I’d given him a blank look.
So now the opening credits were rolling on this 2006 movie where two women, Amanda and Iris, swap houses for Christmas to escape their guy problems.
“Oh, wow,” I said when Amanda’s sweeping California property came on-screen. A gorgeous white mansion that sparkled in the sunlight. The complete opposite of gloomy Bexley. “I’d give anything to be there right now.”
“Me too.” Nick wrapped his arm around me. I leaned into him, feeling his lungs expand and contract. “I first watched this movie with my mom,” he said a while later. “It was on when I had the flu once, and then rom-coms became our thing whenever I was home sick from school. She’s the one who introduced me toSweet Home Alabamatoo.”
It took me a second to respond. I didn’t know what to say. Nick and his mom watching rom-coms on the couch together?
Cutest thing ever.
But Nick misinterpreted my silence. “Yeah, yeah.” He rolled his eyes. “I know it sounds gay. Like,reallygay.”
“No,” I said quickly, trying not to wince at his words. “No, it doesn’t, Nick. It’s sweet…”
My eyes drifted away from the screen and over to my chaise. Or, as Luke called it, thetherapy couch. Where he’d been sitting several hours ago, where he’d told me something so special…
Before I knew it, the fictional Iris and Amanda had swapped back houses after finding both self-love and true love. “Good, right?” Nick asked once the credits rolled.
“Absolutely.” I nodded and kissed him. “I loved it.” The fact that Amanda had ended up with Iris’s brother was not lost on me. “An oldie but a goodie.”
Nick grinned. “Told you.”
“You did,” I said softly, eyes going back to the therapy couch, but no longer thinking of Luke.
“Hey.” Nick shut my laptop. “Where are you? It’s like you’re interstellar.”
Interstellarwas Nick-speak for spacing out.
“Oh, um, sorry,” I said, and blinked a few times. “I was thinking about Charlie.”
“Charlie?”
I plastered on a smile. “Yeah, tonight. It’s just hitting me, how incredible he was.” Charlie’s Prince Charming had been larger than life onstage, so great that Reese remarked: “I will deny this later, but I seriously want to push him up against a wall and kiss his face off.”
He’d cast a spell on everyone.
Nick nodded slowly, and only once. Now he’d gone interstellar.
“Everything good?” I asked.
“Don’t let him under your covers again,” he murmured.
I cocked my head. “Huh?”
Nick shut his eyes. “Please don’t let Charlie in your bed again. Like you told me earlier.” His throat bobbed. “If it’s just going to be us…”
“Don’t worry.” I laughed and waved him off. It was all I could think to do. “You seriously havenothingto worry about. He needed a hiding spot, that’s it.”
I caught Nick throw a glance toward my overflowing closet, as if say,Well, isn’t that a perfectly good spot?
No,I thought, heart beginning to race.Nobody should have to hide in there.
Nick missed my drift, saying, “Actually, I take that back. I bet that’d be pretty difficult.” He chuckled. “You have so much stuff in there!”
I tried to laugh along. “Yeah, yeah, I’m a total hoarder.”
He wrapped me in his arms. “I better go.”
