Almost Broken Read Online Free PDF Page A

that is worse than if he was scowling at me.
    He feels sorry for me. Great. That’s just great.
    We head into the house, and Chris immediately heads to the kitchen. He has the appetite of a teenage boy. I don’t remember Cal ever eating as much as Chris has the past few hours. Not only did he eat two Sandwiches, three snickers, and an ice cream, he bought a container of popcorn and he ate half before he decided to save it for later. I wonder if the six-pack Cal had has morphed into a keg under that big khaki jacket.
    As promised, Mr. Scott has put up the doll house, and Caylen is mesmerized by it. I return to the brown chair I sat in earlier, it almost swallows me but is one of the most comfortable things I’ve ever sat in. Mr. Scott has turned on a college football game, his attention between it and Caylen, who’s hitting him with a doll they bought her. I guess emotional exhaustion eventually translates into actual exhaustion since my eyelids feel heavy as bricks.
    “Lauren.” I look back and see Mrs. Scott smiling at me.
    “Do you want to go lie down before dinner?”
    “Oh I’m fine,” I say, a yawn escaping my mouth, and she smiles knowingly.
    “Mom, something’s burning,” Chris says, reappearing. Mrs. Scott’s eyes widen.
    “Chris, show Lauren where your room is so she can take a nap before dinner,” she says, scurrying to the kitchen.
    “I’m fine really,” I say, fighting another yawn from my mouth. He tilts his head to the side in disbelief.
    “Okay, maybe just a really short one.” I stand up from comfy brown chair and stretch. I look over at Caylen and Mr. Scott.
    “I’ve got her,” he grunts, only briefly glancing up at me. His ice has melted with Caylen but with me, not so much. That’s totally fine since I’m still not too thrilled about him either. I follow Chris down the hall and up the stairs, sunlight pouring in throughout this whole house. Once we’re up the stairs, he gestures to a room on the left further down the hall.
    “There’s the bathroom, in case you need it. That’s my parent’s room.” He points at another door by the bathroom, and we make a sharp right. He opens the door and waits for me to step in. I wrap my arms around myself and think back on the first night I ever stepped into Cal’s apartment. Then, I had on a teensy cloth that barely covered my butt. Now I’m in an oversized sweater and jeans where you can barely tell I have a butt at all.
    Chris’ room is pretty large, surprisingly just a little smaller than my and Cal’s...my room back home. I try to resist the urge to scour it, looking for hints of who this person is next to me.
    My attempts fail.
    He has a queen-sized bed with a navy blue comforter covering it. A desk sits in the corner with a laptop on it. And posters. Lots of them lining the walls, mostly of bands and a few sports teams.
    “I haven’t really done much decorating since high school,” he kids. He’s standing there with his arms folded across his chest, the outline of his muscles showing through his blue t-shirt, the khaki jacket gone. I look down quickly at his stomach but can’t tell if my earlier theory about his stomach ballooning outward is correct. I walk over to a shelf housing at least thirty trophies. Basketball, hockey, soccer all different years. There are two pictures posted near them. One is of him and his parents all wearing Lions Jerseys, and the other of him by himself. He looks really young. His hair is so much shorter, and he has a smaller build. I can’t help but smile. I’ve never seen any pictures of him this young before. He’s standing next to a girl about his age with strawberry blond hair. They’re holding what looks like a science project.
    “That’s my best friend Lisa. She should be coming for dinner tonight,” he says, and I can tell he’s behind me because every nerve-ending in my body, starting from my neck down, awakens.
    “H—how old were you on here?” I ask him, my voice a little