He clears his throat, and his hands twist around mine again. I wonder if it’s a nervous twitch or something.
“The piccolo’s okay. I’m trying to get used to it, I guess.”
“Why play if you don’t like it?”
“Easy.” He chuckles. “I do like it, even though it’s frustrating as hell. I’ve been in Band since they offered the class. I know the people there, and there’s nothing better than getting ready for a game, marching around in the rain and mud, and playing music. Some people go to games ‘cause of the game, but me? I go because of the band. It sounds stupid, but it’s not.”
“It doesn’t sound stupid at all.” It sounds like fun. If only I possessed any musical talent whatsoever.
“Have you ever been to a game?”
I shake my head. I’ve wanted to, so I could watch Levi play that drum in that adorable band uniform. But the one time I attempted it, I got to the ticket booth where we show our school I.Ds, and Adam ran up and hugged me. Ex-boyfriend, Kevin, just happened to be standing right there and said something to Adam about buckling up when he gets in the car with me. And I couldn’t take the razzing, and Adam shouldn’t have to deal with it either. So I ran off, like I always do.
“You should come. There’s one next Friday. We can hang out after or something.”
He’s asking me out again. My hands slip in his as I try to calm myself down enough to answer him.
“Okay!” Grrr…. Calm, Sierra. “Okay.” I try again. Then my stomach wrenches. Hopefully I can find a good spot to watch Levi that’s also away from anyone who gets off by making fun of me and my friends.
“Okay!” he says back at me, and I can’t help but laugh with him when our eyes connect. I’m so glad he’s not running away from my dorkism. But then again, I’m not running away from his.
It gets quiet, and I look at the TV. The little fishies are still on the lookout for that Nemo guy. I have no idea what’s happening, and I feel Levi shift a little closer to me.
“I like this movie,” I blurt, wanting to fill the air with more conversation, but picking the lamest topic ever.
He laughs. “You haven’t even been watching.”
“I still like it.” I wink this time, not knowing why or even what I mean by it. And Levi tilts his head as if he knows what I mean, even if I don’t.
“Well, we’ll have to watch it for real next time.”
“Next time?”
His mouth pops open slightly, and he turns a teensy bit pink. “Uh, if there’s a next time. I mean, sorry to assume, I just thought, you know, we’re being friends and all and you’re coming to the game, and maybe we could try actually watching it sometime…”
Is my rambling contagious? I smile and squeeze his fingers. He snaps his lips together, and then we seriously just stare at each other. It’s not awkward, but it makes the air so thick I feel like I have to push through it to get closer to him.
Why am I getting closer? I so don’t have the guts to kiss him. But he’s creeping toward me, eyes going from mine to my lips. Jumping back and forth between the two and I’m trying not to grin like a fool so he won’t kiss teeth.
Then he stops. Mid-drive to a kiss. “You want to go for that ride now?”
My mind goes extremely dirty, and I almost smack him. Maybe it’s all the tease and prude comments I get that make me automatically think that. But when my mind cleans up, I release a breathy laugh and say, “Heck yes.”
If I thought Levi’s half smile was beautiful, his full smile is even more gorgeous. And I almost blurt that out, but it won’t get past my own grin. Thank goodness.
He pulls me up from the couch as he stands, and there’s his chest again. I’m having issues breathing right.
Then the sound of a key in the lock makes us both jump so far away from each other, we’re practically in different time zones.
“I sat on the other end!” I shriek, but it’s Zoe who bounces through the door, Zak’s dark brown hair floating somewhere behind her.
“Holy frakking starships, Sierra!” My sister leaps into my arms, knocking me flat on my back on the couch. I’m still trying to catch the breath she knocked from me when she shoves her finger in my face. “Be my maid of honor?” she asks through her smile and laugh. I blink a few times to focus on the diamond on her left hand.
I snatch it and drop my jaw. Levi and Zak are talking in the background, but I can’t concentrate on anything but my sister lying on top of me and wiggling her hand. She looks so happy, I know I need to push back all my shock and instinct to scream out, “Hello! You are nineteen years old!” Like what the heck will Mom and Dad think?
Holy duh…maybe that’s what Zak was asking Dad the other day. And if they’re okay with it, I really should be too. Especially since Zoe’s almost in tears, shaking, and smiling so wide I can see her uvula. Through all her shakes, I catch the design. I’m thinking Zak’s late nights at the security job may have been going towards this and not his house like he said. Because nerdy rings are expensive right? And I can only guess that this ring represents something in their comic book life, because the shape isn’t traditional engagement style.
“It’s the Star Trek communicator,” Zoe explains to my un-nerdi-fied expression. Then she looks over her shoulder and sighs. “It’s perfect.”
I laugh and then squeal. We do the most awkward hug in the world smooshed on the couch together, but she’s screaming in my ear, “I’m engaged! I’m engaged!” and I’m yelling back, “You’re engaged! You’re engaged!”
Then we get tackled by the boys. One long and weird group hug later, Zoe pulls me up from the couch and says, “I want to celebrate. Come to lunch with us?”
I look at Levi, and he smiles like he knows he’s about to hand me another rain check. He nods at Zoe. “Hell yeah.”
My sister leaps on Zak’s back, and they crash out the front door as he tries to keep his balance. Before I can take a step, Levi grabs my wrist. “Next time, I promise.”
I shake my head, but keep my lips turned up. “How about next time, you don’t say anything about it? Just show up and force me on the bike.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
He doesn’t drop my hand as we walk to Zoe’s car. And even though I’m not getting my moped ride, at least I get the backseat and hand holding.
I can live with that.
Chapter 12
I thought the first time I’d see his underwear it’d be a lot sexier than this.
“Come on, Sierra. I don’t want to go by myself,” Sydney’s voice echoes through the quiet library.
I log off the Internet and shove my student I.D. into my pocket. Sydney hisses at me again, trying to keep her frantic voice quiet enough so our librarian doesn’t bark at us to shut up.
“Just for a few hours. Please.”
She clasps her hands together and thrusts them in my direction. I bat them out of the way before she stabs me in the eye with one of her billion rings.
“I told you already, I’m going to the game.”
“It’s after the game.”
“But Levi said he wanted to hang out.”
“He can come too. Please, please, please.” She’s back to shaking her clasped hands at me. “I never get invited to parties.”
It’s so hard not to roll my eyes. “I don’t even get why you want to go.”
Her gaze drops to the floor, and she pushes her palms into her face. Even though Sydney still has me on extreme “pissed off” level, seeing her look so defeated wakes up my sympathetic side.
“This could be it,” she says to the carpet. “The party that makes a difference. I’m shocked they even want me there, but seriously, I’m so effing tired of it.” She looks up at me. “Aren’t you tired of it? The way people look at us, the way they talk. And all because we had horrible exes. This could be my chance to change it.”
Her words shoot holes in my gut. “Change it how?”
She doesn’t answer. Well, she does, but not out loud. It’s all tumbling from he
r eyes. I want to cry for her because I can’t believe she’s willing to do something to someone or on someone just to feel accepted. Doesn’t she understand that she’ll just be tossed into another category in this school? Slut. Because there is no in between.
“Come to the game with me instead,” I blurt, grabbing her ringed fingers. “You can hang out with me and Levi. We’ll invite Adam too, if you want. It’ll be fun. Way better than being with those douche-bag exes of ours and their friends.”
“It’s not just Kevin and Mitch who’ll be there. I don’t even know if they’ll show up. It’s the popular crowd, though, Sierra. I want to go.” She slides out of my grasp and stands. “And I’m going whether you come with me or not.”
My breathing goes into panic mode. I can’t let her do something like this. She’ll regret it for the rest of her life. She’ll hate herself. Before she can stalk through the library doors, I push to my feet and chase after her.
“I’ll go!”
“Shhh!” the librarian says from across the room. I wave an apology and turn back to Sydney, dropping my voice to a whisper.
“I’ll go with you, but I’m taking Adam and Levi.”
Her shoulders tense up. “This isn’t exactly Adam’s scene.”
“It’s not mine either. But I’m not going without him.”
Because I need major best friend backup with her. And Levi’s great, but he doesn’t know Sydney like Adam does. Plus, Levi will probably be distracting me all night with those half smiles and cute band geek talk.
She brushes her bangs off her forehead and lets her eyes dart through the room, like someone’s going to overhear her. “Fine. But if anyone asks, I didn’t invite him.”
“Sydney…”
“I know. I’m a bitch. Say it, I don’t care.”
She turns around and whips out of the library, leaving me crazy confused, and pissed off. Like, who the heck was that person? Where’s my friend who’d flip off anyone who said something stupid about us? Or who’d sit next to Adam in every class they shared? Or who’d take hanging out at my house over a party any day?
I miss that Sydney.
The bell rings, and it jolts me from the spot I’ve glued myself to. I jog back to the computers to grab my bag, then dart into the hallway. It’s packed, but I catch Levi’s head over the crowd. And all the suckiness of my Sydney encounter pops away just from the sight of him.
I push through people to get to him. Hopefully he’ll be all right with babysitting my friend and keeping her lady business closed. Not that I’ll explain that if I don’t have to.
Just when I get through the horde, ready to sidle right up to that piece of amazing hot boy, someone’s foot juts out in my path, and I go crashing to the ground, slamming my chin on the tile.
I’m pretty sure my teeth are in my skull. There’s something rattling up there, along with the sounds of a douche-bag laugh, one I’m all too familiar with.
“Sorry, didn’t see you there.”
My hand goes automatically to my jaw, working it back and forth to make sure it’s still functional. It kills, and I can taste blood. No. No. No. Not blood! I take a deep breath, then snap my mouth shut so he doesn’t see just how bad he hurt me.
Kevin smirks and sticks a hand out to help me up, but I smack it away. Dickface.
“Whoa, okay. It was an accident, but maybe you’re confused about what real accidents are versus fake ones.”
His digs are getting more and more pathetic. I crack my neck to the side and try to get up on my own, but a dizzy spell hits once I get to my knees. Ooh… better give it a minute.
Hands are on the sides of my face in a second, and I’m about to slap the crap out of Kevin for even thinking to touch me like that, but I’m met with soft brown eyes and reddish hair. “Livingston, you still in there?”
Adam’s backpack slides off his shoulder and hits the floor next to us, and I think I nod, but my head hurts too bad to move much.
“Okay, I don’t want to freak you out, but you’ve got a lot of blood on your lips. Think you can get to the nurse’s office? I don’t think I can carry you.”
A snort comes from somewhere above me, and Kevin says to whoever yahoo is with him, “It’s not like she uses those lips for anything good anyway.”
I never expected Adam to be one to start a fight, but he’s off the floor and tackling Kevin to the ground with about fifty punches to the nose. Everyone’s so stunned it’s this short, red-headed bookworm who’s pounding the school’s playboy’s face in.
I’m about to yell at him to stop, but that’s when the blood from my mouth drips onto the floor in front of me. My stomach rolls, and my head twirls around. Then before I hit the ground again, another set of hands grab my face.
“I sold my drums to pay our power bill.”
I blink a few thousand times till my eyes focus on Levi. He’s holding my cheeks and breathing rapid fire on my skin.
“What?” I choke out.
“My mom lost her job. We had no way to get the power turned on in the trailer, and we had nothing of value. Except those. So I sold them.”
I want to shake my head because he’s confusing me, but I’m afraid to move. “Why are you telling me this?”
“Because you need a distraction.” He turns around and waves someone over. Adam pops up next to him, his own lip cut and bloody. Where did Kevin go? What the heck happened? I snap my eyes shut so I can’t see any more blood.
“Will you help me?” Levi asks, and next thing I know I’m being lifted to my feet. Things sway and turn, and I really don’t want to puke all over anyone or anything, so I panic and try to get back to the cold ground.
“Damn, she’s strong.”
I hear Adam laugh, and I feel lips touch my ear. Levi’s voice punctures all the buzz around us. “I’m going to carry you to the nurse’s office. I don’t care if you throw up on me, okay? But you can’t stay here.”
“But it’s cool here,” I mumble, meaning the cold floor feels good to my sweaty body, but Adam takes it another way.
“It’s cool in the nurse’s office, too. I think she has free soda in there.”
I open my eyes a peek to roll them at him, but the blood on his lip twists my stomach, and I gag.
Hands grasp under my legs and shift me up off the ground. I take deep breathes and push back the contents of my tummy. Puking once is bad enough, but puking twice? Kill me now!
“The guy who bought the drums,” Levi says as he walks through the hall, “he had a huge tattoo on his face. Right under his eye, then went down his cheek and on his neck. And it was a naked woman.”
I surprise myself with a giggle, and lean back into his chest. He adjusts me, and starts breathing heavy.
“The breasts were by his mouth. It was easily the most distracting thing I’ve ever seen. He had to repeat everything he said about ten times.”
Both Adam and I laugh and for once in my life, the taste of blood in my mouth doesn’t make me want to vomit or pass out. The nurse’s office comes too quickly, but I guess we had to kind of rush there so Adam doesn’t get busted for fighting. Levi doesn’t just drop me off either. He sticks around, talking in the background with Adam while I sit with gauze in my mouth. They go on about music scores and practice scales. And of course Adam has read a book on music so he knows exactly what he’s talking about, even if I don’t. Doesn’t matter anyway. I ogle them and think to myself I’m crazy lucky these guys will have mine and Sydney’s backs on Friday.
***
“Whoa. What happened to you?”
I wave at Adam who just dropped me off at Levi’s and turn back to Brea. My jaw’s still a little swollen from my tumble earlier.
“Tripped.”
She raises an eyebrow, but then shrugs and waves me in the trailer. Now that I’m actually invited in, I don’t feel so weird about it.
“Okay, so Levi’s room is that one,” she says, pointing to the first room down the hall. “Touch anything you want. I doubt he’ll no
tice.”
“I don’t think I can—”
“I’ll be back in an hour.” She throws on a jacket and flips her long blond hair out. Then she grabs house keys, and she’s out the door before I can get a word in.
An hour. Wonder if that’s a real hour or just what she tells everybody.
I suck air into my cheeks, but it hurts my mouth, so it doesn’t stay there. I should’ve told Brea I wasn’t going to do the snooping thing anymore. That I came here to actually go through the mentorship packets. I flop down on the couch and pull my notebook out of my backpack, along with those markers that smell like fruit. My fingers automatically go around the green apple one, and I twist it open.
Settling my sore chin in my palm, I doodle Levi’s name next to mine and think about how seriously sexy he is. And try to force my butt to stay in the cushion and not go explore his bedroom which is about three feet away.
I forgot to tell him about the party. I told Adam in the car, and he gave me the same face I’m sure I gave Sydney, but he didn’t argue or anything. Levi had to be somewhere after school, and I thought since he blurted out about his drums he’d be a bit more open with me, but he’s still doing that mysterious act and just said he was busy and he’d call me later. I didn’t push, but I had a mouth full of cotton balls at the time, so not much I could do anyway.
The cap on my marker clicks as I push it shut, and then I toss it back in my bag. I take a big sniff of the markered words before I push the notebook out to admire it.
Levi Mason Rocks A Piccolo
I had to Google how to spell that word. Yay for free internet at the school library. Oh! I should make a shirt with this on it. Pair it with some bright red tights—to match his band uniform—and cute black cutoffs. I’d have to change the words to red instead of green so I don’t look like a walking Christmas card.
I kiss the paper, then quickly swipe at my lips in case I got any green on them. Are all crushes this bad? Or is it just because Levi is so amazing, I can’t even believe he’s paying any attention to someone like me.
My eyebrows move inward. Wait, where the heck is his mom? Didn’t he say she lost her job? Is she sleeping down the hall or something? Holy humiliating if she comes out here and I’m lounging on the couch.