The Brenda Diaries by Margo Candela Read Free Book Online Page B

at.”
    “Are you being sexually harassed?” he asks.
    “No. The person I’m working for is a tad high maintenance, but I can handle it.”
    Wyatt looks at me closely. “You don’t look like you can. No offense.”
    “I totally can,” I lie. My stomach is already in knots thinking about going into work.
    “Whatever,” he says and goes back to his phone.
    If only I could “whatever” the rest of this assignment away. Maybe I can. Wyatt smells like pot. I might ask him for some.
     
    Thursday, May 12:
    With everything that’s going on, you’d think some people would be more considerate and at least try not to shove their happiness down other people’s throats. But no, I happen to hang out with two people who can’t seem to keep their feelings to themselves.
    Jared, who has a real issue with PDA, is hounding me to be more affectionate; and Maya is accusing me of having, as she puts it, “intimacy issues.” I’m going to have to hide her next issue of Cosmo before she diagnoses me with an eating disorder because I refuse to consider leftovers as a meal option.
    Is it my fault I grew up in a family that wasn’t touchy feely? No, and I’m not blaming my parents for my reluctance to tongue Jared in public. My parents have been married forever and not kissing and hugging in public hasn’t made their relationship any worse. In fact, I think it’s probably the reason why they’re still together—they save the private stuff for when they are in PRIVATE. Either way, I’m not going to let Jared make me feel (There’s that word!) like a weirdo because we don’t kiss at the end of a pier at sunset. I will hold his hand, though. I’m not that cold.
    You know who could use some restraint in the intimacy department? Yeah, Maya. She has found yet another winner to pledge her body and soul to. This guy is her typical daddy substitute. They both drive the same kind of car, which Maya pointed out because it’s totally normal to be dating a man who drives the same car as your dad. Gross. But Maya claims she’s in love and she doesn’t care who knows about it—as long as it’s not his wife, who this guy is (supposedly) separated from. Yeah. Sure. Whatever.
    Of course, we went out together and it was weird. But not as weird as watching a man pay for everything in cash. I assumed he paid in cash because he didn’t want his wife finding out he’s hanging out with people who could be his kids (if he’d had us at 16). Nope. Maya says Armie pays for EVERYTHING in cash, which makes me wonder where he gets his bags of money. But not too hard. I don’t really want to know and neither does Maya, who refuses to acknowledge how weird everything about her and Armie looks to me.
    So there you have it. Two screwed up relationships that you’ll never see in some dippy romantic comedy even though, it pains me to admit, there is some fun being had there. If Jared can dial down the PDA about 75% it would be great…and I know Maya and Armie will break up…and I’ll stop texting Cal. Then life will be almost normal and normal is good even if they don’t make movies about it.
     
    Friday, May 13:
    My buzz from last night’s bar crawl has turned into a low grade hangover, but at least I don’t have to worry about Constance. Keelin says she’s on her way to Palm Springs for the weekend and won’t be back until Monday.
    I have no reason to think Keelin is lying to me, but I have every reason to believe that Constance is parked outside, waiting for us to let our guard down so she can swoop in and tear us a collective new one.
    I’m stuffing gift bags as fast as I can.
     
    Saturday, May 14:
    Disneyland with Jared and Maya! I’m so happy about this that even having to hang out with the two of them isn’t enough to kill my wholesome buzz. But Jared asking me to meet his parents for brunch tomorrow just as we’re next to ride the Matterhorn pretty much does.
    “It’s going to be great. Don’t look so worried.” Jared helps