Exhale by Jennifer Snyder Read Free Book Online

doesn’t matter which.” She winked.
    I was going to have to get used to that assumption, because that was exactly what everyone else would be saying too. “You and everyone else, but just like them, you were wrong.” I grinned.
     
    * * * *
     
    After washing my face and then reapplying my makeup, I pulled my frizzy hair back off my damp neck and twisted it into a low bun. I sprayed myself with the coconut body spray I kept in my purse at all times, and then lifted my arms for a pit check just to be sure. Marty had spent the last few hours tinkering with the AC unit without having any luck. Jane and I had thought on numerous occasions throughout the night that Gwen was going to jerk Marty’s screwdriver from his hand and stab him in the neck with it, but she’d restrained herself well, surprising us both.
    I gave myself a once-over in the mirror and checked my teeth again to be sure there were no tiny particles of the granola bar I’d had for a snack left between them, before going to stand out front to wait on Derek. My stomach twisted into knots as I nervously leaned against the red bricks of the building waiting for his headlights to turn into the parking lot. I wondered if he would be alone or if he would have Kyle or anyone else with him. Luckily, I didn’t have long to think about it, because he pulled into the parking lot shortly after and stopped with the passenger door directly in front of me.
    “Hey,” he greeted me as I climbed in. I smiled, examining his change of clothes. He was no longer dressed in his BI-LO uniform, but instead dressed in khaki cargo shorts, a faded brown T-shirt, and sandals. “Did they ever get the AC working?”
    “Nope,” I said, making the P pop, wishing I had thought to bring a change of clothes. I would definitely be leaving an outfit or two in my car from here on out for moments like this.
    Derek pulled forward and then stopped, waiting on traffic before pulling out. I watched him from the corner of my eye. How in the heck had this happened? How had I finally got what I had always wanted? My blood rushed through my body at the idea and I turned my head so I was no longer tempted to stare at him from the corner of my eye, because that was all I felt like doing.
    Derek cut a right at the traffic light and it dawned on me that I had no idea where we were going or what we were doing. Not that it mattered, really.
    “So…what are we going to do?” I asked once he turned down Edgemont Street, risking a glance in his direction.
    His eyes shifted from the road for a split second to look at me, that shy, little boy smile twisting the corners of his lips. “Are you hungry? I was thinking maybe we could go to Skullies, if you want to I mean.”
    I thought for a moment before answering. Skullies was a little seafood shack down on the beach. It wasn’t five-star dining by any means, but they had the best crab cakes and hush puppies I had ever tasted. It had always been Derek’s favorite place to eat, too. He loved their fish tacos.
    “Sure,” I shrugged. “I guess I could eat, if they’re open.”
    “Good, because I’m starved.” He chuckled with relief. “And I don’t think they close until eleven, but we’ll see when we get there.”
    With the music turned down low and the cool night air caressing against my skin as we drove down to the beach, I slowly began to relax and the giant knots that had formed in my stomach eventually began to loosen. Derek stopped the Jeep in the middle of an empty gravel parking lot outside of Skullies and my mouth grew dry as those knots twisted together once more in the pit of my stomach, only this time they were much larger.
    Derek and I had never been to a place to eat alone before. There was always someone with us—whether it was Kyle, or Missy, our parents, or any of our other friends—we were never alone. This was a different feeling entirely.
    We climbed out and walked across the parking lot, then weaved our way through the empty