I Kissed The Boy Next Door Read Free

it to him. “Put your number in there, and I’ll send you a text.”
    He did as he was told and handed her phone back to her. His rang a moment later. He saved her number to his contacts.
    “Now,” she said, “as if seeing me next door isn’t enough, you can text me too. But how about you wait ten minutes so I can finally get my bath.”
    At the mention of “bath” and the thought of her in it, his mind took a swerve. She solved this by pulling the window closed and the drapes shut.
    Awakened from his mini-daydream, he returned to his bedroom, but left the screen outside on the ground. The task before him stared back at him again. Unpack. Unfold. But doing that meant admitting he was here, admitting his family had fallen apart, and he wasn’t ready to admit that yet.
    He lay back on the bed and stared at the ceiling. Three years ago life had been great. His mom and dad sent him to summer camp where he’d whiled away the hours playing basketball, canoeing, swimming, sitting around the camp fire, and wondering why a very pretty girl kissed him. However, the bubble burst when he came home.
    “We’re moving to Texas,” his dad had announced.
    Texas. Dry. Hot. Dusty. He hadn’t found anything he liked about Texas, and he didn’t fit in there from day one. It was just as well because the only purpose of going there seemed to be for his parents’ marriage to crumble.
    N ow what? Now, he was here with dumb ol’ dad because Mom didn’t have her life together yet.
    “I can barely support myself,” she’d said, “much less you and your sister. Go with your father. Your old friends are there, and the town you remember. Play basketball and enjoy your senior year. Maybe by the time you graduate, I’ll be better situated.”
    Yeah right. And maybe by then she won’t want him any more than she does now.
    He picked up his cell pho ne and typed in a text. He attached Lucy’s number to it. U good at unpacking?
    His phone lit a minute later. Need me 2 do your dirty work?
    Unashamed he sent his reply. Yes.
    A thump at the window brought him up from the bed. He stared into her face through the glass. Her hair was damp and stuck to her cheeks, and her face was flushed. He pushed up the sash. She extended her hand through the opening, and taking hold, he hauled her inside.
    “I can see we’re going to make a habit of this,” she said. She scanned the boxes in the corner. “You have any idea what’s in what box?”
    He shook his head. “No, my sister packed it all.”
    She leveled her gaze at him. “Your little sister? Isn’t she here?” Her look said and-she-could-do-this.
    “My ‘little sister’ is fifteen,” he replied, “and no, she’s staying with our aunt for the summer. She wanted to help with the move, but I told her not to bother. So it’s just me and dad.”
    “ Dad? Where’s your mom?” She turned her back to him and yanking the tape from the flaps of the top box, pulled it open. She then eyed the dresser drawers.
    “Texas. They’re divorced.”
    She stopped in place. “Oh. I’m sorry. I …”
    He waved his hand. “Forget it. You didn’t know.” And you would have found out anyhow. He held the thought in.
    “Well,” she said, “I won’t ask, but you know, it’ll be a long summer if you think on it too much.”
    Leaning back on the headboard of his bed, he folded his hands behind his head. “How about you take my mind off of it?”
    She pursed her lips and crossed her arms over her chest, an action which thrust her breasts higher, a not too unpleasing effect.
    “How exactly am I to do that?”
    “Well, what were your plans for the summer?”
    She apparently noticed the direction of his gaze because she lowered her arms. “I’m not sure I had any plans past the usual – sleep in, watch TV, maybe go swimming.”
    “Aw, c’mon,” he said, “Boys aren’t knocking down your door? You don’t have three dates lined up already?”
    He found it hard to believe she didn’t. Were the