Page 143 of Late Fees

“It was late and dark, and I thought your backpack was mine,” Ronnie said. “I’m sorry, Wyatt. Honestly.”

“But, dude, you’ve got, like, major skills. I had to turn the lights on and read the whole thing. I was, like, captivated and shit.”

“It’s true…we both were. It’s really good, Wyatt.”

“What is it?” Tilly asked, wiping her mouth with a napkin. “Matilda the Magic?”

“My semester project. I wrote about it in my letters when it was just an idea in my head.” I said matter-of-factly. “I told you all about it.”

“Oh,” she said, her eyes darting away. “That’s right. Um, I remember now.”

And it was right then that I knew she hadn’t read my letters. Not one of them. She was lying through her teeth. Neither Tilly nor I had a poker face…and it showed.

“You’re a terrible liar,” I said, pushing my chair away from the table. With my chest puffed out, I stormed down the hallway to her bedroom. Tilly followed close behind.

“Wyatt, please—”

The manilla envelope was nowhere in sight when I entered her room. “Where are they?” I demanded.

“Wyatt, calm down, okay?”

“I want to see for myself.”

Tears formed in her eyes as she stared at me. “I can explain.”

“Show them to me,” I said, my nostrils flaring and my cheeks heating with anger. Any trace of a hangover was long gone as adrenaline coursed through my body.

“Fine, but…please let me explain.” She opened up her closet and grabbed the manilla envelope from underneath her laundry basket.

“What the fuck?” I said, watching her retrieve it from its hiding place. “When did you do that?”

She stared off into space. “When you went to the kitchen.”

“Give it to me.”

Reluctantly, Tilly handed me the envelope, and inside, it was filled with dozens of envelopes. As I rifled through the stack, confirming my own handwriting, I flipped them over to find every single one was still sealed…just as I’d suspected.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” I asked, sneering at Tilly. “Not even one of them?”

“It was too hard. I couldn’t do it.”

“I poured my heart out for months, Tilly. Months! With no responses from you. At least I finally know why. You didn’t even bother to open them.”

“Listen to me,” she said, placing her hands on my forearms. “I just missed you so much. I couldn’t do it.”

“Yeah, I’m sure you missed me a lot when you were getting crowned prom queen with Oden Marcello.”

“That’s not fair.”

“What is fair, Tilly? I spent years chasing you, and for what?”

“What do you mean ‘for what’? We’re together now!”

“No. I’m not sure I actually have you. Maybe I never did.”

“What? Wyatt!”

“It’s this…nagging feeling…here, in the pit of my stomach, that you’ll never love me as much as I love you. Like maybe I put you up on this pedestal that you don’t deserve.”

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