Free The Nine Lives of Chloe King by Liz Braswell

buildings lately?”
    “I base-dived the Transamerica—does that count?”
    “We were thinking about going to the arcade at Sony later,” he continued. And since when did he and Amy become a “we”? Amy and she were a “we.” Amy, Paul, and she were a “we.” Should she just assume from now on that whenever either one of her best friends used that pronoun, they were only referring to themselves? “Wanna come?”
    Oh, now I’m being invited places by them. Pity the third wheel.
    “No thanks, I’ve got plans.” She didn’t know if hazel eyes could look cold, but she tried her best, making her face go flat with lack of emotion. She had practiced it in front of a mirror. The expression looked good with her high cheekbones.
    “Plans?” Paul asked. His eyebrows raised almost to his spiked bangs.
    “Yeah, plans. Maybe another time.”
    And she walked away.
    Of course, she knew it wouldn’t drop like that; she was hoping it wouldn’t. It came during math in the form of a single-character text message on her phone from Amy: ?
    She responded: thanks 4 the invite, tho.
    Amy: whats ur prob biyatch? @ least cometo my reading fri 7 @ b. rooster Puhlleeeeeeeezzze :) ! ucan bring alyec.
    Yeah, right, if she wanted to make sure that Alyec never wanted to hang out with her or her friends again. Amy’s poetry could have that effect on people.
    Chloe put away her phone, not wanting to deal.
    Brian showed up at Pateena’s precisely at six.
    Chloe was leaning in the doorway, carefully searching through the obituaries. No mention of Xavier. “Where to?” Chloe asked, shoving the paper into her bag.
    He seemed to have dressed up a little. His pants were something soft, black, and matte that almost looked like velvet. Wool? Velour? Chloe found herself resisting the urge to reach out and feel it. I wonder if he likes dancing. …
    “I was thinking … the zoo.” He looked at her expectantly, his brown eyes wide.
    “The zoo?” Mugs of coffee and an intimate dinner melted away. “Isn’t it closed?”
    “Nope. Not until eight. And I’m a member, so we get in free.”
    The zoo … Come to think of it, she hadn’t been there in years, even though it was reasonably close by. And no one had ever offered to take her there before.
    “All right, but you’re buying me a souvenir drink cup.”
    “Hey, you’re the one with a job.”
    “You’re the one who asked me out.”
    “Touché,” he admitted. He was so easy to talk to! This was, like, their third conversation and they were already bantering like old friends. “Okay, one souvenir drink cup for you. But if you felt like the evening went well, I wouldn’t object to you purchasing a stuffed monkey for me.”
    Chloe grinned. “It’s a deal.”
    There were no crowds outside the zoo gates, only families leaving, and all Brian had to do was wave his card at the guard and point to Chloe and they waltzed in. So much better than the heat, lines, and crowds she remembered from experiences there as a kid. It was also kind of cool going there at dusk: the overhanging trees gathered shadows under them, making the place seem more wild.
    “Are you in college?” she finally asked casually, looking at a map. He didn’t look that much older than her. …
    “Not yet. I’m taking a couple of years off.”
    “So, what did you need that suit for?”
    “Twenty questions!” he said, laughing. “I’m looking to major in zoology. Hence, uh, the zoo. But that’s kind of a difficult program for an undergrad degree, and competition is fierce. I wasn’t exactly a … scholar in high school, so I thought I would get some experience by working at a zoo or animal rescue league or something like that. I’m in the interviewing process right now. You’d be surprised how many people want crappy, low-paying jobs that involve shoveling a lot of animal—well, crap.”
    Chloe smiled. “Sounds cool to me … I’ve never had a pet more interesting than a goldfish or a beta. My mom’s