Read Live Through This for Free Online Page B

“Ooh. Chicken and stars?” I ask. “That’s my favorite.”
    “I was thinking more like the noodley kind you have to slurp. And actually, soup sounds really good right about now. Just not, you know, their soup.”
    I laugh. “Now that you said that, I’m totally hungry. It sucks that restaurants are closed this late.”
    “Not being able to suck soup sucks.” Reece shakes his fist in the direction of the upper staircase and calls out, “Damn you, Xander and Ming!”
    I giggle again and he joins in.
    Maybe it’s weird, but I kind of wonder what they’re doing. Ming is a total “Dare” girl—she’s never picked Truth when I’ve been around—so all I know is what I’ve seen. Which happens to have been Ming and Xander kissing pretty muchnonstop when they’re hanging out with Reece and me.
    “So you’re heading out in the morning?” Reece asks.
    “Late morning. We can’t check into the town house until four.”
    My shoulder bumps his arm. I leave it there and he doesn’t pull away.
    “And I’m going to be stuck doing holiday and tourist stuff with my parents and grandparents for six days straight,” he says. “The curse of being an only child.”
    “Believe me, you won’t think it’s a curse anymore after staying with my family. You’ll be dying to escape to your own life.”
    “We’ll see,” he says.
    Our faces are close. He’s smiling at me and I’m smiling back. I wish I didn’t have my gloves on because he’s shifted his hand so that it’s kind of touching mine.
    “Have I ever told you,” I say, “that I’m going to miss you like the deserts miss the rain?”
    “Nope. But the song is by Everything But the Girl.”
    “Gah!” I playfully slug his shoulder. “You’re too good at this. Your brain is like a music encyclopedia.”
    “Not really,” he says. “I looked it up after we heard it the other day.”
    “Me too, actually.”
    I’m constantly researching songs these days, trying to find good lyrics to use for this silly game of ours.
    Reece says, “Have I ever told you that I’ll miss you like a child misses their blanket?”
    “Fergie?” I suggest. “Or the Black Eyed Peas?”
    “That would be Fergie.”
    “I thought so. And by the way, my compliment was better than yours. I mean, a blanket ?”
    He shrugs, still smiling. “Was yours really a compliment, though? Lack of rain. That’s what makes a desert a desert. So adding rain would turn it into something else. Would a desert even want that?”
    “Yes! It’s a known fact that all deserts secretly aspire to become jungles because jungles have waterfalls and pretty plants and flowers.”
    “All right,” he says, with a crooked little smile. “But just so you know, I happen to think blankets are awesome. Especially, you know, those really soft ones? Man, would I miss a blanket like that.”
    My heart dances in double time. “Would you really?”
    “I would.” He glances in the direction of the third floor. “So, um. Your Christmas present. It’s in my truck.”
    “Which is the same place yours is.”
    He helps me up and doesn’t let go of my hand. I can hardlybreathe as the light from his phone guides us down the stairs. Something’s going to happen. I think so, at least.
    I hope so.
    •    •    •
    We’re sitting beside each other on Reece’s bucket seats. I yank off my gloves and unzip my coat partway while Reece starts the engine for some heat and turns on the light overhead.
    “Ouch,” he says. “What happened to your neck? Wait. Don’t tell me. Vampire bite?”
    “Actually, curling iron burn. It’s very attractive, I know.”
    It’s very painful, too. I accidentally ripped the burned layer of skin off today while I was drying myself after my shower. Mom taped a gel pad over the open wound, which makes it look worse than it is, but eases the throbbing somewhat.
    Reece pulls a small rectangular package from under his seat and gives it to me. “Hope you don’t hate