Sweet Harmony

by A. M. Evanston

  "Ah, stop whining." She hopped to her feet and glared at him. "You're obviously feeling a lot better now. You're annoying me again."

  "Good." Daniel grinned triumphantly.

  After she stuck out her tongue at him, Daniel stared at her and didn't look away.

  "Don't think I'm concerned about you or anything, but you should eat something," Daniel said.

  "Is there food in here?" She looked around hopefully. "I saw a microwave earlier."

  "No. I'm not here enough to have snacks." Daniel shrugged. "There's some food in the recreational room you could bring back here."

  "Nah. I'll just go to my dorm and get some ramen." She pointed at him accusingly. "Don't do anything weird while I'm away. I'll come back."

  "What could I do?" Daniel glared at her.

  "Many things." She could imagine him stumbling into the wall or something.

  "Trust me, I'll be fine," Daniel said. "I could take care of myself long before you started harassing me."

  The two of them glared at each other again. Daniel pulled his room key from his pocket and hurled it at her, but she caught it before it hit the wall and left a dent.

  "That's my room key," Daniel said. "Use it to get back in. This is only a one-time thing, so don't think I'm giving you permission to come up here all the time."

  She tightened her grip on the key.

  "Believe me, I wouldn't want to become one of your many admirers who darkens your doorstep." She shoved the key into her pocket. "I'll be back."

  With a scowl, she left Daniel's dorm room and felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. She pulled out her cell and saw she had another text from Jaiden.

  Did you know that Dan's sick? Gavin just texted me to let me know.

  She winced. As far as Jaiden knew, she was still in class. She didn't want to tell him that she'd been overcome by some strange, foreign urge to take care of Daniel.

  I heard. He has the stomach flu or something. Lucky me.

  Before she could even put her phone away, Jaiden texted again.

  Ah, come on. Daniel's probably really suffering. Don't gloat too much.

  She headed down the stairs, forgoing the elevator now that she didn't have Daniel to deal with. She texted and walked at the same time.

  Yeah, he probably is pretty sick. How is the field trip, by the way?

  Jaiden's orchestra class was touring all of the local elementary schools and giving performances.

  It's great! There's this little girl who's stuck on me like glue. I'm having the time of my life here.

  She smiled. Yeah, with Jaiden's laid-back personality, she thought he'd be great with kids. She headed out the dorm exit and headed to her own building as she replied.

  That's good. I'm glad you're having fun.

  A few seconds went by. Jaiden answered.

  Well, the kids are cool, but I do miss you though.

  The text was so intimate that it made her slow her pace. What did Jaiden mean when he said he missed her? Before she could even respond, another text came from him.

  Can I come over to your dorm around eight? I have a surprise for you.

  A surprise? She wondered why he was wasting his surprises on her when he should be reserving them for the girl he liked. Still she was intrigued.

  Sounds fine to me. See you then.

  Jaiden sent her a smiley. She tucked her phone back into her pocket just as she reached her dorm. As she went inside and trotted up the stairs, she thought, What is Jaiden going to give me? She was still deep in thought when she went into her room and headed over to her supply of ramen she'd purchased from the store. She grabbed several packages because she was hungry enough to gnaw off her own hand. At the last minute, she also seized a box of plastic tableware because she doubted that Daniel had much of that laying around.

  As she left her room, her thoughts lingered on Daniel again. I wonder if that guy has ever eaten ramen. The stuff may have been about as healthy as a kick to the kidney, but it tasted delicious. Yet Daniel had the stomach flu. Probably giving him food that was hard to process even on a good day was a bad idea. She shrugged and left the dorm. It must have been later than she thought because students were filing out of class and heading to their rooms. She made it to the boys' dormitory just as a pack of guys were heading through the door. She scampered in behind him, even though a redheaded kid with brown eyes called after her. She rushed up the stairs and made it to Daniel's floor. After she unlocked his door and went inside, she saw Daniel had moved from his bed to the living room and was opening the door to his mini fridge. He pulled out a bottle of water.

  "Hey," she said.

  "Took you long enough," he muttered, then unscrewed the cap of his water bottle. "I thought you might have gotten lost on the way to your dorm."

  "I'm not dumb," she said.

  Daniel gave her a stare that suggested he thought otherwise.

  "Maybe I shouldn't have come back at all," she said, though she was already here and didn't plan on leaving him alone.

  "Hmph," Daniel said.

  Her stomach rumbled and she wasted no more time scowling at him. After dumping all of her ramen cups on the couch but one, she opened the lid of the package and headed over to the mini fridge. She stole a bottle of water from inside because she was too lazy to go to the bathroom to get the water to prepare her meal. After she filled the cup to the line, she went over to the microwave and stuck it inside. Soon the whole living room was teeming with the scent of chicken broth and noodles. Her mouth watered like she was going to eat prime rib instead of noodles in a cup. Daniel sniffed.

  "That smells good," he said.

  "It is good." She grinned. "Too bad you can't have any. You have the stomach flu."

  "I feel fine now." Daniel stared at her. "Make me one."

  "No. You'll puke on me again."

  The two of them argued all the way until the microwave dinged, announcing that the ramen was finished. She reached for the microwave, but Daniel cut in front of her and opened the door first. He pulled out the cup of noodles.

  "Give it to me." She reached for the cup.

  "I want this one," he said. "It looks like soup and it's chicken flavored. Don't you know you're supposed to make a sick guy chicken soup?"

  "That one's mine." She tried to steal it from him.

  Daniel peeled back the top and coughed straight into it. His stomach flu germs would be swimming with the noodles.

  "Gross." She released his arm.

  "Told you it was mine." Daniel smirked triumphantly. "Hand me a spoon."

  At first she was tempted to shove the spoon up his nostril, but she handed it to him instead. Grumbling, she prepared herself another cup of noodles as Daniel stared at his meal with an expectant look on his face. As she stuck her new cup of ramen in the microwave, Daniel took a bite of the steaming noodles and sucked them into his mouth. After he swallowed, a grin crossed his face. At least that meant he wasn't going to blow more chunks.

  "This is really good," he said. "It must have been really expensive."

  "Fifteen cents a package," she said. "That's poor people food."

  Daniel stared down at the noodles as if they'd turned to gold.

  "Wow." He whistled and took another bite. "Why do people eat anything else?"

  "Because that stuff may taste good but it's about as safe to eat as rat droppings," she said.

  If Daniel was bothered by the fact he was filling his body with toxic substances, he didn't appear to care. He slurped on more noodles. She pulled her cup of ramen from the microwave and took a bite of noodles without batting an eyelash. As she slurped down her meal, she made eye contact with Daniel. There was a carrot stuck to his chin. Or at least, something that vaguely resembled a carrot.

  "Dubf got a cawot stuwck to durb chimb," she said, her mouth full of ramen.

  "Don't you have manners?" Daniel said. "Don't talk with your mouth full."

  As she fought to swallow the noodles, she rolled her eyes and reached out to wipe
the carrot from his chin. The moment she touched his face, a strange atmosphere overpowered the room again. It was like electricity flowed between them and they were connected on some level. But that was impossible. This was Daniel and he spent fifty percent of his time just trying to piss her off. As she slurped down some of the broth to distract herself, the door to Daniel's room opened and Gavin rushed inside.

  "Hey, man, I heard that you're…" Gavin spotted her and stopped dead in his tracks.

  "Hey, Gavin, you've got to try this stuff." Daniel held out the cup of noodles like he was presenting a great treasure. "It's poor people food, but it tastes good."

  "I thought you had the stomach flu," Gavin said. "That's what the guys in strings class told me."

  "I slept all day and seem to be okay now." Daniel shrugged. "Seriously, eat this. Annamarie gave it to me."

  Gavin stared at her, his expression curious. The fact he looked like he was trying to see straight into her soul was unnerving. Well, at least she could make her escape now. Daniel seemed to be back to his pain-in-the-butt self again and was no longer alone.

  "I guess I don't have to put up with you anymore." She scowled at Daniel. "I'm going to head back to my dorm."

  "Don't think I enjoyed having you here all day or anything," Daniel retorted.

  She snarled and brushed past Gavin.

  When she reached the door, she noticed the pile of ramen sitting on the couch. I could go get the packages, but Daniel's enjoying the ramen so much…The fact she actually wanted to make him happy was as confusing as trying to play Mozart's music on her flute. She left his dorm, telling herself she'd just abandoned the noodles because she was too lazy to head back to get them.

  ****

  That night, Annamarie stood outside of her dorm and waited for Jaiden. The guy trotted up to the door at a quarter to eight. His brown hair hung in his face and his eyes were bright and glowing, catching the rays of the moon. She could see why the little girl had clung to him during his elementary school performance. He was as gorgeous as he was kind.

  "You didn't have to wait out here for me," he said. "It's cold and dangerous."

  "Dangerous?" She raised an eyebrow. "I'm me, remember?"

  "You may be tough, but you're nothing against falling pots," Jaiden said.

  Good point. The last falling pot had almost made slushy out of her brain.

  "I think the person may have given up on tormenting me," she said. "I haven't had anything happen in a while."

  "No one would give up that easily," Jaiden said darkly. "The person is regrouping, more like."

  It was unlike Jaiden to be so gloomy. She nudged him with her elbow, trying to force him to smile.

  "Ah, come on," she said. "Everything's fine. I'm as healthy as a horse."

  She neighed to prove her point and he laughed.

  "Okay, okay." Jaiden grinned and nodded. "You ready for your surprise?"

  "I guess." The idea of being surprised always made her a little nervous.

  "Come on." He ran a hand through his hair. "I actually got home from the field trip at four, but I've spent all afternoon preparing this for you."

  The words were flattering, but she didn't know what he was preparing or why. Jaiden grabbed her hand and led her to the school. When he pulled her through the front doors, she saw everything was pitch black and that there was no one around. Every self-defense class she'd ever attended had warned her against going into the dark with a guy, but she trusted Jaiden.

  "Isn't the school supposed to be closed this late?" She wasn't even allowed to be in the bathroom past seven for detention.

  "I got special permission." Jaiden shrugged. "Mrs. Carmichael is a woman, after all. She's got a soft spot for certain things."

  What did Mrs. Carmichael's womanhood have to do with anything?

  She was silent until Jaiden led her through the doors of the gym. When she looked around, she froze when she saw several violinists, a lone flute player, and a harpist standing together in the middle of the room. Jaiden led her to the bleachers.

  "What is this?" She laughed. "Why an impromptu musical performance?"

  "You'll see," he said.

  When she was halfway down the stairs, the musicians played a song she recognized as "Moon River." Her dad used to play the song on his piano during performances to strike up a romantic mood in the crowd. Her cheeks grew hot as she glanced at Jaiden in confusion.

  "Jaiden…" She raised an eyebrow questioningly.

  "Please sit down, milady." He showed her to the bleacher to her right, extending his hand.

  "Ugh, okay."

  It was hard to say whether he was trying to be goofy or not. Her cheeks burned even more. What a bizarre day. First Daniel puking all over her, now this.

  "How did you get these guys to play for us?" She looked at the violinists.

  "We attend a music academy." Jaiden chortled. "Most people here not only play their instruments, they like to do it. It wasn't that hard."

  "I still don't understand why you did all this." She glanced at him, her eyes wide.

  The musicians switched songs to one she didn't recognize. The music still held a sweet harmony that would have made anyone's heart pound.

  "A guy has to do something when he's asking a girl to a dance, right?" Jaiden asked.

  She must have heard him wrong. No way was he asking her to the dance.

  "What do you mean?" she asked. "I thought there was a girl you liked. Are you showing me what you're going to do to ask her to the dance?"

  Jaiden groaned.

  "Did I say something wrong?" For once, she thought she was having a decent conversation.

  After Jaiden took a deep breath, he seized her shoulders and stared straight into her eyes.

  "Annamarie Chadwick, you're the one I'm asking to the dance," he said. "I gathered a group of my friends together to play for you."

  Her legs went numb and she suddenly couldn't remember how to breathe. The sweet harmony of the song mingled with the buzzing of bees. What should she say?

  "But what are you going to do about the girl you like?" she whispered.

  Jaiden looked like he was going to cut off his own thumb. "You're the one I'm asking out, right? So who do you think is the girl I like?"

  Oh. She understood now. He liked her. But how could he? She wasn't anything special. Heck, she couldn't even remember if she'd combed her hair after she showered. Now one of the hottest guys at school was asking her out? It didn't make a lot of sense.

  "Are you serious about asking me to the dance?" She wanted to make sure he wasn't having an aneurism or something.

  "I'm dead serious," Jaiden said. "I wanted to ask you yesterday, but I had to gather my courage to do it. That's why I just threw some hints around and prepared myself."

  She could see from the look in his eyes that he meant his words. She had to make a choice. The problem was that the only experience she'd had with boys in the past was in karate class. She knew she had a lot of options in a situation like this, but punching Jaiden wasn't one of them. This was harder than the test to earn her black belt. Worse yet, Jaiden was still staring at her expectantly and she had no idea what to do.

  Do I like Jaiden? she wondered. She'd never had any crushes, so she didn't know her own feelings. Jaiden cleared his throat and she realized he was uncomfortable too.

  "I'm sorry I'm sitting here like a bump on a log." She stared down at her shoes. "It's just that I've never been asked to a dance before. You kind of surprised me."

  "I can tell." Jaiden chuckled, but he wasn't really laughing. "You can have time to decide, if you want. It's just a dance. It's not like I'm asking you to marry me."

  It was obvious he was trying to downplay his disappointment, but he was right. It was just a stupid dance. She was sixteen years old. Soon her dad would bring her back to London or wherever else and she might never have a chance to attend something like this. If she went to a dance, then she'd know what all of the drama was about on TV.
/>   "I'll go with you," she said. "I'm sorry I was such an idiot about it."

  Jaiden's eyes widened. "Do you mean it?"

  "Of course." She winked at him. "You know me well enough to be aware of the fact that I don't break promises. I'll go to the dance with you."

  The grin that crossed Jaiden's face made her choice worth it.

  Chapter Twelve

  Annamarie walked into a ballroom in a bright green dress that brushed her ankles. A crystal chandelier hung above her, making the whole room glow. Girls danced in multi-colored gowns, flashing grins at their dates. But something was wrong. All of the men wore white bags over their heads, concealing their faces. If there was anything odd about this, none of the other girls appeared to notice. Where's Jaiden? She whirled around, feeling confused and alone. No one was around. She searched the crowd, but she didn't see her date. Just as she was about to panic, somebody touched her elbow.

  She looked at the person who'd touched her. It was a tall boy with great physique.

  "Jaiden?" She tried to seek out his green eyes within the holes in the bag, but she couldn't.

  The boy silently extended his hand and took her own. His fingers were warm. A black strand of hair fell out of her bun and hung in her face. The boy reached out and tucked the strand of hair behind her ear. It was strange how she couldn't see his face, but there was so much electricity when he touched her.

  She was led out onto the dance floor. His arm snuck gracefully around her waist. The world faded out as a romantic song played in the background. She spun and twirled as if she'd trained in dance all of her life. It was like she was in a different world, one of graceful elegance. She never thought she'd enjoy herself at a dance so much, but in the arms of her date, she found that she did. Just as she spun one more time, enjoying the brush of the boy's hand on her slender hips, somebody laid a hand on her shoulder.