me an in. And by in, I meant an out. A release from the ridiculous crush was something that I desperately needed.
Eli came to a stop and looked at me. “That’s…you know what? You can have that.” He carried on walking. I carried on trying.
“Greatest song of all time?”
“‘I Will Always Love You’, Whitney’s version.”
“Wrong, it’s‘Never Too Much’ by Luther. But your choice is acceptable.”
“Always have to skateboard everywhere or travel everywhere by scooter?”
I paused. “A push scooter?”
Eli nodded.
