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Shit

“That sounds prestigious”

“It was”

“I’ a hand on his shoulder “Guess we’re both having a bad day”

He doesn’t ask what thata bad day, only shakes his head once I reains the ability to take air into his lungs “It’s just a bit of glass I have thethere in here” He taps on his forehead “I don’t need this as a reminder”

But still…

“We could glue it together?” Jack—Eliza’s roouy duht look like utter shite, but at least you’d still have it”

“I love mosaics I can do it for you!” I volunteer enthusiastically, suddenly perking up “I used to take classes at a pottery shop in high school, and we did artith shards You should let et it back in one piece”

“Really, it’s fi—”

But the box is already inhis busted award

“Nope I’ to fix this”

I aht

After all, this was partiallyat me shyly and I hadn’t winked at him, perhaps he wouldn’t have dropped the box in the first place and his aould still be intact

Yes

I’ll fix it for him, one way or another

3

ROMAN

Well that couldn’t have been more aard

Just kidding—it orse than all that

Who drops a box because a pretty girl winks at hi that would happen to a nerd in a movie—except in the movie scenario, the nerd would also have wet his pants and humiliated himself, so at least I didn’t do that

I’ly obvious: I have a lot of work to do onandmyself around them If I was a little one frozen when Lilly looked at me

“Do I know you?” she asked, and I was too stunned to say, “Yes, we met ere freshmen, we sat for an hour on the stairs at a party and spilled our guts to each other I can’t believe you recognize me”

I’ve changed a lot in the last three years, and she has too I could see plainly in her eyes that she’s h I obviously don’t have a clue what the story is behind the tired expression and the drooping shoulders when she was sitting at the counter

Lilly was only too eager to ju who I was We may not have a history, but we did certainly spend a lot of tihts with each other I re otten any better I re her I still lived at home and recall the look on her face when I said I had never lived anywhere else