“What is it? What’s wrong?” Banks asks, as Amber only plays with her pizza, rather than scarfing it down as Banks has come to realize is just the speed at which this girl eats.
“It doesn’t matter,” she says.
“Your happiness is all that matters.”
“You’re going to think it’s stupid.”
“Hey, if I can agree your silly books are better than one of Shakespeare’s most famous plays, I don’t think this is going to be the thing I think is stupid.”
“It’s just…we escaped a cartel boss. We jumped off an overpass and landed on the top of a speeding truck. We leapt from a limo into a jet as it sped down the runway. We did all this amazingly cool stuff that people only ever get to see in movies or read in books.”
“Yeah…?”
“Well…I just…I never got to walk away from an explosion in slow motion, like on the cover of Deadly Love.”
Amber looks up at Banks. He holds her gaze for a moment. He waits for her to smile, to laugh, to point her finger and say that she got him…but she doesn’t. She isn’t kidding. She’s actually serious?
“That is stupid,” he says, taking another bite of his pizza.
“See, I knew it. I knew you would think I’m stupid for even thinking that. I knew I shouldn’t say anything, but you asked and then I just—”
“That’s stupid,” he interrupts. “That you never got to experience the cool guy walk away.”
Amber’s head snaps back to Banks. Her eyes searching his for the joke, for the mockery, but it isn’t there. He’s actually serious?
“Let’s do it,” he says, again taking another bite of pizza as if this isn’t a totally insane idea.
“What?”
“I may not understand the joy of the Deadly Love series like you do, but if this is something you want to do, then this is something we should do.”
Amber’s eyes widen with shock.
“Are you serious?”
Banks smiles.
“No seriously…are you serious?”
Banks wipes his mouth, tosses the napkin on the plate, and stands. Amber stares, waiting for her answer as he slowly walks away.
“Banks!” she yells. “Are you being serious?”
Her hands fly up with frustration and fall with resignation. He’s not coming back. She quickly grabs her last slice before chasing after her man.
***
Banks skids to a stop, looking back.
“What are you doing?”
“You’ve got to walk in slow motion,” Amber says, as she moves her legs and arms at a dramatically slow pace, her over-exaggerated movements clearly unnatural.
“What? No!” Banks yells, rushing back to her side and grabbing her arm.
“Yeah, it’s part of it. You have to.”
“No, I mean we can’t go slow, it’s about to—”
The explosion interrupts his sentence. Flames erupt from the car behind them. The percussion catapulting toward them knocks them from their feet and sends them both face first into the dirt. Ears ringing, dust falling, Banks crawls to Amber, fear building inside. Is she okay? They were meant to be a few dozen yards away, not a few dozen feet. He places a hand gently on her back and she whips around, eyes wide, her smile even wider.
“Are you okay?” Banks asks.
“What?” Amber yells back.
“Are you okay?” he yells again.
“We’ve got to do that again!”
Her smile spreads wider than he’s ever seen it before, and he can’t help but match it, knowing this girl is going to be the end of him.