Diving In (Open Door Love Story) Read Online Free PDF Page A

gangsta.” Gabe does a fake ha-ha-ha staccato laugh. “It’s refreshing, really. Not overdone at all.”
    “Whatever. You’re just pissed you can’t throw gang signs ironically.” I make my fingers go Westside.
    “And even more ironicaller,” he says, cocking his head to the side. “Crips is the hardest.”
    “It’s like ray-e-ain,” I sing.
    We’re comfortably quiet for a moment and then Gabe asks, “So, this Andy guy in Wyoming is your boyfriend?”
    I nod and bring up a photo, one of his face, on my phone and show it to Gabe. “Yeah. Since sophomore year of high school. He was swim captain our senior year. You’d probably recognize him if you’d watched any meets the last three seasons, although you guys never swam together. His family moved from Wyoming right after your accident.”
    Gabe glances at it. “Huh. I stopped paying attention, but I still keep in touch with a few guys who would know him.” Gabe shoots me a sly grin. “I’ll have to do some recon.”
    I roll my eyes. “Not much to discover. He’s a jock and an extrovert and I’m not and he likes me anyway.”
    “He likes you , but do you like him ?”
    I cringe. I hate not telling the truth, but hey, I’m already keeping the most major secret of Gabe’s life from him, so what’s a little lie? “I do like Andy. He’s easy to be with and makes me happy.”
    “So, why aren’t you at school with him?” Gabe asks.
    “I know this is hard to believe, but I wanted to stay here. I want to manage a chain of dry cleaners like my mom and my grandpa.” I shrug. “I always think it’s a waste when people have a family businesses waiting for them to take over and they don’t want the opportunity that is being handed to them, like, so they can follow their dreams or some shit. I guess I don’t have any dreams.”
    Gabe takes a corner pretty close and I brace myself. “Or maybe your dream is to run a chain of dry cleaners? Nothing wrong with that. Dreams come in all shapes and sizes.”
    “Does the chair enable your kind to spout inspirational quotes without being mocked?” I ask, raising an eyebrow.
    “I don’t know, you tell me.” He reaches over and turns the radio off. I hadn’t even realized it was on anymore. “Hang in there!”
    “Meh. Mock level one.”
    “I’m trying to remember all the memes from Facebook … Be the change you want to see in … the world?”
    “That one can’t be mocked. It makes sense. Because Gandhi.”
    “Are you sure that’s Gandhi?” he asks, cocking his head. “I thought it was from Doctor Who.”
    I stick my tongue out at him. “Are you seriously mixing up Be the Change and Hello, Sweetie?”
    Gabe smirks. “I was mostly just testing your knowledge of the Doctor.”
    I make the so-so gesture. “It’s passable. I watch a lot of Netflix on my laptop.”
    “Are you caught up?”
    “No, I’m halfway through season six.”
    “Well, I’m always up for a third or fourth viewing, if you want company.” He throws this out there as we pull into the parking lot of the cleaners and into the space directly in front. There’s a man swinging the door into and out of the store while Junnuen looks on approvingly.
    “That was fast!” I say. “I was wondering what I was going to do with a broken door.”
    Gabe nods toward the man and cuts the engine. “Dad works graveyard, so I texted him while you were inside and asked if he could fix it before nighttime. He’s good like that.”
    I hop out of the van and approach Mr. Riley. “Thanks so much for fixing my botched attempt.” I offer him my hand and he wipes the grease stains from his with a rag before shaking mine.
    “Happy to help, Brynn. It was good of you to make the effort.” He chuckles.
    “Even if I had no idea what I was doing.”
    Mr. Riley laughs harder. “You said it.”
    The sound of the chair lift going down pulls our attention to Gabe.
    “Let’s test ’er out, son,” Mr. Riley says, picking up his impressively loaded