Read The Boy Next Door: A Standalone Small Town Romance (Soulmates Series Book 3) for Free Online Page B

“I
could show it to you if you want.”
    “Okay.”
    “Who’s your favorite superhero?”
    I couldn’t believe how nice it
was to have someone ask me my opinion, especially about something so
meaningless. “Batman, I guess.”
    “Batman?” He scrunched his face.
“I guess you’re not as smart as you look.”
    “Just because I have glasses
doesn’t mean I’m smart.”
    “I know,” he said. “I like them,
by the way.”
    I swallowed.
    “But in case you’re wondering,
the correct answer is Spiderman.”
    “I didn’t know there was a correct
answer.”
    “You have much to learn,” he
said.
    I laughed at his seriousness and
the sound echoed through my body in a way I didn’t recognize.
    “Have you seen Spiderman 2?” he
asked.
    “I never saw the first one.”
    His eyebrows jumped up his face.
“What?!”
    I shrugged.
    “Oh my god you have to see it. I
have it. You can borrow it. Or we can watch it together. I never get sick of
it.”
    “Okay,” I said. “If you insist.”
    “I do insist,” he said. “Urgently.”
    I laughed again and my heart
lifted.
    “Maybe we could watch it after
school today,” he said. “It’s not like we’ll have homework on day one.”
    “I’ll have to ask my grandma.”
    “Helly?” he asked. “She’s a huge
Spiderman fan. She’ll definitely be cool with it.”
    “She’s a huge Spiderman fan?”
    He nodded. “Maybe even bigger
than me.”
    “If you say so.”
    The rest of lunch was full of
surprises, all thanks to the handsome blond boy who talked to me like he’d
known me for years.
    Even when his friends called him
over to their table, he waved them away with his hand and said we were in the
middle of a serious discussion.
    Which of course we weren’t.
    He was just telling me how
lizards can regenerate their tails with an obscene enthusiasm I’d only felt
once before when I got a free tiger spoon at the bottom of a bowl of Frosted
Flakes.
    But his passion was so awesome to
witness I couldn’t believe my luck.
    We walked home together that day
and watched Spiderman one and two.
    And as I watched the scene with
the upside down kiss, I felt a pinch in my guts and realized I wanted to be
more than friends with the boy next door.
     

 
    Chapter 9: Laney
     
     
     
     
    “Morning,” I said, pushing the screen door open.
    Helly was pottering around the garden with a basket full of
weeds in one hand and a pruner in the other. “Morning,” she said, bending over
to yank something offensive out of the ground. “I thought you might want to
sleep in.”
    “I tried,” I said. “But my room is so sunny, and the birds are
so loud. Lovely, but loud.”
    “As long as you’re rested,” she said.
    I sat on the back stoop and set my tea down beside me. “I am.”
    “I’ve only got a few more fugitives to track down,” she said,
scanning the flowerbed at her feet. “Then I’m going to make you the delicious breakfast
you refused yesterday.”
    “That sounds great.”
    “Oh- and I wanted to show you something,” she said, chucking
another weed in the flat basket.
    “What is it?”
    She set the basket down and wiped her hands on her thighs. “Come
here.”
    I stood up and followed her over to the shed.
    She pulled the metal latch to the left and swung the creaky red
door open. “Ta da!”
    “What’s all this?” I asked, looking around. The first thing I
noticed was my old easel at the back, which was covered by a familiar paint
splattered sheet.
    Next my eyes were drawn to several clear garbage bags lining the
walls. The closest one was full of empty toilet paper rolls. Another was full
of packing peanuts. Across the shed there were two more, one full of old
newspapers and another with what appeared to be pieces of broken lawn ornaments.
    Finally, I squinted at a bucket on the floor filled with broken
shards of colored glass.
    “It’s stuff I’ve been saving for you,” she said.
    “For me?”
    “Yeah,” she said. “In case you get a