How (Not) to Fall in Love by Lisa Brown Roberts

Author:Lisa Brown Roberts
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Tags: teen romance, first love, across the tracks, Sarah Dessen, Kasie West, Stephanie Perkins, contemporary romance
Publisher: Entangled Publishing, LLC
Published: 2015-02-03T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nineteen

November 9

The Grim Reaper belched blue smoke as I drove to Charlie’s early Sunday morning to pick up moving boxes. My chest tightened when I saw Lucas’s car in the alley. What was he doing here? Shouldn’t he be home recovering from his wild dance party weekend? I pushed away images of him entwined with Heather. Unlike Lucas, I hadn’t had a wild weekend. I’d drowned my sorrows in ice cream and a weepy old movie, The Way We Were, one of the best doomed romances of all time.

Charlie had given me a key to his store and I went in through the back, heading straight for the storeroom to avoid Lucas. But he was already there, stacking and shoving things around with a vengeance. His hair was messy, like he hadn’t bothered to shower. Maybe he hadn’t. Maybe he’d spent the past thirty-six hours with Heather.

He whirled to face me, his face tensing when he saw me. “What are you doing here?”

He sounded so angry that I took a step backward. “I, uh, I came for boxes. I just—” I took a breath to calm myself. I didn’t know what he was mad about, but whatever it was, I had a right to be here, too. “We’re starting to pack. And we need more boxes.”

He held my gaze then looked away. “Of course.” His voice was rough. “I can help you break some down.”

I walked toward the stack of cardboard in the corner of the room. “That’s okay,” I said. “It looks like you have other stuff to do.”

He appeared next to me and took a box from the stack. Our eyes met, then we both looked away. He still looked furious, but I had no idea why.

I picked up an X-acto knife from the table and sliced through the packing tape holding the box together. It was going to be a long morning if he stayed there with me. “Do you want some coffee?” Liz wouldn’t be opening the store for another couple of hours, but I knew she wouldn’t mind if I let myself in and made us drinks. Maybe caffeine would improve his mood.

He shrugged. “Maybe. I don’t know.” He focused on the box, not looking at me.

What was his damage?

I finished disassembling the box, then collapsed it and started a pile. I’d tape them back together at home. As I sliced through the tape on another box, I wondered what I could say to shake Lucas out of his black mood. I thought of the movie I’d watched last night.

“‘Your girl is lovely, Hubbell,’” I quoted.

He looked up from the collapsed box he was folding. “Who’s Hubbell?”

“It’s a quote from a movie. One of my favorites.”

“What movie?” He wasn’t smiling yet, but he didn’t look quite as angry.

“Just google what I said. You’ll find it.”

“Why not just give me a straight answer?” He frowned and grabbed another box, dismantling it with more energy than necessary.

“Maybe you bring out the worst in me,” I teased. Almost there.

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