Read Online Thirteen Plus One by Lauren Myracle - Free Book Online

or did you overhear my pathetic phone call?”
    She laughed. Slowing down for a light, she said, “But, Winnie.”
    “But, Sandra.”
    “Didn’t we already discuss this?”
    “Discuss what?”
    “How you can’t be a bystander in your own life. How you have to take initiative.”
    “No,” I said, eyeing her. Was she making things up now, my sister the mute? Had she gone crazy?
    “Yeah-huh,” Sandra said. “A couple of months ago, when Lars broke up with you, or you broke up with him. Whatever.”
    Oh, that , I thought, sliding down in my seat.
    “And when you were in the middle of your little breakup, what did I say? I said, ‘Winnie, if you want him back, you’ve got to tell him that. Grab the bull by the horns!’”
    “It’s mean to say my ‘little breakup,’ and actually, no. You never once told me to grab the bull by the horns.”
    “And you did, didn’t you?” she said smugly. “You grabbed Lars’s horns—”
    “I did not grab Lars’s horns!”
    ‘And you took control.” The light turned green, and she pressed down on the accelerator. ”You did , Winnie.”
    I drew my thumb to my mouth, wedging my thumbnail into the crack between my front tooth and the tooth beside it. Lars and I did have a rough patch a couple of months ago, Sandra was dead right about that. It was around Valentine’s Day—the most awful timing ever—and it centered around the whole Brianna thing. How Lars let Brianna flirt with him, and didn’t discourage her and how it made me feel like dirt.
    So I called him on it, and we broke up.
    And in the aftermath, Sandra helped me realize that being broken up wasn’t what I wanted. What I wanted was just ... to like him, and have him like me back, and have fun together and be normal together. And not feel nervous about telling him what was on my mind.
    Yet what had happened after we got back together? I’d been strong, outspoken Winnie for a second, maybe. But look at me now: I’d totally reverted to wimpy Winnie. Ugh .
    “Stop the car!” I barked.
    Sandra looked sideways at me.
    “Okay, don’t stop the car,” I amended. “But would you turn around? Please? And take me to Lars’s house for one incredibly quick second?”
    “Winnie. Mom’s probably got dinner ready. She’s probably wondering where we are.”
    “Just for a microsecond. I swear.”
    She sighed, then eased up on the accelerator. She pulled into a driveway and turned around.
    “Thank you thank you thank you,” I gushed.
    “You better remember this when I need one of your kidneys,” she growled.
    At Lars’s house, I lobbed pebbles at the window of his upstairs bedroom, something I’d always wanted to do. It was such a “romantic comedy” moment, not that we were in a romantic comedy.
    But if we were in a romantic comedy, the guy would—suddenly appear! Yes! There he was, my beautiful sweet Lars, obviously surprised to see me. I gestured for him to come down, and he nodded and disappeared from view.
    As I waited, my stomach filled with butterflies. But when Lars slipped through the front door and came over to me, I didn’t hesitate. A single moment of fear could do me in. I knew that.
    I grabbed his shoulders, rose to my toes, and kissed him. I was light-headed when I finally pulled away. As for Lars, he looked dazed ... but in a good way.
    Sandra honked. “Marla!” she bellowed through the open window. “Get a move on!”
    “Marla?” Lars said, confused.
    I touched my nose to his. Then I covered his ears with my hands so I wouldn’t burst his eardrums.
    “Keep your pants on, Fanny!” I hollered.
    Lars drew his eyebrows together. He was so adorable.
    “Gotta go,” I told him. “But we have got to figure out a way to hang out this weekend, okay? Maybe Sunday brunch?”
    He nodded. “And afterward we could go on a bike ride or something. Um, spend the whole day together.”
    “That would be awesome,” I said happily. I kissed him one more time, not afraid at all.

I Stand