Page 96 of Heartstruck at Dawn
I wanted to see it, of course, so I opened it. It was a bucket-shaped bag with the Louis Vuitton monogram metallic canvas in a green shade. It was beautiful.
“Let me see,” she said, taking a small note out of a personalized envelope. “Monogram Eden Neo.”
I kept looking at the bag as if I were an inspector.
“If you don’t want it, I guess I can give it away to someone—”
“No!” I laughed. Lily laughed too.
“That’s what I thought.”
“And you’re sure it’s okay?”
Lily rolled her eyes and poured wine into the two wineglasses.
“A toast,” she said, giving one to me. “For your new badass purse that’s not even in stores yet.” We clicked our glasses and sipped on our wine.
“Thank you, Lily. It’s a beautiful bag.”
“And all yours.”
I took a deep breath and sipped on my wine again. My mind drifted away, but I forced myself to stop thinking about my fight with Nathan. I wondered how he was. He hadn’t called me once since he left.
Lily and I talked for a while, ordered pizza, and finally, the half-time show was about to begin. The backstage crew was setting up the stage, and the camera pin-pointed celebrities who were attending the Super Bowl in the meanwhile.
“Oh, my God! It’s William and Tobias!” Lily shouted. They were inside a suite box, looking out. There were two other guys with them I didn’t recognize. I couldn’t help but think Joel and Nathan could’ve been there instead, but they weren’t because of me. I hated feeling like I was the reason for splitting them up for the event.
A bar appeared at the bottom of the screen with the names of the four of them. Lily told me the two other guys were actors too. Friends with the Sjöbergs.
When they realized they were being projected into the big screens around the stadium, William brushed his lower lip and made ayes, ma’amgesture afterward.
OH,MY GOD!
William and Tobias yelled something holding their fists up and chugged down their beers. They all laughed afterward, and the camera switched to the next celebrity they spotted. They seemed to be having a lot of fun.
My reaction consisted of thrusting my warm face against one of the throw pillows. No. My hot face. I was surely redand then somewhen Lily forced me to stop doing that.
She laughed. “What just happened? Look at your face!”
“What? Nothing,” I said, pouring myself more wine. Oh, yeah, I needed wine. More wine, please.
“William?” she dared ask.
“Uh-uh,” I hummed, sipping on my wine, sayingnowith my index finger.
The lights went off in the stadium, and the half-time show started. How could I not think of Nathan? He was about to see his favorite band performing live, and I couldn’t even text him and be excited about it with him. My mood switched from giddy to sad in one second. I was a mess.
“What’s wrong?” Lily insisted, setting her glass on the coffee table.
“The show’s started,” I replied, staring at my wineglass. I didn’t have any tears left to cry.
“I’d rather know if you’re okay. I don’t really care about The Who. Sue me.”
I chuckled. I wanted to see it because it was important for Nathan. “Can we wait until the performance is over? We’ll have the entire second boring half to talk. I’ll tell you everything.” I needed to talk to someone and let it all out. And by all, I meantall.
Seven minutes into The Who’s performance, I got a call from Nathan.
When I took the call, I could hear the concert roaring behind him and a bunch of people singing and screaming. He sang—or better said,shoutedthe song being performed by The Who over the phone.
