Read Online After Summer by Hailey Abbott - Free Book Online

her hair around and around her finger.
    It was a little flirtatious, sure.
    But flirting wasn’t doing, as she had explained to Jeremy last week on the phone. She had pretended that she was talking about the latest episode of The Hills, which was partly true. Jeremy had agreed. They hadn’t caught up in a lo-ong time—Ella felt guilty about not calling him back often enough—and she had been so wanting to hear hisvoice. But Ella knew they’d more than make up for their lack of correspondence that weekend.
    “Hey, Ella,” Ryan drawled, coming to a stop in front of her.
    Ella looked up slowly, as if it was hard to tear her eyes away from the latest Lindsay Lohan Goes Wild story.
    The wind brought the smell of winter with it, and kicked up color in Ryan’s cheeks. Today he’d managed to mess around with his uniform a little bit, so everything sat just outside school guidelines, right down to the mussed-up hair and loosely knotted tie. Even though Ella knew he probably did it himself—deliberately—she couldn’t help but admire the careless sort of vibe it gave him.
    “Hey,” she said after a moment, as if she was thinking of other things. He smiled.
    “What are you doing out here?” he asked. “Waiting for me?”
    Ella gave him her patented you wish look. “I had to get outside,” she said. “Sometimes school feels like it’s suffocating me.”
    “I hear you,” Ryan said, dropping down next to her on the bench, so they could both look out across the autumn-colored quad, trees losing leaves every time the wind picked up.
    “So, friend,” he said, raising his eyebows and looking ather. “I think it’s time that I cement my reputation as the coolest kid at St. Augustine’s.”
    “I didn’t know that was your reputation,” Ella murmured teasingly. “I thought you were just the new kid.”
    “At the moment, yeah.” He gave her a sly look, indicating that he knew exactly how cool everyone thought he was. It was that kind of confidence that made Ella feel like purring. “Which, obviously, needs to change.”
    “Aw, poor baby.” Ella laughed. She reached over and patted his hand. “Not getting enough attention?”
    Ryan shot her a look as if to say that no amount of attention would be enough.
    It was moments like this that made Ella think she and Ryan were two halves of the same whole. Or something else lame and vaguely poetic. She just knew that she got him.
    “So I’ve decided to throw the Halloween party to end all Halloween parties this weekend.” Ryan leaned forward and fastened his gaze on Ella’s. “I’m thinking you should come over early on Saturday and help me dress.”
    “You don’t know how to dress yourself?” Ella asked, feeling her cheeks—what the hell?—flush. Ella never blushed.
    “I think you could do a better job,” Ryan replied with a smirk. “And who knows? We might have fun.”
    His tone was completely suggestive, and he made absolutely no attempt to hide it.
    He was just so naughty. And Ella wanted to lap it up.
    It was almost too bad that she couldn’t go to his house.
    Almost.
    “My boyfriend’s coming up for the weekend,” she said, letting her lashes sweep closed, as if she was regretful. In truth, her whole body hummed with excitement every time she thought about finally seeing Jeremy again. “We have our own private Halloween party planned. Otherwise, I’d swing by. After you were dressed, of course.”
    “You should bring him,” Ryan said, his eyes steady on hers when she looked at him again. “Let him check out the scene around here.” He sounded unabashedly like he planned to take Jeremy down. Ella was a sucker for teenage boys’ competitive urges. She thought they were just adorable.
    “Here’s the thing about Jeremy,” she said, leaning forward herself, so they were in the same position. Like a mirror image. “He’s not really into the scene here.” She gave Ryan a smile. “He’s into me.”
    “Who could blame him?” Ryan’s grin