by Kelly Oram
“You met Kyle Hamilton?”
“My old coach”—she pointed to the jersey she was wearing—“is friends with Brian Oliver’s wife, Ella. She got Kyle and Val to do this fund-raiser with her and Brian for our team my senior year. Kyle sang that song, and Brian and I bonded over our mutual obsession with Ferraris. It was kind of cool.”
I shook my head in amazement. “That’s crazy.”
She shrugged as if it were no big deal. “I told you, meeting celebrities just happens when you’re from LA. That’s why LA rocks. You should come see it someday. I’ll give you a tour.”
It wasn’t a bad idea, but she was getting off topic. “Sure. We’ll plan the trip just as soon as we find your favorite song.”
She bumped my shoulder. “I told you, I like that one from the movie. That can be my favorite song.”
I scoffed. “You don’t even know what it’s called.”
“So?”
“So it can’t be your favorite song if you don’t even know the name of it.”
“But I like it.”
She was not winning this argument. “Well, I liked Transformers.”
She sat forward, gasping in horror. “You did not! Tell me you’re joking.”
I was lucky she hadn’t been drinking more root beer at the moment, or I’d be wearing it now. I shoved some spicy chicken in my mouth, chuckling at the level of disgust Jordan was displaying. Once my mouth was clear, I couldn’t resist taunting her further. “Explosions and Megan Fox? What’s not to like?”
“Ugh! Nate! No!”
“What?”
“Just no! My song is not a Transformers equivalent, and you know it.”
“But I like it. So why can’t I just say that’s my favorite movie? It would certainly be easier than trying to discover my actual favorite movie.”
“Fine.” She shot me a glare. “I get your point. I have to find my song. I can’t just pick it.”
I flashed her my best smile. “Exactly. But if you like Tralse, then that gives me an idea of where to start.”
We spent the next hour exploring different styles of music. It turned out that little miss I-hate-all-things-cliché seemed to like mainstream bubble-gum pop more than all other types of music. I’m talking straight-up boy bands and divas.
It was a little disappointing, but in a way it fit Jordan. I could totally see her as a pop music nerd. When she declared Maroon 5 and Taylor Swift her two favorites so far, I groaned. “You do understand that picking those artists actually is the equivalent of liking Transformers, right?”
Jordan huffed. “No way. They at least merit The Avengers.”
I shook my head. “The Avengers would be Ed Sheeran.”
“Okay, fine. Who’s Ed Sheeran?”
“Who’s Ed Sheeran?” Not for the first time tonight, I sighed. “Aside from being one of the biggest artists in the world,” I said as I clicked on a song, “and having the highest-grossing album last year, Ed happens to be amazingly talented.”
“Lego House” began to play, and I air-plucked along with the guitar. “Like The Avengers, Ed has the mainstream popularity and the quality. If you must pick a top 40 artist as your favorite, I give you permission to like him.”
Jordan laughed. “You give me permission? Stop being such a music snob.”
I shook my head. “I’ll stop being a music snob when you stop being a movie snob.”
“I am not a movie snob.”
All I had to do was raise an eyebrow at her and she folded completely, bubbling with laughter. “Fine. I’m a movie snob. But you’re a music snob.”
I grinned. “I just have good taste.”
We were still laughing when the phone rang. Jordan answered it and said, “Send her up.” Hanging up, she cracked open the front door and came to clear our empty lunch plates. “Sophie’s here.”
That effectively ended our music session, so I got up and put away the leftovers from lunch, trying not to feel disappointed as I waited for Sophie to arrive. It didn’t take long. She knocked as she let herself in. “Nate?”
“Hey, Sophie.”
The tirade began the second I met her in the living room. “Where have you been? You haven’t answered any of my calls or texts in the last twenty-four hours.”
Because I’d been avoiding her—not that I was going to admit that. “Sorry. I forgot I turned my phone off yesterday.”
She turned her back on me and slowly hung her coat on the coatrack as if she was stalling for time before having to respond, like she needed to take a breath so she wouldn’t yell at me. “You said you were going to call me when you got home yesterday. I waited all day. I was worried.”
“Well, I’m fine, okay?” I wasn’t usually the type to get defensive, but I couldn’t help it right now. Maybe I felt bad because I’d made her worry, or maybe I knew she wasn’t going to like what I had to tell her. “I was out all day, and I got back really late. I went straight to bed.”
The leash on her temper was getting tighter and tighter. Her eyes flashed and she folded her arms tightly. “You were out all day? Doing what? With who? Your new BFF, Jordan?”
“Excuse me?”
“You heard me.”
“Yeah, I heard you. I just can’t believe what I’m hearing. I was out with my brothers yesterday. We made up. We went to the zoo, took in a Knicks game, and then hit a frat party a friend of theirs was having.”
“Your brothers.” She threw her hands up in frustration. “Of course. I thought we were done with them. I thought the whole point of moving here was to get away from them.”
Maybe we were in a race to see who could lose their temper first. If she kept on like this, it was likely to be me. “I moved here so I wouldn’t have to live with them, not so that I’d never see them again. They’re my brothers, Sophie. And they’re my best friends. That’s not going to change. If you can’t accept that, then maybe you can’t accept me. They’re a part of me. Like my music. Which you obviously haven’t accepted, either.” My bitterness was uncontrollable at this point, and my next words were out of my mouth without thought. “Maybe we should break up.”
Sophie gasped, and there was a loud clank in the kitchen. Sophie and I whirled around to see Jordan scrambling with the coffeepot she’d been filling with water, and dropped. She flashed us a sheepish smile and set the pot in the sink. “You know, I think I’m just going to meet Junior at his place.”
I felt bad. “You don’t have to go.”
“No, it’s okay.” She was already throwing on her favorite hoodie. “You guys need some privacy, and it’s almost time for me to go anyway.”
I don’t think she realized she was wrapping my scarf around her neck instead of her soccer one that she loved, but I didn’t say anything. She clearly felt awkward and wanted desperately to get out of here. “Okay. Well, have fun on your date.”
My taunt was halfhearted, as was her reply. “It’s not a date.”
The door shut behind her, and I was left to face the woman I think I’d sort of just broken up with. Sophie’s face was white, and her eyes shone with tears. “Nate,” she whispered. “Baby, what’s wrong? Where is this coming from?”
When I didn’t answer right away, her tears spilled onto her cheeks. I hated to see her cry. With a heavy sigh, I grabbed her hand and dragged her over to the couch. She laced our fingers together, as if hanging on for dear life. She looked up at me with her watery gaze, silently pleading for an explanation. Where to begin? “Maybe we’re just not right for each other.”
She wiped at the moisture on her cheeks with the back of her hand and shook her head. “Of course we are. We’ve been so happy for two years. I love you.”
“I love you too, but I’m tired of feeling like I have to defend myself to you. I’m not going to stop hanging out with my brothers—less, yeah, but not altogether. They’re my family. I don’t want to feel guilty for loving them. And I’m not going to switch majors because you think it’s a waste of time. This is me. You can either
accept that, or you can’t.”
Sophie took my hands and clung to them tightly. “I can, Nate. I promise. I’m sorry I’ve been so against your brothers, but they drive me so crazy. And they drive you crazy. I hate the way they treat you. I’ve only been insistent because I thought that’s what you wanted and you were just too nice to break away from them on your own. Somebody has to be the bad guy where they’re concerned, and I know that isn’t going to be you. I thought I was helping.”
I let go of my anger and kissed her lightly. She was relieved, but when I pulled back she gazed up at me in confusion. “I can’t stay mad at you when you were just acting in what you believed was my best interest.”
“I was,” she promised. “I always do.”
“I know. I don’t doubt how much you love me. You just don’t understand me.”
She shook her head, unable to speak.
I sighed. “Maybe that’s my own fault. I’ve never been good about opening up to people.”
“So make me understand you. Tell me what you need.” She closed her eyes and sniffled. “Don’t leave me, Nate. I’ll be better. I’ll stop complaining about your brothers. I’ll do whatever you ask me to. Just give me a chance. Please. We can make this work.”
She was so devastated that my resolve crumbled. How could I break up with her when she loved me so much? If she was willing to really try, maybe we could still make this work.
In the silence that stretched between us, Sophie opened her eyes and gave me the most earnest look I’d ever seen. “What do you need from me?”
“I just need you,” I said honestly. “I need your support, not someone else telling me what to do or how to live my life. I don’t need a babysitter. I need my girlfriend.”
“You have me. You’ve always had me.”
She leaned forward, crashing her mouth on mine in a kiss that spoke volumes. It was a kiss that made me desperate. A connection that made me realize how badly I needed the intimacy. I could tell she needed it, too. The moment felt almost frantic as we each dropped our guard and allowed ourselves to get lost in one another’s kiss. Within seconds, all of my anger and frustration was gone, and I remembered why we’d lasted together for so long.
The next week flew by. I’d fallen into a pattern. School, homework, songwriting, rinse, and repeat. Sophie started doing her homework at my place, and we’d take breaks for dinner. Sometimes, if Sophie left early, I’d end the day with Jordan making me watch some movie. Things were great, even if I felt a little high-strung.
Saturday was Halloween. Sophie and I decided we’d spend the night in with a home-cooked dinner and a scary movie. Obviously the home-cooked dinner part was courtesy of Sophie. I grew up in a house with two brothers and a single dad. The only thing any of us knew how to cook beyond cereal and sandwiches was frozen pizza and microwave dinners.
Sophie arrived with two large grocery bags stuffed to the brim. She grinned as I took the bags from her. “My roommate’s boyfriend is twenty-one, so I had him buy us a nice bottle of red wine for dinner tonight.”
“Awesome.” The bags were heavier than I expected. “Do we really need all of this for one dinner?” I asked as I took them from her and set them on the kitchen counter.
She hung her coat on the rack by the door and joined me in the kitchen. “No. But I’m over here enough now that I grabbed a few things to leave in your fridge. I hope that’s okay.”
“Sure.” I pulled her into my arms and gave her a quick kiss. “It’s already full of chick food, thanks to Jordan. What’s a little more?”
“Chick food?”
“Yeah, you know…yogurt, cottage cheese, spinach, skim milk—chick food.”
Sophie rolled her eyes and started rummaging through the cupboards for a pan. I started pulling the food out of the bags. “For someone who eats as much ice cream as she does, you’d think she’d eat a little less froufrou.”
Jordan’s laughing voice called out to us from her room. “It’s because I eat so much ice cream that I have to watch everything else I eat.”
I nearly dropped the bottle of wine when she joined us dressed in an amazingly hot naughty nurse costume. She was grinning at Sophie, so she didn’t notice the way my eyes widened and bounced back and forth between her legs and her cleavage. “Men,” she groaned. “They just don’t get it because they all have a naturally higher metabolism. They want a girl who’s not afraid to eat like a man, but they also want one without any extra fat on her body.” She took the wine from my hands and read the label as if she knew something about it. Considering how rich her family was, she probably did. “You can’t have it both ways. If you want a woman as hot as your girlfriend, you get chick food.”
I took the wine back from her. “Did you hear me complaining?” I glanced at Sophie. She was frowning at Jordan’s outfit, but she looked just as hot in the sweater dress, leggings, and boots she was wearing. “Because I definitely wasn’t. I was just making an observation.”
“So you’re going to a costume party for the evening?” Sophie asked.
Jordan glanced down at her outfit. “Yup. What do you think?”
“I think this holiday should be illegal,” I muttered, desperately trying not to stare at her butt as she took a slow spin.
Jordan eyes lit up with pleasure. “I’ll take that as a compliment.” She spread her hands down over her skirt. “Normally, I go the funny route with costumes. This was Blaze’s idea. He’s going as a doctor, and I’m his nurse.”
“Blaze?”
Both Sophie and Jordan turned shocked looks my direction, startled by the hostility in my voice. I couldn’t blame them. My voice had reeked of disapproval. “I thought you were going out with Colin tonight.”
“No,” she said slowly, watching me with curiosity. “Colin is going to some party at an all-gay club. As entertaining as that sounds, I couldn’t turn down Blaze’s offer to go to a party with him when he called yesterday.”
“You’re seriously going out with Blaze tonight?”
Jordan narrowed her eyes at me until Sophie gasped, “A gay club? Colin?”
I’d forgotten she didn’t know that. Jordan was better at improvising. “Crazy, right? I guess we know why it was always more friendly between us. It’s cool, though. He seems happy. And it makes sense, if you think about it.”
Sophie seemed to do exactly that. After a moment, she nodded her head. “Yeah, I can see it.” Her eyes shot to me quickly before she looked at Jordan again. “Actually, now that you mention it, I think maybe he’s attracted to Nate. It would explain a lot about him, anyway.”
I willed my face not to turn red while Jordan burst into laughter. “Oh, he’s definitely crushing hard on our little rock star. That’s actually how I figured it out. I was the one to suggest that maybe he’d be happier exploring some new options. He seemed relieved to have my blessing.”
Sophie shook her head, a little stunned. “You are a stronger woman than me. I think I’d have a hard time not taking it personally if my ex turned out to be gay.”
Jordan shrugged. “Why? It’s not anything I did. I love Colin. I’m glad he’s able to be himself. I want him to be happy. But I suppose if my next boyfriend or two also decided they liked men better after dating me, I might develop a complex.”
“Well, you won’t have to worry about that with Blaze,” I grumbled.
Jordan frowned at me. “Why are you so grumpy today?”
I leaned against the kitchen counter, matching her frown even though I was fully aware I was pouting. “I’m not grumpy. I just don’t like that guy. Junior called and invited us to come to his party tonight. Why don’t you go there instead?”
Jordan snorted. “Junior’s party is going to be him and his nerdy friends playing role-playing games all night.”
“So?” A grin finally broke out on my face. “You’d make his entire year if you showed up like that and agreed to be his date for the night in front of all his geeky gamer friends. Just be prepared to do CPR on him when his
heart stops after he sees you.”
“Funny.” She stuck her tongue out at me. “You’re the one who told me not to lead him on.”
Ugh. She had a point. “Okay, fine, not Junior. But there has to be someone else.”
Sophie put a pot of water on the stove to boil while Jordan sat down at one of the counter stools. “Will you set the table?” Sophie asked as Jordan said, “What’s wrong with Blaze?”
“Do you have any place mats?” I asked Jordan.
She pointed to the cupboard above the fridge. “There’re some nice candlesticks up there, too.”
As I started pulling stuff out of the cupboard, I glanced over my shoulder at Jordan. “Blaze is an arrogant, stuck-up player. You can do better.”
Jordan hopped off her stool. “Well, I think he’s hot and fun, and it’s just one date.” She grabbed her jacket—a real jacket, not her hoodie—and lathered on a fresh coat of lip gloss. She smacked her lips open with a pop and flashed me a smile. “You two enjoy your romantic evening.”
I sighed. Colin was right; Jordan was bound and determined to date the wrong guys. “Just be careful. I don’t trust Blaze.”
Jordan rolled her eyes. “Yes, Dad.” She winked at me. “Don’t wait up.”
A minute after she left, I realized I was still frowning at the door when Sophie came up behind me and slipped her arms around my waist. She hugged me tightly. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m just worried about her. Blaze is a creep.”
“She’s a big girl, Nate. She’ll be fine.” She pressed a soft kiss to my neck. “But I might not be if you spend our whole evening worrying about her.”
I shook myself from my daze. “You’re right. I’m sorry. It’s just you and me now.” I turned around and pulled her into my arms. “So, how else can I help?”
Sophie studied me for a moment, as if trying to assess my sincerity. I must have passed her test, because she kissed my cheek and went back to the kitchen. “After you finish setting the table, you can light those candles and then put on some nice music.”
“So we’re going for romantic, then?” I teased. “Meaning, I shouldn’t have rented The Ring and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre?”
