It's Not Summer without You by Jenny Han Read Free Book Online

would.
    She held out her hand to me and we hooked pinkies.
    “Is that what you’re wearing?” Taylor asked me suddenly.
    Looking down at my gray camisole, I said, “Well, yeah.”
    She shook her head so fast her blond hair swished all around. “Is that what you’re wearing to see Conrad for the first time ?”
    “This isn’t a date I’m going on, Taylor.”
    “When you see an ex, you have to look better than you’ve ever looked. It’s, like, the first rule of breakups. You have to make him think, ‘Damn, I missed out on that ?’ It’s the only way.”
    I hadn’t thought of that. “I don’t care what he thinks,” I told her.
    She was already rifling through my overnight bag. “All you have in here is underwear and a T-shirt. And this old tank top. Ugh. I hate this tank top. It needs to be officially retired.”
    “Quit it,” I said. “Don’t go through my stuff.”
    Taylor leaped up, her face all glowy and excited. “Oh, please let me pack for you, Belly! Please, it would make me so happy.”
    “No,” I said, as firmly as I could. With Taylor, you had to be firm. “I’ll probably be back tomorrow. I don’t need anything else.”
    Taylor ignored me and disappeared into her walk-in closet.
    My phone rang then, and it was Jeremiah. Before I answered it, I said, “I’m serious, Tay.”
    “Don’t worry, I’ve got it all covered. Just think of me as your fairy godmother,” she said from inside the closet.
    I popped open my phone. “Hey,” I said. “Where are you?”
    “I’m pretty close. About an hour away. Are you at Taylor’s?”
    “Yeah,” I said. “Do you need me to give you the directions again?”
    “No, I’ve got it.” He paused, and for a second I thought he’d already hung up. Then he said, “Thanks for doing this.”
    “Come on,” I said.
    I thought about saying something else, like how he was one of my best friends and how part of me was almost glad to have a reason to see him again. It just wouldn’t be summer without Beck’s boys.
    But I couldn’t get the words to sound right in my head, and before I could figure them out, he hung up.
    When Taylor finally emerged from the closet, she was zipping up my bag. “All set,” she said, dimpling.
    “Taylor—” I tried to grab the bag from her.
    “No, just wait until you get wherever you’re going. You’ll thank me,” she said. “I was very generous, even though you’re totally deserting me.”
    I ignored the last bit and said, “Thanks, Tay.”
    “You’re welcome,” she said, checking out her hair in her bureau mirror. “See how much you need me?” Taylor faced me, her hands on her hips. “How are you guys even planning on finding Conrad, anyway? For all you know, he’s under a bridge somewhere.”
    I hadn’t given that part, the actual details, much thought. “I’m sure Jeremiah has some ideas,” I said.
    Jeremiah showed up in an hour, just like he said he would. We watched from the living room window when his car pulled into Taylor’s circular driveway. “Oh my God, he looks so cute,” Taylor said, running over to the dresser and putting on lip gloss. “Why didn’t you tell me how cute he got?”
    The last time she’d seen Jeremiah, he’d been a head shorter and scrawny. It was no wonder she’d gone after Steven instead. But he just looked like Jeremiah to me.
    I picked up my bag and headed outside, with Taylor right on my heels.
    When I opened the front door, Jeremiah was standing on the front steps. He was wearing his Red Sox cap, and his hair was shorter than the last time I’d seen him. It was strange to see him there, on Taylor’s doorstep. Surreal.
    “I was just about to call you,” he said, taking off his hat. He was a boy unafraid of hat hair, of looking stupid. It was one of his most endearing qualities, one I admired because I pretty much lived in constant fear of embarrassing myself.
    I wanted to hug him, but for some reason—maybe because he didn’t reach for me first, maybe