Somewhere To Be Read Online Free Page A

second a snowflake touched the ground and settled , there was travel chaos.
    It was already pushing two fifteen, and the plane had probably already landed, and no way was Jamie going to be there even close to on time.
    He picked up his phone and, seeing as he was at a current standstill in traffic, decided to risk making a call.
    “Hey, Ba, I’m in traffic. It’s really bad,” he said.
    “Aiyo, Jamie,” his dad sighed.
    Jamie winced.
    “What time did you leave?”
    “I left at midday. It should have been plenty.”
    “Snow, eh?”
    “Exactly. Snow. Motorway traffic. In snow,” Jamie whined, emphasizing his unhappiness with pointed enunciation.
    “Auntie will call when they arrive. I will tell them you are on the way.”
    “Cheers, Dad. Tell them it’ll probably be a while?”
    His dad grumbled his assent, telling Jamie to keep safe, and hung up, leaving Jamie to his traffic news and the occasional impotent honks of car horns. No matter how much noise you make, mate, we aren’t moving.
    His phone beeped, signaling an incoming text, and Jamie preemptively smiled. He and Nick had been texting back and forth all afternoon.
    How’s it going? Crawled any closer?
    Jamie huffed and typed out a quick reply, feeling guilty for texting in his car even though it was basically parked now.
    Nope! If I die of hypothermia (or old age—equally as likely in this traffic) I’m going to be so mad.
    Nick replied almost instantly.
    Drama queen aintcha;) Also maybe only person I know to use () in a text …
    Jamie poked his tongue out at the phone and dropped it onto the empty seat next to him, inching forward with the backed-up traffic.
    He and Nick had parted ways this morning, with promises to meet up again and maybe try a tentative date-type thing. Even though they’d already done the not-so-tentative hookup-type thing. It made Jamie feel giddy to even contemplate. Nick seemed like such a great guy, solid and unassuming, and he didn’t put any pressure on Jamie, which was a refreshing change.
    His ex, Steve, had been king of pressure and expectations, and Jamie rarely lived up to it. He was one of those guys who had a good job and let it become everything he was. Jamie had been flattered when Steve—tall, gorgeous, and confident—had shown an interest in him when he’d started up with the company. Steve wasn’t his direct manager, but he was a manager nonetheless, and he had no problem flirting with the staff, man or woman, to get what he needed.
    But it was different with Jamie, or so he’d thought, and soon enough they were dating. Keeping it quiet because of work, but Jamie was happy. Steve was generous and attentive and all those lovely things that can turn controlling in the blink of an eye.
    So fast and so subtly, in fact, that Jamie didn’t even notice it happening. Within six months he was seeing his friends less, dressing differently, generally being more demure and deferring. He just felt grateful that Steve noticed him and wanted to look after him, and Steve made it clear that he didn’t need Jamie. That there were other guys out there for him, and wasn’t he just so nice for sticking around? Even when Jamie was such a constant disappointment?
    In retrospect it made Jamie cringe. Even more so when he recalled how he didn’t pack up and leave when Steve started cheating on him, barely bothering to conceal it. He had a little Japanese international student from the university on the side. He was a self-proclaimed rice queen, and the term alone made Jamie want to throw up in his mouth a little. He despised being fetishized, but he’d let it continue anyway.
    The icing on the cake had come when he’d been made redundant following only a year at the company—most of which he’d spent in a relationship with Steve—and upon discovering Steve was in charge of the redundancies, Jamie had finally had enough. He’d called Steve out on it all and ended up jobless and homeless to boot. So back to his family and