Thank you for downloading this Simon & Schuster ebook. Get a FREE ebook when you join our mailing list. Plus, get updates on new releases, deals, recommended reads, and more from Simon & Schuster. Click below to sign up and see terms and conditions. CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP Already a subscriber? Provide your email again so we can register this ebook and send you more of what you like to read. You will continue to receive exclusive offers in your inbox. OceanofPDF.com OceanofPDF.com This book is dedicated to the late Nora Ephron—the greatest rom-com writer of all time and the queen mother of autumnal comfort movies. And to the readers who create playlists, aesthetic boards, and full-on edits—everyone should be so lucky as to connect with stories in such an immersive way. OceanofPDF.com OceanofPDF.com CHAPTER ONE THREE YEARS AGO Bailey The Which made the guy open his eyes—I could only see one eye—and look directly at me. While still kissing the girl. As if that wasn’t weird enough, he said to me while his lips were still attached to hers, “Oh my God—what?” Which sounded like omiguhdwhruut. And then The Eye closed and they were full-on kissing again. “Excuse me,” I said through gritted teeth, my emotional anxiety replaced by irritation, “but the line. The line is moving.” The Eye opened again and the dude glared at me. He lifted his mouth and said something to his girlfriend that prompted them to actually move forward. Finally. I heard his girlfriend chirp about how much she was going to miss him, and I could see by his prosomewhere they didn’t want to go and start a new life they had no interest in beginning. If I were a betting person, I’d say zero. I had to be the only person in that entire airport who was going on what was the polar opposite of a trip. I had a ticket to my own transplantation, and it sucked. I dwelled on this for the entirety of the hour wait, especially when Adorable Family of Four plopped down across from me, looking like poster children for the Disney resorts as they bounced around with palpable travel enthusiasm. The sight of their familial bliss made me want to snuggle with the tiny scrap of blankie I still slept with (even though no one knew) and cry just a little. So to say I was tightly wound by the time we lined up to board would be an understatement. I was “But.” I looked at him and wondered who Mr. Nothing actually was. He was obviously my age-ish and a generally attractive human. He had thick, dark, careless hair and a nice mouth. But his nerve was just too huge for a normal boy. “That’s not fair.” He raised an eyebrow. “Everyone else has to wait in line,” I said, trying not to sound like a child screaming It’s not fair while kind of wanting to throw elbows. “If you didn’t want to wait, you should’ve gotten here earlier.” “Like you?” he asked, his tone thick with sarcasm. I pushed up my glasses. “Yes, like me.” Why is this total stranger messing with me? Was this karma for daydreaming about Adorable Family being stranded at the airport? Karma was supposed to be a cat, dammit, not this. He tilted his head to the side and looked at me. “I bet you used to be a hall monitor.” “Excuse me?” It was obvious he meant it in an insulting way, and I was torn between wanting to punch him in the face and wanting to sobbingly beg him to leave me alone. I glanced behind us again, and the man next in line was smirking, clearly eavesdropping. I turned back to Mr. Nothing and whispered, “Not that it’s any of your business, but everyone had to take a turn at my school.” “Sure they did.” Sure they did? I made a noise, sort of a growl mixed with a groan, before hall monitoring?” He smirked. “It’s not that I don’t believe you; it’s that we both know you would’ve signed up whether it was mandatory or not.” How would he know that? He wasn’t wrong, but it pissed me omoving? He’s not going to stay here, is he?? After another long minute of non- speak, I couldn’t take it and very nearly shouted the words “Why are you still here?” He seemed confused by my question. “What?” I pointed my thumb over my shoulder, and he said, “Oh my God, you were serious about that? You’re going to make me go to the back?” I breathed in through my nose. “I’m not making you. It’s the way things work.” “Oh, well, if it’s the way things work…” He looked at me like I was an idiot. The airline employee who’d been standing beside the door grabbed the speaker and began announcing our Whyyyyyyy? Why was this smug, sarcastic jerk even part of my experience? He’s ruining flying for me, I thought as I scanned my boarding pass and started down the Jetway, which was ironic when OceanofPDF.com CHAPTER TWO Charlie As if my day wasn’t shitty enough, my seat was right next to Little Miss The- Line-Is-Moving. Wonderful. She gazed up at me with big eyes and blinked fast, like she was shocked to see me, but she looked like one of those uptight girls who was always shocked when life wasn’t perfect. She crossed her arms over her chest and said, “One i