Page 129 of Text Me Baby One More Time

“I don’t think I want you to.” I swallow the lump in my throat. “Why’d you kiss me?”

“Because you’re cute, Den. And because I really fucking wanted to.”

The smile stretches across my lips. “Good enough for me.”

* * *

“Areyou eating the popcorn one by one?”

“How are you supposed to eat it?”

He shoves his fingers into the bucket then crams a handful into his mouth. “Vike vis.”

“So classy, Shep.”

He swallows and nods toward my purse. “Funny coming from you. I cannot believe they didn’t check your bag. It’s obvious you’re carrying half the candy aisle in there.”

“And…” I dig through my purse, rooting around until I find what I’m looking for. “Half the chip aisle.”

“Nobody brings chips to the movies.”

“I was hungry! You refused to feed me before the movie.”

He yanks the bag from my hands and pulls out a box, shaking it my way. “Chicken nuggets, Denver—you made me stop and get you chicken nuggets!”

“What?” I snatch said nuggets from his hand. “I was hungry! I told you to feed mebeforethe movie.”

“I couldn’t get reservations until after.”

“It’s obvious I would have settled for the dollar menu, Shep.”

“I swear, for the next fifty years, I’m only ever taking you to places with dollar menus.”

I freeze, my chicken nugget hovering just inches from my mouth.Is he saying…

“Just shove it in your mouth, Den. I meant what I said.”

I laugh, devouring my last-minute dinner and chewing not only on it, but also on his words.

The next fifty years with Shep? While it sounds exhausting, it’s not entirely unappealing.

Almost makes it hard to believe we were sworn enemies just a few weeks ago.

Now I’m sitting next to him in a dark theater contemplating a real-life future with him.

Fate is weird.

“First of all,” I start once I swallow, “that’s what she said. Second, that…uh, that doesn’t sound half bad. I mean, I don’t know about fifty. That’s going to make me super old and I’d rather not have wrinkles, but I wouldn’t complain about spendingsometime with you.”

“So you love me—noted.”

“I never said that.”

“You didn’t have to. You implied it.”

“How?”

“Shh!” He holds his finger up to his mouth. “The movie is starting.”

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