Imaginary Lines Read Online Free PDF

lightning fast. “I’m still working on that. This country makes it a pain in the ass to get a visa, you know?”
    I laughed, even though that seemed kind of awful. “So where do you work?”
    “Downtown on the Elseneer Project.”
    I nodded, and then shook my head. “I have no idea what that is.”
    She laughed. It was light and soft and likeable. “Here, I’ll show you.”
    She did, for an hour. I liked Sabeen, who seemed artsier than Jaz and less busy than Lucy, whom I’d met briefly this morning as she ran out of the apartment to rehearse for a show she apparently wasn’t even being paid for.
    But Sabeen went out in the evening, and Lucy and Jaz were gone too, so on my second night in the city I found myself alone in the apartment. It should have been relaxing, but instead it uncovered a wellspring of restlessness, and I was suffocated by the intolerable loneliness of a night in the city with no one to see and nothing to do. The cat was back, curled on my chest and making it hard to think. My stomach buzzed with the anxiety of nothing, and my brain refused to focus. Everyone in the world had to be out there, partying until the sun came up, and I was alone and friendless and pathetic.
    I paced around the apartment and tried to distract myself with videos, but really, more than anything, I wanted to be out in the city, carried along by the autumn wind like leaves tumbling in a gale.
    I wanted magic.
    My phone buzzed.
    Halfway across the living room, I stilled. The screen of my cell had lit up, and as I stared at it I imagined it contained all the answers of the universe, that that text could be my entrance into a secret society, my invitation to Hogwarts.
    I shook my head. I was being silly. It was probably Mom again.
    Crossing the room with sure steps, I picked it up. When I saw the name lit across the screen, a name I hadn’t seen there in four years, my feet started to tingle.
    Abraham .
    My mom told me you’d moved to the city. We should grab drinks sometime.
    Heat and then ice swept through me, leaving me short of breath.
    The last time I’d seen Abraham Krasner, we hadn’t even been old enough to legally drink.
    I sat on the edge of the sofa. His mom told him? Well, of course Sharon did. But why did he tell me that? Thoroughness? To make it clear it wasn’t his own idea? None of the above?
    I had imagined running into Abe thousands of times since I last saw him, and those daydreams had veered from inducing jealousy to inducing passion. But that ship had sailed. I had sailed, on to greener pastures, or bluer waters, or wherever ships went to catch the other fish in the sea. We were friends—merely acquaintances now—and we should meet up to make our mothers happy.
    Yeah , that sounds good! I paused, and then deleted the exclamation point. I’m busy through the week but could do something Friday or Saturday.
    I pressed Send.
    Then I jumped up and flung my arms around like wet noodles, letting a crazed keen escape my throat and then doubling over and laughing.
    I’m busy next weekend.
    My heart dropped.
    You free tomorrow after six?
    My heart flew into my throat.
    Yeah , I texted back with shaking fingers. I am.

Chapter Four
    Abe and I met in a small Italian restaurant on the Upper East Side, my second time there this weekend. It was an easy commute—I hopped on the N and it let me out at East 60th. For work I’d be able to continue on until I landed in the Flatiron District, where the Today Media offices were located.
    But for now, I headed through the gridded streets of the city, following my phone until I landed at the right place. Everything in Manhattan was so tall and shiny and loud—I wasn’t sure I’d ever get used to it. But I was prepared to.
    When I reached the café, I paused, suddenly thrilled and terrified at the same time, a shot of emotions that flew me high enough that my feet tingled.
    Which was silly, because I was just seeing an old friend. I tried to quiet the hairs rising on