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Talleyʼs eyes greide and her grip on his arhtened "No, you canʼt do that Itʼll be okay Promise But you have to stay here Please donʼt call your brother" Ithe rest of ain

Alex was reluctant, but eventually agreed it wouldnʼt be wise to have his brother drive in bad weather I carefully made my way back to the van while Alex helped Talley, whose atte the frozen pond Occasionally, the ould sweep fragments of their conversation up toAlex that the world wasto fall apart just because he had to stay overnight in Nashville

I tried not to take his desire to flee personally

The streets of Nashville were like an ice skating rink and the huge flakes were falling so quickly that there was near zero visibility It took us over an hour to drive the three miles to the hotel were Dad had made reservations To Ashleyʼs horror, it was indeed a Motel 6

Ms Ryderʼs nerves were so shot by the time we checked in she didnʼt really care e did with the rest of our day In fact, she disappeared into her rooe until the nextout in a roo a Harry Potter marathon I realized that I didnʼt find Daniel Radcliff quite as attractive with Alexʼs hand once again intertwined withHe obsessively checked the tiure out why he so desperately needed to get hoh The Goblet of Fire when I beca in ht

"Are you feeling okay?" I asked as two girls sitting on the other bed had a very heated discussion as to the exact hotness level of Rob Pattinson

"U trouble focusing on anything going on in the room around him

"You look awful," Talley pipped up froo to bed"

Alex looked again at the clock sitting on the bedside table It was 5:00, the sun was just starting to set Normally I would think that it ay too early for soht, but Alex was obviously sick

"Iʼo to bed, and you need to go to bed now" Talley was being unusually assertive, sounding shockingly like her ot up to leave a shiver went through his entire body

"Are you sure youʼre going to be okay? Maybe we should get Ms Ryder or a doctor" Every

"Iʼll be fine once I get some sleep Donʼt worry abouthis fingers through his hair "Thanks for today, Scout Itʼs been really great"

I could feel everyone in the rooe The embarrass on after he left Harry couldnʼt holdpoor Cedricʼs dead body back to Hogwarts, which normally rew tired of vending machine food and walked a block down the street to Taco Bell I paused outside Alexʼs door on our way back

"Do you think heʼs hungry? Should I ask hi?" I asked Talley

"I think he needs to sleep Cʼ him until tomorrow" I looked around to make sure no one else was in earshot "I really like him," I confessed

Talleyʼs superior expression wasto tell you that forinto such a know-it-all

"Do you think that he ht like me too?" I was unable to meet her eyes

"I know he does"