Candy Read Online Free

sizzling.
    “Sorry,” she said quietly. “I didn’t mean to embarrass you. I’m not coming on to you or anything, I was just saying, you know…you’ve got a nice smile. That’s all. It’s the truth.” She paused. “You want me to say you’re ugly?”
    I looked up, cracking an ugly smile.
    “That’s better,” she said. “My name’s Candy, by the way.”
    “Joe,” I told her. “Joe Beck.”
    She nodded. “Thanks for the doughnut, Lumpy Joe.”
    “You’re welcome.”
    We looked at each other, grinning like idiots, then my nerves got the better of me again and I buried my head in my coffee cup.
    Candy laughed.
    “What?” I said.
    “You.”
    “What?”
    “Nothing…”
    She was still chuckling as she reached into a little black handbag and took out a pack of cigarettes. She tapped one out and lit it with a disposable lighter.
    My surprise must have shown on my face.
    “Sorry,” she said, reaching for the pack. “Did you want one?”
    “No…no, thanks. I don’t smoke.” I looked anxiously around the room. “Are you sure you’re allowed to smoke in here?”
    She didn’t say anything, just shrugged, blowing out smoke and tapping ash into the doughnut wrapper. She looked around, casting her eyes over the black guys, then out the window, up and down the street, over at the station, then she took another drag on her cigarette and looked back at me. Her eyes smiled and she nodded at my hat. “Do you wear that all the time?”
    “Not always…”
    “It’s nice.”
    “Thanks.”
    “Why don’t you take it off?”
    “What?”
    “Take it off…I want to see if the rest of your hair is as messy as the bits I can see.”
    For some reason, I started feeling uncomfortable again. “Well…” I said, “you know, I have to get going soon…I ’m late already.”
    She just looked at me.
    I sighed and took off my hat.
    Her eyes widened at the sight of my hair. “Wow! How do you get it like that? How do you get it so messy?”
    “It’s not easy…it takes years of careful cultivation.”
    She laughed.
    “I’m not joking,” I said. “The trick with messy hair is making it look messy without it looking like it’s supposed to look messy.”
    “You’ve done a pretty good job of it.”
    “Thanks very much.”
    “You’re welcome.”
    This time I didn’t look away. I just grinned and pushed my burger to one side. It was cold now. Cold and forgotten. I didn’t care. Who needs a cold burger when you’re talkingto a pretty girl? And I was talking to her, I realized. I wasn’t just sitting there mumbling and looking embarrassed, I was actually talking to her. Not only that, but I was starting to enjoy it, too. Which was really surprising, because I never felt good talking to girls. I always felt nervous and shaky, unsure of myself…especially with girls that I liked. And I liked Candy. I liked her a lot. I liked the way she looked—her face, her eyes, her lips, her legs, her skin—and I liked the way she smelled—of soap and talcum powder. Everything about her excited me. She made me feel fresh. She made me hot. She made me cold. She fired me up and turned my body inside out. And usually that would have messed me up so much I wouldn’t have been able to feel anything, but this time I could feel it. God, I could feel it. And it felt good, like a rush of pure adrenaline…
    Of course, that’s not to say I wasn’t feeling nervous and shaky and unsure of myself, because I was. To tell you the truth, I was scared to death—scared and wary and unable to think of one good reason why this stunning girl was sitting here talking to me. Why wasn’t she talking to someone else? Someone older than me, or smarter than me, or taller or cooler…?
    Why pick on me?
    What did I have to offer?
    I didn’t waste too much time thinking about it, though.
    I mean—who cares?
    She was leaning on the table now, resting her chin in her hand, smoking her cigarette and gazing idly around the room. The tip of the