Silver by Talia Vance Read Free Book Online

Austin lets go of my arm as I turn to face him.
    â€œNo.” It takes every ounce of concentration I have to keep from running out of the shop, but I hold my ground.
    Austin is watching me with a hint of curiosity. “I do remember you.”
    â€œWe’ve established that.”
    â€œI just imagined things would be different when we saw each other again.”
    I feel myself start to blush. “Different how?”
    â€œI’m not sure. I think I expected you to be more … affectionate.”
    Wow. Does he think since we kissed once, I’d just throw myself at him? After Haley? “Sorry to disappoint.” I look out to the parking lot, to where Blake leans against his car, angled toward Fishnet.
    Austin follows my gaze and nods toward Blake. “Am I late to the party?”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œI saw you watching him.”
    â€œIt’s not what you think.”
    And it’s not. Not exactly.
    I have this theory. My hypothesis is that I lack the pheromone that attracts people to one another. Or if I do have it, there’s some major imbalance. There’s been more than enough evidence to support it.
    Sure, Sherri Milliken invited me to be on the freshman math team on the fourteenth day of ninth grade, but that was based entirely on the fact that I solved a quadratic equation in my head during trig and the Mathletes were in dire need of a fourth member. It wasn’t like she was much of a friend. We stopped hanging out once I quit the team.
    It was more of a shock when Haley stopped me in the hall a few weeks later to ask me about my concert T-shirt. Turned out that the Matches were Haley’s favorite band, and she couldn’t believe I’d actually been to their one reunion shows at Slim’s in San Francisco. She introduced me to Christy, and the three of us have been together ever since. Again, explainable—it was the Matches, not me, that got Haley’s attention. Pathetic as my social life might be, I wouldn’t even have one if it weren’t for Haley.
    Last spring, Haley dated a senior from McMillan Prep who hung in Blake’s crowd, so there were plenty of opportunities to see him. And Blake kept coming to Magic Beans long after Haley broke up with his friend, even after he started college at U.R.D. Now he usually has a backpack and a medical textbook with him.
    Blake is the perfect test subject for me. He enthralls girl after girl, one perfect smile at a time. And there have been lots of them. He flirts with virtually every woman he meets, young or old, small or large, pretty or plain. All except one.
    Blake is my litmus test. My control group. My proof. I am the girl no one sees.
    Until last night, my theory was unassailable.

S E V E N
    I catch Haley watching Austin again, from behind the counter. She flashes me a nervous smile. As if I need to be reminded that Austin is spoken for.
    I blink at Austin. “I should go.”
    For a second, his eyes seem almost black. It’s there and gone so quickly, I can’t be sure. I take a step forward and it happens again. His eyes darken so much that the irises almost disappear. “Stay,” he says. The word is an anchor, pulling me along with a force so strong that there’s no hope of my ever making my way back to the surface.
    My heart drums out a staccato rhythm, pleading with me to stay with him. Hell, go with him. Be with him. It takes all the strength I have to pull my eyes away. I glance at Haley. She still watches, twisting her hair into a tight spiral.
    â€œI can’t.” I stumble over the words, not chancing a look back at Austin.
    â€œYou can’t or you won’t?”
    Of course I could . It would be easy to be with Austin. It’s not just that he’s adorable and has an accent that’s romantic as hell, though those things don’t hurt. It’s that he might be the one boy in the whole world who looks at me and likes what he sees. Something