Read Online I Will Always Love You by Cecily von Ziegesar - Free Book Online Page A

spread across Hollis Lyons’s face, reaching his slate gray, thickly lashed eyes. He was tall and
     lean, and wore jeans and a purple-and-black-striped vest over a white button-down. A black newsboy cap sat jauntily on his
     head, his messy black hair sticking out from underneath. On anyone else, the outfit would’ve looked ridiculous, but on Hollis,
     it somehow worked. Vanessa randomly thought of a young Christian Bale in Newsies, a movie Jenny loved for no apparent reason.
    Hollis draped his arm over Vanessa’s shoulder and led her into the kitchen.
    “As you can see, we’re extremely well stocked.” He gestured to the makeshift bar like a game show host. The cracked laminate
     counter was littered with empty bottles and cans. “What can I get you?”
    “Whatever you’re having.”
    “PBR?” Hollis opened the refrigerator and held out a can toward her. “Seems to be all that’s left. I thought we’d just have
     a couple of people, but we’re at capacity.” He passed the beer to Vanessa. “Just so you know, I don’t make a habit of drinking
     with my students.”
    “I’m not your student anymore!” Vanessa had to yell above the music. Le Tigre was pounding so hard through the stereo that
     the hardwood floor seemed to be shaking.
    “I know!” Hollis grinned and clinked his glass against hers. “Let’s go upstairs!”
    He opened the door of the apartment and Vanessa followed. He swung his leg onto a rickety fire escape ladder installed four
     feet above the floor, holding his beer precariously with one hand the whole time. Vanessa clambered after him, her hands gripping
     the freezing fire escape, and stepped onto a narrow landing. They faced a large black metal door with a note tacked on: DO NOT OPEN, ALARM WILL SOUND.
    Hollis pushed open the door. They were greeted by silence instead of a loud siren. “That’s been there for years,” he explained,
     walking out onto the unfinished tar-covered roof. Around them, other people were on their own rooftops, setting off rogue
     fireworks, toasting each other, and laughing.
    “I love it up here,” Hollis said. “It’s like a party in the sky. LA was nothing like this. In LA, you always have to get in
     your car to do just about anything. Here, everyone’s so connected.” He shrugged as he sipped his beer and surveyed the surrounding
     rooftops. “I kind of wish I had my camera.”
    “I have mine.” Vanessa pulled her camera out of her messenger bag and offered it to him. She crossed her arms over her chest
     and clamped her teeth together so they wouldn’t chatter. She didn’t want Hollis to know how cold she was, because she didn’t
     want him to suggest they head back downstairs.
    Is that so?
    Hollis took the camera carefully from her hands and pointed it in her direction. “I’m glad we came up here,” he said, slowly
     panning the camera so it took in the other rooftops. He stopped once he came to Vanessa. “So, tell me the story of your life.
     Maybe I can make it into a movie that’ll get me out of my five-hundred-square-foot apartment.”
    “Do you use all your students for story ideas?” Vanessa took a sip of PBR to stop herself from saying anything else stupid.
     Why was she suddenly so nervous? She’d spent plenty of time alone with Hollis, debating the merits of Cassavetes after class.
     But for some reason, being alone with him right now felt scary and thrilling at the same time.
    “As you pointed out: You’re not my student anymore. Now, sit on the picnic table over there and tell me more about yourself.
     That’s an order,” he added, a playful smile snaking across his lips.
    “What do you want to know?” Vanessa perched on a rickety picnic table surrounded by rusted lawn chairs, the cold seeping through
     her jeans. No guy had ever asked to film her before. She used to film Dan a lot. But she didn’t want to think about Dan right
     now.
    Wonder why?
    “Right now, you’re doing this little snarl thing with your