A Very Terrible Text by Elana Johnson

Author:Elana Johnson [Johnson, Elana]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: AEJ Creative Works

Chapter Seventeen

Hillary

“It’s just that Charlie will be there, and among all the other terrible things my mom said, one of them was that he’d be there, and she insinuated that we could get back together.”

Liam simply stares at me from across the table, and frankly, I feel the same way. A little blank and a little bit like I’ve been hit with a hot frying pan.

Overnighter rings in my ears, and I’m not super enthused by the fact that Liam hasn’t immediately agreed to go to my dad’s birthday party with me.

“And we can go mountain biking on Saturday,” I say. “That would leave Sunday with your momma, and you won’t even have to make an excuse.”

“Well, now that I have the shark one and the house fire, I think I’m good for a while.”

I roll my eyes, but that’s only the surface of the excuses I’ve used over the years to get off the phone with my mother. “We don’t all have Southern mommas who make—make—make jambalaya and insist we come over for Sunday dinner with the sibs.”

Liam’s smile slips. “You don’t have siblings.”

“So I have a heavy load to carry,” I say. “Are you going to make me beg?”

“I’m going to make you explain what exactly the schedule will be like this weekend.” He leans forward, those dark eyes hooked so deeply into mine, I could close mine and still see him. “And, I’m going to need you to define what we are.” He gestures between the two of us. “Me and you. You said the word boyfriend.”

I lean forward too, not about to give him the advantage. “Yeah, because you’ve been kissing me for a full day. Do you think I go around kissing all the men I know?”

“I hope not,” he says, those eyes turning even darker. “Because then I’ll have to find those guys and punch their faces in.”

I laugh and shake my head. “You’re not the violent type.”

“What type am I?”

“We’re so far off the rails,” I say, though I normally love our back-and-forth and how derailed we get. “Listen, I’d love for my boyfriend to accompany me to my dad’s birthday party, though I know that’s really early for us in our brand-new relationship. But I really don’t—” My throat closes at the mere thought of coming face-to-face with Charlie Vaughn again after almost four years.

“I don’t want to go alone,” I say bravely.

“Then I’ll go with you,” he says. “And you’ll stay with your parents, and I’ll find a hotel, and we can go biking on Saturday. Is that the agenda?” He says nothing of what this trip will cost him, but I know he doesn’t have much extra money. He’s told me about his excitement for every consultation he gets, and I know he’s always looking for his next job.

“I—you won’t need to get a hotel. My parents’ house is enormous. There are probably eight guest bedrooms there.”

“So I was right.”

I glare at him. “It’s a road trip.”

“With an overnighter at your parents’.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.