My Best Friend's Brother Read Online Free Page A

movie. I reached for the phone in my pocket to check my messages.
    Two messages were from Lilly, the last from my dad. I checked my watch, and to my dismay it was nearly 8:30! Dad wanted to remind me of my nine o’clock curfew. But Lilly’s messages made me feel lousy.
    6:23 p.m.: I said I’d call back so we can get together. Where are you? Jeez, everyone vanished on me today. Mom and I are leaving at eight in the morning. Call me!
    7:58 p.m.: It’s almost eight. I guess you’re busy with the hottie you said you saw earlier. If I don’t hear from you, I’ll see you in a few weeks. I’ll bring you back something cool. Good luck, okay? By the way, I saw that dweeb Jake at the skating rink. I told him you were on a hot date! You’re welcome! Bye!
    I sighed guiltily. Then I realized he was watching me, and that we’d been so on the subject of me that I never even caught his name.
    At first I was hesitant to ask, but if I didn’t, what the heck would I call him?
    Yeah, I have this problem a lot.
    “Uh, sorry, I seemed to have forgotten your name.” I smiled sheepishly. The hottest guy I’d ever met, and I forgot his name—I’m off to a great start!
    He laughed. “You never asked for my name.”
    I waited shyly, feeling majorly dumb. He probably thinks I’m stuck on myself!
    “Luke,” he said. “Luke Pawlak.”
    I ogled him. He is so freakin’ amazing.
    After a brief moment, he cleared his throat, smiled and added, “It’s Polish.”
    I snapped out of it. “It was great spending the day with you, Luke.” I couldn’t emphasize that enough!
    “Same here, Adonia. What does your name mean, anyway?”
    I felt myself blush. “Beautiful…” It makes me sound like I’m even more stuck on myself, thanks to my mom and her love of Greek names.
    “Wow,” he said, eyes twinkling, “your parents were right on target when they named you that!”
    I saw that coming!
    He looked around at all the near-empty stores as I fiddled with my watch. I didn’t know how to tell him that I have a nine o’clock curfew. How totally lame, he’ll think my parents baby me!
    And then he looked at me funnily.
    “I need to go home now. My dad gave me a curfew,” I muttered.
    To my relief, he smiled. “Sure. Need a ride?”
    I was totally tempted. But leaving Mom’s car in an empty lot for thieves is not a good idea. She’d fly home and kill me if anything ever happened to it. “I drove here.”
    He nodded. “So, maybe I can I get your number?”
    I pulled out my thumb-sized address book, wrote it down, tore the page out and handed it to him. Our hands touched and my heart fluttered.
    “Thanks. You couldn’t jot it down on something smaller…?” he joked.
    I laughed.
    “I’ll call you,” he breathed. Then he smiled, waved, and took a few steps back. He turned and walked toward the exit. But within a few yards he stopped and looked at me. “Hey Beautiful, should I walk you to your car?”
    I giggled. “I can handle it!” Mostly so I can see his butt as he walked away.
    ~ ~ ~
    Traffic almost made me miss curfew. I got home thirty seconds after nine.
    Dad was on the couch with his laptop and Writer’s Digest , pocket watch in hand. The look on his face made me sweat. “Thirty seconds! Round it up to the next minute and you’re late!”
    I rolled my eyes.
    He smiled and raised his eyebrows, obviously awaiting an explanation. I thought having to give one was cheesy, but I gave him one anyway.
    “I’m sorry, Dad. Traffic… and I didn’t wanna speed.”
    He nodded. “Did you have a good time?”
    I took my coat off and joined him on the couch. “I had a date.”
    “Oh? You had a date with whom?”
    “With a nice guy named Luke. We saw the new Ben Stiller movie.” I had to stick the nice guy part in there—if I didn’t, he’d ask a ton of questions and it would just take longer.
    “Was it a good movie?”
    “Quite.”
    “Was he well behaved?”
    I rolled my eyes again. “He was great, Dad…” He