Read Online The Second Summer of the Sisterhood by Ann Brashares - Free Book Online

eyes seemed to focus only a few inches in front of her face.
    She forgot about him until he was talking right next to her ear. It took her a few moments to realize he was talking to her ear. Or rather, to her.
    “Do you want to get coffee?” he seemed to be asking.
    Maura was looking at her expectantly too.
    “Oh . . .” When Alex’s words arranged themselves into the proper order, Tibby discovered she was pleased. “Now?”
    “Sure.” Maura appeared to have taken over the planning. “Do you have another class?”
    Tibby shrugged. Did she? Did it matter? She stood up and lifted her bag over her shoulder.
    They sat in the back of the café at the student union building. It turned out both Alex and Maura were from New York City, which Tibby might have guessed. It also turned out Maura’s room was on the seventh floor of Tibby’s dorm. Maura was particularly interested in Vanessa, the RA.
    “Did you see her room?”
    Tibby’s attention was drifting over to Alex. Maura wasn’t willing to let it go.
    “Seriously, did you see it?”
    “No,” Tibby said.
    “It’s full of toys and stuffed animals. I swear to God. The girl is a
freeeeak.
”
    Tibby nodded. She didn’t doubt that, but she was more interested in listening to Alex talk about his project. “It’s pure nihilism. Think Kafka, but with a lot of explosions,” he was explaining.
    Tibby laughed appreciatively even though she didn’t know what
nihilism
meant and she couldn’t name a single thing Kafka had written. He was a writer, wasn’t he?
    Alex had a wry smile. “Kafka meets early Schwarzenegger, and the whole thing takes place in a Pizza Hut.”
    He is smart,
Tibby thought. “And how is this biographical?” she asked.
    Alex shrugged and cast her a low-level smile. “Dunno,” he said, like he couldn’t be bothered.
    “So what’s your project going to be? Do you know yet?” Maura asked her.
    Tibby didn’t even allow herself the idea of her first idea, though it cast its shadow from high above her head. “I don’t know. . . . I’m thinking probably I’ll . . .”
    Tibby had no idea how she was going to end this sentence. She looked down at Alex’s Pumas. She wanted her movie to be funny. She wanted Alex to smile at her the way he had in Bagley’s class.
    She thought of the stuff she’d already filmed this summer. She’d caught this hilarious bit of her mom bustling around the kitchen, unaware that she had Nicky’s lollipop stuck to the back of her head. It was a dumb gag, but it was funny.
    “I’m thinking I’ll probably do kind of a comic one . . . about my mom.”
     
    Carmen wished the ride to the Morgans’ were longer so she could complain longer. She could tell Lena felt the ride was long enough.
    “I understand, I really do,” Lena said sweetly but with diminishing patience as she pulled up in front of the large white clapboard house. “I’m just saying, your mom hasn’t gone on a date in a long time. It’s exciting for her.”
    Lena glanced at Carmen’s sour face. “But then again, she’s not my mom. If she were, maybe I’d feel exactly the same way.”
    Carmen studied her suspiciously. “No. You wouldn’t.”
    Lena shrugged. “Well, I don’t think my mom ever kissed a guy other than my dad, so it’s pretty hard to picture,” she reasoned diplomatically. “But if she did—”
    “You would be kind about it,” Carmen finished.
    “No one is kind to their mom,” Lena said.
    “You are,” Carmen accused.
    “Oh, no, I’m not,” Lena said with feeling.
    “You get annoyed and maybe huffy sometimes, Len, but you’re not openly bratty.”
    “Annoyed and huffy can be even worse than bratty,” Lena argued.
    The shiny red front door opened, and Jesse Morgan stood waving at them from the top step.
    “I have to go,” Carmen said. “Can you pick me up? I’ll drive tomorrow.”
    “You can’t drive tomorrow. If you do, I’ll be late again,” Lena said.
    “You won’t be. Seriously. I’ll get up early.