Page 22 of His Heart

“Me too,” she said. “I texted him yesterday to see if you guys were free this weekend. He said he was working later than usual today, so I figured I’d come early and keep you company.”

“Thanks, O,” I said. “Are you staying the whole weekend?”

“If you don’t mind,” she said.

“Of course not. This will be fun,” I said. “How’s school?”

She rolled her eyes. “Stupid. I can’t wait until I’m out of there.”

Olivia was a senior in high school and a little jealous that Liam and I had graduated and gone off to college.

“I bet the year flies by,” I said. “Graduation will be here before you know it.”

“I hope so,” she said. “I’m so over it.”

“Well, I guess I don’t know when Liam is getting home,” I said. “Should we watch a movie or something?”

“Sure. Oh,” she said, grabbing my arm, “we should watch that ghost one we didn’t get to before you guys moved.”

“Done.”

I turned on the TV and found the movie while she got up and closed the curtains. Olivia and I were both horror movie junkies. They scared the shit out of us, but we loved it. We settled in on the couch and turned on the movie.

It started out innocent enough, but it wasn’t long before the characters were wandering through dark hallways and creepy things were jumping out and scaring them—and us. The eerie music set the tone and I looked over my shoulder a few times, half-expecting to see a ghostly apparition hovering behind me.

I snuggled closer to Olivia and tucked my arm through hers. The movie was so much scarier than I’d thought it would be. My heart raced and I couldn’t take my eyes off the screen.

“Boo!”

Olivia shrieked and threw the remote. I clutched the blanket and backed into the corner of the couch. But of course it wasn’t a ghost in our apartment. Liam had crept up behind us. He stood next to the couch with a hand over his nose.

“Ow,” Liam said. “Damn it, O, you hit me in the face.”

“Don’t scare us like that,” Olivia said, clutching her chest. “You almost gave me a heart attack.”

I pushed the blanket off and got up. “Are you okay?”

Liam touched beneath his nose and looked at his fingers. “Crap, I’m bleeding.”

“Oh, poor baby.”

“Serves you right,” Olivia said.

I led Liam into the bathroom and helped him clean up. He wasn’t bleeding much. When it stopped, I wiped his face with a wet washcloth. His eyes never left mine.

“What?” I asked.

“I was just thinking about how lucky I am,” he said.

“Lucky that your sister hit you in the nose with a remote?” I asked. “I’d say that was pretty unlucky. I don’t think she even aimed.”

He took the washcloth and set it on the counter, then cupped my cheek. “No, I mean lucky because I have you, Bee.”

I looked into his eyes and smiled. “I’m pretty sure I’m the lucky one.”

“Maybe we both are.” He placed a soft kiss on my lips. “I don’t know what it is, but I look at you and I just know.”

“You know what?”

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