It made me feel...different. Or like he saw someone different?
Okay, fine. I couldn’t explain it, but it had me dipping my head, suddenly more shy than I could remember being around anyone.
“Come on, let me carry your books for you,” he said.
I looked up in surprise. “Why is this so important to you?”
He shrugged. “My mom always told me that I should use my strength to help people smaller than me.”
I opened my mouth to protest, except I couldn’t exactly deny being smaller. Not when the top of my head didn’t even hit his shoulders.
“Think of it this way.” He surprised me by continuing to talk unprompted. “If I ever had need of a tiny human for some specific task, you’d be the first person I’d call.”
I stopped walking to stare at him. A laugh bubbled up and was spilling out because...holy cow. He was joking again.
His little smile said he was happy I’d laughed, and that glint in his eye when his gaze drifted down to my lips...?
I turned away with a quick inhale. “So, like, if you needed someone to crawl through your air ducts or check out a crawl space in your home,” I said.
“Exactly.”
I handed over my heavy book bag. “In that case, I accept.”
He took it from me with a smug little smile.
I poked a finger into his bicep and promptly hurt my finger. “But the next time you need someone to check for a leak in your transmission.” I jabbed my thumb into my chest. “I’m your girl.”
“It’s a deal.” Said so seriously it made me crack up all over again.
“We’re going to Roman’s house, right?” he asked as he pulled out of the parking lot.
“Please.”
“How’ve the rehearsals been going?”
I shrugged but my smile likely said it all. “So far so good. We’ve only had one real rehearsal, but I love the music and they seem happy with the way I sing so we’re actually talking about performing live soon.”
He glanced over at me. “I’d love to see that.”
I got hit with another unexpected wave of shyness. This was weird. But I supposed that was natural considering he’d almost kissed me. I could count on one finger the number of guys who’d attempted to kiss me, so maybe this was my normal response.
And maybe I was just being paranoid or leaping to conclusions. I want to get to know you. That could have meant as a friend or...or something else.
My stomach somehow found a hula hoop and was doing some wicked moves in my belly. “Um, Maverick?”
He shot me a questioning look and my mouth went dry.
“You know I like Roman, right?”
His jaw clenched tight, but he nodded. I waited for him to say something again about how I don’t know him. But he didn’t. “So you’re good with just being...friends?” My voice sounded weird and strained, but I was relieved I’d gotten it out.
He gave me another look, this one harder to read and then he nodded again.
I let out a long breath. Why hadn’t I just talked to him on Monday? I could have avoided days of skulking in the halls and weird tension whenever I caught him looking in my direction. “Okay good.”
He gave a grunt as if he agreed.
“In that case, can I ask you something?”
His gaze met mine and it was so direct it was kind of jarring. “Shoot.”
“How’d you get the name Maverick?” I clasped my hands together and started pleading. “Please tell me your parents were huge Top Gun fans. Please, please, please tell me you were named after a Tom Cruise character.”
His lips twitched. “I was named after a Tom Cruise character.”
“Can I be Goose?”
His eyes widened but they were dancing with laughter. “Excuse me?”
I fidgeted with excitement that was only partially exaggerated. “When I’m in your passenger seat, can I be Goose?”
“I don’t think so.” Not surprisingly, his straight man face was on point as he studied me. “I see you more as an Ice Man.”
I gasped, my eyes widening with excitement and a hint of delirious giddiness as I told him in an awed tone, “Me too.”
He started to smile and more than anything I wanted to make him laugh.
“Seriously,” I said completely unseriously. “I’ve always identified with Ice Man.”
His chuckle was low and warm and it had me grinning like such a doofus I had to turn and stare out the window. When Roman’s house came into view I straightened, shifting in my seat with excitement.
“You need a ride home after?” Maverick asked.
“Oh no, I’m sure my mom can come and get me and—”
“I don’t mind.” He made it sound like it was a done deal.
I opened my mouth and closed it. I wasn’t exactly opposed to getting a ride, and I didn’t want to be rude because it was super nice of him to offer and all, but also, my belly was doing the hula again. “Do you, um...”
He glanced over when I trailed off.
“Do you go out of your way to give all your new friends rides?”
His lips twitched. “Nope.”
“Oh.”
Silence fell as he pulled the truck to the curb.
“I said I wanted to be your friend,” he said. “And I do.”
“But you have lots of friends.”
He turned to look at me and he was back to being unreadable. “None like you.”
I blinked. Oh. So...oh. My brain wasn’t sure what to make of that.
He shifted so he was facing me fully and there wasn’t a hint of amusement in his eyes, not even a flicker of laughter as he said, “I want to be your friend. To start.”
“T-to start?”
He held his hands up and his eyes widened slightly. “No pressure.”
I frowned at that. He looked like he’d been accused of something, but I wasn’t afraid of this guy. Not like that. He might have been big, but he didn’t use that to intimidate. In fact, he seemed to go out of his way to be respectful to the more socially disadvantaged. He treated everyone with respect, nerds and loners and popular kids alike. I knew this because while he’d been watching me like a hawk all week, I might have been watching him right back.
“And after that?” I asked.
His lips twitched up at the corners and I found myself willing him to smile again. “I want to get to know you, and I want you to get to know me.”
That was it. That was all. And while I thought I knew what he meant by that, I didn’t want to jump to conclusions because—this was Maverick Prater.
And I was me.
We didn’t have anything in common, and he could have anyone he wanted.
Sure, Roman could have anyone he wanted too but we at least had something in common. And our personalities were way more similar. That had to count for something, right?
I went to open the truck door.
“Text me when you’re done,” he said.
I thought about protesting again but stopped. I wasn’t sure what was going on here, but I was okay with having another friend. And if he wanted to get to know me...well, I guess I was okay with that too.
Seven
Callie
“Tinkerbell!”
I winced. Did I love that Roman was shouting out a greeting like he was actually psyched to see me? Of course. Did I love that he kept insisting on using this new stupid nickname?
Not so much.
“There’s our favorite little pixie,” Ax said with that lazy drawl of his.
Dylan topped it all off by mussing up my hair as he walked past me.
“What did I miss?” I asked. Since none of them were in school I was the last to arrive.
“Not much,” Dylan said. “Roman here was just telling us about the girl who hurled all over him at the party last night.”
“Gross.” I wrinkled my nose and they all laughed.
Roman gave me that adorable lopsided grin of his. “How was school today, Tink?�
��
I winced again. Now my nickname had a nickname, and it somehow sounded even more childish than before. Or maybe that was because he’d asked about school like I was in the fifth grade. “Fine,” I said with a shrug. “The usual.”
“Yeah?” His eyes glinted with laughter. “I see your personal bodyguard gave you a ride again.”
“Is he your boyfriend?” Ax asked.
“No,” I said so quickly he hadn’t even finished asking. “No, of course not.”
I cast a quick glance over at Roman, but he was laughing. So, not exactly jealous then.
Dylan started tuning his guitar and Ax was fiddling with his drum kit, leaving me and Roman relatively alone. “So,” I said. And that was it. My brain, as usual, drew a blank when normally I was overflowing with conversation topics.
“So,” he agreed with that crazy awesome grin.
For some reason this made me think of Maverick and the way he’d smiled at my lame Top Gun jokes. Some of that nervous tension eased. “Where’d the name Roman come from?”
Roman’s attention was now on the guitar in his hands and he shrugged. “My mom liked it, I guess.”
“Oh.” I watched him tuning the guitar for a minute. “How’d you get into music?”
“What?” He looked up as if he hadn’t realized I was still standing there talking to him. Or talking at him. This was definitely more of a one-sided conversation.
“Um...” I gestured to the guitar. “How’d you get so into music?”
He shrugged again and flashed me that lopsided smile, along with a wink. “Chicks dig it.”
I smiled back because...was he flirting? Was that a flirty wink?
Excitement flared and died in my chest because I knew it wasn’t. At least, not intentionally. I’d seen him give that same wink and the same line to at least half a dozen other girls over the years. And those were just the times I happened to be present when some girl thought she was being original by asking him about his love of music.
I’d just gotten his auto-response.
I waited for him to ask how I’d gotten into singing, but he was fixated on his guitar and for the life of me I couldn’t think of anything else to say.
By the time we finished rehearsing the first two songs on the set list they’d created, I was buzzing with adrenaline.
I loved singing in general. I loved it even more when I had an audience at the kids’ parties. But all of that paled in comparison to this rush of singing with an actual band. The music, the collaboration, the feeling like I was making something bigger than anything I could create on my own—it was more amazing than I’d imagined.
And I knew we all felt it. I could feel it in the silence when the last chords faded away, like we were all holding our breath to savor the perfection of it all.
And then we all burst out talking and laughing at once.
“Dude, that was killer,” Ax said.
Roman was grinning, his eyes alight with that same excitement I was feeling.
See? We did have something in common. Small talk just wasn’t our forte.
The guys all started talking about how great we sounded. To be fair, we really did sound pretty awesome.
“We need to celebrate this weekend,” Dylan said.
“Yeah, man. The party at the pier this weekend,” Ax said. “We should all go.”
Roman shot me a funny look before turning to his friends. “I don’t know, guys.”
My stomach sank. I didn’t need to have an older brother to know what that look meant. He didn’t think I could handle it.
Ax ignored him, turning to me with an expectant look. “You free on Saturday?”
Yes! I caught myself just in time and my smile faded. “I’ve got to be Elsa.”
They all stared at me and then Roman explained on my behalf. “She does those kids’ birthday parties.”
“For money,” I added quickly. Just in case anyone thought I crashed kids’ parties for fun.
“Oh right.” Ax looked so disappointed.
“But I’m free after.” I winced as I thought of Willow and Isla and the others. “Kind of.”
Roman arched his brows and they all waited for me to explain.
“It’s sort of tradition to have a little post-work party at Willow’s house after,” I said.
“A party?” Ax’s frown turned upside down.
“Um, sort of.” I was all too aware of Roman’s sudden interest—in me or the thought of a party?
Something told me the latter. But he wasn’t looking at me like I was twelve when he said, “You allowed to bring friends?”
I thought of Willow. She had rules. Lots and lots of rules. But she did always say we were welcome to bring friends along. “Sure,” I said.
“Will Savannah be there?” Dylan asked.
He and Roman exchanged a smirk that I didn’t love.
“Um, probably.”
“Then we’ll be there too,” Roman said.
“Great.” I thought of how I was going to explain this to Willow and my smile faded fast. “Can’t wait.”
“They’re coming here,” Willow said for the fifth time.
She was still dressed as Anna from Frozen but that did nothing to make her scowl less terrifying.
“Yes?” I offered.
Isla gave me a sympathetic wince from behind Willow’s back and Savannah was rolling her eyes from where she was sprawled out on Willow’s couch.
She was always grumpy after a gig as Olaf. But she couldn’t sing to save her life and Olaf got decent tips, so she always took the role despite her hatred of the poor snowman.
Willow squeezed the bridge of her nose. “You invited a rock band to my house.”
“Not a rock band,” I said. “My rock band.”
Willow gave an exasperated sigh as she dropped her hand to her side.
Okay, yes. I definitely should have given her more of a heads up. Maverick was watching me from the doorway to the kitchen where he was leaning against the doorframe and eating chips.
His expression? Hard to read. Though that didn’t stop the guilt from churning in my gut.
But I wasn’t doing anything wrong. It wasn’t like I’d invited over a huge crowd, just three friends. One of whom happened to be my crush.
Flynn came out of the room at the end of the hallway which had temporarily been declared as his bedroom since he was now living here. As always, Willow’s parents weren’t home.
I wasn’t exactly sure what they did for a living, but they were pretty much always traveling. And even when they were in town, they were always out.
Willow didn’t seem to mind, but I would have gone nuts.
“The more the merrier, right?” I asked.
Flynn arched his brows and smirked as he came up behind Isla and wrapped his arms around her from behind.
I gave a sappy sigh at the sight. See? That was all I wanted. A guy who liked me. A guy I liked. And I had to think that if Roman could just see me outside of a kids’ birthday party and away from band practice where I was one of the guys...he’d see me.
Right?
I didn’t think that was too much to ask.
Willow’s sigh was definitely not the sappy kind. “I just don’t like the idea of strangers—”
“Too late now.” Savannah was using a finger to pull back the curtains along the front window.
My heart jumped and a minute later the already crowded living room was more crowded.
It was also quiet.
The normal work chatter and camaraderie that came naturally after these gigs was replaced by the awkwardness of two worlds colliding.
I looked over at Savannah who was scowling at the room at large, and over to Willow who was watching everyone with pursed lips like she was just waiting for one of my bandmates to shout “let’s party!” and whip out a keg from behind their backs. Isla and Flynn were in their own little world in a far corner as Flynn lounged on a recliner and Isla cuddled on his lap. Whatever they were talking ab
out they were both laughing and whispering.
And Maverick? Well, he hadn’t moved from his position in the kitchen doorway but now he was glaring, and he looked like Willow’s very own bouncer.
“So...” Roman was looking around the living room and his gaze stopped at the chips and dip sitting out, alongside some club sodas. “This is how you guys unwind, huh?”
Ax and Dylan, who were squeezed onto the couch beside him snickered a bit but when they caught me looking, they grinned. “Nah, man, this is awesome,” Dylan said. “It’s cool you guys like to hang out after work. You couldn’t pay me to spend time with my co-workers after hours.”
Dylan worked for a local print shop and was the youngest guy there by approximately thirty years so this did not surprise me.
Ax took up the cause, telling Willow how much he liked her house.
This somehow made the silence that followed more awkward.
Roman stood up. “Look, we didn’t mean to crash your little get together here.”
Willow frowned at that, as if he’d just offended her personally and her lips pinched together in that angry librarian look she tended to get when she was peeved.
“Yeah, we just wanted to say hey to our girl here,” Dylan said with a grin in my direction.
Our girl. This would have sounded sweet if it didn’t somehow sound like I was their pet.
“We’ll see you later, Tinkerbell,” Ax said.
“Wait. Where are you going?” I asked.
Crap. This was my big chance to hang out with Roman outside of band practice, to make him see me as a normal teenage girl, not some child who dressed in fairy costumes. And he was leaving.
“There’s that party at the pier we were telling you about,” Ax said.
Roman flashed me that smile. “You want to come?”
I didn’t think he really meant it. And I definitely didn’t think he thought I’d say yes. A suspicion which was confirmed when I said, “Absolutely!”
He blinked twice in surprise but recovered quickly. “Really? Great.”
I looked around and clearly Roman was the only one who thought this was great. Every single one of my Princess Troupe friends was staring at me in disbelief.
Never Have I Ever Land: A Sweet YA Romance (Fall in Love Like a Princess Book 3) Page 5
