Ryan Hunter Read Online Free PDF

really needed to call her more often when I was gone for a time.
    After dinner I got a text message from Mitchell asking me to meet him outside my house in twenty minutes. There was nothing else I had planned for the evening, so hanging out with him was cool. I asked him in when I opened the door a bit later, but he made a face and said he’d rather walk.
    Walk ? The guy, who came to my house three times a week to play video games and who inhaled tons of cheese crackers every time, who was the reason why my mom now kept a supply especially for him, shrugged my invitation off and just nodded in the direction of the old playground a few streets up. Something was off.
    I nodded and started walking alongside him, tucking my hands deep into my pockets. “What’s up, Mitchell?”
    It took him a few moments to answer. “I’m totally screwed, man.”
    I cocked a brow at him. Tony cut me a glance, but then he focused on the pavement again, dragging out a deep sigh. “I need your help with Liza.”
    Ah heck, no! Don’t talk to me about her. Giving another guy good advice on how to make it right with the girl I wanted was ranking seriously low on my wish-to-do list. And here I was still biting my lower lip and answering, “What can I do?”
    “I want her on the team.”
    I almost stopped walking. Okay, this was something I definitely wanted, too. “She said she’ll come to the tryouts tomorrow. That’s a start, isn’t it?”
    “Yes, she’ll come. But you haven’t seen her handle a soccer ball yet. If she could, I swear she’d rather touch it with chopsticks than with bare hands.”
    “That’s just because she hates you playing ball when you should spend time with her instead.” I winced. Why the hell did I say that?
    Tony was distracted with kicking a stone in front of him, so he didn’t notice my grimace. “Maybe. But she won’t stand a chance in the tryouts tomorrow.”
    Aha. He was worried about her failing. He shouldn’t be. Heck, I had been waiting too damn long for her to be on my team to care about her skills. Whatever Liza was going to do tomorrow, I’d make sure she’d be a member of the Grover Beach Bay Sharks at the end of the day.
    But then I started to wonder. “Why do you want her on the team, anyway?”
    We reached the playground where Rachel and I used to play every day when we were children, and while I took a seat on the swing, Mitchell sat on the slide, resting his elbows on his knees, staking me with a meaningful look. “You were right today. I’m kind of dating Cloey Summers.”
    Excuse me if I have to get up and do a stupid victory dance right now. I cleared my throat, kept my expression even, and said, “That’s cool.”
    “I just don’t know how to break it to Liz. She was pissed earlier because of a few things I did…or apparently didn’t do. I don’t want to hurt her, but I know it will be horrible for her if she finds out that I’m seeing another girl.”
    “Yep, you’re going to break the girl. That’s a given.” But don’t you worry, I’ll be there and make her feel better . “So having her on the team helps you how?”
    “Liz really hates Cloey. And that after only twenty minutes together. I’m hoping for them to get to know each other better. Maybe they’ll become friends.” Tony leaned back on the metal slide, crossed his hands behind his head, and gazed up at the already dark sky. “I don’t want to lose Liza just because I have a girlfriend now.”
    I didn’t know what to say other than, “Tough situation.” And it sure was for everyone. Did none of those jerks see that I was the wrong person to give relationship advice when it came to that girl? It would be so easy to talk Mitchell into something that would drive a wedge between him and Liza. But I liked Mitchell, and once again, I put my own needs aside and said what he needed to hear from a good friend.
    “Are you sure you’re doing the right thing, Mitchell? I mean, Liza Matthews is madly in love