Read Online Rites of Spring by Diana Peterfreund - Free Book Online
Authors: Diana Peterfreund
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circumstances would prompt us to kiss, and again, we didn’t. We didn’t kiss, because that would cheapen the whole experience, turn it into some kind of rebound fling. It would be wrong.
And what we were doing felt so right.
The story came together courtesy of my various friends, each of which had their own version—not to mention their own take on the matter.
Of course, I’d heard Brandon’s first, that night:
“I didn’t even realize I’d been doing it until she started pointing it out after that day when you were in my room. But the more she kept bringing it up, the more she kept talking about you, the harder it was to overlook. And it doesn’t make sense that…”
I didn’t need him to finish the sentence. It didn’t make sense that he’d be dating Felicity and thinking about me.
“The dance was the last straw…for both of us. She wouldn’t stop talking about you. It wasn’t even me, I swear. And when she started screaming at me…”
Poor Brandon. He looked so lost. No one could blame me for being a shoulder for him to cry on.
Lydia, of course, had her own perspective. As soon as Brandon left the next morning, she pounced:
“Amy, don’t you think it’s a little odd that after having a huge screaming match with his current girlfriend, in front of the entire senior class, about how he wasn’t over his ex -girlfriend, the first thing he did was go to said ex-girlfriend’s room?”
I also thought it was a little odd to be spoken to like I was a six-year-old.
“To be fair,” Josh said without looking up from his Wall Street Journal, “it wasn’t the first thing. We saw them fight at the dance, and judging from the state of his coat, he’d been walking around outside for at least an hour.”
“Thank you, CSI. ” Lydia rolled her eyes. “The point is, I practically bruised my jaw on the floor when I saw him standing outside. I wouldn’t even have let him in if it hadn’t been for Josh making me.”
“Making you?” I looked from one half of the couple to the other.
“He looked cold,” said my fellow knight, with a shrug.
“But,” Lydia pronounced, like a judge, “in the light of day, it doesn’t look good.”
“It looks like Felicity had a point,” Josh said from behind his newspaper.
Yeah, she won the fight, but lost the boy. Some victory.
Lydia snarled at her boyfriend. “Someone’s going to get hurt. It’s too soon for…whatever they’re doing.”
“We’re not doing anything!” I insisted.
Lydia rolled her eyes. “Well, that’s good. Did he officially break up with her?”
I hesitated. We hadn’t actually discussed that. Just as we hadn’t discussed what we were doing. Everything else, sure. But not that. How had we spent so many hours together without it coming up?
Lydia knew me well enough to read my expression. “Just as I thought.”
Josh looked up now. “Say what you will, Lydia. I think it’s over. No man should have to put up with that kind of public humiliation. That girl is a harpy.”
The harpy’s childhood friend Clarissa had a decidedly different take on the matter. She breezed into the tomb at dinner that night, filled with stories about the recent scandal:
“So then, just as they are dancing to the new Bublé—”
“Oh, I love that song,” said Lil’ Demon.
“He makes some comment about Valentine’s Days of yore—” at which, she flicks a hand in my direction. “I mean, can you believe it? Most romantic moment ever, and he’s still talking about his ex. What do you expect a girl to do in a situation like that?”
Even I couldn’t come up with a good response.
“So they broke up on the dance floor?” Lil’ Demon asked. “Harsh!”
“Oh, no,” Angel said. “They didn’t break up. I mean, they may, but…”
But what? I bit my lip from bursting out— But he spent last night with me! —though I knew Angel would be obligated to keep my secrets, considering her oath. Soze glanced at
And what we were doing felt so right.
The story came together courtesy of my various friends, each of which had their own version—not to mention their own take on the matter.
Of course, I’d heard Brandon’s first, that night:
“I didn’t even realize I’d been doing it until she started pointing it out after that day when you were in my room. But the more she kept bringing it up, the more she kept talking about you, the harder it was to overlook. And it doesn’t make sense that…”
I didn’t need him to finish the sentence. It didn’t make sense that he’d be dating Felicity and thinking about me.
“The dance was the last straw…for both of us. She wouldn’t stop talking about you. It wasn’t even me, I swear. And when she started screaming at me…”
Poor Brandon. He looked so lost. No one could blame me for being a shoulder for him to cry on.
Lydia, of course, had her own perspective. As soon as Brandon left the next morning, she pounced:
“Amy, don’t you think it’s a little odd that after having a huge screaming match with his current girlfriend, in front of the entire senior class, about how he wasn’t over his ex -girlfriend, the first thing he did was go to said ex-girlfriend’s room?”
I also thought it was a little odd to be spoken to like I was a six-year-old.
“To be fair,” Josh said without looking up from his Wall Street Journal, “it wasn’t the first thing. We saw them fight at the dance, and judging from the state of his coat, he’d been walking around outside for at least an hour.”
“Thank you, CSI. ” Lydia rolled her eyes. “The point is, I practically bruised my jaw on the floor when I saw him standing outside. I wouldn’t even have let him in if it hadn’t been for Josh making me.”
“Making you?” I looked from one half of the couple to the other.
“He looked cold,” said my fellow knight, with a shrug.
“But,” Lydia pronounced, like a judge, “in the light of day, it doesn’t look good.”
“It looks like Felicity had a point,” Josh said from behind his newspaper.
Yeah, she won the fight, but lost the boy. Some victory.
Lydia snarled at her boyfriend. “Someone’s going to get hurt. It’s too soon for…whatever they’re doing.”
“We’re not doing anything!” I insisted.
Lydia rolled her eyes. “Well, that’s good. Did he officially break up with her?”
I hesitated. We hadn’t actually discussed that. Just as we hadn’t discussed what we were doing. Everything else, sure. But not that. How had we spent so many hours together without it coming up?
Lydia knew me well enough to read my expression. “Just as I thought.”
Josh looked up now. “Say what you will, Lydia. I think it’s over. No man should have to put up with that kind of public humiliation. That girl is a harpy.”
The harpy’s childhood friend Clarissa had a decidedly different take on the matter. She breezed into the tomb at dinner that night, filled with stories about the recent scandal:
“So then, just as they are dancing to the new Bublé—”
“Oh, I love that song,” said Lil’ Demon.
“He makes some comment about Valentine’s Days of yore—” at which, she flicks a hand in my direction. “I mean, can you believe it? Most romantic moment ever, and he’s still talking about his ex. What do you expect a girl to do in a situation like that?”
Even I couldn’t come up with a good response.
“So they broke up on the dance floor?” Lil’ Demon asked. “Harsh!”
“Oh, no,” Angel said. “They didn’t break up. I mean, they may, but…”
But what? I bit my lip from bursting out— But he spent last night with me! —though I knew Angel would be obligated to keep my secrets, considering her oath. Soze glanced at
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