Surrender by Lee Nichols Read Free Book Online Page B

stifle a laugh. “Could we be any more doomed?” he muttered.
    â€œEmma, button your top,” my mother said.
    â€œDo you really think you can waltz in here after leaving me on my own for months and months, and start bossing—”
    â€œPlease, Emma,” my mother implored. “For your father.”
    I grumbled, but took pity on my dad and buttoned my top. Bennett looked amused. Guys think it’s funny when they’ve been caught in flagrante a —for a dead language, Latin could sometimes be quite apt—but, as a girl, I was supposed to feel ashamed.
    Well, I wasn’t ashamed. Okay, I was a little embarrassed, but mostly I was pissed. At everyone in my life for appearing and disappearing whenever they felt like it. At having this power I didn’t ask for, and all the responsibilities that went with it. I could feel my skin begin to prickle with pent-up anger and frustration.
    â€œGet out!” I said. “All of you.”
    â€œEmma—” my father started.
    â€œPlease! Can I just get dressed in peace?” I was close to breaking down, and my voice cracked. “Is that too much to ask?”
    Bennett rested his hand on my shoulder for a second, then stood. He sort of herded my parents into the hallway, then shot me one last look before closing the door behind him.
    I flopped back on the bed and screamed into my pillow.
    I took a long shower and stressed about my parents. Had they only come back for the holiday, or were they here to take me home to San Francisco? I couldn’t leave without finishing Neos—they had to know that, right? As I dried off and dressed, I tried to figure out how I’d convince them to let me stay. Then I worried that maybe the Sterns had called them to take me away.
    I didn’t want to be thinking about any of that. I fingered the heavy silver band Bennett had given me. It was Christmas, and all I wanted to do was focus on my boyfriendsurprising me with his presence and his present—so I spent some time making myself presentable. No stains on my gray sweater or black skirt, and no runs in my black patterned tights. I added some blush to my lip-gloss-and-styling-stick routine, but wiped it off because it made me look like I had a sunburn. Still, I looked better than I usually did. Though I think Bennett would’ve preferred me
out
of my clothes.
    When I stepped into the hallway, I found Lukas leaning against the wall outside my door, looking repentant.
    â€œWhat’s up with you?”
    â€œDude, I’m sorry,” he said. “Your parents asked me where your room was.”
    I gaped at him. “And you told them?”
    â€œI had no idea Bennett was in there with you,” he explained.
    Natalie’s door swung open. “Your parents came?” Her expression was a little forlorn, or maybe jealous, I couldn’t tell. Then her face changed, like a light switching on. “So wait, not only did
Bennett’s
parents find you guys together, but now
yours
did, too?”
    â€œYup.”
    â€œNo!” She started giggling. “Oh, God! Were you naked again?”
    â€œWhen was she naked?” Lukas asked.
    Natalie gasped out an explanation between giggles. Halfway through, Lukas started laughing, too.
    â€œI wasn’t naked! At least, not all the way.” Which forsome reason they found even funnier. “We are so cursed,” I mumbled, and marched downstairs into the fray.
    I found them all in the kitchen. My parents sat huddled in the breakfast nook across from Bennett and his parents, all of them looking awkward and unhappy.
    â€œThere you are,” my mother said.
    â€œYeah,” I said. “
I’m
the one who’s hard to track down.”
    My father murmured something like, “Now, now, Emma,” then everyone fell silent.
    Celeste handed me a cup of tea, steeped for a long time with a splash of milk, just the way I liked it. There was no room for me at