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309 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 28, 2012
I know Mom is waiting for me to elaborate, but I don't. (...) I can feel her growing more and more flustered by my unfriendliness.
“Yes, she worked as a stripper in her grandmother's baker!” she blurts out.
What?!
It's so unfortunate that my mouth is full of rice right now. Why did I take such a big bite? It's taking forever to chew!
“Stripping in a bakery, huh?” Zane says with a ridiculously adorable half smile. “That's pretty awesome.”
I just keep shaking my head in a tiny mortified sort of way. “I don't... I'm not a stripper,” I stumble over my words, hideously embarassed.
Mom's eyes are huge right now.
“Oh, no!” she gasps. “Did I just call you a stripper?!”
Indeedly-doodly, Mother.
“I'm not really... there at Jane's. Physically, I mean.” I think furiously. “What I mean is, I'm at Lauren's.”
“Oh, okay,” she says, and I can hear the puzzlement in her voice at my weirdness. “Bill, go to my apartments instead,” I hear her call.
“No, wait!” I blurt. “I'm actually spending the night. Lauren is-she's really upset. She, uh, she just found out she has a secret half-brother.”
What?
There is a long pause at my mom's end.
“Really? Wow, that's... unexpected.”
Right now I'm smacking myself in my fool head.
I don’t even need to look into his guilty bastard eyes for confirmation. I can’t breathe. I’m in shock. I can’t believe this is
happening. How could I not be prepared for something like this? When the mice are away, the cats will
play, right? Did I get that backwards? Oh, who cares.
*****
“I’m really sorry,” Rachel whispers, her eyes downcast. Her pretty face is wet with tears.
Aw, let’s give the sweet pretty bitch a hug!
*****
Zane's dark eyes are sparkling with humor. "Come on," he says. "It's not that bad, is it?"
"Oh, let's see." I stare up at the fancy glass ball lamps hanging from the ceiling. "I got dumped at Taco
Bill's today; fell down, split my pants, and generally humiliated myself in front of a complete stranger;
went to dinner at a snooty restaurant, found out said stranger is my future step brother; got called a
stripper, hooker, and virgin by my mother...did I leave anything out?"
"Well, I don't know. The night is still young—anything could happen." The corners of his beautiful
mouth twitch upwards. "It can only get better, right?"
I frown. "Don't say that, you'll jinx me. Now my mom will come back and blurt out how she and Bill had
kinky bathroom sex, and I'll run away before she can go into detail, and trip over that waiting carrying that
flaming dessert—he'll go crashing into the lady with way too much product in her hair, and then the whole restaurant will be on fire."
He squeezes my hand. "No regrets. Just live in the moment."
We stand there, knee deep in the water, holding hands. The silence is thunderous with words we don't
speak. I feel his presence beside me like it's an extension of my own body, tall and strong, and so, so
beautiful. But I can't look at him. Right now, it hurts too damn much.
As he pulls me into the pool house, I’m overcome with memories, the sweetness of the beginning of our
relationship: the long talks, the laughter, the fights, the…love. It seems so perfect that we come back to
reminisce over old memories, and to make new ones.
He kisses me in the kitchen, hands cupping my face. “I love you, Violet,” he whispers.
I smile, my heart near to bursting.
“I love you, Zane.”
YOU HAVE TO READ THIS LIKE NOW!!!
Nicole Christie
“I’m really sorry,” Rachel whispers,her eyes downcast. Her pretty face is wet with tears.
Aw,let’s give the sweet pretty bitch a hug!
“Don’t talk to me,” I snap. I have found my anger, and it’s the only think keeping me from breaking apart. I focus on my former boyfriend with laser like intensity as a revelation hits me like a falling coconut to the head.
“Did you sleep with her?”
Matt’s mouth tightens, but he doesn’t say anything. Rachel, however, is blushing bright red, so I guess that’s all the confirmation I need.
Slut! a voice in my head screams."
“I'm Violet," I growl. "I thought I lost something this summer, but I just realized, I never needed it."
Total silence.
Then someone mutters, "Is she talking about her virginity?"
In retrospect, I realize I could have worded that better.”
“Oh yeah," Zane says and smirks at me. "I had her for dinner once. Best meal of my life.”
“No regrets. Just live in the moment.”
“I remember who I am when I'm with you.”
”Oh let’s see, I got dumped at Taco Bill’s today; fell down, split my pants, and generally humiliated myself in front of a complete stranger; went to dinner at a snooty restaurant, found out said stranger is my future step brother; got called a stripper, hooker, and virgin by my mother…did I leave anything out?“
”I’ve been here almost a week, and so far I’ve seen you with five-no, Naked Girl makes six-different girls.”
”I needed to find the real me again. Then I found you.”
”You looked really hot together, like a supermodel couple.”
”Who would’ve though a little girl like you would have me so fucked up, I can’t think straight?”
”I have to squash the jealous witch in me that starts shouting obscenities.”
”I thought I was gonna have to climb an ivory tower to rescue you?”
”...you're gonna regret not forgiving me. I could have been the greatest adventure of your life."
"Oh, let's see." I stare up at the fancy glass ball lamps hanging from the ceiling. "I got dumped at Taco
Bill's today; fell down, split my pants, and generally humiliated myself in front of a complete stranger;
went to dinner at a snooty restaurant, found out said stranger is my future step brother; got called a
stripper, hooker, and virgin by my mother...did I leave anything out?"
"Well, I don't know. The night is still young—anything could happen." The corners of his beautiful
mouth twitch upwards. "It can only get better, right?"
I frown. "Don't say that, you'll jinx me. Now my mom will come back and blurt out how she and Bill had
kinky bathroom sex, and I'll run away before she can go into detail, and trip over that waiting carrying that
flaming dessert—he'll go crashing into the lady with way too much product in her hair, and then the whole restaurant will be on fire."