The Color of Us (College Bound Book 2) Read Free Page A

driver’s side window and blew out a long puff of smoke as he handed me my Coke.
    “Nope.” I bit my lip. The truth was that I hated cigarettes, but as long as I didn’t have to breathe it myself, I could deal. Besides, Liam looked good smoking, although I had a sneaking suspicion he’d look good cleaning toilets or mopping a floor—or even picking up trash on the roadside. Once again he was dressed all in black with messy hair, an attitude, and a cigarette. Liam looked like a modern-day James Dean. And it was sexy as hell.
    “You should quit though,” I told him. “Those things will kill you.” My voice tripped over the end of my comment, and I cringed at my own idiocy. One thoughtless statement, and I had another fresh gash in my heart. A Sam-sized gash.
    Kill you . How could harmless little words like kill or die or accident cause so much pain? Would they always make me think of Sam and what I’d lost? Would her death forever hover at the edges of my life, waiting for the opportunity to torment me when I least expected it? They were just words. Why did they hurt so much?
    The whole thing was so real, yet unreal at the same time.
    I unscrewed the bottle cap and took a drink of soda, desperate to wash the words out of my mouth.
    “Lotta things’ll do you in these days.” Liam flicked his cigarette out the window, unaware of my inner turmoil. The ash scattered to the ground beyond the window, and he paused before taking a deep breath. “Tell me something good. Something that makes you smile. Something you’ve never told anyone else.”
    I swallowed my soda, ignoring the way my heart clenched at his request. There were a lot of things I’d never told anyone—wishes, dreams, desires. Things that I wanted but was too afraid to pursue. I liked them better as secrets. That way I knew they were safe. I didn’t like talking about myself, and I certainly wasn’t going to confess my hopes and dreams to someone I barely knew. I didn’t care how hot Liam was. Sam was the only person I ever confided in. When she died, so did my ability to share that part of myself.
    I put the cap back on my bottle and tightened it. My insides were in chaos. My heart was hammering in my chest, and my stomach was revolting against me. When Liam asked me to hang out, I never expected him to dig around in my head, poking at all my secrets and memories.
    “Why?” My voice was so quiet I wasn’t sure if he could hear me over the hum of the AC.
    “Because every time I look at you, I see heartbreak. And trust me I look at you a lot,” he said, making a point to meet my gaze.
    His admission surprised me. I’d snuck plenty of glances at Liam over the past few days too. I couldn’t help but notice him. He was the exact opposite of me, and he was everything that my mom would want me to avoid. He ignored the rules and was daring. And yet I was intrigued by his fearlessness. I was drawn to him.
    “Why does it matter?”
    He shrugged. “I don’t know. Fuck, I don’t even know you, but I know I hate seeing you sad. Tell me something that makes you happy. I want to see you smile.” His mouth curved into a grin, but it was a little off. Like something was missing.
    When I didn’t speak, he looked away, taking a long drag before blowing smoke out the crack of the window. Even silent and brooding this boy was the most interesting person I’d met in my life. Every day when I woke up, everything around me was dreary and gray. But when Liam was around, brightness surrounded me. Almost as if his intense personality soaked up all the light from the world around him and reflected it back tenfold.
    We sat in comfortable silence as Liam’s cigarette continued to get smaller with each touch of his lips and flick of his thumb. He never said a word, never pressured me to answer his request. He let me sit and think in peace, something my mother never allowed. I think my silence only made her feel Sam’s absence even more. The world was never quiet