Falling Into You by Lauren Abrams Read Free Book Online

of her questions had been directed at me, and I hadn’t even thought to ask her anything about herself , where she had come from , or what her goddamn name was . I checked off the things I knew about her— she was refreshingly honest, she liked bad movies, and she refused to wear heels , and last—she had the most incredible eyes .
    I also knew one more thing. She had done the impossible—I hadn’t thought about Sophia once. Not this whole time.
    Point—flip flop girl.

Chapter 5
    HALLIE
    I shouldn’t have touched him.
    Just the pads of my fingers touching his skin had caused my whole body to flush. Even minutes later, m y toes weren’t even cold, despite the flakes of snow starting to fall as I darted across the street. At least I had managed to get the dig in abou t him thinking I was the maid , even though it had come directly after admitting that I was going to tell all of my friends that he had followed me to the diner . That clearly wasn’t the case.
    Verbal diarrhea was my very worst habit. I never could figure out how to keep my mouth shut. Everything always just came spilling out whether I wanted it to or not.
    He probably thought I was a total fool. Argh.
    When I reach Sophia ’s building, I take a deep breath, look out o nce more at the city, and open the glass door to the lobby. The doorman eyes me suspiciously, so I flash the key ring that Sophia ’s father had hande d to me right before he and Cleo left for the Hamptons . He nods and moves out from behind his desk to push the elevator button.
    For a moment, I feel tota lly helpless, but I quickly realize that it’s probably just part of his job. Clearly, there were plenty of people who lived in this building that couldn’t be bothered with little things like pushing elevator butto ns. I smile and thank him, and he looks surprised but gives me a quick grin in return .
    “I’m Charles,” he offers, extending his hand. “29B? The Pearce residence, right?”
    He must have seen me with Sophia earlier. “ You have a really good memory. I’m Hallie , and I’ll be here for a few weeks, so it’s nice to meet you, Charles . ” I take his hand and shake it before learning in to whisper to him. “ It must get pretty annoying, pushing buttons all day.”
    He shakes his head and smiles . “ Sometimes, it’s a pleasure.”
    “I’ll have to remember that.” I frown at the elevator and then glance back at him. “Wish me luck. I’m jumping back in with the sharks .”
    He raises an eyebrow and gestures towards the empty elevator. “Good luck. I have a feeling that you might need it.”
    I can hear the music thumping as I ri de up. The door is slightly ajar, and as I slide through its opening and close it behind me, I re alize that Sophia had been almost entirely accurate in her description of the party . A girl with a bloody nose emerges from th e hallway, several people down shots in the corner, and the sweet smell of marijuana is trickling in from the balcony . The living room has been turned into a close approximation of the dance floor at a club , and it’s filled with people who are clearly looking for a hook-up.
    For a moment, I think about join ing them. Once my mother realized that I had developed a habit of falling down at the age of four, she had insisted on dance lessons, which had continued a ll the way through high school. I wasn’t ever going to be a prima ballerina, but I was pretty confident that I wouldn’t make a total fool of myself.
    Despite my total lack of coordination in basically anything else, d ancing had always been one of my favorite things.
    My body is starting to sway to the rhythm, and it would be easy to let the music to take everything else away. That usually worked. Just as I’m moving towards the dance floor, I catch a glimpse of a guy pawing at an obviously drunk girl. It wasn’t worth the trouble, I decide. Even if I wasn’t exactly in the same league as the girls at the party, I had absolutely no interest