Marianne by Elizabeth Hammer (best books to read in life TXT) 📕

when he stumbles out of your room this morning.’” Patrick looked confused by the last part.

Marianne pointed to the last sentence. “He thought you stayed the night at my house because your truck was parked outside. He doesn’t know that you live next door.”

“Oh.” He read the note again silently. “Oh.” He snapped his head up to look at Danielle.

“What?” Marianne asked Danielle.

“Patrick’s truck got egged last night,” she snickered.

“What!” Marianne jumped up off the bed. A spiteful note was one thing, but ruining a paint job was another. Patrick grabbed the back of Marianne’s pajama shirt to keep her from charging out of the room.

“It’s okay,” said Danielle. “The dweeb doesn’t even know how to egg properly. He only hit the windows.”

“At least he tried,” said Patrick, still seated on the bed, restraining Marianne. “That shows spirit.”

Monkey baby started wailing from somewhere across the house. “Darn it,” Danielle growled. She got up and left the room, muttering curses.

“Come here,” said Patrick. He pulled Marianne toward him by her pajamas until she was leaning back against the mattress just to the right of him. “Don’t be mad. In the end, it was pretty lame revenge. I needed to wash my truck, anyway.”

Marianne was placed more forward than him, but she could still feel his nearness. “You’re not at work today,” she said.

“It’s a slow week for jobs,” he said. “Why aren’t you in class?”

“No school on Mondays.” Marianne picked at her fingernail polish. She was irritated that she hadn’t gotten dressed yet and worried that last night’s bobby pins were poking out of her head at odd angles.

He was quiet. Too quiet. “What?” she asked.

“Just thinking.”

She turned partially toward him. “About?”

He focused on her face and took a deep breath. “About how cute you are in pajamas.”

Liar. Marianne gave him a half-smile. “You’re not going to maim Alvin, are you?”

He closed his pretty brown eyes. “Thinking about it.”

Marianne turned away again. “Nice.”

He laughed quietly and she could feel his breath blow across her dirty hair. He let go of the back of her shirt and leaned back a little. “Marianne...”

She turned around to face him. “Yes?”

Patrick put his hands on his knees. “I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable last night.”

She swallowed and played dumb. “When?”

“In the truck,” he said, matter-of-factly.

She shuffled back half a step. “No, you didn’t make me uncomfortable.” She absently started picking at her nail polish again. “It was fine... great...” She wasn’t going to tell him how she’d been blushing for the last eighteen hours.

“I don’t want to move too fast for you, Marianne.” He said it clearly. Plainly.

“Right,” she nodded. Stupid Marianne. He was putting it all out there, and she couldn’t even come up with a coherent lie. She just kept nodding.

He looked worried. “Am I making you uncomfortable right now?”

Marianne snorted. “No.”

Danielle passed by the door and scowled at Patrick. “Dumbass.”

He looked at the empty hallway. “Were you talking to me?”

Danielle stuck her head back in. “She’s not uncomfortable doing it, stupid. Only talking about it.”

Marianne gasped and glared at her.

“Danielle!” growled Patrick. He stared at her, horrified. “That was so out of line.”

“It’s true,” she shrugged.

“Who cares!” he shot back at her.

Marianne was frozen in place.

Danielle laughed. “Geez, calm down.”

“No,” he said. “That was super rude of you.”

Danielle stood up straight in the doorway, shocked. “What was?”

“What was?” Patrick repeated. He was fully pissed. “You should not have been listening to us like that.”

Yikes. Marianne hadn’t ever seen him angry before, and it didn’t look how she’d thought it would. More attractive, way more scary.

Danielle gaped at him innocently. “I just happened to overhear.”

He stood up, all six-foot-four-inches of him, and spoke in a hard voice. “Then you shouldn’t have commented. You know better.”

Danielle blinked at him a few times. “Are you mad at me?”

Patrick stared at her dismayed face for a second and then hung his head down. He massaged the back of his neck with his hand and exhaled once. Then he looked up at his sister. “You should apologize to her,” he said quietly.

“Sure,” said Danielle immediately.

Patrick and Danielle both turned to look at her. Marianne released the death grip she had on the front of her pajama shirt and smoothed down the fabric to cover her stomach again.

Danielle gave her a sheepish look and shrugged with one shoulder.

Marianne cut her off before she could speak. “Danielle....” She didn’t know what else to say, so she just shook her head.

Danielle was quiet for a second, and then she motioned backward with her thumb. “Okay, well... I gotta go get the brats from school. We have karate and stuff, so we won’t be back till, like, six.” She turned quickly and walked away.

Patrick looked at Marianne’s feet for a minute but didn’t face her. “I should apologize, too. For this, and also for last night with your parents and me. Nobody should be teasing you like that.”

Marianne wasn’t pissed at any of them anymore, only embarrassed. Not worth talking about. “It didn’t bother me,” she whispered.

Patrick exhaled and frowned at the hallway. “I think it did.”

“It doesn’t matter,” she said quickly. Marianne stepped toward him. “I forgive her. It’s over.”

Patrick flexed his jaw, looking confused about exactly what he wanted to say. “You don’t have to give the nice answer, Marianne. I want you to tell me how you feel.”

“I did.”

Patrick stared at her for a moment, then looked away again. He seemed upset.

Marianne took another step forward, but he wouldn’t look at her. Did he want her to be angry, or something?

Patrick waited a moment longer. “I’m gonna go get dressed.” His voice was so low that Marianne could hardly hear him. And then he just walked out. Walked right out the door.

What the hell? Now she was mad.

She sat on the bed and studied the grain of the shiny hardwood floor, listening to Danielle yell at the kids to go find their shoes. This whole situation was seriously unfair. He wasn’t allowed to control her feelings. Talk