Fractured ( Fractured #1) Read Online Free

him.
    “Potato salad , right?” His dimple appeared when he smiled.
    “Um.” Nice going idiot. Couldn’t I say anything better?
    “Where’re you going?” he asked, eyeing the art supplies in my arms.
    “To a neighbor’s house. They have a creek behind their house. I go there to draw.” Tell me I didn’t sound like a complete idiot.
    “Are you any good?” His smile widened.
    I mmediately, I felt self-conscious. My cheeks burned. I shrugged and looked down at the pavement.
    “ I mean, can you draw people?”
    I looked up to see his wonderful smile. A rush of heat raced through me, and my insides felt like wet noodles.
    “Maybe you could draw me one day.” He waited, but I just stared. He raised his eyebrows and nodded once toward me.
    “Um, okay.” Why do I have to be such a dork?
    “Well, I have to go to work. Maybe I’ll see you around during the summer.” As soon as he said it, I wanted to follow him wherever he was going: to work, home, to my dream cliff, even off the cliff. It didn’t matter. I just wanted to be with him. His perfect smile appeared again, complete with the dimple.
    I managed to get out one word : “Okay.” It sounded overeager and stupid. With a wave, he left his car parked on the street and walked toward the supermarket. Unable to feel my limbs, I stood there for what felt like years. It was as if he had stolen a small piece of my heart and taken it with him. I wanted to go with him to see what he’d do with it.
    When he was half a block away from me, I remembered that I had to breathe. Inhaling the warm summer air, I mentally berated myself for being a total moron. I promised myself that the next time I ran into him, if I ran into him, I’d do better. I waited until I couldn’t see him anymore, and then I resumed my walk to the creek. Again, my thoughts were consumed with the hot deli-god. Idiot, you don’t even know his name.
    Finding my usual place on the rocks near the creek, I sat down and took out my favorite drawing pencil , but instead of sketching what was in front of me, I drew what was in my mind. His eyes were more beautiful in person, but I wasn’t off by much.
    Several hours later, I walked home and thought about what we needed at the supermarket.
     

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter Five
     
     
    Opening the door, I saw my mom slumped on the couch. Her chocolate-brown hair was fanned out over the back, and the television blared some TV chef extolling the virtues of poached salmon. The glass on the coffee table was empty, but how many times over, I didn’t know. A box of Cheez was tipped over onto the floor.
    Just once , I wished she wouldn’t be blathered when I came home. I understood why she had pain, but even so, I wished…
    My sketchpad barely landed on the recliner where I flung it. The box of the charcoal opened and scattered onto the carpet. I bent down to pick up the black stalks, and tossed them all back into the box. Then I tried to recover as many of the little orange crackers with one hand as possible. Her head rolled around in slow motion. In a groggy voice she said, “Hi, Sweetie. Have a nice day?” At least, she wasn’t a mean-drunk today.
    “Yes, Mom. It was nice.” I raced to the kitchen garbage can and threw out the handful of crackers. Then I went back into the living room. “C’mon, Mom. Let’s get you upstairs before Dillon comes home.”
    “Dillon?” she asked, barely keeping her head up. It flopped back to the cushion. I sat on the couch next to her and tossed one of her arms around my shoulders. With my arm around her waist, I took a deep breath to prepare myself for her weight before hoisting her up. I used to just leave her on the couch, but it was embarrassing, especially when Bryan’s friend, Jimmy, came over. Jimmy never said a word about it. He had witnessed my mother’s evolution, too, since he had practically lived in our house since we were all six.
    Getting her up the stairs was easier now that I had a