Lovestruck Summer, Melissa Walker [web based ebook reader TXT] 📗

Lovestruck Summer

MELISSA WALKER Lovestruck S ummer

Contents Chapter 1 I live my life in headphones. That way, I can…1 Chapter 2 When Penny picks me up at the airport, I’m shocked. 8 Chapter 3 By early evening, I have my “bed”all set up…17 Chapter 4 Penny lets me borrow her car for my first day…31 Chapter 5 The rest of the week goes by really slowly. I…43 Chapter 6 At Dirty’s, the scene is all pool tables and neon…52 Chapter 7 I wake up to the smell of coffee and the…58 Chapter 8 On Monday when I drive to work, I put in…68 Chapter 9 By Tuesday night, not only has the elation that caused…85 Chapter 10 I wake up Wednesday morning determined to change my profile…92 Chapter 11 I’m half awake, dreaming of coffee. More specifically, the smell…102 Chapter 12 On Friday night, I have plans to meet Jade and…122

Chapter 13 The next morning, I wake up at eight A.M. without…140 Chapter 14 When I get into work on Monday, Jade is wearing…152 Chapter 15 I can hear the party before we pull in to…175 Chapter 16 I spend Saturday and Sunday moping around. I make Penny…194 Chapter 17 I take a deep breath and focus on the fact…200 Chapter 18 I have the urge to march inside and slam the…207 Chapter 19 By the time Penny gets home, I’m banging around the…215 Chapter 20 On Friday afternoon, I’m spread out at the dining room…221 Chapter 21 I run downstairs and don’t even stop to tell Penny…231 Chapter 22 The next evening, I hear a honk outside—Sebastian’s signature call. 238 Chapter 23 After calling about ten florists, I realize that bluebonnets are…252 Epilogue I’ve had three weeks with Russ by my side. As…259 Credits Cover Copyright About the Publisher Acknowledgments 267

1 Chapter 1 I live my life in headphones. That way, I can control what I let in. If kids at school are being idiotic and perky, I put on a mellow track and tune out their spirit rally. If my parents are nag- ging me, I play a fast song and rock out in my mind while smiling and nodding at them. That’s what I’m doing right now, at our dinner table. Mom and Dad gave up the “no headphones”fi ght last year when I proved I could listen to music and to them at the same time. The truth is, I can’t really do that, but they repeat themselves so much and their body lan- guage is so transparent that I always know what they’re saying, or at least the gist of it. Like I can see that Dad is using his fork for empha- sis as he lays down rules for the summer, and Mom is pursing her lips and smiling, which she

2 does when she’s trying to punctuate a point that Dad’s making. I just graduated from high school, like, last week. I tweaked my cap and gown by adding red silk swatches that streamed down the sides, and my best friend, Raina, and I celebrated by ditching all the stupid graduation parties and driving to Carolina Beach to listen to the new Walters album. They’re my favorite band, and their label, Amalgam Records, is in Austin, Texas—a place I’ve always wanted to see. We listened to all four Walters albums in succession on my iPod. Not on shuffl e either—but in the song order the band intended. And it gave me and Raina a brilliant idea. “What’s the number for Amalgam Records?”I asked. Raina grabbed her BlackBerry. Ten seconds later, she rattled off the digits. It was three A.M., but someone actually answered, and I actually played it cool. “Amalgam.”“Hi, this is Quinn Parker,”I said, using my adult voice. “I’d like to inquire about an intern- ship with your company. I’m well-versed in

3 your bands, and I’m willing to do anything you need—fi ling, mailing, getting coffee. Are intern- ships available this summer?”Silence on the other end. Then, in a burst of silliness, I shouted, “Say yes!”“Sure,”said the guy on the other end, who was starting to sound cute to me after two words. “Did you want to start next week?”“Um, how about the week of June twenti- eth?”I said, gesturing wildly at Raina. This is working! “Cool,”said cute indie boy, who I had decided was my soon-to-be-boyfriend. “I’m Rick. Ask for me when you get here.”Then he was gone. And I was psyched. So that’s how I fully took control of my destiny and set up my first summer away from home. My parents are both professors at the university in our town, and they’re going on a research trip to Ecuador for July and August. They expected me to stay home and water the plants, I think, but I convinced them that it would be better if I went to Austin for this “career opportunity.”

4 Of course, I told them I’d had to go through all sorts of trouble to apply—sending grades, recommendations, a personal essay—since it’s such a coveted music internship. They liked the sound of that. Mom and Dad are big on “life experience”résuméboosters. Besides, I’m heading to college in the fall—the University of Vermont—so if I stay home in North Carolina, the summer would be one long farewell with Raina while I work my job at the local movie theater. It would just be the same. So Texas it is. At the dinner table tonight, my parents are going through the Austin Rules, which include: “No Drinking, No Boy Sleepovers, and Listen to Penny.”Penny, my cousin, is a junior at The Uni- versity of Texas in Austin, and she lives in a condo down there, which my aunt and uncle bought for her when she went away to college. I’m not saying she’s spoiled, but . . . you do the math. My parents L-O-V-E her because she’s follow- ing in their footsteps and studying International Politics so she can be a professor just like they are. I haven’t seen