Read Online Girls We Love by J. Minter - Free Book Online Page B

wearing dunky pajamas that Flan had found in the bottom of her drawer.
    â€œOh, will you get me some?” Sara-Beth said.
    â€œSure,” Liv said as she hurried out of the bedroom and down the stairs. She’d been annoyed for a minute, because her friends just kept talking about themselves, but as soon as she was down in the big, airy kitchen with its industrial table and virtually unused Viking range, she felt all that slipping away. It was like her mother had always told her: Groups of three are tough. And it wasn’t like her old friend Flan and her new friend SBB were being
mean.
No, Liv decided as she got a bottle of Evian out of the fridge and took a sip, definitely not mean. It was just that they were reallyexcited about their things—in Flan’s case, her possible sweet sixteen party, and in SBB’s, her weirdly normal-guy boyfriend, David.
    And that was fine for them. Liv’s thing—the beginning of her relationship with Patch—was not something that she really felt comfortable talking about yet, since they’d agreed on Saturday night that they really had to take it slow.
    â€œI just don’t know if I’m into long-distance relationships,” a voice was saying.
    Liv froze, nearly choking up her Evian. She knew that voice—ever so slightly nasally, slow, nonchalant—and it made her feel all giddy and sexy and
wanted.
    â€œYeah, they’re a total bitch,” said another voice. Different, and less recognizable, but still not an entirely unfamiliar voice. Sort of blas é : that pretty boy Arno, definitely.
    The voices were moving through the hall, past the kitchen, and into the living room. Liv moved toward the kitchen doorway, trying to hear better. She
needed
to hear better, because one of those voices was Patch’s, and he was speaking to a topic that concerned her a lot. The concept of a long-distance relationship had been weighing on her mind ever since Saturday night, when Patch had first told her that he wanted to take it slow. Because even though she wasn’t acting like it, she was supposed to be in Cambridge, England, right now forthe orientation of her pre–high school academic program. And she wasn’t going to be able to play hooky forever, which would mean that taking it slow would lead to a
very
long-distance relationship.
    A transatlantic love affair.
    â€œI just really screwed up, relationship-wise, you know what I mean,” the voice she was pretty sure belonged to Arno said. “That whole thing with Lara—I thought she was what I wanted and by the time I figured out that what I actually wanted was something totally different, I’d already screwed that up.”
    Liv was tempted to push through the door and point out that what Arno was saying was not in any way related to Patch’s feelings for her, but she was saved from doing so when the sexy voice started up again.
    â€œI’m not sure if that’s exactly what I was talking about, man,” Patch said. “But I’m sorry things got messed up with that girl.”
    â€œThanks, dude.”
    â€œAnyway, I just feel like… ”
    Liv leaned against the door. She was pretty sure that Patch was still saying something, but they’d turned on the TV, and she couldn’t hear anything over it. She was pretty sure she heard him say “love of my life,” although that also could have been whatever movie they were watching.
    There were a few moments of silence, during which Liv could feel her heart pounding against her Cosabella camisole. Then a voice that was definitely Arno’s said, “Well, dude, I’m no expert on love. But I wouldn’t rule anything out just ’cuz of geography.”
    Liv gasped “Right on!” out loud, and drew her clenched fist backward in a
yes!
motion. She couldn’t help it, he was just so
right.
Then she remembered that Patch didn’t know that she was hiding in the kitchen,