Love Blind by C. Desir Read Free Book Online Page A

back, hopefully a bit less angry.
    â€œThat doesn’t even come close. Aside from school and a possible national emergency, I’m not allowed out of the house.” The whole thing sucked, but as soon as I’d missed curfew, I’dknown they’d freak. My being wasted and smelling like alcohol vomit also hadn’t helped.
    She leaned in. “So Kyle’s the bouncer you hooked up with?”
    â€œNo. Kyle is the silent guy who does the engineering at the radio station here. He’s cool.” I adjusted the guitar on my back, knowing she probably wouldn’t get my fascination with him. Hell, I was still figuring out why I hadn’t left the guy alone already. Even if he did need to have those shoes.
    Tess crossed her arms. “Really?”
    â€œNo. Not really.” I laughed. “But he has potential.”
    And this is the great thing about Tess. She’d stomped up to me ready to be pissed, but once she’d found out I’d gotten home and that I was okay and in trouble, she wasn’t pissed anymore.
    This is an excellent trait to have in a friend.
    â€œSo what about bouncer guy?” She nudged my arm, and we started to walk toward class together.
    â€œChaz. Short for Charles.” I knew I grinned like an idiot, but I was fifteen, and he was legal to get beer. Con quest.
    Tess shook her head and laughed. “If you could see, you’d know how gorgeous you are, and you wouldn’t be all that surprised.”
    What? That was maybe the only compliment I’d ever gotten from Tess outside of our band.
    â€œI know what I look like.” And I was surprised. And flattered. Hot bouncer and a sophomore in high school?
    â€œSo. We need to practice.” She smacked her gum a few times. If she was in different clothes, with long brown hair, she’d have looked like one of the Barbie twins.
    â€œRight. So I’m grounded hard-core for two weeks, ‘at which point we’ll reappraise’—so the moms say.”
    Tess released a way overdramatic sigh.
    I opened my mouth to tell her to spare me another lecture, but she cut me off.
    â€œWell, could you quit the attitude with the moms for those two weeks and let Rox do braids in your hair so we can play again?”
    â€œMaybe.” Perfect. Two moms and a sort-of best friend riding me. That’s exactly what I needed. Though Rox sometimes let me off early if I was really, really cooperative. So the braids were probably a good idea.
    The next two weeks would be filled with arranging pots on the shop’s shelves, braided hair, and an occasional yoga class for quality time.
    My girls better appreciate the sacrifices I made for the band.
    â—ŠÂ â—ŠÂ â—Š
    Walking home was always thinking time. Running over songs in my head. Songs from my band, songs I loved. I needed my ears as much as my eyes for the mile walk—too many street crossings—so the iPod wasn’t an option until I got close to home. By then, I rarely bothered.
    A rhythm that Tess had been playing with flowed throughmy head as I hit my street, and I tapped my thumbs on my jeans while walking. Then I closed my eyes because I knew this street well. Twenty steps to the Tanners’ house, then a bump in the sidewalk. The Masons had a big yard, so it was twenty-five steps to pass their house, and their driveway had a bit of an odd curve to it. All things that I’d thought were fun to practice in middle school, but had started to become a reality when my eyesight took another big leap down and my pressure-relieving surgery hadn’t helped as much as the doctors thought it would.
    I hated it when my brain spanned away from something I wanted to think about, so I focused on Tess’s rhythm again.
    When I heard bike tires behind me, I nearly jumped off the sidewalk. I don’t mess with bikes because they blend into trees and basically anything upright, and bikers are generally assholes.
    Rox stood