A Perfect Mess Read Online Free PDF Page B

bite of her eggs. I was almost finished with mine.
    “So, how about that party?”
    “I don’t go to parties. I have to work.” Her politeness was pathological. At that point I’d really expected her to either flip me off or tell me to go screw myself.
    “Work? I thought this was your summer vacation.” I leaned forward, making sure I had a pleasant smile on my face. “How will you write that essay the first day of class if you don’t experience some fun over the summer?”
    “What essay?”
    She said it like I was serious and she’d somehow missed an assignment. This girl really needed to lighten up. “Well, the one in home room. You know. ‘What I did on my summer vacation.’?”
    She tried to hide it, but I saw the slight smile. I felt like I’d just accomplished Mission Impossible. Aubree Walker had smiled.
    “We’re not in grade school anymore, Booker.”
    “No, but we also don’t have to act like all the fun that ever existed in the world is gone, either, just because we’re no longer in high school. ‘ The best and safest thing is to keep a balance in your life, acknowledge the great powers around us and in us. If you can do that, and live that way, you are really a wise man .’”
    “Euripides.” She sighed. “Doesn’t surprise me that you would quote from a rebel playwright and philosopher. I believe in hard work. There’s nothing wrong with that.”
    “If hard work is all you do, then you’re not acknowledging the great power around us and in us.”
    Looking mutinous, she said, “Do they have to be mutually exclusive?”
    I released a breath, a pretty exasperated-sounding breath, and her face only got more mutinous. “Because it’s a narrow view, Aubree. It gives you no choices, no options. Hard work is it.”
    “So expanding my universe, becoming one with it, is all about fun.”
    “Yes, completely.”
    She tilted her head, and I couldn’t help but notice the way it made all those auburn hair of hers tumble about her pale, delicately-defined shoulders. “Okay, thanks, Obi Wan. There’s just one flaw in that.”
    I raised my eyebrows. “Only one? And here I had my piece of paper all ready to take notes.”
    She tried to keep her expression serious, but I saw her fight the smile again. “Really, you can count to two? I’m so impressed.”
    I laughed out loud and nudged her under the table. She nudged me back.
    I pantomimed a pencil, wet it with my tongue and pantomimed writing. “One,” I said really slowly. “I’m sure you’ll help me with the next number when I’m ready.”
    This time she kicked me. “Ouch,” I said, grabbing my shin.
    It was her turn to smirk. “I thought you said there needed to be a balance.”
    Aubree wasn’t like other girls. She thought about things and gave me answers that had meaning or challenge. Another thing I already liked about her. “Ha! Tripping me up with my own words. Work plays a part in it, but, Aubree. Let me blow your mind. What if your work is your fun? What then? Would you consider it hard? Fun? Even work at all?”
    She was quiet for a moment, as if she hadn’t even considered that. She looked at me as if she was having some kind of revelation. “You’re dangerous, Booker.”
    “In what way?”
    “In a lot of ways, but you’re a word master—persuasion is powerful. It’s almost magical…if I believed in magic. I would say that was fun for you. But, believing what you say takes conviction. I’m not sure if you’re just feeding me bullshit to get me to go to your party, or if you’re just…”
    “What?”
    “Interesting.”
    My heart tumbled over when she gave me another considering look and reached for the bill. Before she could get it, I snatched it up. “Breakfast is on me.”
    “That’s nice of you, but I really should pay my fair share.”
    “As a word-master, I would suggest that you get that word out of your vocabulary.”
    “What word?”
    “Should.”
    She shook her head at me. “Okay, Booker. I