The Fundamental Theory of Us Read Online Free PDF

between a handful of ones. The change section held a few nickels and pennies. Not even close to half of what Andrew ordered.
    “Hey,” he said, still sitting on the bed. “Put your money away. It’s my treat.”
    She shook her head. “I can’t.”
    Maybe he sensed she wouldn’t take no for an answer. Maybe he was just one of those rare good guys people talk about. Andrew shrugged and said, “How about, in exchange for food, you help me with this—”
    “I’m already helping you with Fundamentals for using your computer.”
    He flashed her a smile, sunshine in a perpetual storm. “I was going to say the project we need to come up with for art.”
    Oh. That. She worried over the stupid assignment for three days now, since Professor Hyun dropped it on them. He said they could pick a partner to work with, or go it alone. Most people had buddied up pretty quick. A few girls had asked Andrew, including peppy, pretty Emory Daughton, but he declined. Lucky for Sawyer, Rachel didn’t press the partner issue with her, choosing instead to work alone. There was only so much Purple Punk Princess Sawyer could handle in a day.
    “I don’t know.” Sawyer put her wallet back in her bag and leaned against the doorframe. “Sculpting is out for me. Too messy. And something about borrowing one of those super-expensive cameras makes me cringe. What if I break it? So there’s photography gone.”
    “What about prints?”
    “Like, etchings?” Sawyer bit her lip. “Acid. No thanks.”
    Andrew’s grin appeared, and so did a dimple. God, he had a dimple . Just one, and she could barely see it through his stubble, but there it was. “Drawing? I’m not that great at it. Maybe you are?”
    “Nope.” Lie. Lie. Lie!
    This time, he chuckled. “Well, I’m sure we’ll think of something.”
    “We?”
    Andrew blushed. Actually blushed . “I guess I kind of hoped…”
    He let it dangle on purpose. Leaving the decision up to her. “We’ll see.”
    “I guess so.” Andrew pushed to his feet. “I’d better shower before the pizza gets here. If they show up while I’m still in the bathroom, just give them this.” He unfolded his wallet, took out a couple bills, and handed them to her.
    It felt too intimate. Every cell in her body vibrated warnings. Go. Run home. Hide.
    “Sawyer?”
    She looked down at him, still there on his bed, this big, scary-looking guy with the too-blue eyes. “Yeah?”
    Andrew kept quiet and still for a moment. “I meant what I said last night.”
    For a second, Sawyer was dragged into the past, to that day. The summer Sawyer turned fourteen and her breasts suddenly exploded from her chest like “hey world, here we are!” Alannah, her older sister, had brought her boyfriend to the Hamptons for a month-long visit. Alannah walked Chase up the front steps with a possessive arm around his waist, and Chase’s dark, penetrating gaze locked on Sawyer, standing next to her dad. She hadn’t understood the look he gave her, and she didn’t like it.
    Andrew looked at her like he saw her, the girl she was and who she wanted to be. He saw through the thrift store clothes and her stringy hair. He saw her, and yeah, it terrified her. No one broke down the barriers she put up. Andrew wasn’t trying to break them down. He was knocking on the wall, asking politely for—well, she hadn’t figured that out yet. If the past taught her one lesson, Sawyer learned no one did anything for free. They wanted something in return, and in her experience, the return favor came with pain.
    Andrew’s continued insistence of her safety in his presence reminded her of the stark difference between the men she knew back home, and those she met here. One guy was not the same as the next. 

Chapter Six
     
    They ate the pizza on his couch. Andrew poured two tall glasses of milk—she thought he would at least have beer in his fridge, but there was only a couple gallon jugs of milk, some juice, and a half-empty Costco-sized jar of