Strange and Lovely (Part 1) Read Online Free PDF Page B

other.
    I let go of Declan’s hand and danced up against him. He put his hands on my hips and we moved together. I could smell when he began to sweat, but it smelled sweetly masculine. He set his drink down on a table. He put his hand on my arm, and turned me around. He cupped my face, and kissed me. I smiled up at him.
    A man bumped into me. My beer spilled onto my shirt.
    “Watch it!” Declan growled. I wiped beer droplets off my dress, but some of it had already soaked in. The man turned around to see what happened. The man gave me a dirty look.
    “Maybe you should watch yourself, terrorist,” he spat. Declan grabbed him by his shirt, and rammed him into the wall.
    “I dare you to call her that again, you ignorant piece of shit,” he snarled. “Say it again, and we’ll see how fast you can go through this wall.”
    Everyone in the living room had turned to see what the commotion is. I touched Declan’s arm.
    “It’s fine, Declan, I’m used to it,” I said.
    “You shouldn’t have to get used it,” Declan snapped, He raised the man higher. The man’s feet dangled in the air.
    “Declan, stop,” I said.
    “You better listen to her before she blows up the house,” the man hissed. Declan punched him across the face. The man fell to the ground, clutching his cheek. Declan wrapped his arm around me, and we rushed out of the house. It had begun to rain. My hair and dress began to immediately get soaked. As soon as we’re at the sidewalk, I turned toward him.
    “You can’t do that,” I said to Declan. “You can’t attack people like that.”
    Declan exhaled loudly, as if he was trying to blow away the last few minutes.
    “You’ve told me before about how people call you towelhead and terrorist, and I’ve never been there to defend you. This time I was. He’ll think twice before saying shit like that again,” Declan said. I grabbed Declan’s arm and it felt so hot the sting singed my fingers.
    “No. He won’t. Trust me, I’ve met enough prejudicial people. Violence doesn’t change them,” I said. Declan threw his hands up, and began walking down the sidewalk. I ran to catch up to him.
    “I just hate it when people are like that,” he said. “They see someone that’s different from them, and they make these quick judgments. It’s lazy. It pisses me off.”
    He seemed to be getting angrier by the second. I grabbed his hand. He turned to look at me, fire still in his eyes. I pulled him toward me, and kissed him. I could taste the rain on his lips. He pressed his mouth hard against my mouth, pouring his anger out into me. He pushed my saturated hair away from my face and held my head in his hands. He moved his mouth down to my neck, and sucked on my skin. His hands travelled down to my wet dress, and he squeezed my ass. I kissed his jawline, and pressed my body against his. I looked over his shoulder as I kissed his neck. I stopped.
    “Declan,” I said.
    “Mmm?” he moaned. I turned him around to look at what I was seeing. It had stopped raining within a block of where we were, but everywhere else it was pouring. His eyes widened. “Wow. Talk about isolated showers.”
    “That isn’t isolated showers,” I said. “This is isolated dryness.”
    “Well, not that dry,” he teased, tugging on my wet dress. I smiled, but I couldn’t stop staring at where the rain suddenly started. I looked up at the sky. The sky was clear above us, but where it was raining, there were dark clouds. Declan looked up to notice it too. He wrapped his arm around my waist. “Hmm. Maybe the man in the sky wanted to see us go at it.”
    I shoved him. We began walk down the sidewalk again. As we walked, the rain began to pour down around us. Something shivered inside me. This wasn’t normal. If the man from the party taught me anything, it’s that abnormal brought the worst out in people.

Chapter 6
    A fter The Physics of Stars and Stellar Systems, I walked up to Dr. Federov. He glanced up at me as he wrote down