Crush by Stefan Petrucha Read Free Book Online

the bookstore, like he was just goofing about Kirsty, but what if he really liked her? Would he be pissed or something?
    â€œWas he the guy I saw you with on Saturday?” Kirsty asked.
    â€œI didn’t think you even noticed us. But yeah, that’s David.”
    â€œHave you guys been friends a long time?”
    â€œAbout three years,” Jonathan said. “This is the longest my family has lived anywhere, so it seems like a long time, but I guess it’s not.”
    Kirsty didn’t reply. Instead, she looked upward, just like she did at the mall. She kept walking, her eyes directed at the sky.
    Again Jonathan noticed she looked almost pretty, her face bathed in night, certainly not the eight David suggested but a good, solid seven. And again he noticed the odd feeling that came to him when he looked at her. It was almost like he had forgotten something but was on the verge of remembering it, a kind of vague recognition.
    A gust of wind startled him out of his reverie, and he returned his attention to the sidewalk.
    â€œWhat are you looking at?” he asked, because the silence was getting to him. It was a stupidquestion, but he had to say something.
    Kirsty lowered her chin and turned to face him. She wore a shy smile. “I’m just looking at the night,” she said quietly.
    â€œOh, okay.”
    At Kirsty’s house, a two-story brick place with big windows in front, they paused on the sidewalk.
    â€œThanks for walking me home,” Kirsty said, sticking out her hand.
    Jonathan was relieved to see the gesture. For a couple of heart-stopping seconds, he’d wondered if Kirsty considered this chance meeting a kind of date, wondered if she might expect a kiss or something. He knew that was just his imagination going into hyperdrive during the quiet stretches of their walk, but still, he felt relief knowing nothing was expected of him but a quick joining of the hands.
    He took her hand, squeezed lightly, and a shock, like static electricity, crackled along his palm.
    Kirsty jumped a little and laughed again. “Magic,” she said with a smile.
    â€œYeah,” Jonathan replied, feeling more uncomfortable than he had all night.
    â€œSo, you want to get together again sometime?”Kirsty asked. “For just like coffee or something. Not a date, I mean. It’s just good to talk to somebody my own age.”
    â€œSure,” Jonathan said, though what he was thinking came closer to I don’t think so .
    â€œCool,” Kirsty said. “Thanks again for walking me home.”
    Then she turned away and walked toward her house.
    In a second-floor window, Jonathan noticed a silhouette, the dark form of a woman peering out between two white curtains. Kirsty’s mother, he assumed.
    Still, the shadowy shape unnerved him, just as Kirsty herself had done. He took a step back on the sidewalk. At the end of the path, Kirsty opened her front door and stepped into the dark foyer.
    Jonathan turned to walk home. He was already wondering how he would explain this encounter to David.

5
    â€œYou were scammin’ on my woman?” David asked, mock anger edging his voice as it rolled over the phone line. “That’s cold, brah.”
    Jonathan laughed. He rolled over on his bed and stared at the ceiling, glad his friend wasn’t really upset. “Yeah, well, I’m a chick magnet. They can’t stay away.”
    â€œWhatever. The important question is what did she think of me?”
    â€œShe thinks you’re a god. Way out of her league.”
    â€œTrue,” David said. “Too true. I knew she was way into me. SWIM, baby, SWIM. So, what’s this Kirsty like? Tell me what I’m missing.”
    That wasn’t an easy question. Jonathan still didn’t know what to make of the girl. She seemed nice, certainly not a geek, and no way was she stuck up. It was that feeling he had when he was with her—the sense that he was forgetting