Irene

“He plucked the book from my hands, inspected the cover. “I recognize this one. Haven’t you read this, like, a hundred times?”
“Twenty, actually,” I said, snatching it back. “Today marks the twenty-first time.”
He grinned. Shook his head.
“What?” I asked.
“Nothing. Nothing at all,” he said, jerking his chin toward the book on my legs.
“Read to me.”
"Why?”
“Because you go somewhere else when you read. I want to go there with you.”

We sat there and I read aloud, my back to Brett’s chest. He pulled me a little closer, held me a little tighter. And this time, we escaped together.”
― Alex Light, The Upside of Falling