Catching Tatum Read Online Free PDF Page B

don't like it!” I said, throwing my hands in the air. “Who does that anymore? That's so old fashioned. I can totally decide if a guy is worth going out with or not. I don't need your help.”
    “I believe you. That's why you should have no problem telling him he has to ask your dad or mom because you should know what kind of a guy he is already before he even asks us.”
    “I still think it's stupid. I'm never going to get anyone to date me that way, ever.”
    “I'm pretty sure you will. Good guys will ask, and it's an easy way to weed out the weenies that are too cowardly to.”
    “It's a good way to keep me single for the rest of my life.”
    “Maybe that's our plan ... mwahahaha!” He laughed, then turned off at the exit and took me through a McDonald's drive-thru for a chocolate-dipped ice cream cone.
    Then I forgot all about our talk until Cole Jackson came into my life and changed everything.
     
     

C HAPTER 3
    OH, HOW DIFFERENT my life would be if I did things the way my parents wanted, but that's not the road I walked down, and I can't go back to the way it was before. Not only did Cole take a chunk of my heart and soul, he took my virginity, too. I fell in love with him fast and I loved him hard from the beginning. I gave him everything I was but my love was wasted my heart, soul and body given with nothing in return. That's regret. I hate regret. I still regret it.
    Because of him I finally understood exactly what my dad meant by guarding my heart. I never took the time to decide on my rules so when Cole came along, I played his game by his rules. I don't know what came over me, all my common sense, all the pep talks with my parents about what a good guy would look like and act like, all the caution from friends at school, and my brothers, that he was a player ... none of it mattered; something about him made me feel alive in a way I had never felt before. I was addicted to the feelings he gave me. I convinced myself it was love at first sight, I really did. It was definitely lust. He was a creature of beauty and I was a connoisseur of beautiful people by then.
    I was always attracted to and awed by beautiful people, male or female, from the time I was very young. In fact, I hold memories of some of the most beautiful faces and forms I've ever seen. I enjoy beauty and I can't help but stare at beautiful people, drink them in like sweet tea on the hottest day of a North Carolina summer. I actually feel good looking at a beautiful human form. In my opinion, there aren't too many truly beautiful people on the planet, but they're all the same and they get me every time; whether tall or short, they're perfectly proportionate with fit, cut bodies. It's all about the proportions in my mind, not too skinny—that’s disgusting—but not too big either—that’s poor health. Eyes, nose, ears, mouth, Fibonacci perfect and smooth. A beautiful form is a proportionate one from head to toe. Color; eye color, hair color, skin color doesn't matter, proportions do.
    For the record—I wouldn't say that I was beautiful, although my body, proportionate as it was from growing up in a family where fitness was a priority, fit the bill a little better than my face ever did. There was no more stuffing bras after my boobs decided to go from a B cup to a D cup the summer between my ninth grade and sophomore years, but my face was too unique to be beautiful. I had a strong, dimpled chin, and my eyes were set in a little bit too much to be one of the truly beautiful people on the planet. And, of course, there's my scar, but I got enough attention the way I looked as it was.
    Cole was one of the beautiful people, head to toe, front to back, absolutely gorgeous. Our first meeting was a complete accident. I bumped into him because I was fixing the strap of my backpack and not watching where I was going in the hall. I slammed right into him; face first, in the hall on my way to second period. “Oh, sorry,” I muttered and meant to