Native Tongue Read Online Free Page A

all.
     
     
    He laughed and gave me a swift kiss. “You’re adorable.”
     
     
    “I’m glad someone thinks so.” You’re dorky is more like it.
     
     
    TL’s full-size truck sat parked in the circular driveway. David opened the door for me and then went around to the driver’s side.
     
     
    He climbed in and stretched his arm along the seat back. “Come ’ere.”
     
     
    I unbuckled my seat belt and slid across, more than happy to oblige him. “Bruiser said not to do this.”
     
     
    David smiled. “I’ll never tell.” He looked at my lips. “I figured we’d better toast.”
     
     
    “Toast?”
     
     
    “Here’s to us not getting a call from TL.”
     
     
    “I’ll definitely toast to that.” My cell had been way too active lately.
     
     
    David leaned in and kissed me. Long and dreamy. Slow. Taking all the time in the world. He tasted minty. Every time we kissed I swore it was the best one yet. But this one topped the rest.
     
     
    He pulled back. “We could sit here the whole night and keep making out.”
     
     
    Laughing, I glanced at his shiny mouth, and my amusement died. It looked like he’d been eating greasy fried chicken.
     
     
    “My lip gloss,” I realized aloud. Oh no.
     
     
    “What?” David wiped his hand over his mouth and then checked out his fingers.
     
     
    I grabbed his slimy hand and rubbed it on my jeans. “I’m so sorry.” I’m an idiot.
     
     
    “GiGi,” he chuckled, stilling my hand.
     
     
    Wait. If he looked that greasy I had to look the same or worse. I yanked the rearview mirror over and checked out my face. “I’m sorry.” I fumbled with the glove compartment, found a napkin, and scrubbed away the mess. “I knew this lip gloss thing was not a good idea,” I mumbled.
     
     
    Cramming the napkin in my jacket pocket, I turned to him.
     
     
    His eyes crinkled. “You done freaking out?”
     
     
    “Did that gross you out?”
     
     
    David softly rubbed my earlobe between his thumb and finger. “Nothing about you grosses me out.”
     
     
    I leaned into his hand. “Thanks.”
     
     
    With another quick kiss, he started the engine. “Seat belt.”
     
     
    “Oh.” I scooted to my side and strapped in.
     
     
    David pulled away from the ranch house, and I reached inside my purse for the lip gloss. Maybe I should have him turn around so I could run back in and borrow Cat’s stay-on stuff. It certainly made more sense—if you’re going to be kissing a guy, you needed stay-on stuff. Not glossy, glistening stuff.
     
     
    Surely other girls didn’t obsess over whether to reapply or not. I glanced down at the tube, and the spiral swirl of the gloss made me think of the eteus code I’d been working on earlier today. It had the same pattern.
     
     
    Now if I squared the last number, then multiplied by the root of the one hundred and eighth term, I could quadruple . . . no, that would be countably infini—
     
     
    “What are you thinking about?” David drove through the ranch’s gates. On the visor’s remote he typed in his personal code, and the gates closed.
     
     
    But if I stacked the numerical order and isolated the j—
     
     
    “GiGi?”
     
     
    “Huh?”
     
     
    David turned onto the highway. “You’re on a date, remember? At least pretend you’re having fun.”
     
     
    “I’m sorry. I am having fun.” I was on a date with the greatest guy in the world, and he didn’t think I was having fun. I sucked at this.
     
     
    He reached across the cab and took my hand. “Tell me what’s bothering you so we can fix it and have a good time tonight.”
     
     
    “Who says something’s bothering me?”
     
     
    David squeezed my fingers. “I’m waiting.”
     
     
    “You know me too well,” I grumbled. “Lip gloss or eteus code. Take your pick.”
     
     
    “Let’s go for lip gloss.”
     
     
    I held up the tube. “Do you want me to put more on or leave it off?”
     
     
    “The lip gloss is pretty if