Read Online Friends & Fortune Cookies: A Sudden Falls Romance by Elizabeth Bemis - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Elizabeth Bemis
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said.
“You, too,” he answered from halfway across the coffee shop.
Joe came over and sat down in the seat Bob had vacated.
“Not a love match?”
I giggled in relief that it was over. “That was so awful, I can’t even tell you.”
“Why was it awful?”
“What do you know about counting in hex?”
Chapter 12 — Joe
As we pulled away from the curb, relief flowed over me.
If all of Gracie’s dates were as bad as this one, then... Then what? There might be hope for us? I sighed.
“I felt so bad for him.” Gracie exhaled. “He was so... awkward. Now I feel bad for kind of calling it in and clock-watching for the last fifteen minutes. That was probably mean.”
Gracie truly was one of the nicest people anyone would ever want to meet. Sometimes that kind-heartedness got the better of her, though. “I’m sure he barely noticed.”
She raised an eyebrow. I wasn’t fooling her.
It took no time to get to her apartment despite the fact I drove at ten miles below the speed limit. My Spartan studio flat, chosen for its low price and not for comfort or appeal, didn’t exactly call my name.
Gracie didn’t immediately jump out. She flipped her wrist over to check the time. “It’s early. You want to come in?”
She didn’t have to ask twice. I pulled the key from the ignition and met her at the front of the truck, feeling a lightness that hadn’t been in my step since she told me about her dating assignment.
“My place is a mess.” She turned the key in the deadbolt and pushed open the door.
“I’m sure I can handle it.” Gracie tended to be a neatnik, so I was certain her mess was contained.
I was right. She’d completely tidied her apartment, except for her dining-room table, which was littered with photographs, albums, and enough craft supplies to keep a first-grade class occupied for an entire year. Along the edge of the table, she’d lined up a stack of albums, each with a consecutive year stenciled on the spine. Apparently, she’d started this collection in middle school. Oddly, I’d never seen any of it.
I couldn’t help myself and reached for the album with our high-school graduation year.
“Hey!”
I paused, fingertips poised to pull the album from the stack. “I’m sorry. May I?” What was the big secret? Her defensiveness only made me want to see them that much more.
“I guess.” She sighed. “If you mock me, I’ll hurt you.”
“You’re very violent for a kind-hearted pacifist.”
Okay, I’ll admit it. In high school, I probably would have given her a hard time about this. But I liked to believe that I’d grown up some since then.
Three steps took us to her living room, and I dropped to the couch to peruse the album. Gracie fidgeted before finally settling in next to me, a couple of feet away. I opened the book to the middle and managed to land right in hot water.
“I can’t believe you still have pictures from prom.” I cleared my throat.
A much younger me, in an ill-fitting black tux with black tie and cummerbund, stood next to a much, much younger Gracie, in a bright pink number with nearly non-existent spaghetti straps and an improbable number of rhinestones in varied sizes down the front.
“Mom and Dad have most of them. I think Mom probably took a hundred pictures that night.” She scooted closer to me then flipped to the next page and ran her finger down the cellophane-protected photos. “Were we ever this young?”
God, she’d been beautiful. From the moment Gracie had eased into my arms on the dance floor, I’d found heaven, as completely sappy as that sounds. I don’t remember letting her go or sitting down the entire night. Her firm, soft breasts had brushed my chest with every sway of our bodies, and her knees had bumped mine from time to time though I had avoided letting our hips meet very often, not wanting to shock her. At one point, she’d tilted her head back to laugh at something I’d said and I couldn’t help myself from
“You, too,” he answered from halfway across the coffee shop.
Joe came over and sat down in the seat Bob had vacated.
“Not a love match?”
I giggled in relief that it was over. “That was so awful, I can’t even tell you.”
“Why was it awful?”
“What do you know about counting in hex?”
Chapter 12 — Joe
As we pulled away from the curb, relief flowed over me.
If all of Gracie’s dates were as bad as this one, then... Then what? There might be hope for us? I sighed.
“I felt so bad for him.” Gracie exhaled. “He was so... awkward. Now I feel bad for kind of calling it in and clock-watching for the last fifteen minutes. That was probably mean.”
Gracie truly was one of the nicest people anyone would ever want to meet. Sometimes that kind-heartedness got the better of her, though. “I’m sure he barely noticed.”
She raised an eyebrow. I wasn’t fooling her.
It took no time to get to her apartment despite the fact I drove at ten miles below the speed limit. My Spartan studio flat, chosen for its low price and not for comfort or appeal, didn’t exactly call my name.
Gracie didn’t immediately jump out. She flipped her wrist over to check the time. “It’s early. You want to come in?”
She didn’t have to ask twice. I pulled the key from the ignition and met her at the front of the truck, feeling a lightness that hadn’t been in my step since she told me about her dating assignment.
“My place is a mess.” She turned the key in the deadbolt and pushed open the door.
“I’m sure I can handle it.” Gracie tended to be a neatnik, so I was certain her mess was contained.
I was right. She’d completely tidied her apartment, except for her dining-room table, which was littered with photographs, albums, and enough craft supplies to keep a first-grade class occupied for an entire year. Along the edge of the table, she’d lined up a stack of albums, each with a consecutive year stenciled on the spine. Apparently, she’d started this collection in middle school. Oddly, I’d never seen any of it.
I couldn’t help myself and reached for the album with our high-school graduation year.
“Hey!”
I paused, fingertips poised to pull the album from the stack. “I’m sorry. May I?” What was the big secret? Her defensiveness only made me want to see them that much more.
“I guess.” She sighed. “If you mock me, I’ll hurt you.”
“You’re very violent for a kind-hearted pacifist.”
Okay, I’ll admit it. In high school, I probably would have given her a hard time about this. But I liked to believe that I’d grown up some since then.
Three steps took us to her living room, and I dropped to the couch to peruse the album. Gracie fidgeted before finally settling in next to me, a couple of feet away. I opened the book to the middle and managed to land right in hot water.
“I can’t believe you still have pictures from prom.” I cleared my throat.
A much younger me, in an ill-fitting black tux with black tie and cummerbund, stood next to a much, much younger Gracie, in a bright pink number with nearly non-existent spaghetti straps and an improbable number of rhinestones in varied sizes down the front.
“Mom and Dad have most of them. I think Mom probably took a hundred pictures that night.” She scooted closer to me then flipped to the next page and ran her finger down the cellophane-protected photos. “Were we ever this young?”
God, she’d been beautiful. From the moment Gracie had eased into my arms on the dance floor, I’d found heaven, as completely sappy as that sounds. I don’t remember letting her go or sitting down the entire night. Her firm, soft breasts had brushed my chest with every sway of our bodies, and her knees had bumped mine from time to time though I had avoided letting our hips meet very often, not wanting to shock her. At one point, she’d tilted her head back to laugh at something I’d said and I couldn’t help myself from
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