Page 111 of Late Fees

“It’s fine. I’ll put these away and look around.”

“Thank you,” she said, giving me a quick kiss on the lips and placing the stack of tapes in my hands. “They’re all new releases, so just walk the perimeter. You’ll find them.”

“Got it,” I said, glancing down at the first tape. Before Sunrise. I hadn’t seen it, but I liked the look of the box. And I remembered how much Tilly used to love Ethan Hawke. I made a note to suggest it later for us to watch—although knowing Tilly, she’d probably already seen it.

The next box made me smile: Billy Madison. I was a sucker for Adam Sandler. I swear that guy could make me laugh reading the phone book.

I continued through the stack of movies as I approached the picks wall. A guy wearing a long-sleeved T-shirt under a Grateful Dead tie dye was grabbing a movie from the shelf that said Dutch.

“Sup,” he said as I approached. “Wait, whoa, you’ve got a ton of movies there. Having a marathon or something?”

“No, um, I’m putting them away.”

A look of confusion took over his face. “Did Hannah hire another dude? I keep asking her to hire chicks. But she doesn’t listen to me.”

“No, um, I’m waiting for Tilly. My name’s Wyatt.”

“Oooh, Norway,” he said with wide eyes. “Nice to meet you.”

“Um, nice to meet you, too…” I raised my eyebrows, having no idea what his name was.

“Dutch,” he said, lifting up the name tag that hung from the lanyard around his neck.

“Ah, so these are your recommendations?” I asked, looking at the titles on his shelf.

“Yeah, but I’m grabbing this one for a customer,” he said, looking down at the tape in his hands. “Be back in a minute, Norway.”

Dutch’s shelf was filled with movies from the eighties: The Empire Strikes Back, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Risky Business, and Stand by Me. I liked his taste. All he needed was a couple of Adam Sandler movies, and I’d be fan of his shelf.

My eyes drifted to Tilly’s shelf. Some of them surprised me, like Mallrats, but others didn’t surprise me one bit: Reality Bites.

I knew she liked Ethan Hawke.

And then I saw it, right in the center of her shelf. And I couldn’t contain the shit-eating grin that took over my face. My Boyfriend’s Back—the movie I’d grabbed for her to put on her shelf. The one she dramatically put back in its original spot, had a new home. In the center of Tilly’s shelf.

“So,” a voice said from behind me, and I turned to see Dutch had returned. “Tilly’s shelf, huh? Nice.”

“Yeah, she has good taste.”

“Oh, man. I thought I was the only person who loved this one,” Dutch said, grabbing the display box for My Boyfriend’s Back. “Have you seen it, man?”

“No,” I said with a smile. “But I’ve heard good things.”

“Right on,” Dutch said. “Hey, Weezer. Your guy’s waiting for ya over here.”

“I know. I’m sorry, Wyatt.” She approached us, gave me a quick kiss, then glared at Dutch. “I told you to stop calling me that. Sully will never stop if you’re always joining in.”

“Sorry, my bad,” Dutch said, putting his hands up in surrender. “But, Tilly, man, you didn’t tell me you liked this flick.”

Tilly’s pale cheeks turned bright red. She looked at me, then back at Dutch, putting on her best poker face. “Oh, yeah. Totally.”

“I swear, no one has seen this, but it’s so good. The guy comes back from the dead to win back his girl. It’s so gnarly.”

“Yep,” Tilly said, looking at me and clenching her teeth.

“Hey, I have a new respect for you, Tilly. So, I’ll tell you what—I’ll work on Sully for ya if you work my shift.”

“But you just clocked in—you’re my replacement, Dutch.”

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