Page 93 of Rewriting the Story

“Has anything…” Grant pauses, “interesting happened to you lately?”

“With you and perhaps another person…” Paige smirks as she sits back down, her eyes bright and wide, as if she’s waiting for me to give her the right answer.

These two could not be more obvious.

“Wow, way to be nonchalant, you guys,” Leo jokes.

“Oh, come on!” Paige scooches closer to me. “What is going on between you and Henry? Are you going to get him back or what?”

“Paige—” Ella starts, but I cut her off.

“It’s okay,” I say with a small smile. “I want to try, but I have no idea what to do or where to start.”

“You really want him back?” Hads questions, and I nod.

“I’m terrified, and I really don’t trust myself yet, but I will,” I tell them. “Of course I still love him. After all we went through, after all I did, it was hard to just let him go. I don’t think I’ll ever be unlatched from him, and I don't want to be.”

Another thing I’ve done over the last two weeks is think about the guy I’m still in love with. I can’t get him out of my head.

“Just don’t fuck it up again,” Oliver says. “He doesn't deserve that. Not again, Amelia.”

“Can it, inmate. I’m trying to be better, to do better. Have some faith in me,” I tell him, and he holds his hands up in defeat.

“So, what are you going to do?” Leo asks me. “Have you figured that out yet?”

“No,” I say as I grab my necklace. “I figured you guys could help me.” I look around at the girls, and before I know it, Paige has grabbed her whiteboard. She and Hads are setting it up, drawing some sort of list.

“Okay,” Hads says as she waves her ruler around as if it's a pointer. “We need some suggestions, people. Let’s hear them.”

“This feels all too familiar,” Oliver says. “Why do we do this so often?”

“What? Use the whiteboard?” Hads asks him.

“Yeah. We can’t just talk things out?”

“No, Ol,” Paige smirks. “We’re visual people.”

“Can we focus?” I ask before my mind starts to spiral.

“Sorry,” Hads says. “Okay, you could send him flowers once a week or something?”

I shake my head. “That’s not enough.”

“You could make some sort of public grand gesture to show him you’re not scared of loving him,” Paige suggests, a glint in her eye as she speaks. “Grand gestures are important, right?”

Ella shakes her head. “Not in their case.”

“What do you mean, Ella?” I ask her.

“All Henry has wanted from you, or at least what I think he wants from you, is for you to prove you’re going to stop running.”

“Yeah, that tracks,” Grant says as Hads scribbles it down.

“As long as you show up for him like you have for us, I think he’ll realize you’re serious about making it work,” Ella tells me. “I mean, overthe last two weeks, I’ve seen you more than when we were in college. You’re putting the work in with us, Ames. You essentially have to do the same thing with him. It’s not going to be easy, but as long as you keep showing up, that’s all he’ll need to trust you again.”

“Do you think that’s all it will take? If I were him, I wouldn't trust her one bit,” Hads says before she apologizes. “Sorry.”

“I was thinking the same thing,” I tell her.

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