Heartbreakers

by Ali Novak

  Oliver looked from the magazine to JJ and then back down. He studied it for a moment before saying, “I don’t get what the problem is.”

  “Hmm, I don’t know. Maybe this bullshit interview?” JJ snatched the magazine back up and started reading out loud. As he did, Oliver sucked his cheeks in. “When asked about the band’s future music, Oliver Perry was very forthcoming. ‘Our next album will be pretty similar to what we have out now. Our fans obviously love it, so why mess with something that’s working?’ What the hell, Oliver?”

  “I told you I was doing this interview,” he said with a shrug. “I still don’t understand why you’re being such a dick. That sounds good to me.”

  “This isn’t what we talked about,” JJ said, jabbing the article with his finger. He was wearing one of his standard, ribbed cutoff tees, and I could see his muscles and veins straining against his skin as he spoke. I’d never seen JJ lose control like this before, and I held my breath, unsure of what to do.

  Oliver sucked his teeth. “Yeah? What exactly did we talk about, JJ?”

  “Are you kidding me? We spent a whole day brainstorming different ideas for the new album, none of which included the crap we’ve already done. You said—”

  “Well, maybe I changed my mind,” Oliver snapped before JJ could finish what he was going to say.

  JJ took a step back, and his head moved with a slow, disbelieving shake. “Are you being serious right now?” His neck and ears were still flushed red, but his face had drained of color.

  Something about JJ’s tone must have registered with Oliver because his face softened and he unclenched his fists. “Look, JJ. I’m sorry. It was just one stupid article. Nothing’s set in stone. You know that, right?”

  “Do you?” JJ shot back, and I frowned, not quite following the conversation. “Because it doesn’t seem like it.”

  Oliver scratched the back of his neck. “Come on, dude,” he started to say, but JJ spun around and stormed off down the hall. “Just give me a second to—” A door slammed down the hall, cutting Oliver off. “God dammit, JJ!”

  After working with the Heartbreakers for weeks, I’d been starting to think the breakup rumors were just that, rumors. Sure, I’d seen some tiffs between them, but that was expected since they were together twenty-four seven. But this was something different.

  JJ had made sharp, subtle comments about the band’s music before, most of which Oliver shrugged off, but this was the first time the subject had materialized into a full-blown argument. Still, I had no clue what was going on, and I knew I was missing some important piece of the puzzle. I turned to Oliver for an explanation, but he rushed off after JJ, and I was left sitting on the couch wondering what the hell had just happened.

  Chapter 17

  The next morning when I asked Oliver about the fight, he shrugged the whole thing off and claimed it was nothing. I knew he was only dodging my questions, and I would have pushed for a better answer, but JJ was humming and acting like everything was fine. Maybe he wasn’t the type of person to stay mad for long, but I had a hunch he was setting the matter aside for a different time.

  That was because today was special—the Heartbreakers were performing in Portland, and it turned out to be the best show I’d seen by far. Playing in their hometown fired the boys up like I’d never seen, and by the end of the show, I caught myself singing along with the rest of the crowd. When it was over, we all went over to JJ’s house for dinner. And by dinner I mean a block party.

  Okay, so maybe it wasn’t actually a block party, but there were so many children playing in the street when we arrived at JJ’s that we had to get out of the car on the corner and walk down to the large, two-story house with blue shutters.

  “Who are all these kids?” I asked as we crossed the driveway. The smell of barbecue was drifting toward us from the backyard, along with the sound of a Mellencamp song.

  “The Morrises run an orphanage,” Oliver joked.

  JJ rolled his eyes. “I have a big family.”

  To me, a big family meant four siblings at most, which JJ found comical. He was the oldest of eight—three boys and five girls. And then there was everyone else who’d shown up to celebrate the band’s homecoming: aunt, uncles, cousins, second cousins, neighbors.

  There were so many people at the party that I quickly lost track of the boys. Xander was the first to disappear, rushing off to find his family as soon as we stepped inside. Not long after, JJ’s younger brothers dragged him and Oliver off to play football. Alec kept me company the longest—since he was from California he didn’t have any family at the party—but he got caught up in a conversation with one of JJ’s cousins, and I excused myself after ten minutes of listening to them talk about some band I didn’t know.

  The kitchen seemed to be the center of the party. A huge spread of food was laid out on the table, and people swarmed around it like bugs, snatching up the easy-to-eat finger food. My camera quickly found its way into my hands, and I stood off to the side of the room, snapping pictures of strangers.

  A bulky figure stepped in front of me, blocking my view. “Stella, what are you doing?”

  I looked up from my camera and found JJ standing over me. A little girl was clinging to his back, an adorable bundle of dark curls and green saucer eyes who couldn’t have been more than two.

  “I’m not working, I swear,” I said, as I adjust the lens and focused in on her. She was too cute to ignore. “Who’s this princess?”

  “My youngest sister, Audrella.” JJ twisted his neck to look at her. “Aud, can you say hi to Stella?” She shook her head and buried her face in her brother’s shoulder. “No? Okay then.”

  We both laughed.

  An older girl who had the same dark curls as Audrella looked up from ransacking the candy bowl. Chocolate was smeared around the corners of her mouth. “Is Stella your girlfriend?” She said “girlfriend” like it was something funny.

  “Jenny!” JJ said, gaping at who I assumed was another one of his little sisters.

  “What?” Jenny said, all attitude as she propped a hand on her hip. “It’s just a question.”

  “No,” he told her, gritting his teeth. “Stella is not my girlfriend. Stop being so nosy.”

  She sighed, her face falling slightly. “Figures,” she mumbled.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  Ignoring her brother’s question, Jenny turned her green gaze on me, a new smile already on her face. “Do you think my brother is cute?” she asked, and JJ’s scowl was replaced with a look of horror.

  Swallowing my laughter, I grinned down at Jenny. “Oh, I think your brother is super cute,” I told her.

  “Good,” she said. “You should marry him. Then we’d be sisters.”

  This time, I couldn’t hold back my laugh. “I’m a bit too young to get married.”

  Jenny nodded her head in understanding. “My mom says I’m too young to get married too,” she told me as she reached for more candy, “but I already have my wedding planned out. Do you know Oliver Perry? He’s the cutest boy in the whole world. When I’m older, I’m going to marry him.”

  “Are you now?” I said as a slight blush dusted my cheeks. I secretly agreed with her—Oliver was cute. Annoyingly cute.

  “All right,” JJ said, grabbing Jenny by the arm and taking the chocolate from her hand. “I think that’s enough sugar for one day.”

  “Hey!” Jenny complained. When JJ let her go, she dodged around him and snagged a brownie off one of the trays. Then she stuck her tongue out at him and ran out of the kitchen before he could stop her.

  “Sorry about that,” JJ said as he set the chocolate back down on the table. “She doesn’t have a filter.”

  I grinned. “Must run in the family.”

  JJ opened his mouth to respond, but Audrella, who was still clinging to his back like a monkey, tugged on his
shirt and pointed down at the candy. “Colate! Colate!” she demanded.

  “Okay, but only one piece,” JJ said and picked out a red M&M for his little sister. “Don’t tell Mommy.”

  “Jeremiah James!” a woman yelled from the other side of the kitchen. “I better not have just seen what I think I did. You know not to give Audrella candy!”

  “Sorry, Mom,” he said as he peeled his sister off his back and set her on the ground.

  “Jeremiah?” I snickered.

  “Shut it,” he said. “It’s a family name.” I didn’t get a chance to tease him further because the doorbell rang, and JJ shot off down the hall calling, “I’ll get it!”

  He returned a minute later, a woman in her late twenties trailing behind him. She had hair so blond it looked white, and her eyes were such a startling shade of gray that I instantly recognized them.

  “Vanessa!” Alec shot across the living room like a blur and barreled into the woman. She stumbled back a step, but laughed and returned his hug. I’d never seen him so excited before, and if I hadn’t seen the entire incident myself, I’d never have believed it. “What are you doing here?” he asked when they finally pulled apart. “Are you staying long?”

  “Chill, baby bro,” Vanessa said, ruffling his head, and Alec didn’t even flinch as she ruined his always-perfect hair. “One question at a time.”

  The largest smile I’d ever seen was plastered across his face. “Why didn’t you tell me you were coming?”

  “Because it was a surprise, silly. Oliver paid for my flight so you wouldn’t be the only one here without family.”

  “He did that?” I blurted out. Vanessa turned her ashen eyes on me and I blushed. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to interrupt.”

  She raised an eyebrow, glanced at her brother, and asked, “Stella, right? The photographer?” He nodded his head, and then she offered me a smile. “Alec showed me some of the pictures you took. They’re quite good.”

  “Um, thanks.” Who hadn’t Alec shown my pictures to?

  “You’re welcome. And to answer your question, yes. Oliver flew me up here so I could spend the weekend with Alec. Speaking of, where is he? I haven’t properly thanked him.”

  “Haven’t seen him since we got here,” Alec said.

  Now that I thought about it, I hadn’t either. “I’ll go look for him,” I offered and backed away from the group before I could embarrass myself further.

  But there was one more reason I had a sudden urge to find Oliver. Now that I’d met Vanessa, I realized I’d been introduced to every one of the boys’ families. That is, everyone’s except for Oliver’s.

  • • •

  I’d been looking for near an hour, weaving my way through the crowd in the Morrises’ house, but Oliver was MIA. I checked the entire downstairs before moving outside and searching the yard. The place was so crowded that it was hard to know for sure if I’d missed him, but I was almost positive that Oliver wasn’t anywhere at the party.

  So I decided to venture upstairs.

  The second floor was one long hallway of doors, each one labeled with one or more of the Morris kids’ names: Audrella and Joanne, Aiden, Jenny and Amy, Jordan, Annasophia. At the end of the hallway I found the door with JJ’s name, which had a yellow-and-black sign that read: DANGER! TOXIC ZONE.

  Rolling my eyes, I disregarded the warning and pushed open the door, not knowing where else to look for Oliver. The room was small—a single bed ran the length of the left wall, and a dresser and desk were pushed up against the right. Someone had left the lamp atop the desk on, drawing attention to the bulletin board hanging above it. Tacked to the cork was a collection of photographs.

  Although Oliver wasn’t physically in JJ’s room, he was still here, smiling up at me from most of the pictures. There was one of JJ and him when they couldn’t have been more than six, covered in mud and smiling like loons. In another they were dressed up for Halloween as Jedi, JJ wielding a green lightsaber and Oliver a red. As the boys got older, Xander started to appear in more of the pictures: a camping trip, a birthday party, a high-school dance.

  The bulletin board was like a chronological snapshot of JJ and Oliver’s childhood, so it was appropriate that the final picture pinned to the bottom right-hand side was one with Alec, a group shot of the band. Using my nail, I dug the tack from the cork and pulled the photo down to get a better look. It was only dated from two years ago, but all four boys looked different, much younger—JJ’s tattoo was missing, Alec was a foot shorter, Xander had braces, and Oliver’s hair was long and floppy.

  “Hey.”

  I yelped and dropped the picture, my heart nearly bursting from my chest. Someone started to chuckle, and I jerked my head up to see Oliver leaning against the window frame, arms crossed over his chest. His entire upper body shook as he laughed at me.

  “Where the hell did you come from?” I demanded, my heart still thumping hard.

  Oliver responded with a mischievous grin before turning around and climbing out the open window. When I didn’t immediately follow, he poked his head back in. “You coming or what?”

  Curious what the heck he was doing climbing out people’s bedroom windows, I nodded. “Yeah, okay,” I said and pinned the picture back to the bulletin board. Once I reached the window, I realized there was a section of roof, six by six at the most, for us to sit on without being in any danger of falling. Oliver offered me his hand and helped me climb outside.

  When we’d first arrived at the Morrises’, there was still a wash of color left in the sky, oranges and pinks and purples as the sun set, but now it was completely dark. The air had cooled off considerably with the arrival of night, and I wished I was wearing more than a tank top as a rush of goose bumps spread up my arms.

  “So,” I asked after finding a comfortable position on the shingles, “what are you doing up here?”

  “Enjoying the party,” Oliver said.

  “But you’re not even at it.”

  “Of course I am.”

  “But—”

  “Just be quiet for a sec,” he instructed me and pointed down.

  I followed his gaze and fell silent. From the roof, I could see the entire backyard. White Christmas lights woven through the deck railing and tiki torches positioned throughout the garden lit the area, and most of the party had spilled out of the house into the refreshing night air.

  There was a stone fire pit in the middle of the yard where someone had started a bonfire. More than a dozen kids were gathered around roasting marshmallows or cooking pudgy pies, and their laughter was warm and bright, like the crackling of the flames. Most of the adults were on the deck, drinks in hand, talking and laughing and enjoying the company. Every now and then the wind would snatch away part of a conversation and carry it up on a breeze for us to listen to.

  “All right,” I admitted. “This is a pretty awesome spot.”

  “When we were younger, JJ and I would scoot all the way down to the gutter so we could dangle our feet over the edge. Mrs. Morris banned us from coming out on here because she was afraid one of us would fall off and break a leg or something, but I think that’s why we liked it so much. It drove her crazy.”

  “You spent a lot of time together.” It was meant to sound like a casual observation, but really I was digging for any information Oliver would give me about his childhood and who he was, aside from being the front man of the Heartbreakers.

  It was frustrating that Oliver was still a blank slate to me, while he’d uncovered most of the deep details that filled my own page. I could easily google him and find out everything for myself, but it wasn’t really the background knowledge that I wanted. Opening up to Oliver about Cara’s cancer had been terrifying, like dodging out into traffic with a blindfold on. But I’d trusted him to guide me safely to the other side of the road instead of running me over, and I wanted him to do the same—to trust me
. Because if he did, then maybe I could prove that I could be just as good a friend as he had recently been to me.

  “My brother from another mother,” he said, cracking a smile. “Our moms were good friends in high school, so I spent a lot of time here growing up.”

  I kept my eyes down and focused on the bumpy texture of the shingles, not wanting him to see just how interested I was. “Oh?” I asked, hoping he would keep talking. This was the first time he’d ever brought up any of his family. I thought I would meet them at the party tonight, but since he’d been hiding up here alone, I was willing to bet they hadn’t come.

  Next to me, Oliver lay back and tucked his hands behind his head. “Wanna see something cool?” he asked.

  I sighed at the change of subject but said, “Sure.” Then I copied him, inching back on my elbows so I could gaze up the sky. “What am I looking at?”

  “You said your favorite Disney movie was Hercules, right?”

  A partial smile tugged at my lips; he’d remembered. “Yeah.”

  “Okay, do you see the four stars that kind of form a square?” Oliver asked, pointing straight overhead.

  “I think so,” I said, tilting my head and squinting.

  “That’s the keystone asterism in the Hercules constellation.”

  “Ah…you lost me.”

  “So an asterism is a pattern of stars in the sky, which can be made up of part of a constellation, or more than one,” Oliver told me. As he explained, I let my head roll to the side so I could watch him. I wasn’t paying nearly as much attention to his words as I was to the way his eyes held a hint of the stars above us. They gleamed with excitement as he spoke. “This particular asterism is shaped sorta like a keystone, hence the name.”

  “Thanks for the astronomy lesson, Galileo,” I said, biting my lip and trying not to laugh. “But I’m still confused.”