Page 35 of Heartstruck at Dawn
“So, what are you not telling us?” Cecile narrowed her eyes. She knew me well.
“Do you remember I mentioned my neighbor before?”
“Sure, of course. William. What about him?” Cecile kept pressing.
I took a deep breath and came clean about everything. I told them about the cottage, the burnt cake, the kiss with Thomas, and how William saw us.
“Noooo!” Sophie exclaimed, biting her pizza.
“Yes,” I replied with a quick and humorless grimace. “Thomas thought I was, and I quote ‘into fucking celebrities now,’ and so with that, he revealed William’s profession, ruined our bet, and made William hate me.”I sighed. Retelling the story was exhausting and hurtful.
“What is William’s last name?” Sophie asked, dropping her pizza on the plate.
“Um, Sjöberg,” I replied, biting the corner of my lower lip and looking down at my empty plate.
“What!” Sophie screamed. Cecile shushed her, and Sophie apologized with a whisper.
“How the hell didn’t you knowwhohe was?” Cecile asked, taking another bite of her pizza.
“I don’t know. I’m a freak, I guess.”
“You read too much. You need to get Netflix,” Sophie said, nodding.
“No, she doesn’t. I think it’s cute you didn’t recognize him. I bet he was going crazy about not having that power over you. You know, it must’ve been a breath of fresh air after all the girls he’s dated.”
“What do you mean?” I asked abruptly. Sophie glared at Cecile, who rarely had a filter. I saw girls coming in and out of the apartment building a few times during the summer, but I wanted to know what she meant. “What girls? Tell me what you know.”
I knew he was a charmer. But I hadn’t googledhim—just that premiere where I saw him with Erin. And that had been enough googling for me.
“Well, it’s only natural for a guy that looks likethatto have an easy pick on who to date,” Cecile voiced her opinion. “He’s known for having dated many celebrities and models in the past years.”
“So, he’s a playboy?” I asked, wishing it was April 11, 2010, so I could order a glass of wine.
Thomas’s words came flying back; “he’sgoing to chew you up and spit you out.”For all I knew, William was busychewingon Erin. I just hoped he couldspither out for good. I wondered how many other Erin’s had been there before. Shit.
“Who cares? I wouldn’t,” Sophie said, raising her hand and sipping on her coke.
“The problem is that he went back to his ex soon after all this happened. He’s been telling me it’s over, and I get the feeling he’s, I don’t know, interested in me? But I want to be sure things arereallyover with her and that he’s not playing games with me just because he saw me kissing Caleb.”
Oh,well,shit.
I took a bite on my first slice of pizza, hoping it would shut me up. It tasted like nothing.
“Excuse me, what?” Cecile asked in between coughs. I was afraid she would choke.
“Oh yeah, that too,” I replied casually. “Caleb and I had a—situation. But it ended quickly after it began. We didn’t want to ruin our friendship.” I didn’t want to get into any more details about my relationship with Caleb. It was still too complicated to explain.
“So, are you back to being friends?” Sophie asked.
“I don’t know. I think that’s why my father brought you here. He’s trying tocheer me up”—I air-quoted—“because he saw me hugging Caleb last week outside of my apartment, and he wasn’t thrilled. Now Caleb’s freaked out on me, and he keeps calling me Miss Murphy. It’ssoannoying, and I don’t know, I just feel like I lost him.” I sighed and dared a quick peek toward the window, but he wasn’t looking our way.
“I’m sure he’ll come around. Give him time. You’ll see. Caleb adores you,” Cecile said. Was it that obvious? Because to me, it wasn’t anymore. “I’m sorry, but I need to ask. Who’s the best kisser?” Cecile’s question made us laugh.
“Caleb’s lips must be the most kissable ever, right? They’re so … juicy.” Sophie chuckled, looking over her shoulder in Caleb’s direction.
“Sophie! He’s standing right outside,” I whispered. And taking into consideration my father’s apprehension, I feared he had bugged my phone or purse. Or both. Or maybeIwas bugged. But she urged me to answer. “Um, well, they both defended themselves nicely, I suppose.” I lowered my brows and played around with my pizza. I couldn’t help but browse through memories and replay said kisses in my mind. Mostly the ones with William.
“New York’s suited you,” Cecile added with a continuous approving nod. “Andweare here to have fun and make the best of these few days we have together, okay?”
