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Back The Falling in Love Montage
Chapters (45)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. 1.
  4. 2.
  5. 3.
  6. 4.
  7. 5.
  8. 6.
  9. 7.
  10. 8.
  11. 9.
  12. 10.
  13. 11.
  14. 12.
  15. 13.
  16. 14.
  17. 15.
  18. 16.
  19. 17.
  20. 18.
  21. 19.
  22. 20.
  23. 21.
  24. 22.
  25. 23.
  26. 24.
  27. 25.
  28. 26.
  29. 27.
  30. 28.
  31. 29.
  32. 30.
  33. 31.
  34. 32.
  35. 33.
  36. 34.
  37. 35.
  38. 36.
  39. 37.
  40. 38.
  41. Acknowledgments
  42. About the Author
  43. Books by Ciara Smyth
  44. Back Ad
  45. About the Publisher

“Yeah, well, our best friend. Izzy. They were friends first, I guess. She really got the jump on me those first two years of primary school.” I tried to laugh, but it came out bitter.

“You were all friends from year three? And she dumped you as a friend because you and Hannah broke up?”

“Yeah. Sort of,” I lied again.

I could feel the pity about to pour out of her, but I chose that over telling her the truth. The words rattled around in my brain. I dumped Izzy because she didn’t tell me Hannah was going to break my heart. I dumped her because I was embarrassed that I’d gushed about how Hannah and I were going to spend the rest of our lives together, that we were soul mates, and she’d known that Hannah didn’t feel the same way. I dumped her because she chose Hannah and I felt like I didn’t matter. I couldn’t say those things out loud. She wouldn’t get it.

“Don’t worry, I got over it. It’s not that big a deal.”

Ruby seemed to struggle with what to say next.

“Do you want me to kill them?” she said finally.

Relief flooded my body.

“Let’s watch the rest of the film and decide after. It’s so hard to do homicide when you’re stuffed full of Maltesers.”

She arched her neck to kiss me and soon we’d left the film behind in favor of a haze of heavy breathing, soft skin, and eyelashes that fluttered against my cheek when we kissed.

Ruby spent the night and if you really must know, we didn’t do anything that involved taking your pants off. After she fell asleep I tossed and turned and it took me ages to get to sleep. I kept thinking about her saying that there were a lot of things I wanted to run away from. It sounded like something Mum would have said. I thought of all the things I’d wanted to run away from this summer. Thinking about what I’d do with the rest of my life, thinking about what the rest of my life might look like if I inherit Mum’s dementia, Dad and Beth’s wedding, thinking about leaving Mum behind. I’d filled up all that space with Ruby. What was I going to do in a few weeks when she was gone and I had to face all of those things by myself?

26.