Perfect on Paper by Destiny Moon Read Free Book Online Page A

good.
    “Hey, Marnie, I think the bartender looked over here,” Nadine said, hoping to distract her friend from further scrutiny.
    “If he did, he was definitely checking me out,” Alfonso declared. They looked at each other like they were going to arm wrestle over it. Nadine laughed. She was glad that she had come out. She had needed this.
     
    * * * *
     
    David called his friend Nick in the afternoon. “Dude, you gotta come shopping with me.” He needed someone with good fashion sense and, as far as he knew, Nick dressed himself, unlike some of the other guys they worked with whose girlfriends were the real decision-makers.
    “Why, man?” Nick sounded skeptical.
    David wasn’t going to beg, so he changed his tactic. “Come on, I’ll buy you dinner at the food court.”
    “All right, fine.”
    They arrived at the mall. Nick was immediately distracted by a booth featuring plastic kitchen trinkets.
    “Oh, man, I totally need one of these,” he said, picking up a salad spinner.
    “Dude. Concentrate.”
    “What the hell, man? Since when are you so hung up on clothes?”
    “I just…” David didn’t really have an explanation that seemed adequate. “I, uh…”
    “This is about a chick, isn’t it?”
    “Um, well, yeah.”
    “Why didn’t you say so, man?” He slapped David on the arm. “What’s she like? Who is this secret vixen?”
    “No one.” David instantly regretted bringing it up. Could anyone understand his feelings for Nadine?
    “Dude, you just said.”
    “Yeah, but I don’t think she’d ever go for me.”
    “You can’t think like that, man. That’s for chumps. All right, here’s what we’re gonna do. We’ll start at the food court. You can tell me all about her. Then we’ll shop. Get you all set up.” He affectionately slapped David’s chest and made a little circle with his palm.
    Over teriyaki beef, David told him everything without disclosing that he was talking about Nadine.
    Nick listened intently. “Seems like you really dig this girl.”
    “I do,” David confessed. “I think it might be more than a crush.”
    “Well, don’t go getting ahead of yourself.”
    “I haven’t felt like this before.”
    “Maybe not, but girls don’t like it when guys come on too strong. Don’t be moving in with her in your mind just yet. Give her some space. Get her used to the idea.”
    “All right, all right. So what kind of look should I go for?”
    “Honestly, we need to do a whole makeover, man.”
    “What?”
    “When’s the last time you had your hair cut? I know someone talented.”
    “Just clothes today.”
    “All right, all right. Let’s see. I’m thinking semi-professional. Young. Hip. Artsy. We’ll work with what you got.”
    Once they’d discarded their trays, they headed for Banana Republic. David tried on pants that weren’t jeans for the first time since his mom had made him wear Sunday clothes. The khakis looked good on him, the salesgirl said. So did the three collar-shirts and two sweaters, one of which was argyle. He even saw a leather messenger bag that looked a lot better than the backpack he’d been sporting.
    David passed the sales girl his Visa.
    “Hey, man, when’d you get a gold card?”
    “I dunno. They just sent it to me.”
    “God. Must be nice,” Nick said.
    “I don’t really use it much.”
    He signed the slip and they walked out. David felt like a new version of his older self had started to assert himself. He was looking forward to wearing his new clothes to work.

Chapter Eight
     
     
     
    The textbook rush was over but the bookstore had extended David’s contract. On the days when it wasn’t busy upstairs at the cash registers, he was sent down to help out in Shipping and Receiving, a request he was rather sure came from Nadine.
    “This is a different look for you,” Nadine said, as soon as he came through the doors in the clothes Nick and the salesgirl had chosen for him.
    He was vindicated. It was worth it to leave the plaid