When Life Turned Purple Read Online Free Page A

himself when he’s with… her .”
    Edison looked at Evan. “Who is she?”
    Evan raised his beer mug. “ She is a violet-eyed astronomy geek who won’t let him boff her.”
    “Oh, is she a Christian?” said Edison. “I used to be a Mormon myself.”
    Evan shook his head. “Nope. She’s a Torah-tinged monotheist.”
    Edison’s head turned to face Russ again. “Really? That’s so cool. I’ve never heard of that before.”
    Russ snorted.
    “Well, okay. Since you asked....” said Evan, putting one arm around his date and gesturing toward her with the other. “Do you know who this fine lady is?”
    “Sure,” said Russ. “You just told me.” He gave her a nod. “You’re cute,” he said. “My little brother has good taste.”
    Edison just smiled and shook her head.
    “Yes,” said Evan. “But she’s more than just a cute Grand Game Mistress.” Evan looked down at her. “This incredible woman revived me at least five times as we tracked down gremlin-troll mutants for bounties. Yes, she rescued me across three magical forests, one underwater world, and also when I fell off my dragon steed near a cliff.” Evan gave her shoulders a little squeeze with his arm. “How often do you find a girl like that?”
    She chuckled yet again and said, “You’re a pretty amazing gamer yourself.”
    But while he was happy for Evan, Russ couldn’t stomach the whole Geeks-in-Love shtick. He gave Evan and Edison a goodbye salute, then went out to call Lia. She was home and after some small talk, he asked her out.
    “I guess I’m supposed to hem and haw,” she said. “Really, I should pretend that I’m oh-so busy so you don’t think you can just call me up at the last minute to ask me out again.”
    “Well,” said Russ. Then he couldn’t think of anything to say after that.
    “But the truth is,” she continued, “I’m not such a poser. Where should we meet?”
    “I’ll pick you up,” he said. “Then you’ll have time to get ready.”
    “Great,” said Lia.
    Russ hurried through the drizzle to his car, trying to think of where he could take Lia. One of the rough things about dating in Seattle was always trying to think of good places indoors for a date. Strolling through a park often became a sloshy, muddy experience. In fact, taking a walk anywhere might end up being too cold with no place dry enough to sit down.
    A lot of dating took place in cars.
    Which wasn’t such a bad thing in Russ’s eyes.
    He always made sure his silver Ford Mustang was clean and smelled good.
    When he arrived at Lia’s apartment, she met him dressed in a bulky dark green sweater and a long flowing black skirt. They went down to his car and took off.
    “We can turn onto some of the less traveled roads,” he said.
    “That sounds nice, actually,” said Lia.
    Yes! For a long time, they drove around and talked. The hills and curves made for an interesting drive. Russ enjoyed the opportunity in the rainy darkness to show off his driving prowess on some of the steeper hills and sharper turns.
    Finally, he pulled into some shrubbery that overlooked the city. The car was stuffy but cozy and the sound of the rain on the roof and the pattern of the drops sliding down the windows made things even cozier.
    When he stopped the car, Russ saw the tension clutching Lia’s face. Her hands fidgeted in her lap as she stared at the gear shift for a moment. Then she gave his face a searching glance before looking away to stare at the lights below.
    Russ figured this was not the time to stretch his arm over the back of her seat.
    Okay, so she didn’t want to hook up with anyone before marriage. That was weird and old-fashioned, but he got it. But why this all-or-nothing tripe? Why couldn’t they engage in some good old-fashioned making-out?
    Russ put his elbow by his window and leaned back in his seat. His other arm rested on the armrest and his knees spread apart to either side of the steering wheel. Mr. Oh-So Cool and Casual: the kind of