Read Online Divine by B.L. Teschner - Free Book Online Page A

around,
throwing empty beer cans at one another. I glanced over and smiled at
their antics, catching the eye of a semi-attractive dark haired man
who was giving me a goofy grin. He put his hands on the arms of his
chair and hoisted himself up, almost falling over in the process.
    Oh great, he's
coming to see me . . .
    “ Well, hello
there,” he slurred, his breath smelling strongly of beer.
    “ Uh, hi, there,”
I grimaced; there was nothing more unattractive than a sloppily drunk
guy.
    “ What's your
name?”
    “ Stephanie,”
I lied.
    “ Stephanie . . .
that's a beautiful name. Where you heading, Stephanie?”
    I quickly concocted a
false story to get him to leave me alone. “I'm on my way to
find my dad; he's a cop and is patrolling the beach tonight. Do you
want to help me find him?”
    His stupid grin fell
and was replaced by a look of apprehension. “Oh, I think I saw
a cop walking around up there,” he said as he pointed toward
the ocean.
    “ Oh, okay, he's
in the water? Awesome. Thank you for your help.”
    His friends laughed as
I moved along and left him standing in a state of confusion. What a
drunk idiot.
    I made it close enough
to the giant bonfire to make out the people around it. To my relief I
saw Lou in the crowd; I didn't want to wander around searching for
him or Jonah for much longer. When I arrived at his side I reached up
and tapped on his jacket-covered shoulder.
    He turned around a gave
me a surprised look. “Hey, you showed up!” he said
happily, giving me a solid pat on my head.
    I laughed at his
gesture. “Yeah, I decided to grace you with my presence, I
guess.”
    “ Well I'm glad
you did. Go grab a hot dog, Jonah has them over there on the other
side of the fire.”
    “ Okay,” I
nodded. A hot dog sounded good but seeing Jonah sounded much better.
    I walked around the
massive fire and spotted him sitting on an ice chest with a beer in
his hand, talking enthusiastically to an attractive young woman with
dark brown hair and long eye lashes. My heart sank a little at the
thought of him flirting with her.
    He took a moment from
their conversation to take a sip from his beer and look around. His
eyes searched the area, looking for something . . . or someone.
    Are you looking for
me?
    Before going back to
his conversation he turned his head a little more and spotted me
standing next to the fire. My presence in front of him put an end to
his seeking and his crystal-blue eyes became engaged with what I
hoped was excitement.
    I timidly made my way
toward him and pulled off my hood as I smiled at the sight of him
taking me in.
    Oh man, he looks
amazing.
    He leaned over and sat
his beer down in the sand, twisting it back and forth to make a
groove for it to anchor itself in. The sound of ice rattled against
the inside of the plastic chest as he stood up and put his hands into
the pockets of his jeans. “Hi,” he greeted me with a
smile.
    “ Hi,” I
blurted back like a complete moron. “How are you?”
    “ I'm good.”
    We both laughed
nervously as our eyes darted around and then joined together again.
    “ That is one big
fire,” I said, pointing to the giant flames. “I could see
it from all the way down the beach.”
    He let out a light
chuckle. “Yeah, Uncle Lou is a bit of a pyro. I always tell him
he makes them so big because he's trying to make up for something.”
    The girl next to him
laughed along with me at his joke; for a second I almost forgot that
she was there. We looked at each other and exchanged friendly smiles.
    Jonah glanced between
the two of us. “Oh, I'm sorry. Summer, this is my cousin Jen.
Jen, this is Summer.”
    Thank god, it's only
his cousin.
    I extended my arm out
and warmly shook her hand. I almost bowed down and kissed it to thank
her for not being a threat to a possible relationship between Jonah
and I.
    She released her
friendly grasp and reached down into the ice chest for a soda. “I
better get back to Mitchell, he wanted to take a walk. It was