Read Online Come Sit By Me by Thomas Hoobler - Free Book Online Page A

that sounded, Colleen began to laugh. Not because I was dumb. I realized with a shock that she thought I had made a joke. And suddenly I felt like the funniest guy in the world.
    North came over with his arm around another of the girls—Ronda. She was a cheerleader, after all, and pretty spectacular looking too. But I thought Colleen was even better. “Hey, Paul,” North said, “why don’t we pick up some beers and go visit the dead?”
    The girls laughed at this, even Colleen. I felt betrayed. How could she laugh at some other guy’s joke? Which in my opinion wasn’t that funny.
    Then I understood. He meant the cemetery. I nodded, because what else could I do? I had no idea where we could get beer, but of course North would take care of that.
    â€œLet’s take your car,” North said. “It’s more comfortable than my truck.” For some reason, that made me feel like the coolest guy. I was the one with the car. Dad didn’t seem so out of it after all.
    The girls and North went off to change out of their uniforms. As far as I was concerned, Colleen could just stay in the short skirt and sweater, but when she returned, she looked even better. She had on khaki shorts and a blue sleeveless top. I did manage to sneak a look at her boobs, and was a little surprised to see that they didn’t appear quite as big as before. Or perky. Or something. Well, they were still in the high percentile of breasts I’d observed up close, so I wasn’t feeling buyer’s remorse.
    We got into my Toyota and North directed me to a 7/11 outside of town. He showed me his palm, and I realized I was supposed to put money on it. I supplied a ten, and apparently that was enough, because he went inside the store.
    He returned with two six-packs of a local beer called Utica Club. I didn’t get any change.
    North started to tell me how to get to the cemetery, but I said I already knew. “You been out here before?” he asked, with a leer in his voice. I decided not to tell him that my little sister had shown me the way.
    â€œJust looking around,” I said.
    â€œFind anything?” he asked. I had a feeling he had something specific in mind, but I just tossed it off with another weak joke. “Seemed pretty dead to me,” I said.
    When we arrived, there were already five or six cars parked around the main road. North showed me how to get onto a smaller path where I turned the car around so that we were facing the center of the cemetery. I saw the angel outlined against the moon. North noticed me looking at it. “We brought our own angels,” he said. The girls thought that was hilarious.
    North and Ronda got into the back seat, taking the beer with them. I heard him popping the tops. He handed a couple over the seat, and Colleen and I took swigs from ours. As usual I didn’t much like the taste of it, but I knew that soon it wouldn’t bother me all that much.
    â€œSo tell me,” said Colleen, snuggling close to me. “Are the girls in New York like the ones on Gossip Girl ?”
    â€œPretty much,” I said. I never watched Gossip Girl . As far as I knew, it had no resemblance to any real school, in New York or out.
    â€œAre they more like Blake or Leighton?” Colleen asked.
    â€œA little of both,” I replied cautiously.
    â€œYou know, I think I could be in a show like that,” she said. “I look more like a high school girl than they do. They’re really in their twenties, did you know that?”
    â€œIs that right?” I drank some more beer, wondering why I’d agreed to this. I could hear Ronda giggling in the back seat.
    â€œNorth?” said Colleen. “Give us another couple beers before you get busy.”
    That made Ronda giggle louder. I heard more popping sounds as North opened some more cans, and over the seat they came. Colleen took them both and said to me, “Hurry up. You’re not even