Girlfriend Material by Melissa Kantor Read Free Book Online Page B

had a lot of classics, too. After wandering up and down a few of the fiction aisles, I found myself looking at Lolita again. Was it stupid to check out a book when there was a copy of it at Tina’s house that she’d said I could borrow? Then again, it would be kind of nice to spend the afternoon sitting in that gazebo, reading and sipping an iced tea, and I didn’t really feel like going all the way back to the house to get the book and coming all the way back to the library to read it.
    The line to check out books was comprised entirely of the AARP set and me. When it was my turn to approach the desk, I tried exuding youthful enthusiasm for the tired-looking librarian.
    “Do you have a library card?” she asked as I slid the book toward her.
    I shook my head. “I just got here,” I explained. “I don’t have anything.” I gave her what I hoped was a charming smile. She wasn’t having any of it. “Do you have proof of residence?”
    “Not exactly,” I said. “I’m staying with my … with a family friend.”
    Her lips were tight. “Mmmhmm. Name?”
    “Um …” Okay, how embarrassing was this? I couldn’t remember if it was Tina Cooper or Tina Melnick. Or was it Tina Cooper-Melnick?
    Someone had gotten in line behind me, and now he or she leaned forward slightly. I felt myself growing irritated with whatever senior citizen couldn’t wait five seconds to check out the latest James Patterson novel. If I could just have had a minute, I might have managed to remember the name of my mom’s oldest friend in the world, a woman who also happened to be my hostess.
    Instead of backing up, the person behind me stepped even closer. “Don’t believe a word she’s saying, Barbara,” he said. “This girl has book thief written all over her.”
    The voice was familiar. Very familiar. I turned to see the miracle worker who’d gotten the librarian to stop frowning.
    “We have got to stop meeting like this.” He was smiling like he was really glad to see me. “Hey, Adam,” I said, smiling back at him. He was wearing a white Oxford and a pair of jeans, and he looked very definitely more than just-regular cute.
    “So,” he said, “trying to pull a fast one on the fine people of Dryer’s Cove, are you?”
    “I can’t help her without any information, Adam,” said the librarian.
    As I was trying to imagine any of the guys at my high school being on a first-name basis with a librarian, Adam stroked his chin and looked me up and down. “She seems a reliable sort,” he said. “I say, give her a card.”
    “It doesn’t quite work like that,” said the librarian. “The best I can do is let you check the book out for her.”
    “Hmmm,” said Adam. “I guess I’d have to see what she’s reading before agreeing to that.” He reached over, took the book off the desk, and studied the cover. “ Lolita?! I don’t know. This is a pretty filthy book, young lady, banned in several of the more pious of these great United States.”
    I could feel my cheeks blazing. Why couldn’t I have opted to check out Little Women ? Now he’d think I was some kind of pervert.
    Adam held the book up so the librarian could see it. “I have to admit, I’m shocked to see you, of all people, dealing in pornography, Barbara.”
    “Just give me the book, Adam,” said Barbara, but she was smiling at him. Clearly I was not the only person in the Dryer’s Cover library who found Adam more than a little adorable.
    “I’m just giving you a hard time,” he said to me. “It’s a great book. I read it last summer.” He put a stack of what looked like comic books on the counter. “Can I give you these too?” he asked the librarian.
    “Of course,” she said.
    “I wouldn’t have pegged you for a comic book reader,” I said. I was a little disappointed, actually. After he’d said that thing about reading Lolita , I’d assumed he was really into literature, but maybe he’d just had to read it for a class or something. Who