Changing Forever by Lisa de Jong Read Free Book Online Page B

her head in my direction, narrowing her eyes. “Seriously, Drake?”
    “Seriously. I don’t have time to learn anything else.”
    “Yeah. What did you do last night?”
    “Went to the post-game party.”
    She nods, sucking the last of her drink through her straw. “We could do it on teenage drinking.”
    She has got to be fucking with me. That’s one of the most overdone subjects ever … I don’t want to take part in beating something that is already dead. “First of all, I’m twenty. Second, I’d rather give a speech than preach,” I say as I set my empty cup on the ground and wrap my arms around my folded knees.
    “What if we do nature versus nurture? I’ve read about it before, and it’s really interesting.”
    “How about cars?”
    Her lips press into a thin, tight line. If looks could kill, I’d be flat on the floor without a heartbeat right now. “Really?”
    “No, I was just playing, but the look on your face was totally worth it.” I pause long enough to watch her roll her eyes. “Tell me a little bit more about this nature versus nurture. Why do you want to do it?”
    She glances around uneasily, wetting her pink lips. “Because I’m proof that nature is just as strong as nurture.”
    I’m so fucking lost. “What?”
    She surveys the grassy area behind us before continuing. “I grew up with my dad, but I’m a lot like my mom. Most of my characteristics and behaviors mirror hers.”
    I nod, waiting for her to go on. There’s sadness in her eyes. One I don’t often see in others. It makes me want to know more.
    “She was a dreamer. I’m a dreamer. She was a fighter, and I always have my boxing gloves on.” A faint smile highlights her face. I think I’ve already seen her with her gloves on, and she knows how to use them.
    “Did you see your mom at all growing up?”
    She nods, staring down at her hands. “Until I was four, and then one other time after that.”
    This little glimpse into who she is has me seeing a whole new side of her. She’s not perfect. She hasn’t lived a perfect life. She’s got her shit, just like I have mine.
    I’d like to argue that we both show more nurture than nature. Stubborn. Difficult. It’s a product of what our parents did to us, not what they gave us.
    “I’m sorry.”
    “It’s okay. What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger, right?” she says, her eyes glossed over.
    I nod, combing my fingers through my hair again. Things are getting a little too personal; it’s time to get back to what we came here to do. “Are we going to split this up, or how do you want to do this?”
    “Am I making all the decisions again?”
    “Every once in a while I give up control,” I tease.
    “Fine, how about if I do the nature side, and you can do nurture? I mean, I feel strongly about nature so it should be easy.”
    “It just so happens that I think it’s the other way around. We’ll see who can convince the class.” I wink, adding some competitive fire to our conversation.
    “Bets on.”
    “So, since we’re not doing this on football, can I give you a few lessons? A trade-off of sorts.”
    “What makes you think I don’t already know all about it?”
    I laugh. “For one, you didn’t know who I was.”
    Rolling her eyes, she says, “It’s just college football. It’s not the damn pros.”
    Yep, she’s pretty darn clueless. “In this part of the United States, it’s more important than the pros.”
    “Well, I think that concludes lesson number one. Can we move onto some real work now?” she asks, chipping away at her purple nail polish.
    I lean in, little by little, until I feel her reacting to me. It would be so easy to brush my lips against hers, to feel her reaction. Something tells me she wouldn’t push back. “Next time, we might work on tackling since I know you’ve already mastered catching and throwing.”
    She scoffs, moving in the opposite direction from me. “In your dreams, Chambers.”
    We spend the next hour sparring