The Start of Me and You by Emery Lord

Author:Emery Lord
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2015-02-06T16:00:00+00:00

An hour later, I found myself searching through the fiction aisles in Alcott’s while everyone else sat in the coffee shop part of the store. Max had arrived a few minutes before, but he immediately excused himself to pick out a novel before the book counter closed. In my seat at the corner booth, I couldn’t hear myself think. Ryan was making Tessa laugh despite herself, Morgan was batting her eyelashes at Tyler, and I was in a confused near panic. Ryan Chase had kissed me. What did that even mean?

I needed what Kayleigh called my “Introvert Time-out”—a few minutes to reenergize and collect my thoughts.

I passed most of the alphabetical-by-author shelves before I found Max sitting on the floor. He was leaning against the shelf, long legs crossed in front of him. There was a small pile of books at his side, presumably those that were under consideration for purchase.

“Hey,” I said, turning into the aisle.

He looked up from the book he was holding. “Hey, girl.”

The first time he said this to me—in his simple, cheerful way—the phrase struck me. It was something I expected to hear from Morgan or Kayleigh, not from a cerebral teenage guy.

“Can I sit?”

“Of course,” he said. He slid the pile of books to his other side, making room for me. “Is Ryan boring you with sports talk?”

My face flushed at the mention of his name. I sat down, wondering if Ryan would tell Max about kissing me. He seemed so casual about it—he probably wouldn’t even think about it again. “Nope. I just need a little quiet for a minute.”

My eyes followed the spines of the books across from us. I had always found comfort between rows and rows of books: some familiar, some foreign, stacks of old friends and piles of new friends to be found. I looked at the book in Max’s lap.

“The Amateur Marriage,” I read out loud. “I didn’t know Anne Tyler wrote a book about my parents!”

Max laughed that delighted laugh of his. I felt that rush of pride, like a tiny shock to my system—a flashbulb going off.

“How’s that going?” he asked. His voice went quiet, and even though I was still glancing down at the books, I could feel his eyes on me. “Your parents, I mean.”

I shrugged, glancing up at him. “Still weird. I can’t think about it too hard or the entire universe shifts a degree, like everything’s a smidge off.”

He nodded. “Makes sense. It’s disorienting.”

“Yeah. A divorce is supposed to be final. Period.”

“No semicolons.”

“Precisely,” I said, unsurprised that he’d get it. “No ellipses either.”

I pulled my knees up against my chest, content to sit still. Max continued flipping through his stack of books, occasionally pausing to put one back.

After a while, Max scooped up The Accidental Tourist.

“Ready?” he asked, but I wasn’t—not quite.

“In a minute,” I said. And so we stayed.

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