Read Online Sparrow by Sara Mack, Chris McGregor - Free Book Online

consequences.”
    Ah,
I get it.  “This is about your parents, isn’t it?”
    She
shakes her head.  “Not just them.  It’s about life, Kyle.  Everything in life.”
    I
can’t help but smile at this amazing girl.  I’ve never met another like her;
she’s strong-willed, confident, and hot as hell.  She seems to have everything
figured out.
    “So,
if you’re such a free bird, what kind of bird are you?” I ask.
    “It’s
a metaphor.”
    “I
know, but what kind of bird would you be?  I’d be a falcon.  Or maybe a hawk. 
Something dark and dangerous.”
    “You
are so not dark and dangerous,” she scoffs.  “You’d be more like a
peacock.”
    “Ew. 
Why?” I make a face.
    “Your
changing eyes,” she says simply.  “And the fact that you have a, well, a…”  
She looks down at my crotch.
    My
jaw drops.  “Seriously?  You’re basing my bird on my junk?”
    She
grins.  “I guess that makes me a brown-eyed Booby.”
    I
can’t believe she said that.  I start to laugh and she giggles.
    “I
refuse to be a peacock and you cannot be a booby,” I say, laughing.  “Pick
something else.”
    She
tries to be serious, but can’t hide her smile.  She glances over my head. 
“There,” she says, “that tiny brown bird.  I pick that.”
    I
turn to look over my shoulder.  “A sparrow?”
    “Yep,”
she says confidently.  “He’s cute.”
    I
study the bird.  He hops along the tree branch and stops near the end, tilting
his head toward us as if asking, “What are you staring at?”  Another bird lands
on his branch, and he ruffles his feathers, shooing it away.  I turn back to
Addison.  “You’re right.  A sparrow fits you.  You two are definitely little
and feisty.”
    She
smiles and the music from my truck picks up the pace; it’s the middle of the
song where the tempo changes.  Addison steps away from me and picks up the beat,
moving her arms and swaying her hips in time with the melody.  The sun reflects
off her hair, turning it a golden caramel brown, and I imagine her as a hippie,
dancing in a field back in the ‘60s.  She gives me an encouraging smile to join
her, but that’s not going to happen.  Since I can’t dance, I decide to break
out my mad air guitar moves that are typically reserved for the privacy of my
bedroom.  She laughs and jumps in time with the music as I pretend to be Slash
on tour with Lynyrd Skynyrd.  If the dog is watching, I’m sure he thinks we’ve
lost our minds.
    Near
the end of the song, Addison grabs my hands and starts to pull me in a circle. 
Our arms are extended between us as we spin faster and faster, ring-around-the-rosy
style.  When she lets go, she crashes on to the blanket, laughing.  I follow
and land beside her, breathing hard.
    “That
has to be the longest song on the planet,” I say, trying to catch my breath.
    “I
think it is,” she pants.
    I
roll on to my side and prop my head on my hand as Addison brushes her hair out
of her face.  It’s a wild, tangled mess around her head.  I try to help by
tucking a piece behind her ear, and she smiles up at me.  Her eyes lock on
mine, and it’s then that I know.
    My
world has shifted, and she is the center of it.
    I
knew I was falling for her.  Hell, I think I fell for her the minute I saw
her.  But there’s a difference between like and lust and love, and I’ve just
figured it out.  I liked her when I met her.  I lusted for her the other
night.  But now?  Now, I’ve fallen for her in the hardest way.  We can be serious,
and we can be stupid.  I have no secrets from her, and she doesn’t hold
anything back with me.  Yes, we just met.  Yes, we’re seventeen.  But something
inside me says she’s going to be a part of my life.  Forever.
    “Why
are you looking at me like that?” she asks.
    “Like
what?”
    “Like
you just noticed me for the first time.”
    I
swallow, suddenly nervous.  “Because I think I just did.”
    She
lifts herself to her elbows and