going to have to take it.”
“That’s awesome!” he cheered, though he couldn’t help feeling a little disappointed. He was working, and now Vanessa was going to work too. That would definitely put a damper on his romantic plans. When would they have time to ride the tram to Roosevelt Island and drink sake in the park?
“Shit, that’s my call waiting,” she mumbled. Dan heard her take the phone from her ear. “It’s Ken. I better get it. I’ll see you at home, then? Your home, I mean.”
“No,” he corrected her. “Yours too.”
Aw.
Dan pressed the end button on his cell and slipped back into the narrow aisle of the biography section. He smiled. Maybe Vanessa getting kicked out was actually the best thing that could happen to them. Living together would make their last summer before leaving for college so intimate. It would be even more memorable.
He grabbed a few of the Reagan biographies and crouched, trying to find a place for all of them on a shelf.
“Excuse me, I’m looking for a copy of Siddhartha and I just can’t seem to find one. Can you help me?”
Dan rose from his crouching position, his knees cracking from bending over, ready with a clever barb about where to find enlightenment. But once he saw the customer, he swallowed his words.
She was about four inches taller than he was, with long wavy platinum blond hair pulled back in a no-nonsense pony-tail. She wore a faded gray gym tee and white denim cutoffs and had matching green-and-white wristbands on both of her arms. She furrowed her brow a little, but even worried, her blue eyes twinkled. She looked like Marsha Brady, only sexier and dirtier looking, like Marsha Brady on her way home from her aerobic striptease class.
“Um, yeah,” Dan finally replied, flustered. “Yeah, we should have a copy of Siddhartha. I’m sure we have one.”
“Oh, good,” Dirty Marsha cried, reaching out and squeezing his bony upper arm. “I really want to read it.”
“Yeah,” he muttered, leading her away from the presidential biographies and toward paperback fiction. “It’s actually one of my favorite books.”
It is?
“Oh, gosh, really?” Dan had never encountered a girl who managed to say “gosh” and not sound like a complete moron. “It comes so highly recommended by my yogi.”
“Here it is,” he announced, standing on his tiptoes and tugging on the book’s thin blue spine. He handed it to her.
“Cool.” She turned the book over to examine the back cover. “This looks really great. Thanks so much for your help. So you really liked it?” She gazed at him, her almond-shaped eyes matching the twilight blue of the book’s faded cover.
“Well . . .” Dan paused. Books were his area of expertise— why couldn’t he think of anything to say?
Maybe because he never read it?
“It was, um . . . inspiring.”
“Great. I’m really looking forward to it.” She cradled the book against her chest and leaned into Dan a bit more closely. “Maybe I’ll come back when I’ve finished it and you can recommend another book for me?”
“I’m always happy to recommend books to our customers,” he replied smoothly.
“Awesome!” she cried with cheerleaderish enthusiasm. “I’m Bree.”
“Dan.”
“Cool, Dan. This book isn’t long, so I’ll be back in a couple of days. Thanks again for your help!” She turned and strolled away, an actual bounce in her step. Dan watched her small, round butt, which closely resembled two scoops of French vanilla ice cream, disappear behind the News and Current Events section, before remembering that he’d just asked Vanessa to move in with him.
How, um . . . enlightened.
Gossip Girl 09 - Only in Your Dreams
the family that plays together stays together
“Bravo!” cried Lord Marcus. “Darling, you’re simply a natural at this!”
Camilla chuckled, tucking her long blond mane behind her ears as her red croquet ball rolled through the wicket and came to rest on a patch of perfectly