Inevitable Read Online Free PDF

saying she’d talk to me at lunch.
    “Jayne?”
    I’d know that voice in my sleep. I could picture Stephen’s Adam’s apple bobbing up with the word, his deep voice pushing the sounds out as if it required effort. But I turned around anyway, willing myself to breathe easy. “Stephen. Hey. How are you?”
    His light green eyes flickered over my lunch, then up to my face. I knew he must be busy with team workouts; his lean torso and chiseled arms said as much. “You haven’t eaten yet. Come outside?” He inclined his head to the picnic tables just outside the door.
    Dana and I usually ate outside, but not there. We chose the grass in front of the school, where we could watch most of the student population and feel the warm sunshine beating down on us.
    I ran a hand through my wavy hair, letting my fingers free fall. “I’m waiting for Dana, Stephen. Have you seen her?”
    “Oh, yeah.” Both eyebrows went up. “I saw her at her locker. She told me where to find you.”
    And then decided not to show up. There would be time to kill her later. “Well.” I looked down at my sleeveless lavender dress, suddenly self-conscious. What did my face look like? Was I blushing? “Sure. That would be fine.”
    Stephen escorted me outside. A slow breeze blew, and a tree above us dappled the picnic table with the shadow of its leaves. He sat on one side and patted the spot next to him.
    “I met your dad.” I felt like an idiot right after I blurted out the words. Certainly there was more for Stephen and me to talk about than his parents.
    “Really?” Stephen pulled a bottle of soda and three peanut butter and jelly sandwiches from his lacrosse bag. I eyed them, feeling a lump in my throat. His mom probably made those. “Where?”
    Oh, great. The only answer to that would be to explain my failed interview. “Just saw him, really. We didn’t talk.” But I know how he’s going to die. In my head, I saw Mr. Harris step off the edge of the balcony.
    Maybe getting to Mr. Harris wasn’t the answer. Maybe I should tell Stephen that his mom was sick.
    And Stephen. What happened to him in all this? My head shot up, my eyes studying him, memorizing the scattering of freckles across his nose.
    He squirmed a bit, looking uncomfortable under my scrutiny. “I tried to call you the other day.”
    “Uh-huh.” I turned back to my food, suddenly not hungry. “The day Jessica broke up with you, you mean.”
    “Hopefully you didn’t find out about it before I did.”
    I recognized his attempt to lighten the conversation. I gave him a crooked grin. “I doubt it.”
    “I totally know what you’re thinking. That I’m a jerk for dumping you. An idiot for liking her. You and I were totally friends before all that, and now we don’t even talk.”
    I stayed silent, twiddling with the stem on my apple. What was I supposed to say? He was right, of course. That’s what I thought.
    “Jayne, you’re such a nice girl.”
    I winced. Nice. Not really what I wanted. “But Jessica was fun,” I said. “And outgoing. And popular.”
    “No, Jessica was a ditz. It could never last. She wasn’t the type to be serious with.”
    I glanced at him through narrowed eyes, wondering which had attracted him more, her boobs or the freedom. “Yeah, I bet she wasn’t. You could’ve waited to break up with me before you made out with her.”
    “Jayne, quit it. I made some mistakes, okay? I’m sorry.” He took a bite of his sandwich, but his eyes never left mine. “I want to be friends again. I want to try again.”
    My heart gave a little pitter-patter, grasping at strands of hope in spite of myself. “You want to try being friends again?”
    “Are you trying to be dumb?” Stephen put his sandwich down and grabbed my shoulders, pressing his mouth to mine. He tasted like grape jelly. But it only took a moment before his lips pushed mine open and I stopped noticing the essence of pb and j.
    I leaned into him, hungering for the warmth of his mouth.