Page 51 of Only Lovers in the Building

Lily’s dash to the building’s elevators came to a halt when she ran into Sierra, rolling her stainless-steel suitcases across

the lobby. She wore her hair in long braids that curled at the ends. Her dark sunglasses slid down the bridge of her nose.

“Hey, lady, where are you off to?” Lily asked.

“The Maldives, babe! The Maldives!”

“When will you be back?”

“Two weeks.”

“Oh no! I’ll be gone by then.”

Just because her mother was fine with her staying, didn’t mean Lily was fine with it. What would be the point if Ben was leaving

for Europe, anyway?

Sierra dropped her travel bag and pulled Lily into a hug. “We’ll keep in touch on social, right?”

“Of course.” She showed Sierra the catalog with Jeremy on the cover. “Did you know about this?”

“Oops! The cat’s out of the bag.” Sierra laughed. “Jeremy is a model. He’s done Swim Week and everything. I don’t know why he keeps it low-key. If I had his bone structure, watch out!”

Lily was laughing, too, until Sierra asked, “What’s the plan with you and Ben? Are you doing the long-distance thing? It sucks, but you gotta do what you gotta do.”

Put like that, it seemed so simple. The long-distance thing... The sad truth was, she and Ben did not have any sort of

plan.

Lily tried to pivot. She grabbed the handle of a suitcase. “Let me help with that.”

Sierra wasn’t deterred, though. Once outside, with all the pieces of luggage accounted for, she resumed her line of questions.

“Seriously, though,” she said. “What’s going on with Ben? I’m obsessed with you guys. Please say you have a plan.”

“It’s not that easy.”

Sierra groaned. “If it doesn’t work for you two, what hope is there for the rest of us? And what about book club? I gained

five thousand followers on book content alone.”

“Posting about books is great, but you should read them, too. Download something for the plane.”

“Sure, but that’s not the point.” Sierra took out her phone and checked an app. “My ride will be here any minute,” she said.

“Listen up. You and Ben are perfect for each other. There’s a lot of fake shit out there. You two are the real deal. Work

it out!”

Lily stared down at her feet, ashamed for taking relationship advice from a buoyant twenty-two-year-old with designer luggage

and sparkly lip gloss. Yet here she was.

“I’m telling you,” Lily mumbled, “it’s not that easy.”

“Don’t be idiots!” Sierra cried. “What was it you were always saying? Give love a chance?”

That was the awful truth. She and Ben were idiots, their love story patterned on the Idiot Plot and hinged on a miscommunication

trope. What had she done these last few weeks except wait on Ben to read her mind, pick up on her cues, and apply his genius

to save their relationship? Waiting for a man to figure things out was the definition of idiocy.

A black car pulled up to the curb. “Well, that’s me,” Sierra said with a sad little smile. “I’m so glad I met you, Lily. You’re one cool bitch.”

That was high praise from the coolest bitch Lily had ever met. She pulled her copy of The Thought of You from her tote bag. “Take this,” she said. “And go kill them in the Maldives. I’ll be watching on social.”

The driver tossed the luggage into the trunk, and Sierra climbed into the back seat. Lily stood waving goodbye until the car

slipped into the flow of traffic.