An Ever Fixéd Mark Read Online Free Page A

interested in Oliver Cottingham or
the internet. She felt a sense of purpose and opened the invitation
list to add Gerard Fulton.
     
    *****
    Lizzie watched the juices ooze out of the
tomatoes and across the sizzling pan. She added oregano and garlic
before stirring them all up again. “Hey,” Meg came into the kitchen
and grabbed a glass from the cupboard.
    “Hey,” Lizzie didn’t look away from the pan.
“Stranger.”
    Meg pulled the orange juice out of the
refrigerator. “Yeah,” Meg filled her glass before returning the
carton to its shelf. “Sorry to leave you alone this weekend.”
    “Jackie got back Sunday,” Lizzie stirred her
mixture again.
    “Even better,” Meg took a gulp of her
juice.
    “Where did you go?”
    Meg bit her lip. “Alec’s,” she sighed out
slowly.
    “I thought you guys were finished.”
    “We were,” Meg took another drink and set
the glass by the sink. “But…”
    Lizzie stirred her pan, choosing not to say
what came into her mouth. She knew she couldn’t criticize Meg for
the frailty of her heart or its poor choices.
    “I needed a couple books for the thesis,”
Meg argued. “He offered to loan them to me...”
    “So you stayed for three, four days?”
    “Lizzie, I forgot how much I like talking to
him… and kissing him.”
    Lizzie watched the juices run together and
wondered if her cheeks resembled their color. “So you’re back
together?”
    “Sort of…”
    “Are you happy?”
    “I don’t know,” Meg shrugged. “What are you
making for dinner?”
    “Just sauce for spaghetti,” Lizzie looked
back at her pan. “There’s enough for you – and Jackie, if she wants
any.”
    “How was the reunion?” Meg asked quickly
before Lizzie could turn the conversation backwards.
    “ I saw some old friends. I
danced. It was a nice night.”
    “Did your cousin show?” Meg got the orange
juice again.
    “No,” Lizzie turned the heat down under the
pan.
    “What about your friend who has lots of
babies and is married to the repressed homosexual?”
    “Meg!” Lizzie tried to restrain her
laughter.
    “Was she there?”
    “She was,” Lizzie bit on her smile. “We
didn’t talk much though.”
    “Then who did you talk to?” Meg softened her
curiosity, obviously seeing something Lizzie wasn’t able to conceal
from her expression.
    “This guy Ben,” Lizzie tucked her hair
behind her ear and picked up the wooden spoon to poke once more at
her mixture.
    “Did you talk to him in high school?”
    “Actually, he used follow Sara around all
the time.”
    “Oh.”
    Lizzie accepted her misinterpretation and
concentrated on her dinner. Meg watched as she put the spaghetti
into the boiling water and tilted her head. “So what else
happened?”
    “Um…” Lizzie faded as the smile she couldn’t
prevent crept onto her face.
    “Did you get laid?”
    “Meghan,” Lizzie laughed at her attempt to
scold her friend as the slam of the front door echoed up the stairs
and through the dining room into the kitchen. “Jackie is home.”
    “Who cares? That Ben guy?”
    “Yes,” Lizzie let Meg see her smirk as
Jackie came into the kitchen. “Hi,” Lizzie offered.
    “Hi,” their third roommate muttered as she
grabbed a can of soda from the fridge and left the kitchen.
    “I’m guessing she doesn’t want spaghetti,”
Meg stuck a finger in the sauce, tasted it, and met Lizzie’s eyes.
“Do you think you’ll see him again?”
    “ He’s nice… but it was
just one night,” Lizzie cautioned, not wanting to get swept up in
Meg’s manic concept of romance. “It was great sex, but it’s not
going to be a relationship.”
    “ You don’t think you’ll
want to get together for more great sex?” Meg lingered by the
stove.
    “I don’t know,” Lizzie slowly took the spoon
out of the red sauce. “He… I always think of him in terms of Sara.
I never had a thing for him myself. I never thought of him that
way… really… until right before we went upstairs.”
    “So