Read Someone Like You for Free Online

Scarlett in the crowd of voices and faces and color in front of the church. Ginny was leaning on Brett Hershey, the captain of the football team, as he led her out. Elizabeth was sitting in the front seat of a car in the parking lot, the door open, her head in her hands. Everyone else stood around uncertainly as if they needed permission to leave, holding their programs and looking up at the sky.
    â€œPoor Elizabeth,” Scarlett said softly as we stood by her car.
    â€œThey broke up a while ago,” I said.
    â€œYeah. They did.” She kicked a pebble, and it rattled off of something under the car. “But he really loved her.”
    I looked over at her, the wind blowing her hair around her face, her fair skin so white against the black of Marion’s dress. The times I caught her unaware, accidentally, were when she was the most beautiful. “He loved you, too,” I told her.
    She looked up at the sky, black with clouds, the smell of rain stronger and stronger. “I know,” she said softly. “I know.”
    The first drop was big, sloshy and wet, falling on my shoulder and leaving a round, dark circle. Then, suddenly, it was pouring. The rain came in sheets, sending people running toward their cars, shielding themselves with their flimsy paper programs. Scarlett and I dove into her car and watched the water stream down the windshield. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d seen it rain so hard.
    We pulled out onto Main Street in Scarlett’s Ford Aspire. Her grandmother had given it to her for her birthday in April. It was about the size of a shoe box; it looked like a larger car that had been cut in half with a big bread knife. As we crossed a river of water spilling into the road, I wondered briefly if we’d get pulled into the current and carried away like Wynken, Blynken, and Nod in their big shoe, out to sea.
    Scarlett saw him first, walking alone up the street, his white dress shirt soaked and sticking to his back. His head was ducked and he had his hands in his pockets, staring down at the pavement as people ran past with umbrellas. Scarlett beeped the horn, slowing beside him.
    â€œMacon!” she called out, leaning into the rain. “Hey!” He didn’t hear her, and she poked me. “Yell out to him, Halley.”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œRoll down your window and ask him if he wants a ride.”
    â€œScarlett,” I said, suddenly nervous, “I don’t even know him.”
    â€œSo what?” She gave me a look. “It’s pouring. Hurry up.”
    I rolled my window down and stuck my head out, feeling the rain pelting the back of my neck. “Excuse me,” I said.
    He didn’t hear me. I cleared my throat, stalling. “Excuse me.”
    â€œHalley,” Scarlett said, glancing into the rearview mirror, “we’re holding up traffic here. Come on.”
    â€œHe can’t hear me,” I said defensively.
    â€œYou’re practically whispering.”
    â€œI am not,” I snapped. “I am speaking in a perfectly audible tone of voice.”
    â€œJust yell it.” Cars were going around us now as a fresh wave of rain poured in my window, soaking my lap. Scarlett exhaled loudly, which meant she was losing patience. “Come on, Halley, don’t be such a wuss.”
    â€œI am not a wuss,” I said. “God.”
    She just looked at me. I stuck my head back out the window.
    â€œMacon.” I said it a little louder this time, just because I was angry. “Macon.”
    Another loud exhalation from Scarlett. I was getting completely soaked.
    â€œMacon,” I said a bit louder, stretching my head completely out of the car. “Macon!!”
    He jerked suddenly on the sidewalk, turning around and looking at me as if he expected us to come flying up the curb in our tiny car to squash him completely. Then he just stared, his shirt soaked and sticking to his skin, his hair dripping