Nothing Like You by Lauren Strasnick Read Free Book Online Page B

still don’t like her. And you don’t like her either! Remember? She’s dumb, Nils. You’re just with her’cause she’ll have sex with you.”
     
    “You’re jealous.”
     
    I laughed. “Jealous of
what
? Her
constant
giggling? All that bottomless
depth
?” I got up on my knees. “Oh! Or! Watch for her birthday party costume. Bet you anything it involves a bikini!”
     
    “Okay, Holly, enough.”
     
    I tilted my head to one side. “You’re a smart guy, Nils. I don’t understand why you’d go out with a girl like that.”
     
    “One day you’ll get it. You’ll invest more than two seconds in something or someone, then we’ll talk.”
     
    “You think you know everything about me?” I stood up. “You don’t know everything about me. I’ve
invested
in things you know nothing about.”
     
    “Clearly.” We looked at each other. Nils grabbed my hand and dragged me back down. He looked me straight in the eye.
     
    I wilted a little. “Look, I can’t talk about it, okay? Just respect that, please? Because I can’t. Not now, anyways.”
     
    “All right.”
     
    I grabbed him and wrapped my arms around his neck. Then held on tight for second or two before pulling back. “Do you bring her here?”
     
    “Who? Nora?”
     
    I nodded, my hands sliding to his shoulders. “Do you?”
     
    “Holly, no. Come on. This is our place.”
     
    We linked pinkies. Then we both slid back down onto our backs with our books. Nils reached over and slipped a finger through my hair. “I love fighting with you,” he whispered.
     
    I dragged my knees to my chest. “Exciting, isn’t it?”
     
    “Makes me feel so alive!” he teased, pulling on a thick chunk of hair and jolting my head hard to one side.
     

Chapter 12
     
    Mid-November . I was helping Ballanoff carry two huge stacks of books back to his office. We were talking about dumb stuff. Surface stuff. School and Dad and a new section from
The Crucible
we were working on in class. And then came a quick lull in the conversation and who knows why I said what I said but here’s what came out when I opened my mouth: “Jeff says you had a crush on my mom.”
     
    It’s true. Jeff claims Ballanoff was really into my mother in high school.
     
    You should have seen his face. Frozen deer. Spotlights. Or headlights. Or whatever. “He says that, huh?”
     
    I nodded. “Is it true?”
     
    He fished his keys from his jacket pocket, then he undid the lock on the door. “Come on in. Stay a while.” We bothdropped our books onto his messy desk. “You want iced tea?” He bent down by the mini fridge.
     
    “Sure.”
     
    “Diet?” he asked, grabbing two Snapples.
     
    “Fine by me.”
     
    He tossed me my drink, then sat down across from me. “Yes. True. I had a crush on your mother.”
     
    “Really?”
     
    “Really.”
     
    This was amazing to me. I loved the idea of my mother existing pre-Jeff. There’d only ever been one other guy I knew anything about, hairy Michael, Mom’s college boyfriend. But now there was this, too. “Did you do anything about it?”
     
    “Like what?”
     
    “I dunno. Did you tell her? Did you
pursue
her?” He just looked at me, so I leaned forward and said, “Mr. B, did you
date
my mom?”
     
    He half laughed/half coughed, as if he were clearing his throat. “No, Holly. I didn’t date your mom.”
     
    “Did you ever kiss?”
     
    “Holly.”
     
    “Come on, you’re giving me nothing.”
     
    He shifted around in his seat, pursing his lips. “Once. When we were your age, about. It wasn’t anything. I don’t think she was really that into it, to be honest.”
     
    I blinked. “Were you sad when she died? I mean, I would have been so sad if someone I’d really liked once had died.”
     
    “Yeah, of course. I was very sad.” And then he really looked it. I could be wrong, but I swear to god his eyes got a little wet.
     
    “I want to go see a psychic,” I blurted.
     
    “What for?”
     
    “You know.