Summer Forever Read Online Free Page A

California and then I’d have lost my best friend. I’m a very needy person,” she says with a smile. “I can’t have you moving across the country, you know.”
    “Don’t worry, that won’t happen.” My phone beeps to signal a new text message. I lean over and see Park’s name light up on the screen. Without reading it, I slide the phone back toward the work computer and continue eating.
    Bayleigh lifts an eyebrow. “Oh my God, are you thinking of breaking up with Park?”
    “What? No.” My reply is quick. Too quick. Her eyes go wide and she grabs my arm. “Becca. You can’t lie to me.”
    I shrug. “I’m not lying. I mean, I don’t know.”
    Wow. That’s the first time I’ve admitted it both out loud and to myself. When it comes to my relationship with Park, I really don’t know. I mean, sure we had fun this past weekend but things were weird. An awkward nagging feeling tugged at me during the time we were hanging out, and I think he felt it too. It was like ever since the moment he bought that house, things have been different for us.
    That doesn’t mean I don’t love him. I do, I just…
    I glance up from my thoughts and find Bayleigh giving me a deadpan stare. “What’s going on? You can tell me, you know. I won’t tell Jace.”
    Now it’s time to admit something I really haven’t been allowing myself to think. I take a deep breath. “I don’t think I’m worth it. He’s given up so much of his life for me, to be here and to be with me, and I just can’t stop feeling like it’s all a huge mistake on his part. I mean…look at me.”
    The ten seconds of silence that follows my monologue makes my heart leap into my throat. Bayleigh isn’t immediately saying anything reassuring. She’s not doing her best friend duty to tell me what I want to hear. She’s just…watching me. Finally, her  smile contorts into something resembling pity.
    “Honey, you need to talk to him.”
    “I will,” I say. “We’re just eating lunch right now so I’ll text him back when we’re done.”
    “No, I don’t mean that.” Funny how ever since Bayleigh became a mom, her I’m Serious And You Better Listen to Me face has become honed to Oscar-worthy perfection. “I mean you need to sit down with him and have a talk about everything. About why he moved here and your future together and all of that. If you don’t think you’re good enough for him, then he needs to assure you that you are.”
    “And what if he doesn’t?” I say. “What if he can’t assure me of anything?”
    “He wouldn’t have moved here if you weren’t good enough for him.”
    I shake my head. “I don’t know. Maybe he moved down here for another reason and I’m just his girlfriend until he figures out what he wants to do with his life.”
    Bayleigh grabs my half-eaten burrito and takes a huge bite. “Talk to him.”
    I draw in a deep breath and let it out in a sigh, bringing my forehead all the way down to rest on top of my open history book. “You’re right,” I say into the pages. “I’ll talk to him.”

Chapter 4
     
    I don’t talk to him. For three days, I manage to avoid any serious conversations with Park and stick to just basic hello, goodnight, see ya later texts. It turns out that all of my studying for the history midterm did absolutely nothing for me, because instead of facts and figures and dates, the entire midterm was a two hundred question vocabulary test. Luckily, about half of the class also failed it and our instructor is allowing a retake to make up half of the points we missed. He had said we were lucky this was only “community college” because “real college” doesn’t work that way.
    Seriously, screw that guy.
    But now that I have a reason to lock myself up in my room for a few days and study some more, I use it to my full advantage and make it my excuse for avoiding Park.
    And I hate that I’m doing this. Park. MY Park. The gorgeous, sweet, super freaking hot guy who I am currently