How I Lost You Read Online Free PDF Page A

went for it. I suppose her blindness to the possibility of rejection made her immune to it.
    â€œYou grounded tonight?” she asked.
    I nodded.
    â€œAs usual. What degree?”
    â€œMinor. Phone privileges for the day and I have to stay in for the night.”
    She never said so aloud, but I think in many ways Kya was almost jealous when I was grounded for my frequent infractions. She rarely got in trouble for anything. It was like her parents still felt too guilty over what had happened to ever punish her.
    â€œYour parents going out tonight?” she asked.
    â€œDancing.”
    â€œYour parents are so weird.” She said it with a smile though. “I’ll come over later and bring a movie,” she told me. “Your mom and dad won’t mind.”
    Even when I was grounded, she could charm her way past the door. Unless it was a serious offense, but those were few and far between. Dad expected us to obey his rules. But funny enough, so did I.
    Kya stood and picked up her gear bag, tossing it over her shoulder. “If you have to stick around, I’m going to see if I can catch a ride with those girls,” she said. “I want to get home.”
    I hid my annoyance that she was ditching me and waved as she pranced out the door, her bad mood apparently dissipating. When I finished changing, I headed back to the front counter and picked up a magazine, hoping James wouldn’t take too long.
    A few minutes later, the door dinged and James walked back inside.
    â€œGraceling,” he said. He walked behind the counter. “You grounded tonight?”
    Was I really that predictable? I nodded, jumping off the stool and picking up my bag. “Kya’s coming over with a movie. You should stop by.”
    â€œI’ll probably be too late.” He rolled his eyes. “And not so much into breathing the same air as Kya these days.” He took over my spot on the stool.
    â€œWhat’d you do to piss her off?” I asked.
    He glared at me. “Why do you always take her side?”
    I glared back. “Because you can never seem to resist teasing her.”
    He picked up the magazine I’d been looking at and flipped it open. “Maybe we’ve merely outgrown each other.”
    â€œOh please, James. Get over it,” I said. “You love us, you know you do.”
    â€œShe’s turned into someone I don’t know,” he said, softly flipping to a new page and not looking up. “Maybe I never really did.”
    I stared at him, but he put down the magazine and then searched through a drawer, pretending to look for something.
    â€œIt’ll be quiet in here tonight. No games scheduled. Guess I’ll be stuck cleaning.”
    I ignored his attempts to change the topic. “Kya needs people to look out for her.”
    â€œShe’s doesn’t need me,” James said and jumped off the stool.
    â€œShe does. She needs your help believing in herself. What she can be. Not what other people expect her to be.”
    â€œWhat makes her so special?” he asked softly, almost sadly, as he knelt down and opened the cupboard where Dad kept cleaning supplies.
    â€œJames,” I replied equally softly. “She’s our friend. We’re the Three Musketeers.”
    I wished we could talk about the real reasons she struggled.
    â€œI love both of you,” I said.
    â€œWhatever you say.” He pulled out a bottle of toilet cleaner and made a face.
    I sighed. “What’d she say to piss you off this time?”
    â€œNothing.” He glanced up and smiled but it looked kind of sad. “And now I literally have to go and clean shit up.”
    Neither of them would tell me what they’d argued about. I knew James had a strong sense of right and wrong. He didn’t understand that sometimes circumstances could sprout up a lot of gray. Bad things sometimes tarnished people’s souls. Kya had stains. There were some