Page 30 of Not You Again
She didn’t know Adam well but understood by his expression that he wanted to leave. She, however, had a mission. So she stalked off to the snack counter, where a metal chair with an upholstered seat waited. She picked the chair up and brought it directly in front of the door. Then she sat and crossed her arms. She could feel Adam watching, but she was too afraid to meet his gaze.
“Carly...” he started to say. “What are we doing?”
“Weare not doing anything, butIam going to keep watch, in case they come back,” she huffed out. “If they do, I’ll barricade the door so they can’t come in.”
“Barricade?” he asked. “With what? I doubt your arm span would even reach both ends of the door frame.”
For some reason, Adam noticing her body made her cheeks burn.
“This will all reset in the morning,” he added.
But this didn’t concern Adam. This was between her and Bruce. She’d let him down once, and she’d never make that mistake again. “I can’t let them ruin my dad’s place,” she simply said.
She waited for Adam to leave and retreat to his tree house. Instead, Adam found a metal chair and dragged it next to hers.
They sat in silence. Carly kept her eyes trained on the door and watched as bonfires burned in the middle of the street, and a stereo blasted music so loudly that the walls shook.
“I think that’s your car on fire.” She pointed out the window toward the hearse, now engulfed in flames.
“Huh.” He cocked his head. “There is something kind of mesmerizing about fire.”
“Look at you, a little pyro.” She gave him a side smile, and he easily smiled back.
An alarm on Adam’s watch sounded and he pressed a button to silence it. “The eclipse,” he said. Then he reached out and wrapped his hand around hers. He was warm, and the gentle pressure of his fingers made Carly’s breath catch. She stared at their hands and, as she did, a little flutter erupted across her chest.
Oh, God fucking dammit, she was attracted to Adam.
“Will you be okay if I go time it?” He swallowed, and she was suddenly very attracted to throats. His throat, to be specific.
Carly nodded, more at his throat than at him. He took his hand from hers, and as he stood, she reached for him, just enough to make it all a bit pathetic.
He stepped through the broken door and walked into the street. She watched from the safety of her chair. He checked his watch, and she found that was a very cute thing to do. He slipped on his eclipse glasses and looked up towards the sky, and she couldn’t help noticing how tall and broad he was. She should’ve stood next to him, but she was really and truly dumbfounded by this new feeling of attraction. How had her body decidedthiswas the guy?
She distinctly remembered one loop where he’d sneezed so loud as she was leaving that she’d stubbed her toe. Thatwasn’t attractive. Adamwasn’tattractive. And yet, he absolutely fucking was, and she’d do anything to feel the long firm length of his body pressed up to hers.
When he came back in, he rubbed the spot on the bridge of his nose where the eclipse glasses had left an indent. And then he cleared his throat in the weird growly way that gave Carly goose bumps. Ugh, even his attractiveness was infuriating.
“Aren’t you going to ask if it shortened?” he asked.
And the truth was she couldn’t take one more thing. She was drained. She was sort of turned on. The idea of hearing her theory waswrongwasn’t something she was ready to face.
“Tell me later.” She angled herself just slightly away in an effort to avoid her feelings.
Adam sat next to her again, put his elbows on his knees and leaned toward her. His warm and buttery scent hit her as he said, “You know, I haven’t seen a movie in a long time. I could really use a break from all this.” He gestured his hand around, and she felt that sentiment very deeply. She hadn’t been to a movie in almost a year. Wouldn’t it be nice to sit in the leather seats with junk food and just distract herself for a bit? A dark theater would mean she wouldn’t have to look at Adam, either, which, in light of her new preposterous feelings, might be a good thing.
“Do you think we could watch one?” he asked.
Carly knew her way around a projector. In high school, she’d worked weekends at the Burbank 16. So when she walked into the back storage room, she quickly found alphabetized and labeled film canisters stacked on neat shelves. Bruce’shandwriting was uneven and hurried, but she could read the words.
She wanted something fun to take them out of the loop, if only for two hours. But Adam said, “I found this in a box labeled ‘Carly’s movies.’” He held the can up.
The Shield Forcewas a buddy cop film set in Chicago and starring her ultimate Hollywood heartthrob.
“Oh my God.” The space was small, and Carly had to press herself against Adam’s back to reach the box he’d found. She was momentarily stunned by his unexpectedly broad shoulders, which caused her to rapidly blink. She bit her lip in an attempt to refocus, then pulled the box off the shelf. Inside were at least a dozen of some of Carly’s favorite films—the ones that had made her want to be a screenwriter. “Almost all of these star the greatest actor of all time, Rhys Montrose,” Carly said with a toothy grin. “But inThe Shield Forcehe takes his shirt off in one very pivotal helicopter sequence.”
Adam let out a little huff of acknowledgment. “Here I thought you cared about films with a capitalF.”
Is Adam... jealous?No, that was a silly thought. He was just being his usual Adam self and found a new way to insult her.
