Page 57 of The Love Rematch
A roll of Starburst.
Something else scrapes her leg with a little jingle.
She knows that sound. Emily reaches down and—Yes!It’s a king-sized bag of Skittles.
One last item grazes her calf.
Twizzlers.
Her three favorite candies. She shouldn’t be surprised—he’s taken her to the movies enough times to know what she likes—but she’s touched just the same. He didn’t have to do this for her. But he did. And it softens her walls that much more.
When Jake puts his drink down on their shared tray, she can’t help but notice it’s accompanied by a note. Emily reaches for her glass and casually takes the folded bit of paper.
Why are you watching Venom? You hate comic book movies.
She looks at their divider, imagines his smug expression, and sneers.
Butt out, she writes back and drops the note on the tray.
They have the new Julia Roberts movie, he writes.
She doesn’t respond.
Another note comes a minute later.You know you want to.
She crumples it up.
Come on, he tries one last time.I’ll watch it too. For old time’s sake.
While she reads, she glances over at his screen, which is half-dark from the privacy shield but not so dark she can’t see him move through the home screen and pull up the romantic comedy she’s been dying to watch for three months.
Fine, she writes, then underlines to get her point across. He might have won the battle, but he didn’t win the war.
Or did he?
They press play at the same time. Throughout the movie, notes drift back and forth across their drink tray. Nothing personal. Nothing dramatic. Just little thoughts like$10 the first kiss happens before we make it twenty minutes into the movie.OrJUST ADMIT YOU LOVE EACH OTHER.OrFight! Fight! Fight!Sometimes she hears him snort through the divider. Sometimes she can’t contain her own laugh. It reminds her of being seventeen in the back of his pickup truck, watching movies on his laptop under a blanket with her head against his chest.
It’s so wrong, when there are ten men in the back of the plane vying for her heart and an entire crew in seats all around her working to make her dream love story come true.
But it feels right.
It always does with Jake.
When the movie ends, against her better judgment, they pick another. Then another. Somewhere over the Atlantic, the plane goes dark and everyone else falls asleep, but Emily and Jake stay like that, munching on candy, passing notes, and giggling like little kids.
CHAPTERFOURTEEN
jake
I shouldn’t be here.
He’s standing in front of Emily’s hotel room, knuckles poised to knock.
I really shouldn’t be here.
Nina is in the room next door. Trish is in the room next to hers. Fred is across the way. The rest of the hall is filled with crew, and three floors down the guys and the PAs are all tucked away. They’re supposed to be sleeping for the next five hours to catch up on rest before the group date this afternoon. Anyone could see him. They could be watching him right now through a peephole and he’d never know.
This isn’t worth your job, your future.
