“That’s Kayla. Crazy story. She was actually homeless for two years and studied by flashlight in the back of a car she was living in—
“Mark’s the one on my floor who runs a poker den—”
And I sit there, smiling, loving the feel of him so close. He was right: all these people, these hundreds of thousands of people, have stories. Fascinating, ever-unwinding stories. I am just one of them.
And I am still midsentence.
After dinner, Owen walks me to Union Square, where my dad and I are staying. The day was warm, especially for November. But with the sun gone, the wind is cold and smells bitingly of winter. Still, the whole city is lit up, humming, alive with energy and motion.
“So? What do you think?” Owen unconsciously parrots the question my dad asked me earlier.
Even though I know exactly what he’s asking, I pretend to misunderstand. “About the pizza?” I say. “Very good. You were right. Much better than in Vermont.”
He waves impatiently. “About NYU. About the city.”
I hesitate. I love it. Of course I love it. And being here means maybe being with Owen, truly being with him.
But it also means that I might find myself lonely and with a broken heart in a big city.
“It’s high on the list,” I say cautiously, avoiding his eyes. We’ve arrived at the hotel far too soon. I barely remember the walk. We may as well have flown. “But I’m looking at Bard too. They have a good program in dance education . . . and it’s a little closer to home. And then there’s Bryn Mawr—”
“Mia?” Owen cuts me off.
When I look at him, he’s smiling again. And it’s amazing that the whole city, all its eight million people and countless cars and bars, just falls away in that moment, vaporizes into air.
“What?” I say.
“You’re full of shit.” He says it like it’s the nicest thing he could ever say. And then his smile fades. He looks away, biting his lip. “Listen. I really want to kiss you. Like, really really. But I know—I mean, you’re in Vermont, and you don’t even know what you’re going to do next year, and I’m here, and I don’t want to do anything to—”
This time, I cut him off. I take his face in my hands and turn it toward me and stretch up on tiptoes to kiss him.
Picture a dance so perfect, it looks like flying.
And here’s the thing: I don’t know what it means, or where it will lead, or whether it will lead anywhere.
But I kiss him anyway. Because if not, then
About the Author
Photo by Charles Grantham
LAUREN OLIVER is the cofounder of the media and content development company Glasstown Entertainment, where she serves as the president of production. She is also the New York Times bestselling author of the YA novels Replica, Ringer, Vanishing Girls, and Panic and the Delirium trilogy: Delirium, Pandemonium, and Requiem, which have been translated into more than thirty languages. The film rights to both Replica and Lauren’s bestselling first novel, Before I Fall, were acquired by AwesomenessTV; Before I Fall has been made into a major motion picture.
Her novels for middle grade readers include The Spindlers, Liesl & Po, and the Curiosity House series, cowritten with H. C. Chester. She has written one novel for adults, Rooms.
A graduate of the University of Chicago and NYU’s MFA program, Lauren Oliver divides her time between New York, Connecticut, and a variety of airport lounges. You can visit her online at www.laurenoliverbooks.com.
Discover great authors, exclusive offers, and more at hc.com.
Books by Lauren Oliver
Liesl & Po
The Spindlers
The Magnificent Monsters of Clay Manor
Curiosity House Series
Curiosity House: The Shrunken Head
Curiosity House: The Screaming Statue
Curiosity House: The Fearsome Firebird
The Delirium Series
Delirium
Pandemonium
Requiem
Delirium: The Complete Collection
Hana
Annabel
Raven
Alex
The Book of Shhh
Before I Fall
Panic
Vanishing Girls
The Lauren Oliver Collection
Replica
Ringer
Broken Things
For Adults
Rooms
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Copyright
BROKEN THINGS. Copyright © 2018 by Laura Schechter. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
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Cover art by plainpicture/Minden Pictures/Yva Momatiuk & John Eastcott and Shutterstock
Cover design by Kerri Resnick and Erin Fitzsimmons
* * *
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018933333
Digital Edition OCTOBER 2018 ISBN: 978-0-06-222415-6
Print ISBN: 978-0-06-222413-2 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-0-06-286249-5 (signed edition)
ISBN 978-0-06-287743-7 (international edition)
ISBN 978-0-06-289113-6 (special edition)
* * *
1819202122PC/LSCH 10987654321
FIRST EDITION
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