The Unloved by Jennifer Snyder Read Free Book Online Page B

chuckled. Seeing Emily all riled up was pretty funny no matter the reason. She was the only person I’d ever known who could raise one eyebrow straight up in the air. “Sorry, I’ll take it off when we get there. Okay?”
    “Fine.” She huffed and I chuckled a little more.
    “Do I take a right or left?” Tiffany asked as she rolled up to a stop sign.
    “Right,” both Emily and I answered at the same time.
    Nervous butterflies swarmed around in my stomach as we neared Drew’s street. I hadn’t been to a party in a while. A long while. It wasn’t that I didn’t enjoy fun, because I did, on occasion; it was just that no fun could ever come out of drunken teenage boys. Not in my opinion anyway.
    Tiffany turned down Whitman Street and my heart began to pound. Drew’s house was the last one on the left, but even if I hadn’t known that from the few parties of his that I had gone to over the years, the cars lining the street would have been a dead giveaway.
    “Hey, you know who we should have invited?” Tiffany asked as we all climbed out of her car and started toward the house.
    “Who?” Emily answered, stepping over the small ditch Tiffany had come close to parking her back tire in.
    “Luke,” Tiffany said, bumping me with her elbow.
    “Ugh, I don’t think so. Then we’d have to invite Cole and I so do not want to hang out with my brother,” I muttered.
    “Wait!” Emily shouted and turned to face me. “Sweater. Car. Now.”
    I rolled my eyes and pulled it above my head. I’d thought for sure she’d forgotten. She held out her hands and I tossed it to her. Tiffany and I waited while she backtracked to the car.
    “Better.” Emily smiled and locked arms with Tiffany and me, then we all started walking toward the house again.
    Music began to vibrate my insides the closer we got to the door and Tiffany lit up with excitement. I smiled because it was contagious. As we stepped inside eyes darted our way as people scoped out who was entering. I fought with myself to keep my eyes up, but in the end I lost the battle when they reached this guy standing in the middle of the room with a red plastic cup in his hand. They dropped to my shoes like always, embarrassment tinting my cheeks. Eye contact always felt uncomfortable. If you made eye contact with people, they talked to you. Especially guys. And if they talked to you, they hit on you, generally speaking.
    “Come on, let’s find you a drink,” Emily yelled over the music in my ear.
    I nodded and smiled. I wasn’t big on alcohol, not at all, but right now I needed something to calm my nerves before I stepped outside into the fresh air for the remainder of the night to hide in the car. We stepped into the kitchen and that was when I saw him—Nick.
    He stood leaning against the counter, dressed in a pair of faded jeans and a blue and gray T-shirt, holding a bottleneck Bud Light in his hand. He was talking with Blake and Tom. Something funny must have just been said because he broke out into laughter. I just stared, happy to see him laughing, trying to catch the sound of it and tear it apart from the loud noise of the party that surrounded it because it had been so long since I’d heard his laugh.
    “Blake!” Emily shouted and dropped my arm as she rushed forward like it had been years since she’d last seen him and not hours.
    Tiffany slipped her arm free of mine and muttered something about some guy named Trent before walking away. I was left standing there feeling naked without my sweater, without my friends on either arm, still staring at Nick when I knew I’d already reached the creepy stalker point of retreat.
    His eyes met mine and I felt my heart stop and then restart. A slow smile twisted up the corners of his lips as he raised his beer to them for a sip, his eyes never leaving mine. I chewed on my bottom lip and walked to the counter to lean against it.
    “Hey, babe,” Blake said, kissing Emily on the cheek. “Wanna beer?”
    “Sure,”