When Liz reached me, she didn’t hesitate to wrap her arms around my neck, nor did she think twice about burying her face in my neck. “Good,” was all she said, inhaling deeply and displaying yet another strange quirk that I found adorable.
Not hi, hey, or hello.
Justgood.
Somehow that was better than any other mundane greeting.
I could feel the tension leave her body when I wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled her close. She grew even more pliant when I took her hand in mine.
I didn’t give a shit if any of our friends saw me holding her hand. I’d long since left the embarrassed-boy phase behind me.
All I felt when I held her hand these days was privilege and pride.
Because Liz pickedmeto hold her hand.
“Thank God you’re here,” I told her. “I thought I’d be stuck between Dumb and Dumber, and Barbie and Ken.”
“I thought the same thing,” she laughed, holding on to my hand with both of hers. “I’ve missed you.”
“You saw me two days ago, Liz.”
“I know.”
Not only did her response tug at my heart but it made all kinds ofotherthings happen inside of me, but I managed to distract myself by asking, “So what film are we watching?”
“Varsity Blues,” she replied with a shrug. “At least I think that’s what Caoimhe said it was called.”
Liz looked about as interested in being here as I sounded on the front porch when the cretin suggested it. While I had little to no interest in being here, I was thoroughly invested in the company.
“Come on, guys!” Claire called out, waving like a blinged-up unicorn at the other end of the foyer. That wasn’t an exaggeration, either. My sister was literally wearing her My Little Pony hairband—the one with sparkles and a pink, glittery horn. Claire pointed to where the others were heading into screen one before adding, “I’m going to lick your gobstopper if you don’t hurry up, Hugh.”
Liz grinned. “You know what that means, don’t you?”
“Of course I do,” I grumbled, guiding her toward the door labeled screen one. “It means the curly-haired demon hasalreadylicked my gobstopper.”
“Yep.” My best friend threw her head back and laughed. “Exactly.”
Everything seemed to be going fine until about three-quarters of the way into the movie when Lizzie started to twitch uncontrollably in her chair. With her knees and shoulders bopping restless, Liz pulled at every thread on the sleeve of her cardigan until it started to unravel. She then proceeded to remove every one of the many bracelets and bangles on her wrists before putting them back on, only to remove them right away.
Leaning over, I placed my hand on hers and whispered, “Are you okay?”
Nodding, she readjusted her cardigan when it slipped off her shoulder. “Yeah, I’m just…” She looked around before retraining her attention on the screen in front of us. “I think I need to use the bathroom.”
“Do you want me to walk you…” I started to say, but she was already out of her seat and bolting off in the direction of the exit.
Beyond confused by her sudden shift in mood, I looked to Gibsie and Claire to see if they had noticed what I had, butthey were engrossed in the movie. I glanced over at Mark and Caoimhe, only to instantly regret it when I spotted them eating the faces off each other.
Fucking disgusting.
When ten minutes passed and Liz still hadn’t returned, I slid out of my seat and handed Gibs my popcorn before heading outside to search for her.
Checking all the toilet cubicles and coming up empty, a nervous energy started to rise up inside of me. My Spidey-Senses were on high alert.
Where’d she go?
Something was off.
Something wasn’t right.
