Never Ever Read Online Free Page B

clouds began to roll in and a light mist fell. They sought shelter under the awning of a bus stop. Phinn cleared the trash off the bench and they sat down.
    â€œI met your brother Micah when I got to the party,” Phinn told her. “He seems like the introspective type.”
    â€œHe’s always been shy, but he’s also really talented. I guess he takes after my mom. He loves comic books and he’s been working on a graphic novel for a while.”
    Wylie left out Micah’s therapist visits over the years, all the diagnoses he’d been given, and all the Ritalin and antidepressants he’d consumed. And she didn’t breathe a word of that night a couple years ago, when she’d snuck a bottle of whiskey into Micah’s room and gotten him drunk while their parents had their worst fight ever. And the fact that since that night, he never left the house without his flask.
    â€œAnd what about your parents now,” Phinn asked. “Are they happily married?”
    Wylie laughed. She debated making up a story about how in love they still were, but there was no way she’d get through it with a straight face.
    â€œThey’re in the process of getting divorced, which means we’re in the process of picking which one we want to live with.”
    â€œSo, who’s the chosen one?” Phinn asked.
    â€œI’d rather run away from home than live with either one of them. I wish I was old enough to live by myself.”
    Wylie made no mention of her dad’s affair. It felt wrong to tell Phinn something she’d never had the courage to tell her brothers, especially since she had only found out by accident. She’d gone to her dad’s office late one night to surprise him and saw him kissing another woman through the open crack of the door. Wylie had slipped away before they noticed her. She tried not to get lost in the memory.
    â€œWhat about you? Tell me about your life,” she asked.
    â€œWhat do you want to know?” Phinn responded.
    â€œI don’t know—what’s your biggest fear?”
    Wylie had been trying to come up with a more interesting question than the old standbys of “Where do you goto school?” and “What do you do for fun?” but Phinn answered as if he’d expected this exact line of questioning.
    â€œGetting old.”
    Wylie nodded. “Yet another thing we have in common.”
    Phinn’s excitement was infectious as the words poured out of him, and Wylie could relate to almost everything he said. Phinn confessed he would rather die young than grow old, because old people were cynical and bitter and couldn’t take care of themselves anymore.
    â€œI’ve never been all that interested in the confines of convention,” Phinn continued. “High school, college, job, wife, kids, grandkids, nursing home, death. I could live without all of it.”
    The buzz of Wylie’s phone interrupted their conversation. She checked her texts and found messages from Micah, as well as one from Vanessa, making sure she was okay.
Never been better,
she quickly texted back.
    She wanted to stay, but it was getting late and she needed to get back to the party.
    â€œI know that look,” Phinn said. “You’re about to break my heart by telling me you have to go.”
    â€œI am,” she responded, and then before she knew the words were coming out, “Do you want to come with me?”
    â€œI can’t, Wylie. I was supposed to be home hours ago. But,” he continued, “there’s one last thing I want to do with you before I go.”
    Wylie waited for him to lean in or pull her face toward him for a kiss, but instead, he reached into his back pocket and took out a small pouch that looked like it had been woven out of reeds. He tilted it, revealing a bundle of tiny royalblue flowers unlike any she’d ever seen before. Phinn gently took her hand and placed a flower in the center