Well Met 3 - Well Matched by Jen Deluca

Author:Jen Deluca [Deluca, Jen]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Romance, Modern, Fiction
ISBN: 9780593200445
Publisher: Penguin
Published: 2000-02-01T05:00:00+00:00

Thirteen

I wasn’t a sundress kind of person. Emily looked great in them, and our friend Stacey was a big proponent of them. But I was always more the trousers-and-twinset type at work, and on weekends lived mostly in jeans. Sundresses were twirly. Sundresses could show my scar.

But graduation was outside at the football field where there was no shade to speak of, and midmorning in June was just too hot for jeans or twinsets or any of it. So when I slipped into the end of a row of bleachers, off to the side where I could stay unobtrusive, I was wearing a flowered dress and heeled sandals, my hair blown out and up in a twist. I spotted Emily down in front, her head bent toward Simon’s. He had some papers in his hands, so he was probably one of the ones giving a speech at commencement.

I sat quietly, waiting for the ceremony to start, while all around me families buzzed with life and laughter. Dads held bouquets of flowers for their graduating daughters—shit, I should have done that—and younger siblings bounced fearlessly on the bleachers and squinted into the sun, pointing out their graduating brother or sister in the crowd below. My heart thudded when I spotted Robert, a few rows down and to my right, toward the front like he had every right to be there. And here I was skulking in the back. My shoulders rolled forward as I tried to make myself smaller. I didn’t want him to turn around and see me. See how much I wasn’t part of this community.

Just then, Emily turned and through some kind of weird family psychic power spotted me. She made an exaggerated face of impatience and waved me toward her, pointing at the bleacher behind her, which was still empty. I shook my head, but that only made her frown more and wave harder, so I grabbed my bag and made my way down there before she sprained something.

“What the hell, April,” she said once I’d picked my way down the rows and slipped in to sit behind her. “I was saving you this spot. Why were you sitting up there all alone?”

I shrugged; I didn’t have a good answer for her. I also didn’t want to draw too much attention to myself. This new seat put me almost directly into Robert’s sight line—we were in the same row now, and he was just a few feet to my right. Too close. I turned my head a little to the left so I couldn’t see him. So he couldn’t see me.

“Hey, there you are.” Mitch slid onto the bleacher beside me, bumping my left shoulder with his right one. “I was looking for you.”

“Here I am,” I repeated, trying for a brusque tone, but all the tension inside of me eased now that he was next to me. He was dressed much like he had been last night: jeans and a button-down shirt—light blue this time—his tie already loosened.

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