Read Man of My Dreams for Free Online Page A

the lava lamps illuminating the acne scarred teenagers trying to score a hook-up. And they all look so young . How could two years make such a major difference?
    We find an empty couch over in the corner by the cliché of a jukebox. Grace rummages through her bag and pulls out a beaded change purse, jingling its contents for me.
    “What’ll it be? The Fugees or Ace of Base?”
    “Oh God, Grace. Anything but Ace of Base.”
    She laughs, probably remembering a time when The Sign played on repeat for an entire weekend. We’d made up a ridiculous dance with props and everything. She wore a pair of white go-go looking boots and a pleather pink trench coat while singing into a hairbrush. The memory makes me shake my head, relieved that we’ve grown up a little.
    I watch her tiny frame, lit up by the orange and pink lights of the jukebox, wondering what she decided on. As she walks back over, Matchbox Twenty’s familiar opening to 3 A.M. rushes through the machine. Itbrings me back to waiting on lines for concert tickets and memorizing song lyrics from the inside of the CD jacket cover, all by the light of the moon.
    I walk up to the bar to grab two root beers and that’s when I think my eyes are playing tricks on me. I bring my fists up to rub them, like a cartoon character, expecting to hear a squeaky sound to accompany the motion. This can’t be right. Of all the places, of all the times…Noah Matheson walks through the doors of this dingy hangout.
    I silently pray that my body language doesn’t betray me, or my boyfriend, right now. But seeing Noah causes a million unfulfilled memories to flutter through me like teeny tiny sparks of wistfulness. I lower my gaze and search over my shoulder for Grace. Maybe there’s a chance for us to jet out of here before he sees us and I resort to the same old pathetic obsessing. I want to trust myself, or the sensible part of me that is committed to Declan. But holy heart failure Batman, it’s Noah Matheson! I never got closure. Hell, I never got an opening! This is absurd. I’m not a lovesick girl anymore. I’m a twenty year old woman in love. There’s a difference. And what I have with Declan is the real thing. The crush I had for Noah, whatever I thought I felt for him is—
    Holy crap, he looks good!
    I snatch up the root beers and sprint over to Grace who is still oblivious to the fact that my reason for going to high school every day is breathing the same air as me. “Grace!” I whisper sharply. “Did you see who just walked in?”
    She narrows her eyes and scans the room. She shrugs her shoulders when she seems to have taken inventory of every single person here and then her eyes grow wide. Really freaking wide.
    “No effing way. What are the odds? I mean, seriously, Mia. Of all the gin joints in all the world?”
    For a minute I think she’s being sarcastic. Maybe this was her master plan all along, but even Grace doesn’t have that much against Declan. She knows how devastated I was that night after Lisa’s party. She watched me cry most of the summer over not kissing Noah. But by the time I left for college, the missed opportunity stung less, even if a faint tingle remained for a while. I fought through it by hooking up and having fun and by the time I met Declan, six months ago, Noah wasn’t even a thought.
    But now here he is, in all his college-jock glory and he is very much a current notion.
    I reach for my purse, gritting my teeth and telling Grace of our escape plan when I feel a tap on my shoulder. Oh God, no. Two years ago that simple touch would have had me tap dancing, tonight I want to run away.
    “Mia Page? Is that you?”
    Of course it’s me, you dumb jock. I haven’t changed that much since you left me high and dry. “Yes?” I play it cool, spinning around to face him. Then I do my best surprised face and smile, “Noah? Hi! What are you doing here?”
    He leans in for a polite kiss on the cheek and the smell of his cologne sends my eyes