Page 55 of Hate You to Love You

‘Yeah,’ I say.

‘What if we had a movie instead?’

‘A movie?’

He nods. ‘We’ve spent so much time watching all these great films. Don’t you think it would be kind of nice to pick something symbolic of this tradition? Let’s have one film that means a lot for us. So whenever we hear the title, a line from it, or a song from the soundtrack, it’ll be a little part of our love surviving out there.’

‘How would we choose one?’

Elliot jumps up from the couch and draws his hand over the spines of the DVDs in my collection. ‘I’ll pick one DVD at random, and whatever it is, that will be our movie.’

His fingers hover above a few movies until he stops and pulls one out. It’s Final Destination 3.

‘Thoughts?’ he asks cheekily.

‘Great movie.’ I join him in his chuckle. ‘But maybe we don’t want something about death to be our film?’

‘Noted,’ he says while placing the DVD back on the shelf. Elliot shuts his eyes and proceeds to pick another.

Notting Hill. He waves the DVD at me, the image of Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant catching my attention. ‘What do you think?’ he asks eagerly.

‘It couldn’t be more perfect.’

Elliot falls back into the couch, the collector’s edition of Notting Hill in his hands. ‘Can I ask you something?’

I nod.

‘Why do you love this movie so much?’

An image of Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant wandering the streets of London at night flashes into my head. ‘Will and Anna have a great love story. Despite everything they go through, despite the time, distance and careers that pull them apart, their love for each other surpasses all that.’

Elliot gets up from the couch and walks over to the TV, removing the Alex Strangelove disc and replacing it with Notting Hill. As we watch, I pause to tell Elliot about all my favourite parts of the movie.

‘I’d love his job,’ Elliot remarks as the final shot of Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant sitting on the park bench comes onto the screen. ‘Running a bookstore in London would be a dream.’

‘I’d love to go there one day,’ I tell him. ‘To Notting Hill, I mean.’

‘Just because of the movie?’

‘Why not? People visit Italy just to see places like the Leaning Tower of Pisa. I could visit London just for Notting Hill and the blue door. I’d call it… The Great Rom-Com Pilgrimage. Dad and I came up with this plan that one day we’d take a trip and visit all the sights from his favourite movies.’

‘Really?’

‘Oh yeah. The blue door is a given. Seattle was another dream destination for us. He’d love to see the houseboat from Sleepless in Seattle, and the restaurant where Tom Hanks dines at Pike Place Market. Plus, Seattle’s really close to Tacoma, where the high school from 10 Things I Hate About You is.’

‘What makes you want to visit those places?’

I feel a smile spread over my face. ‘Dad always says that when something matters to you, you celebrate it. These movies really brought us together when I was growing up.’

‘Have you ticked any of the locations off your list yet?’

‘We haven’t had the chance. We’ve always talked about it, but it seems so unachievable.’

Elliot looks off into the distance.

‘What is it?’ I ask.

‘What if we all go?’