Free Cherry Red Summer (Emely and Elyas Book 1) by Carina Bartsch

was being ungrateful, which wasn’t like me at all.
    “Thanks, Elyas,” I managed to make my mouth say, trying not to show how much it took for me utter those two stupid words. In response I got a proud smile.
    Now please take your red life preserver and get lost, David Hasselhoff!
    “You’re welcome,” he said. “Same time tomorrow?”
    “Very funny,” I mumbled, still feeling like a total fool.
    “What’s the matter, Emely?” Eva said, interrupting. Her face still showed the shock of seeing me, of all people, bringing a male visitor to the room.
    “She kind of overdid it jogging,” Elyas said.
    Eva probably thought she had misheard him. “Jogging?” she repeated.
    “Yeah.” Elyas grinned. “She was trying to impress me, probably.”
    I glared at him in fury, and would have loved to throw something at him, but nothing was in reach.
    He kept up his stupid game with his stupid comments for the next ten minutes, until he finally said good-bye. Eva could hardly wait for the door to click shut behind him before she leaped like a madwoman struck by lightning to sit next to me on the bed.
    “ That’s Elyas?” She was bug-eyed.
    “Yeah.” I shrugged, not seeing what the big deal was.
    “The same Elyas who’s been hitting on you for, like, ages?”
    “Yes, unfortunately.” I scrunched up my face and cuddled into my duvet.
    “You could have maybe mentioned how freaking hot he is!”
    “What does that have to do with anything?” I said, sighing and hoping Eva would just let me take a nap. My body needed to recover, and I could hardly keep my eyes open.
    “It has everything to do with everything now that I know what he looks like!”
    “Eva, you should know by now that I think a person’s personality is way more important than how they look.” I yawned, and my eyelids became heavier.
    “He didn’t come off at all like an assh—,” she started to say, thinking aloud. Of course she had instantly fallen for him, the way most girls did.
    “You know what they say: Smile if you want to have sex,” I mumbled.
    She nodded, at first confused. Then she seemed to get it. I was already drifting off, exhausted, into dreamland. What a crappy day was my last thought before I finally fell asleep.

C HAPTER 5
    I MMACULATE C ONCEPTION
    D ear Emely,
    Did you know I’ve been running to my computer every five minutes all day to see if maybe you wrote back? Pathetic, huh?
    Plus—sorry to disappoint—but I’m nowhere near done with my questions. For instance, I was just wondering what your favorite books are, or who your favorite writers are.
    What does a lit major read in her free time? I’m sure you’ll surprise me.
    And why did you tell me to remind you not to go jogging again? Now I’m curious about that.
    Hope to hear from you soon! (Ideally within the next five minutes so my next check of the computer won’t be for nothing.)
    Yours,
          Luca
    Sitting in my room in front of my laptop, I sighed contentedly. I counted my good graces that I was alone and no one could see me, because the whole thing was starting to become genuinely embarrassing. I don’t just mean the humiliating fact that I, at age twenty-three, had an Internet boyfriend, no. It was also the stupid grin I got on my face whenever I received an e-mail from him.
    Since I didn’t have anything better to do, I replied right away.
    Hi Luca,
    Actually the question is, what’s more pathetic? Your running to the computer every five minutes, or my reading e-mail with a stupid grin on my face? As far as being pathetic goes, let’s just roll with the assumption that it’s not like either of us to be so pathetic.
    And here I was worrying you wouldn’t think up more questions. How did I ever suppose that you might run out of them?
    But unlike your other questions, this one is easy to answer.
    My favorite writers are Chuck Palahniuk, Edgar Allan Poe, and Franz Kafka. With that information, you should know my favorite books, assuming you’ve