Free Little Miss Red by Robin Palmer Page A

like Devon’s. “I mean, this guy here”—I pointed to the cover—“he’s just a model, and from what I’ve read in magazines,
they
can be evil, especially the ones who throw phones at their assistants, but you…you’re a real person.” I started twirling a lock of hair around my finger like Devon did when she was trying to be seductive. The problem was, she had long, thick, raven-black, silky hair, whereas mine was chin-length and on the thin side, which meant that instead of looking sexy all I managed to do was snag it. “Ow,” I said as I yanked my finger out, taking a few strands of hair with it.
    He handed me the book back. “Be careful, Red—you don’t want to lose any of that pretty hair.” He gave me another sexy smile. “Is it all right if I call you Red—you know, on account of your hat?”
    My mouth fell open. He already had a
nickname
for me! I
knew
our soul-level connection wasn’t all in my head.“Sure,” I replied. I quickly shoved the book back into my bag. “So, uh, what’s your name?”
    “Jack.”
    “Jack,” I sighed.
Jack and Sophie. Sophie and Jack. Mr. and Mrs. Jack…
“And what’s your last name?”
    “Andrews.”
    I nodded.
Sophie Andrews
. Kind of bland, but it could work. Especially if I hyphenated.
Sophie Greene-Andrews
. Now
that
worked. It sounded so sophisticated!
    Jack reached into his knapsack and took out a copy of
Motocross Action
magazine and his iPod. “You want to hear something awesome?” he asked, holding out the earbuds.
    “But they already announced that we need to turn off all electronic devices until we’re at our cruising altitude.”
    He smiled at me. “Are you serious?”
    I nodded. Of course I was serious. I don’t think it was a federal offense if an airline attendant caught you, but I bet they
really
yelled at you. Also, wasn’t it a safety thing?
    As he leaned toward me, his brown eyes flashing, he opened my palm and wrapped them around the earbuds. “You only go around once, Red.”
    “According to the Buddhists you don’t,” I said nervously.
    He laughed. “Ha. Not only are you a cutie, but you’re funny too!” He pushed my hat up and looked deeply into my eyes. “C’mon, break a rule or two. Live a little.”
    It was like he was hypnotizing me. I felt like I was going to throw up, but instead of feeling gross or scary it was…the
good
kind of throwing-up feeling. Which, until that moment, I hadn’t known existed.
    “But…I read you can get ear infections sharing these,” I blurted.
    He laughed. “Well, good thing I cleaned my ears just this morning then.” He gave me a smile. “C’mon, take a walk on the wild side.”
    When he said that, something in me just clicked. Maybe it was the Benadryl, or maybe that reminded me of a song that my parents used to sing on the rare occasions that they had a few glasses of wine and were being silly, but it was like this powerful force invaded my body. As I shoved the earbuds in my ears, he pushed play, and the pulse of drums filled my head.
    “Ow,” I yelled.
    He turned down the volume.
    The drums were joined by the wail of a guitar, and I started to bob my head. I usually only like Top 40 dance music, but this sounded amazing. And the skeez factor of sharing earwaxy earbuds wasn’t even bothering me. “What is this?” I yelled.
    He put his finger to his lips.
    Those lips. They were so…
puffy-
looking. Like superexpensive down-feather pillows. “Oh. Sorry,” I yelled again.
    He smiled as he took one of the buds out. “It’s Neil Young,” he replied.
    As he placed the bud back in my ear, I tipped my head down in case the flight attendant walked by. The problem was, the music was so good that it just took me over, and before I knew it, I was tapping my head against the back of my headrest with my eyes closed.
    As a guitar solo filled my ears, I realized I had never felt so free in my entire life. I was a rule-breaker. Sure, it was important to not break the
really
important