Last Train Home Read Online Free PDF

shoulders at him and smiled.  I knew he enjoyed my teasing.  I could tell by the way he looked at me, with a half-smile and raised eyebrows. 
    “How long have you been in Carver?”
    “Three days.  T hree…long…days,” I said slowly.
    “You make it sound more like a prison than Kansas.  You moved to Carver, not Leavenworth.”
    “Prison…Kansas…yeah, they’re about the same,” I said , positioning my hands like a scale, moving them up and down.
    “You’r e not even giving it a chance.”
    “Have you ever been to Boston?” I said stopping, not caring that I was completely blocking the flow of traffic.  Alex stopped too and stared at me with his br own eyes and that devilish smile.
    “ No, I’ve never been to Boston.”
    “Then you can’t understand why I would compare Carver to a prison.  If you’d ever been to Boston, you’d get it.”
    “Well, well.  Aren’t you pretentious,” he said, t he grin never leaving his face.
    “Pretentious?  That’s an awfully big word for a hick from Kansas,” I teased as I started walking again, Alex following. 
    “I’m a hick now?  Please help me figure out why I’m even talking to you.”
    “I have no idea.  But maybe it’s because you realized how awesome I am the second you met me.”
    His smile transformed into all out laughter.
    “You’re different , Riley.”
    “I take that as a compliment,” I said , stopping in front of my locker and doing the combination.
    “You should.  I meant it as a compliment.”  He was leaning against the lockers and staring at me.  He was still smiling and I compared him to the boys back in Boston.  There, the boys were trendy.  They wore desi gner jeans they paid way too much money for and donned sweaters and scarves with wool pea coats in the winter.  I tried to imagine Alex, who stood in a pair of faded jeans and a gray t-shirt, in such a get up and just couldn’t do it.  He looked relaxed and comfortable and I liked it.  His dusty blonde hair hung in his face as his dark brown eyes peeked out at me.  I usually didn’t like longer hair on guys, but there was something about it on Alex that was sexy.  I grinned at him and waited for him to speak.  We were interrupted before he could say anything though when my cousin David sidled up beside us.
    “So, you showed up and you survived,” David began.
    “I did.”
    “I looked for you at lunch.”
    “What are you doing?  Can’t yo u see we’re talking?” Alex interrupted and I thought I saw him glaring at my cousin, who rolled his eyes and started laughing.
    “Whoa…you’ve got it so wrong . Riley’s my cousin.”
    A look of relief seemed to wash over Alex and he relaxed again.
    “Anyway, just wanted to say hi since I didn’t see you all day.   Dad mentioned something about stopping by Grandma’s house tonight, so maybe I’ll see you later.”
    “Okay.”
    He turned and walked off and then I looked back to Alex.
    “ David Smollett’s your cousin?”
    “ You know him?”
    “Of course.   Everyone knows everyone here.  But yeah, we’re friends, I guess.  We play baseball together, so I guess that makes us friends.”
    “Fascinating,” I said with slight sa rcasm. “You know him better than me, that’s for sure.”  He looked at me with a raised eyebrow. “I hardly know the guy.  I haven’t seen him in like eight years.  We’ve only been thrust together again because of my mom and her decision,” I said, shaking my head, still angry at her.
    “Sounds like you’ve got a story to tell, Riley Regas.”
    “Maybe,” I said, shrugging my shoulders as I closed my locker.
    “ Maybe you can tell it to me sometime…like tomorrow night.  Let me take you out.”
    I wasn’t surprised that he asked me out.  I knew he was going to and I wanted him to, but I couldn’t.  I’d al ready promised to go to Jesse’s.
    “I’ve got plans tomorrow.”
    “It’s your first day.  How do you already have plans?” he