Hummingbird Heart Read Online Free PDF Page B

weird that I’d seen him and just looked away? I forced myself to turn toward him and smile. My cheeks felt hot.
    â€œFinally, a face I recognize,” he said. “Jessica invited me, but I haven’t seen her anywhere.”
    â€œShe’s around,” I told him. “Did you just get here?”
    â€œYeah. I had to work tonight. I just got off.”
    â€œWhere d’you work?”
    He grimaced. “Don’t ask.”
    â€œThat bad?”
    â€œMmm.” He grinned. “Golden arches, weird red-haired clown guy, skinny gray burgers, scary secret sauce.”
    â€œDid you know that North Americans spend more on fast food than education?”
    He laughed. “Doesn’t surprise me.”
    â€œAnd all that meat too. It’s terrible.” Nice one, Dylan. Insult the guy, why don’t you? “I don’t mean that people who eat meat are terrible,” I said quickly. “It’s just that the industry isn’t sustainable. I mean, it takes almost five pounds of grain to produce one pound of beef. That’s just crazy.”
    Jax laughed again. “You’re cute when you get all excited. I’m Jax, by the way.”
    â€œI know.” I wasn’t sure I liked being called cute. It sounded like a compliment but…There was a brief silence and I realized that I’d missed a cue. I hoped he wouldn’t notice that I was blushing. “Oh. I’m Dylan.”
    He nodded and repeated my name as if he was making an effort to remember it. “Right. Dylan. Come on, let’s get a drink.”
    I followed him through the living room and back into the kitchen, vowing to shut up. I looked around for Toni but couldn’t see her anywhere.
    Jax grabbed a couple of beers and handed one to me. “So,” he said, turning back to me. “Let’s go find somewhere to sit down.”
    My heart sped up. Was he coming on to me? Toni always said I was uptight. I knew I was. I couldn’t help it. Look at me now—we’d barely had a conversation and already I was worrying about things. Sex things. Expectations. My cheeks burned. He probably wasn’t even interested in me anyway. Not that way.
    Jax chugged some beer, lowered the bottle and winked at me. “Come on. You can try to persuade me to give up hamburgers.”
    I hesitated. He held out his hand, and I took it and followed him downstairs.

S even
    I couldn’t believe I was sitting right beside Jax. I could only look at him for a couple of seconds at a time—he was too beautiful, and it made me feel all flustered and stupid. I had to take in his face in small glimpses, one feature at a time. Brown eyes that slanted downward at the outer corners when he smiled. Thick straight eyebrows. Full lips that could have been a girl’s, but didn’t look in the least girly on him. I took the joint he held out, inhaled and almost immediately started coughing.
    We’d been sitting on a basement couch talking for what felt like hours but was probably only about ten minutes. So far, I’d learned that Jax had moved here from Campbell River, that he had one older brother, that he listened to music that I’d never heard of, and that he used to be really into wrestling but had quit last year.
    I hadn’t told him much about myself. I was worried I’d say the wrong thing. A couple of times I’d thought he might try to kiss me, but so far he hadn’t. I wondered if I’d been imagining things, or misreading them. I couldn’t decide if I wanted him to or not.
    I’d never actually had an official boyfriend. Things always seemed to get messed up once that friendship line got crossed.
    I took another drag on the disappearing joint, feeling the heat on my fingertips where they pinched the paper. “My mom smokes up all the time,” I told him, leaning away from him on the couch.
    â€œYour mom?” He laughed. “No way.”
    â€œWell,