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He grins back at me "Man, you don’t even know I had no idea how often I touched lue"

I eat the last bite of my sandwich and finish the Diet Coke while he smokes I fiddle with the wrapper, wad it up and balance it on top of the eone?"

I look up at hi to to"

"Mind if I join you? I haven’t done so much as a pushup since we ran last"

"Sure"

The PA pokes his head out the door "Five , Graha to anyone but Richter I want to talk to hi Reid that I losea conversation And then I think of Brooke, and I’uilty for

Reid: Hey, just thinking about you and wanted to say hi

Me: Hi back Having fun? Using sunscreen?

Reid: Yes… and yes but after that many hours in the sun, I may come back saturday a little pinker anyway

Me: Lol See you then

Reid: Hope so ;)

Chapter 23

REID

Brooke got one thing right: river whores

I’uys andfor hours as groups of girls float nearby with their tubes hooked together, clad in bikinis and frayed deni their faces Last night was after-hours partying and inviting a few girls (and a couple of guys--Tadd’s noon this river the past couple of days, I rerew up in LA, and thanks to aDad’s career trajectory, Mom’s ancestry, and their collective net worth, I’ve run in exclusive circles my whole life The majority of wohters, have a look An untouchable beauty, a not-quite-real quality, everything pampered and flawless My mother has this look, as do her friends The socialites, the actresses, the wannabes, they all have it

When I met Brooke, she was fifteen and new to California She’d been discovered in Texas--in Austin, in fact, and she was so raw and fresh and different, she took my breath away She was beautiful, but natural Her hair wasn’t highlighted, and she wore noout at the co soccer since she was five Since she’d grown up in a relatively large city, her accent was er was sending her to speech classes to lose her "horrible drawl" I re I’d ever heard, but when I begged her not to go, she’d laughed and said, "You don’t want me to sound like so LA changed about her Now she’s as perfect and soulless as the others there Not that I can talk

The girls here all have her former accent, in various concentrations In some, every other word is y’all Others just soften syllables and liaise words All of the at the end of any word

A few of theether like this, which is what had Bob freaked out When I’et aith saying, "Yeah, I get that all the time," if so, it’s nearly ilasses help, but a few people know our identities despite the can to win E up tomorrow on the Internet Wherever there are ca no , a little dancing Anyone followingall personal ite deal--Ricky just escorted her back to her friends’ ca and phone to Jeff and asked if she needed to give him her clothes, too I told her no, she and I would take care of that ourselves

E?" MiShaun asks over dinner Friday night

"They went tubing" Brooke answers

"Pardon me?" MiShaun says, one eyebrow raised

"A shallow, slow- nothing but floating downstreauy’s wet dreauaranteed sunburn to rees "Richter will have their hides if they co like well-done lobsters"

"Excuse irls stand hesitantly by our table, apprehensive but deter her blasé expression "Yes, I airl says while the first nods "You’re so bitchy and awesoirls blanch "I mean, I know Kirsten is just your character, that you aren’t really, uh--"