Love and Other Theories by Alexis Bass Read Free Book Online

must’ve shed for him when he dumped her. She should have spent those summer months kissing boys, no strings attached, and laughing with us in the sun.
    It’s so easy to look back, but sometimes it’s no use.
    Shelby was the one to attempt the apology, which was fitting because she’d been the worst to Chiffon. Chiffondidn’t care to hear it. She didn’t forgive us. She stuck by her new friends—the girls with too much eyeliner and not enough hemline. So it’s not surprising that we’ve seen Chiffon crying in the halls over a boy on more than one occasion.
    We hate Chiffon because she chose to fight back with eye rolls, giving us the finger, and calling us bitches instead of forgiving us when we tried to explain. But mostly we hate her because she’s everything we do not want to be.



CHAPTER EIGHT
    A fter school I walk slowly to my car. Of course, I’m looking for Nathan, as I’ve been doing ever since he took off for the library after Drama to study Spanish during lunch, but this time he finds me.
    He pulls up alongside me in his car and rolls down the window.
    “Where do you think you’re going?” He looks like a movie star in his leather jacket and aviators. I picture sliding his jacket off his shoulders and unbuttoning his shirt, and feel my knees start to buckle.
    I shrug and smile at him.
    “I’m parked way in the back of the lot.” Where thepeople with lives park .
    He gives me a playful frown. “Get in. I’ll take you.” A part of me really loves that to Nathan Diggs, parking in the back is terrible and not a confirmation that I’m cool.
    “Okay.” I smile—I can’t stop myself—and I climb into the front seat of his car. I point him in the direction of my red Honda and he pulls up behind it.
    “Are you doing anything right now?” he asks. Before I can answer, he tells me, “I could follow you home so you can drop off your car, then we could go grab some food. I’m in the mood for Italian.”
    I really like that Nathan has a well-devised plan for us. Trip’s plans usually included the word whatever . And the only food he was ever in the mood for was microwave pizza.
    “Right. Italian food. Is that what the kids are calling it these days?” He has to know that I’m onto him. I’m not completely naive as to why he’s tracked me down again. He wants more kissing, more foggy windows, more shirts being tossed on the floor.
    He laughs. “You’re going to be so embarrassed when you witness firsthand just how bad I’m craving chicken parmigiana.” Nathan’s eyes linger on me as I open the door.
    He follows me the ten-minute drive to my house. He parks behind me in the driveway. I’m making my way tohis car when my dad pulls up, toting my two younger brothers. It’s unusual for my dad to be getting them from school, as he’s usually at work until five thirty, but I notice my brother Gregory and my dad have matching PEACE, LOVE, AND PALEONTOLOGY shirts, and I remember something about a field trip to the science museum. I wave at them as I walk to the passenger side of Nathan’s car. They note that I’m on my way out and simply wave back. My mother peeks her head out the front door, and I’m not sure if it’s to greet my father and brothers or to get a look at the boy whose car I’m climbing into. Nathan waves at them—the polite thing to do—but then he gets out of the car.
    “What are you doing?” I ask.
    “Your parents don’t want to meet . . . You don’t need to check in, or something?” There he goes looking confused and adorable again—and finally uncomfortable, which is what I’d expect. Boys do not want to meet your parents unless there is absolutely no way around it.
    “What they don’t know . . .” I say. He knows the rest of the cliché.
    He looks unsatisfied with this answer, and smirks like he finds me adorable. “Come on.”
    I groan but follow him up the path to my house.
    “This is going to be fun,” he says into my ear once I’ve finally caught