Love is Just a Moment by Taylor Hill Read Free Book Online Page A

Report: Eden Nightclub 14:30—LOU
     
    Chapter Six: My Rationality
     
    Field Report: Campus 13:20—SALVATORE
     
    Chapter Seven: My Whole World Implodes—Again
     
    Field Report: Eden Nightclub 21:30—ROMEO
     
    Chapter Eight: My Number One Regret
     
    Field Report: Meat Locker (exact location undisclosed) 00:00—ROMEO
     
    Chapter Nine: My Fallen Hero
     
    Epilogue: Dawn
     
    Afterword
     

 
     

     
     
    Sometimes your entire life can change on the spin of an imperceptible needle, launching off in an unimaginable trajectory, which begins, on the surface at least, as a moment like any other. As it happens you are oblivious, preoccupied, but looking back you always know it for exactly what it was—that single instant when the tides of fate finally rebelled against your ordinary life and shoved you forward into something far more meaningful, fulfilling and, yes, finally even terrifying. For me, it started that day in Gino’s Café, with Lisa as we waited for the others, and if I had any idea then of the unbelievable new direction life had in store for me I think I would have ran a million miles. Now though, even after everything that happened, I wouldn’t change a thing. Of course I wouldn’t…
     
     
    Even as I was sitting there, the February sun spilling in through the windows of the empty café illuminating the red and white - checked tables around us, I was still unsure of why I’d actually agreed to do this. Could any good from the arrangement? Sure, I loved the big dumb galoot, but it wasn’t as if I owed Lisa my support or assistance here, no matter how close we were. After all, I reasoned, by caving in and agreeing to join her on the “date” I was really doing her a disservice , wasn’t I? If she wanted to get involved with my moronic, posturing, typically alpha-male brother and his messed up lifestyle and poorly-thought out choices then I should have been doing anything in the world other than actually assisting her in making such a terrible mistake—shouldn’t I?
    And yet here I was, the squeaky fourth-wheel to a total freakshow of an automobile that was just this minute tearing down the highway of life, about to burst into unholy existence, and no amount of oil or TLC was going to silence my squeaking about it this time. It was enough that I’d even agreed to be here in the first place. If Lisa thought my role at the table was to be the second feminine presence in the double date that would satisfy her and Lou’s bizarre attempt at doing something “coupley” then she could go ahead and think whatever the heck she liked.
    No, I was here as chaperone only, to watch over her and watch out for her and, if I’m being honest, to watch to see if I could figure out just why in the world was she suddenly interested in Lou in that way to begin with—because I was well and truly stumped in that regard. And as for the second masculine presence in this upcoming tête-à-tête-(à)-tête-à-tête? Well I could only imagine what kind of unsavory tough guy jerk Lou would be dragging along with him this time.
     
     
    The Café was quiet that day, something that would have usually caused me to worry (it was after all the sole livelihood for both Gino and myself), but now it felt more like a saving grace. At least this way nobody would be around to see Lou embarrass himself with his over-the-top posturing. It was truly cringe-worthy, especially here on the Orange Grove, the close-knit Italian-American neighborhood we grew up in and where everybody had known us since childhood. The fact that it was known that Lou had had a good education and a (mostly) decent upbringing only made it worse when he acted the way he did, because people would know that he was capable of better. In fact only a few short years ago, I remember him as a gangly, bookish high-schooler with thick glasses and a mild but pervasive shyness—two years older than me but somehow almost younger , if that makes sense—and no matter what he