Leah's Song

by Daphne James Huff

  He shrugged, and she spent another few minutes trying to get more than a monosyllabic response out of him. She used to be the type of lawyer that went to trial, and I was grateful I wasn’t the one under her scrutiny tonight. I tried to think of a topic to save Luke from her questioning that, if left unchecked, could last hours.

  “When is Jenn getting her license back?” I asked with a slight whining quality to my voice that I knew particularly irritated her. “I hate driving her around.”

  She let out a long, tired sigh and closed her eyes. Luke shot me a grateful smile. A small smile, but at least it was something.

  “Can you just do it without complaining please, Leah?” my dad said, putting a hand on my mom’s shoulder. “We’re worried enough about it affecting her chances at a scholarship. Please don’t make it any more difficult than it already is.”

  Geez, you’d think I was the one who had done something wrong.

  The conversation pretty much died there, and we finished our spaghetti in silence before going our separate ways for the evening.

  I called Lilly to see if anyone was there for a cookout, but she told me her uncle was over for dinner so it was a family night. I flopped down on my bed with a book and was asleep before nine. The exciting summer that had seemed possible just the day before felt like it was slipping away.

  A few days later, however, things began to look up. I was babysitting for the Browns who lived next door to the Stevensons. Well, the Bakers now (my mom had gotten Josh’s last name on her visit with cookies). Billy and Frankie Baker, six-year-old twin boys, had been at day camp for the morning and were super hyper, so I just let them run around the backyard. They had a pool, which was nice, but I didn’t really like getting my hair wet. My curls took forever to dry, and it always looked weird if I let them air dry. It was just safer if I stayed on the edge, getting a bit of a tan, while they jumped in and out of the shallow end. My eyes never left their moving bodies even when Josh walked into his backyard with his little brother and sister.

  Okay, fine, I did glance over quickly. And I may have repositioned myself so that I was lying a little more gracefully on my towel. But I definitely kept my attention on the boys. There was a reason Lilly and I stayed the choice babysitters of the neighborhood. We took this seriously.

  “Look, Josh, a pool!” I could hear his little sister squeal on the other side of the fence. “Why don’t we have a pool? Can we go play?”

  “I don’t think we can just invite ourselves over, Abby,” he said.

  Now Billy and Frankie had noticed the new kids.

  “Leah! Look! The new neighbors!” said Billy, jumping out of the pool excitedly. He turned and ran to the fence. “Hi! I’m Billy. Do you want to come over and swim?”

  I couldn’t help but laugh a little. It was so easy for kids to be friendly, yet Lilly and I had spent half an hour planning every detail of that first meeting with Josh. With a small smile, I hopped off my towel and went over to the fence, pushing my sunglasses onto my head.

  “Mrs. Brown lets everyone use the pool,” I said. “I’m sure she wouldn’t mind.”

  “As long as you don’t pee in it,” said Frankie, coming over to join in the conversation.

  I blushed. It’s not like I had never said the word ‘pee’ before. I’d even said it to guys before. But I had definitely never said it in front of someone as hot as Josh.

  “Do you guys have swimsuits?” I didn’t let myself picture him without his shirt on or I might start drooling right there, and Frankie would have something to say about it. Pee and drool were his two favorite topics of conversation.

  “Yes!” cried Matt, jumping up and down in excitement. “Can we go, Josh, please?”

  He shrugged and smiled.

  “You sure you don’t mind?” he said. “I’ll stay and help watch them.”

  I blinked. Did he think I had been offering to babysit his siblings for him?

  “Um, of course you’re staying to watch them,” I said, putting a hand on my hip. Hot, but a little clueless. Maybe it was all the head-butts from football. “I can barely keep an eye on these two. Don’t leave me alone with four!”

  “No, I didn’t mean it that way!” He blushed a deep red. He started to say something else, but his siblings were tugging on his arms begging him to help them get ready.

  “Never mind. Thanks. We’ll be back in a few minutes with our suits.”

  His siblings ran ahead of him into the house, and he trudged after them.

  As soon as he was in the house, I ran to my cell phone and called Lilly. My eyes were glued to the twins as they went to fetch more pool toys from the shed.

  “Josh is coming over to Mrs. Brown’s pool with his little brother and sister!” I hissed into the phone as quickly and as quietly as I could. I didn’t want the twins to hear me, and I was almost out of minutes for the month. Why my parents had thought it was a good idea to get a family plan with so few minutes when they had two teenage daughters was beyond me. It would have been cheaper to just install a private phone line with the number of times that Jenn went over. Yet, somehow, she always managed to convince them that it was me who went over, not her with the gazillion friends and teammates calling at all hours.

  “I’ll be there in ten minutes!” she said, hanging up before I could say another word.

  I was relieved for a minute before I realized that wasn’t exactly why I had called her. I’d wanted advice on what to do and say. This was a huge opportunity to make up for the less-than-stellar impression I’d already made. Twice.

  I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. It’s not like it would have been super romantic with four kids running around, anyway. And an extra set of eyes would be nice since I was pretty sure my own would be more than a little distracted by Josh.

  At least I had a little time with him (sort of) alone before Lilly showed up. He hadn’t been lying when he’d said they’d only be a few minutes. Matt and Abby were already running around the fence by the time I had put my phone back into my bag. Josh was positively delicious in his black trunks. Matt and Abby jumped right in, and I kept my eyes on the pool as he laid out his towel next to me.

  “How are you settling in?” I asked with a small smile. Behind the safety of the dark lenses of my sunglasses, my eyes took in his reclining form.

  “Good,” he said, leaning back on his arms. I wondered what it would be like to be held by such muscled arms - any arms really. My dating experience thus far had not exactly been extensive. Lilly hadn’t been exaggerating when she’d complained earlier in the summer that most of our class was pretty blah. Everyone kind of looked the same, like a mash-up of all the boy bands wearing Sean John. Josh was like this extra hot, normal guy. Who was currently talking to me and I was paying absolutely no attention. I willed my brain to focus on the words coming out of his mouth.

  “We’ve been exploring. It’s great how close the mountains are here.”

  “You like hiking?” I tried not to sound surprised. Of course he likes hiking. Look at him. What sport would he not excel at?

  He nodded.

  “We never got to go very often where we used to live. We were so much farther away. You guys must go all the time out here.”

  I shook my head.

  “Lilly isn’t much of a hiker.”

  “What about you?”

  I frowned and concentrated on the twins’ jumping figures. I hadn’t realized I’d talked about Lilly instead of myself. We did so much together; it seemed obvious that if she didn’t do something then I didn’t either. Though she did lots of stuff without me like band. Here I was with a chance to talk about me, and I’d gone and called her for backup and then talked about her instead of me. I mentally rolled my eyes at myself. I was a disgrace to the wisdom of Teen Magazine.

  “Did you get your license?” I said, changing topics instead of answering his question.

  “Yes!” he said proudly. “First try. We’ll go get the car next weekend. I’m thinking an Explorer or
Ranger.”

  I knew nothing about cars, so I just nodded and smiled.

  “Nice.”

  Silence fell between us as we watched the kids playing, but it didn’t feel too uncomfortable. Maybe I hadn’t needed to call Lilly at all. This wasn’t too hard.

  I really regretted calling her when I saw the suit she showed up in a few minutes later. I was in my regular black bikini. Nothing special. I didn’t have the super fit body that Jenn did from soccer, but we did share some pretty decent genes that left it filled out nicely. I’d just forgotten that Lilly, with her peachy perfect skin and long blonde hair, looked more like a Victoria’s Secret model in hers than I, or even Jenn regardless of how much soccer she played, ever would.

  I loved Lilly. I really did. It’s just, sometimes, she was just so... Lilly.

  “It’s hot out here, isn’t it?” she said, fanning herself with an oversized hat I’d never seen her wear before. Josh’s eyes were glued to her as she sat on the other side of him. “Great idea for a pool day, Leah.”

  She was using her Anna Nicole Smith voice; the one she used when she talked to the hot college guy at Blockbuster or with her cute neighbor Mr. Kuguar. I usually thought it was funny, and was a little impressed at how it seemed to get their attention. But today, I hated it. It was a stupid voice. Not to mention the fact that if she was using the voice it meant that I couldn’t.

  I didn’t say much for the rest of the afternoon, and silently fumed while they talked about a lot of different things. I knew I was missing a chance, but I was too grumpy to feel like talking. I concentrated on the kids, occasionally yelling at them to stop running or to share the pool toys. I tried my best to just ignore them chatting away next to me.

  Until Josh asked me a question, that is.

  “So I went to Rosemark with my parents to register, and I found out about choir auditions,” he was saying. “Leah, do you think you’ll do it?”

  “What?” I said, my head turning towards him so quickly I felt a crick in my neck. I brought a hand up to rub it, and I saw his mouth twitch. Why does everything I do seem to make him laugh? And is it laughing at me, or with me?

  “Sorry, I didn’t mean to take your attention away from the kids,” he said with a glance at his sister. She was currently whacking Billy with a pool noodle, and they were both laughing hysterically. Flirting when you’re six wasn’t too complicated. “They really seem to listen to you though. Even Matt and Abby.”

  He sounded impressed.

  “We’ve been babysitting a long time,” I said, nodding towards Lilly. I pursed my lips. I still couldn’t talk about just myself. “I really like it.” There, finally something that started with ‘I’.

  “And singing?” he asked with a smile. I hesitated, and then nodded. “I picked up all the sheet music when I was there if you want to take a look.”

  “I’ll help you, Leah,” said Lilly, turning to me excitedly. I would have expected her to, but it was nice to have the reassurance. And, of course, now Josh would know how helpful she was.

  “Thanks,” I said to both of them. I managed a small smile. “You guys seem to have decided I’m doing it, so it doesn’t look like I have much of a choice.”

  “Nope!” said Lilly happily, leaning back on her towel.

  “I’ll go grab it now,” he said, standing and calling out to his siblings. “It’s almost time for me to start dinner anyway. It’s mac and cheese night.”

  “Ours is Monday night,” I said with an unusually large smile that made Lilly raise an eyebrow. I couldn’t help it. “I guess I’m not the only one with busy parents?”

  He smiled back, and it suddenly felt like it didn’t matter how long he’d spent talking to Lilly who was chiming in with her own dinner plans.

  “I helped my mom bake a pie for tonight,” she said. “If there’s any left, I’ll bring it over.”

  “Sounds great,” he said and turned to go.

  We watched him walk away, his dripping wet siblings trailing after him, and let out a joint sigh.

  “Can they come back and play again soon?” asked Frankie from the pool.

  “I hope so,” I said, and Lilly nodded her agreement.

  Chapter Four

  I could hear Luke and Jenn arguing outside my door. My eyes were glued shut with sleep. It was a Thursday, still two weeks before school started, and for once there was no reason for me to wake up early. No babysitting and no Jenn chauffeuring. My parents were at work and hadn’t come in to say goodbye (not that they really did that anymore; I was sixteen not six, after all).

  I groaned and pulled another pillow over my head. They couldn’t have chosen another spot to go at it? I kept my eyes shut as if that would block out the yelling.

  “Luke! Did you take my watch?”

  “What? No! Why would I need a girl’s watch?”

  “Leah didn’t borrow it, and mom didn’t touch it. That leaves you, you little twerp.”

  “Well since you’re asking so nicely, maybe I won’t tell you after all.”

  A gasp.

  “You do have it! You buttface!”

  “Spoiled princess drama queen!”

  “Give it back!”

  “I don’t have it!”

  “I’m calling mom and dad!”

  “Then I’ll tell them where you really were Saturday night.” His voice was suddenly calm and calculating. He sounded older than his 14 years.

  There was a pause. I could hear Jenn’s labored breathing in her attempt to control herself. She was really worked up about this.

  “I was with Mark.”

  “Sure. Of course you were. And I know nothing about your watch.”

  I could picture their game faces staring each other down. Jenn had a pretty nasty one. Luke was brave to go up against her.

  “You had better stay away from me this year at Rosemark,” she said. “Why couldn’t you have stayed in middle school like the idiot you are?”

  He must have smiled or made some face to upset her more. She let out a suppressed scream of frustration and stomped off to her room.

  A few seconds passed, and I didn’t hear him move from his spot in the hallway.

  “Sorry, Leah, if we woke you up,” he said quietly before his feet padded off in the opposite direction and down the stairs.

  Three days later, I was sitting in Lilly’s den watching a rerun of The Real World: Chicago while the rain spattered against the windows. I had considered mentioning the whole Jenn/Luke conversation, but I didn’t like sharing every detail of our family drama with her. She didn’t always get it. Plus, she already didn’t really like either of them, and this wouldn’t exactly improve her opinion.

  “What a waste of the last week of summer,” Lilly complained, not for the first time that afternoon.

  It had been raining all week. Lilly had invited Josh to come watch a movie with us, and he was on his way over. We’d agreed that we wouldn’t try to see him on our own after the pool/pie incident. I had mentioned how she’d been a little over the top with her giant hat and baby doll voice, and she hadn’t taken it very well.

  “It’s the same thing we do at Blockbuster,” she argued. “You don’t complain when I do it there.”

  “Yeah, because he’s a hot college guy who just thinks we’re funny teenagers,” I said, exasperated. “Josh is going to be at our school. We could all be friends if you just calm down.”

  “All I did was talk to him and bring him pie,” she said. “And we will be friends. Let’s just say that we’ll only hang out with him if we can do it together, ok?”

  I hesitated. I had been the one to call her, so maybe she thought I didn’t really like him. I hadn’t talked to him that much. But I had just been nervous. She knew that, didn’t she? Finally, I nodded.

  So here we were now, all three of us, as per the newly established “Lilly/Leah rules for interacting with Josh fairly.” We had abandoned the alternating conversation thing in favor of not sounding like pre-recorded robots. We’d agreed
to stick to topics we both liked, but sometimes he brought things up that only one of us was really that interested in. Like Homestar Runner.

  Not everyone really knew about it. It was this random web cartoon that I thought was hilarious. Lilly thought it was kind of lame but clearly didn’t want to admit that to Josh who seemed to share my enthusiasm for it. After a few comments on it, she quickly lost interest and focused on the TV. Lilly had insisted on something musical to get me in the mood for choir auditions, so we were watching Moulin Rouge. I was worried I’d be embarrassed with all the love scenes, but once we were on the topic of Homestar Runner, we both ignored the TV.

  “Did you see the one with the fifty emails?” Josh asked me.

  “Only about a hundred times,” I said, and then burst out laughing as he did an impression of Strong Bad.

  I saw Lilly roll her eyes when I glanced at her next to me, wanting to include her in the conversation. Instead, she stood up.

  “I’m getting something to drink. Do you want anything Josh?”

  He shook his head. She walked off, and I could tell from the way she basically stomped off that she was grumpy. I sighed to myself. I didn’t really see how this would work - us all being friends. I didn’t like seeing her upset though, so I decided to tone it down when she got back, and bring the focus back to her.

  “So, do you think you’ll be at the choir tryouts tomorrow?” Josh asked once Lilly was out of the room. He was sitting in the armchair by himself while Lilly and I had taken the couch. His head was turned to me, and he looked... nervous? Curious? He was impossibly frustrating to read. Or maybe it was just too hard to concentrate on his face without my heart starting to beat about ten times faster, so I avoided scrutinizing his expression too closely.

  I shrugged.

  “I’ve been practicing a little, with Lilly’s help,” I said. I nodded at Nicole Kidman on screen. “And she keeps getting me to watch stuff like this. But I still don’t know if I really want to go through with it.”