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Chapter One
JAMES
Even if I wasn’t looking…
Even if I wasn’t watching…
Even if I wasn’t obsessed…
There’s no way in hell I could miss her
The beach is packed It’s Saturday afternoon And even though it’s a hot June, today is Orange County perfect Seventy-eight degrees at eight PM and just enough wind to olden tresses dance around her heart-shaped face The waves are just big enough to keep the surfers entertained as she eats her fast-food dinner froe that lines the horizon far off in the distance, sets a scene arht that falls across her bronze body
It’s the perfect evening But this girl is the only thing I see
I’ve watched her for three months She co, just before Huntington Beach Pier opens She does so, that’s how easy it looks Not easy forshe’s been doing since she was a kid
She co More fast food, eats on the Pier Plaza steps More sea-watching Even if there aren’t surfers out there to entertain her, the Pacific Ocean is what occupies her mind
She pays attention to everything Everyone alks by She never talks to anyone If the skaters on the bike path hanging out in front of the steps get too close, she leaves If they engage her, she turns her head They call her names sometimes, but she’s either deaf or very well-trained
She’s not deaf
I know she’s not deaf
I knohere she lives
I know she’s hiding
I know I’m the last person she wants to see
I know she sleeps in boy short underwear and a tank top
I know she has anxiety issues because she keeps a bottle of pills in her bathroom
I know she never takes those pills I count them But every time I check, the bottle has been h to want to hold the bottle
I know she has a phone But I also know she never uses it I’ve checked the es I kno e I know she touches herself at night so for a second