Chapters (39)
- Cover
- Dedication
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- THIRTY
- THIRTY-ONE
- THIRTY-TWO
- THIRTY-THREE
- THIRTY-FOUR
- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
- ABOUT THE AUTHOR
- What’s next onyour reading list?
“Wait,” he says, and I stop for a second, my hand on the doorknob. But I can’t turn around. Hannah is still pounding on the door, so I open it. I’m surprised to see that she’s crying. Trails of mascara run down her cheeks and her breath is coming out in little gasps.
“What’s wrong?” I pull her into a hug, forgetting my clothes are soaking wet, that Andrew is standing behind me, still in the tub, shirtless. Hannah doesn’t seem to notice.
“He’s back for the summer,” she says, reaching a hand up to her eyes. “He’s here at the party.”
“Who?” I ask, though it should be obvious. There’s only one person who can make Hannah so fragile, so easy to rip apart, like a paper doll version of herself.
“It’s Charlie,” she says. “Charlie is here.”
TWENTY-EIGHT
“WHERE IS HE?” I pull out of Hannah’s hug to scan the room behind her. I was already upset before this, but now I’m feeling murderous. And Charlie is the perfect target.
“I don’t know.” She wipes at her cheeks. “I just saw him for a second and I ran. I didn’t want him to see me cry.” Her voice is coming out in little hiccups. “He can’t see me like this.”
I feel Andrew’s presence behind me and then his hand is on the wet fabric of my back.
“Are you guys okay?” he asks, and I shake away from his reach.
“We’re fine,” I say, moving closer to Hannah. I can’t be near him. Hannah looks back and forth between the two of us, her eyes widening, and I see her take in our wet hair for the first time, the fact that Andrew isn’t wearing a shirt.
“Wait, what’s going on?” she asks.
“Come on, we should get you home,” I say, “before Charlie comes over here.”
“Keely,” Andrew says, reaching out to stop us. “You were going to stay over, right? I can take you guys home tomorrow.”
“I can’t stay here.” I turn away from him. Suddenly I feel just as fragile as Hannah, like a paper doll myself. I don’t know whether it’s the tequila that’s still making me so dizzy, so unsteady, or whether I’m just reeling from the nearness of him. There are little droplets of water running down his chest and my eyes follow one as it trails down his skin and disappears beneath the waistband of his shorts. “And put on a shirt.” I grab Hannah and pull her down the hallway, leaving him behind us.