The Millionaires Read Online Free PDF

worry—it’s already done.” As she talks, I notice that she’s blown her long brown hair completely straight.
    “No bounce,” Charlie whispers, acting innocent behind me.
    “I have my own key, remember?” Beth asks. She steps around me, but I’m still confused.
    “Where’re you going?”
    “Soda. You were all out.”
    “Beth, why don’t you let me…”
    “Go relax—I’ll be right back.” She turns away from me, and it’s the first time she sees Charlie.
    “What’s shakin’, bacon?” He opens his arms for a huge hug. She doesn’t take him up on it.
    “Hi, Charlie.”
    She tries to step around him, but he cuts in front of her. “So how’s the world of corporate accounting?” he asks.
    “It’s good.”
    “And your clients?”
    “They’re good.”
    “And your family—how’re they?”
    “Good,” she smiles, putting up her best defense. Not an annoyed smile; not a jaded smile; not even an angry get-outta-my-face-you-overhyper-little-gnat
     kinda smile. Just a nice, calming Beth smile.
    “And whattya think of vanilla as an ice cream flavor?” Charlie asks, raising a devilish eyebrow.
    “
Charlie,
” I warn.
    “What?” Turning to Beth, he adds, “So you sure you don’t mind if I crash all over your dinner?”
    She looks to me, then back at Charlie. “Maybe it’d be better if I left you two alone.”
    “Don’t be silly,” I jump in.
    “It’s okay,” she adds with a wave that tells me not to worry about it. She’s never one to complain. “You two should have some
     time together. Oliver, I’ll call you later.”
    Before either of us can stop her, she walks up the block. Charlie’s eyes are on her L.L. Bean duck boots. “My God—my whole
     sorority had those,” he whispers. I pinch the skin on his back and give it a twist. It doesn’t shut him up. As Beth walks,
     her beige camel-hair coat fans out behind her. “Like Darth Vader—only boring,” Charlie adds.
    He knows she can’t hear him, which only makes it worse.
    “I’d give my left nut to see her slip on her ass,” he says as she disappears up the block. “No such luck. Bye-bye, baby.”
    I shoot Charlie a look. “Why do you always have to make fun of her like that?”
    “I’m sorry—she just makes it so easy.”
    I spin around and storm for the door.
    “
What?
” he asks.
    I yell without facing him. Just like dad. “You can be a real jerk-off, y’know that?”
    He thinks about it for a second. “I guess I can.”
    Once again, I refuse to face him. He knows he’s pushed too far. “C’mon, Ollie—I’m only teasing,” he says, chasing me down
     the wobbly-brick stairway. “I only say it because I’m secretly in love with her.”
    I stuff my key in the door and pretend he’s not there. That lasts about two seconds. “Why do you hate her so much?”
    “I don’t hate
her,
I just… I hate everything she stands for. Everything she represents. The boots, the quiet smile, the inability to express
     anything approaching an opinion… that’s not what I—It’s not what you should want for yourself.”
    “Really?”
    “I’m serious,” he says as I work on the third deadbolt. “It’s the same thing as this teeny basement apartment. I mean, no
     offense, but it’s like taking the blue pill and waking up in a young urban twentysomething sitcom nightmare.”
    “You just don’t like Brooklyn Heights.”
    “You don’t live in Brooklyn Heights,” he insists. “You live in Red Hook. Understand? Red. Hook.”
    As I shove open the door, Charlie follows me into the apartment.
    “Well, bust out the Magic Markers and color me impressed,” he says, wandering inside. “Look who’s decorated.”
    “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
    “Don’t play modest with me, Versace. When you first moved in, you had a used, stained mattress from Goodwill, a dresser you
     stole from our old bedroom, and the table and chairs mom and I bought from Kmart as a housewarming gift. Today, what’s that