Full Share (Shore House Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page A

a bottle of tequila and a dozen pills, and that totally pissed her off. She hasn’t been the same with me since.”
    “She’s not into constructive feedback.”
    “No.” Mila laughed, and I didn’t say another word. Heather wasn’t a good friend, but I never spoke of her or her excessive drinking to anyone. It hadn’t been an issue in school. I didn’t speak to anyone about anything of substance, because all roads of deep understanding always led me back to my mother, and that I wanted to forget. It should be the same way here. They all knew each other. Talk among yourselves. Leave me alone.
    Mila and I dumped Heather on the chair before straightening and facing each other with looks of reciprocated gratefulness. Rob floated into the room, singing the latest insurance commercial at the top of his lungs. He turned it into a heavy metal rendition and then slowed it to a romantic chorus.
    He jumped onto the couch for the finale and fell into a seated position with the air of a hawk settling onto a wire. Blaire came, handed him a beer, and nestled in beside him. Rob put his arm around her and pulled her close. It was as natural as breathing to him.
    “You like him?” Mila’s question startled me. I must have been staring.
    I shook my head quickly. All denials should be swift. “No.”
    “It’s okay. We all like him,” she said and turned to watch Rob as he began singing a new song. This was the national anthem with electric guitar sounds in between the verses. “Just remember, you’re too good for him. Poor Blaire forgot, and now look at her.”
    Blaire’s eyes scanned the room as she sat perched next to her magnanimous boyfriend. He would always eclipse her. She’d spend her life trying to identify the next girl he’d love. It must’ve stolen her sleep every night she’d lain in bed next to him.
    Rob loved her. Of that I was sure. He’d told me once. We’d drank too much and stumbled home to Heather’s and my apartment because it was closer than his or Blaire’s house. So much with Rob was locational, like a toddler whose playdates were scheduled based on convenience without regard for affinity. He’d said, “I love her. I really do. Life just feels unnecessarily long with her.” I wasn’t sure what he meant, but I’d wallowed in the disregard attached to it. I wanted him to choose me, but I’d never tell him that was an option.
    “I’m glad to know you,” Mila said and disappeared down the back hallway to the room she shared with at least three people this weekend.
    When I glanced back into the living room, Blaire was staring at me.
    “Good night,” I said and made my way past the now raging beer pong game in the kitchen. I took off my shoes and makeup and dropped onto my mattress still wearing my dress. My pillow was only inches from the floor. The heat surrounded me. It was thicker than the hint of air blowing from the box fan perched on a wooden chair by the doorway.
    Welcome to summer.

JUST FRIENDS FOREVER
    “I think we should have sex in the shower.” Ricky leaned into me at our lunch table. The cafeteria was packed today, and we were sitting with an entire shift that would leave in two minutes to return to their phones.
    I kept eating as if Ricky hadn’t spoken.
    “Like, you can go in first, and I’ll meet you in there after you’re all wet.” He bounced his eyebrows. It appeared he was imagining the entire scenario in great detail. “I could wash you.” He was kind of a comedy skit. He forced me to acknowledge him with the threat that he’d never stop.
    “I think we should be just friends forever.”
    “Please don’t ever say that again.”
    Sharon walked into the cafeteria and sucked the joy from the room. Her gait was stilted by too-high heels that she could barely walk in. Her skirt was four inches shorter than appropriate, but her lipstick was perfectly intact. She smiled and laughed with the cafeteria staff as she paid for her lunch. The only thing more disturbing