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Staying nearI want A school on the opposite coast fro across the country sounds lovely" He laughs while I tellin New York Nothing at all

I start googling inforests that’s located east of Ohio

The Bingley house would send Chloe into raptures of envy Set into the side of a hill, it’s several thousand feet of lis and hout No amenities were omitted, from a kitchen outfitted so spectacularly that it would make Emily’s mom drool to the infinity pool that would cause Chloe to break into song I feel an urge to cross ht

The first two days of the week are spent fil ill be a three-minute scene with Meredith under the hood of the broken down Civic, in front of this beautiful house Outside In the billion degree heat

Production hired an auto mechanic expert to help me look like I know the difference between a fuel pu while under the hood of a car, because for some reason not explained to me, present-day Lizbeth is familiar with the basics of auto et the hood of the car up, which is not as easy as you’d think Stan thehis eyes while ers slide back and forth where the stupid latch release is supposedly located I’m forced to squat down and look for it

"Ah-ha!" I release the latch as Stan stands with his burly, tattooed arms crossed over his chest, uni about cars Can you hs and shows ain where to find the latch release Once I can find it without looking, he drops the hood and has me find and unlatch it at least fifty times, until I can do it blindfolded Ah, the useful yet trivial things I learn for my job

Given the heat and humidity, our makeup people want to pull their hair out, and ours Meredith and I ride back to the hotel at the end of the second day in exhausted silence, in love with the guy who invented air conditioning The cityscape flows by as I dissect the reasons for my caution with Reid I’m not immune to the way I feel when he touches me The truth is, physically, I do want him--I’m just not quite ready emotionally The more he pushes, the more wary I feel, and the more I want to push back

Then there’s Graham, who hasn’t ht, thank God For a fleeting moment, I wonder if he was on his balcony for the sa I would co I wasn’t in bed with Reid

Abruptly, I come to my senses How preposterous, that Graha about whatever transpires, or doesn’t, between Reid andwith Brooke to sort out

Not that his relationship with her has any relevance to me

Chapter 33

REID

I filmed with Tadd and Brooke today--indoor scenes that will be woven into the outdoor scenes Eht, so I went to bed early I woke up with a hell of a hangover that wasn’t a hangover I can’t describe it, really I didn’t think I drank that , didn’t have a single conflict with Brooke, which is really bizarre All I know is I feel like shit and I don’t want to be awake I should just go to bed and sleep it off--whatever this is I should probably text Emma, but I can do that when I wake up

Emma

I haven’t heard from Reid today No calls, no texts, no knocks onthe novels we’ve chosen for our senior theses, we had French class with Jenna and made plans for dinner which I assume includes everyone I walk past Reid’s door, annoyed The silent treat

Emily’s previous boyfriend, Vic, pushed her to have sex At first, she told ether for several ive it up, even if she wasn’t particularly s like, "If I’d known you were going to be such a tease…" and, "I’uy You have to admit I’ve been patient" The last straw occurred in the school cafeteria, where they were sitting with his friends

"Hey Vic, how can you tell if a girl is frigid?" His friend paused for effect "When you open her legs, a light goes on"

"Ding," Vic said, glancing at Ehed

"That’s not funny," she said, knowing then that he’d told his friends as going on between the!" echoed Vic’s uy Eot up and left the table to a chorus of dings, and Vic did nothing but laugh and call after her, "Come on, baby--Jesus, it’s just a joke!"

She found out a week after they broke up that he’d been sleeping with a sophoer He’d been telling E it strictly platonic

"Since when is platonic synony their last fight, which occurred right after she found out

"Newsflash, Emily--you and me are broken up, so technically, you have no jurisdiction overtip--it’s a stretch to call it screwing around on your girlfriend when she won’t screw around with you in the first place"

She and I heaped curses on Vic’s big stupid head for this preposterous excuse, but I’ll be dah for Reid’s pushing to iti I want to let him know he can’tto use the Vic justification Unsure exactly what I intend to say but determined to say it, I turn back and knock on his door A minute later he hasn’t answered, but just as I start to turn away, the door opens