Read Cherry Red Summer (Emely and Elyas Book 1) for Free Online

the next “blah blah blah.” When Alex started giggling, I finally looked up.
    “What?”
    Had I missed something?
    “Nothing, nothing,” she said with a grin, which was further evidence I had missed something. I tried but failed to reconstruct what she had said. It had been something with the phrase “purely theoretical,” and I got the creeping suspicion it was just as well I hadn’t heard. I rubbed my temples and tried to calm down before I yelled at her.
    “Since you are evidently not able to keep your mouth shut, would it be asking too much to at least change the subject? Having to even lay eyes on your brother, however occasionally, is already asking a lot; I don’t need to be talking about him in my ‘free time’ as well.”
    God, why did Alex have to move in with him, anyway? There were thousands upon thousands of apartments in Berlin. Even if she couldn’t find one, the city was full of bridges she could have lived under.
    She was lucky I was so good-natured, because rubbing my nose in the existence of her brother was grounds for ending our friendship.
    “All right,” she said, relenting. I didn’t get two more breaths in before I saw the familiar glint in her eyes, the one that always indicated bad news for me.
    “So, that cute friend of Elyas’s was over again yesterday.” She bit her lower lip, and a swirl of awful premonitions filled my head.
    “Alex,” I groaned. “Please don’t tell me you fell for him.”
    Alex’s relationships had all been major disasters, each ending in some terrible drama. She fell in love much too fast, usually with random, sketchy guys anyone else would have steered clear of. But Alex’s big blue eyes turned starry the second it game to guys.
    “No, I don’t know him at all,” she quickly said. “I just think he’s cute.”
    “They’ve all been cute, but maybe you should start taking a closer look at personality?” That was actually a serious suggestion, not a question.
    “I do, and this one’s personality is cute, too. Believe me, Emely. I’ve learned from my mistakes. This one seems different.”
    I groaned again and made a face. I’d heard that line more than once. Every time she met someone, to be exact.
    “You always say that,” I whined, preparing myself for the impending drama. This was so typical of Alex: she had barely been in town for three weeks, and her being-single-sucks antenna had already located a potential victim.
    “Yeah, I know,” she mumbled. “But this time it’s true.”
    “Well there’s a convincing argument,” I said. “So have you given any thought to the fact he’s a friend of Elyas’s? Birds of a feather.”
    She rolled her eyes.
    “Alex, I don’t mean it like that,” I said. “Just do me a favor and don’t rush into anything again. Be a little more careful, OK?” I gave her a penetrating look and could only hope she would take my advice to heart.
    “Yes, yes,” she sighed in irritation. “But nothing’s anywhere near official yet. You’re making too much of it. I just said I think he’s cute, nothing more. And that he’s different, which is true. When you meet him—which we definitely have to arrange—you’ll see what I mean.”
    Would I? Dewy-eyed Alex seemed unshakable in her conviction, in any case. But I was still skeptical, given her track record. Unfortunately, once Alex got something into her head, it was hard to derail her plans, so I resigned myself to it, for now. Suddenly a soft “pling” from my laptop drew me out of my thoughts. I had a new e-mail, which turned out to be from a sender I didn’t know.
    Hi Emely,
    I’ve had my eye on you for a while now, but unfortunately I can’t muster the courage to speak to you in person. Which is why I came up with the idea—a pathetic one, I admit—of sending you an e-mail.
    I just wanted to tell you that I’d like to get to know you.
    You probably get hundreds of e-mails like this every day, or worse yet, you think I’m crazy. Still,