Crazy Horse's Girlfriend (9781940430447) Read Online Free PDF Page B

read?”
    â€œStephen fucking King.”
    â€œJesus, Margaritte,” Julia said, looking at me. I shrugged and started sweating. I never did do that well with guys unless I was related to them or they were gay. Mike looked taken aback for a minute and then started laughing.
    â€œWell, I read too. Though not Stephen fucking King.”
    â€œWell, what do you like to read?”
    â€œWell… a lot. Though my favorites are Salinger and Carver,” he said, running his hand through his hair.
    â€œAnyway!” Julia said. “I’m in track with Mike and we started talking and so I told him he should hang with us. That is, if you don’t drive him away.”
    â€œNo, no,” Mike said, “not at all.” And he smiled, and I couldn’t help but smile back. A few seconds later, I could hear Jake coming down the stairs, his giant, lanky frame making them creak loudly.
    â€œI found some Doritos,” he said, Treena behind him. She was rubbing her stomach, her eyes at horny half-mast, and looking up at him. I rolled my eyes. That girl’s a fucking nutcake.
    â€œYou guys all met upstairs?” I asked and Jake nodded. He didn’t look too happy about Mike, for obvious reasons.
    "Mike runs track and just moved here from California," Julia said. She scooted closer to him on the futon they were sharing and Jake narrowed those big black eyes of his, his gaze hovering over Mike like a storm gathering.
    I was sitting in an old rocking chair. Jake stopped staring at Mike and sighed, a heavy, wet, male sigh and fell into a shaggy, chewed up green and black La-Z-Boy that looked like it’d been through a meat grinder. We used to have a bunch of dogs, and that chair had been like a giant chew toy, as far as they’d been concerned. There was a ridiculous amount of old furniture downstairs. It was like a warehouse. My dad never got rid of shit, and my mom hated it. It was yet another part of their eternal, pathetic struggle.
    Treena tried to wedge her body onto the armrest of the La-Z-Boy and Jake rolled his eyes and tried to scoot as far away from her yawning ass crack as possible. I looked over at Julia and Mike. She was laughing uproariously at something Mike had said. He had an amused, indulgent expression on his face. The thing was, guys loved Julia. She was cute but a lot of it was her charm, you know, that thing some chicks have that dudes just find really fucking irresistible.
    â€œHow you liking Idaho Springs?” Jake asked Mike. Jake was leaning back into the La-Z-Boy, trying his goddamndest to look cool. It wasn’t working.
    â€œI like it a lot, so far. Colorado’s pretty. I like to ski and hike so I’m really glad to see those mountains.”
    Jake nodded. “You know, I’ve thought about track, but I’ve always been really into my bike. That and... other stuff.”
    â€œReally?” Mike said. “Actually, I like to bike too, we should bike together sometime.”
    â€œSure.” Jake reached into the bag of Doritos with one of his humungous hands, scooped out a huge fistful and then started eating that pile with his other hand. “How many pounds is your bike?”
    â€œI don’t know… fifteen?”
    â€œFifteen?”
    Julia broke into amused laughter.
    â€œWhat?” Jake asked.
    â€œJake is talking about motorcycles—and Mike about like, you know, bikes—like bicycles.”
    â€œNow I feel like a twelve year old,” Mike said.
    â€œNo, no, bro. It’s cool, it’s cool. Nothing wrong with that.” Jake started stuffing more chips into his mouth from the bag. I could tell he felt bad.
    I looked over at Mike again. He was so little and cute compared to my big, burly, motorcycle-riding cousin. Jake finished his pile of chips, wiped his hands on the legs of his ancient looking black jeans and smiled.
    Mike laughed again but he looked uneasy. I figured this was probably the