Learning to Breathe by J. C. McClean Read Free Book Online

find Samuel and the rest of the guys. Is that o kay?”
    I nodded and let her drag me through the various closely packed bodies while she looked out for any sign of Samuel. Eventually we found him near the water’s edge, handing out bottles of beer to a queue of people. Harriet bounded over to him and he offered her a bottle.
    She took it but I noticed that she glanced at me before asking, “You don’t mind, do you? We can get someone to leave us home later.”
    I shrugged at her, who was I to argue? I couldn’t stop her from having a good time but now it looked like that I would be stuck here for a while – I certainly didn’t want to chance driving her car home. I sighed and Samuel offered me a beer too but I kindly declined his offer. Harriet threw me a questioning look but didn’t say anything, instead, she turned to Samuel and planted a kiss on his cheek.
     
    After five minutes, I decided to leave them to it and tried to find a quiet spot to sit. I had just managed to sit down in a secluded area when a figure approached me – Danny – I ought to have known that he would be the one who would find my hiding spot.
    I s ighed as he sat down next to me.
    “Shouldn’t you be over there hitting on several girls?” I asked with a smirk. “Or do you save that for working in the book shop?”
    He grinned. “Ouch. You think so little of me? I’ll have you know that I was only helping out the owner that day. I don’t work in the bookshop.”
    I threw him a sceptical look. “So why give me your number then?”
    He shrugged. “You intrigued me.”
    I rolled my eyes. “Uh huh.”
    He smirked and then turned serious. “So, I take it parties aren’t your thing?”
    I shrugged . “I don’t like big crowds.”
    He nodded.
    “Right,” he drawled out . “You don’t like to socialise much, do you?”
    I shrugged again . “I’ve never been into the whole party scene.”
    H e looked at me curiously but he didn’t question my answer at which I was relieved. Instead, he tactfully changed the subject.
    “So, why ha ve you been avoiding me?”
    I glanced at him and noticed that his hazel eyes were looking at me intently.
    I sighed. “I haven’t. I just …” I trailed off, wondering how to explain to him that I was probably the biggest loner he’d ever had the misfortune of meeting.
    Danny frowned at me. “You just what?”
    “I’m just not used to people wanting to hang out with me.” I told him, rushing the words out rather quickly.
    He looked very con fused. “Why?”
    “I don’t find it easy to talk to people – and I don’t like anyone knowing everything about me.”
    “Yeah, I’ve noticed. ” he commented but he smiled at me nonetheless.
    I didn’t want to say anything else on the subject so I waited for him to speak again.
    “Well, I hope you’re willing to change that and start talking because I wanna get to know you.” Danny half-smiled at me and I found myself cautious.
    W as I ready to open up and actually let someone into my life? I had already freaked out on him several times when he’d tried to pry into my life but I couldn’t keep that up forever. I had a funny feeling that he wasn’t going to leave me alone.
    I could tell that he wasn’t going to give up too easily and I would have no choice but to deal with it. As my mother had said – moving here was a chance to start over – I would be a fool to let this opportunity to pass me by. It couldn’t be that hard letting Danny be my friend, could it?
     
    After I eventually decided to give Danny a chance at getting to know me – within reason, of course – he took it upon himself to ask me the most random questions. He didn’t ask about anything too personal – it ranged from what my favourite colour was to my favourite band – and I was happy to answer them.
    Despite my initial promise that I would not reveal anything to Danny, I quickly found myself charmed by him and keeping my word was soon becoming very difficult. He