Virtually in Love

by A. Destiny

  He sounded slightly disgruntled, but I ignored that. “When?” I said again.

  “This Friday. We’ll be there through the following weekend. Are you going to be around? Because seeing you is pretty much the only silver lining to missing over a week’s worth of rehearsals.” He sighed. “I tried to tell my mom I need to be here now, with the new drummer and all, but it’s like I’m speaking a whole other language or something—”

  “Hold on,” I cut him off. My mind had finally clicked into gear, calculating what he’d just told me. “Wait! But that means . . .” I gasped. “Oh my gosh, this is so incredible! My school’s having a dance, and I was already sort of daydreaming earlier about if you were here and we could go, and thinking about whether some stuff is meant to be, and . . .” Realizing I was babbling and probably not making much sense to him, I forced myself to stop and take a deep breath. “Trevor,” I said. “Will you go to the dance with me?”

  He laughed. “Are you serious? You’ve got a school dance coming up? While I’m in town?”

  “Uh-huh. It’s a week from Saturday night. So what do you say?” I held my breath.

  He didn’t keep me in suspense. “Absolutely,” he said. “I’d love to go!”

  I let out the breath and smiled. “Cool,” I said. “I can’t wait for you to meet everyone. That’ll be the perfect time.” Then I remembered something else. “Oh!” I exclaimed. “Unless . . . Did you say you’re getting here this coming weekend?”

  “Uh-huh. We’re driving down on Friday after my stepdad gets off work.”

  “But that means you can come to the dance marathon, too!” I exclaimed, hardly believing how great this was turning out. “It’s this coming Sunday.”

  “The what? Another dance?”

  “No, the dance marathon. It’s that fund-raiser I told you about, the one for the kids?” I was getting more excited by the second. “I’m playing in the band, and the cheerleaders and some of the kids are going to dance—remember?”

  “Sure, yeah,” he said. “I didn’t realize it was so soon.”

  “It’s going to be superfun.” I gasped as another thought popped into my mind. “Hey, maybe you can even play with us! It would be cool to have more guitarists—especially a great one like you.”

  “Oh okay.” He sounded kind of pleased by the compliment. “Could be fun, I guess. But I’ll have to let you know, okay? I’m not sure yet what’s happening with the whole reunion deal.”

  I wanted to argue, to tell him he had to come to the marathon. I mean, how could he possibly miss out on something like that when he was only a few towns away? It was the perfect chance for us to spend the entire day together.

  But I bit my tongue. He knew all that; he was going to try to work it out but didn’t want to make any promises he couldn’t keep. Family first, right? I could only imagine what my own parents would say if I wanted to skip out on some big family reunion to hang out with my boyfriend. Not that our family reunions were a big deal, since we pretty much all lived within half an hour from one another. Still.

  “Okay, sure,” I said. “Let me know when you find out.”

  “Will do. I can probably work it out,” he said. “Anyway, it’s going to be so weird being back in my old stomping grounds, you know? I haven’t been back in a couple of years.”

  “Yeah.” I tried to imagine that. I’d lived in the same town—the same house—for my entire life. “I can’t believe I’m finally going to see you in person again after all this time!”

  “Hope you won’t be disappointed.” His voice took on a teasing tone.

  “We’ll see,” I teased back. “I hope you haven’t been sending me some cute guy’s pictures all this time.”

  He laughed. “Uh-oh—busted!”

  My bedroom door slammed open, and my brother stuck his head in. “Mom says it’s time for lights out,” he announced loudly.

  “Hey,” I said. “Did you ever hear of knocking?”

  “Who’s that?” Trevor asked.

  “My rude little brother.” I made an ugly face at Timothy. He responded with an obnoxious gesture and then slammed the door shut again. “But I guess I need to go. I don’t want to annoy my parents so they ground me or something—I want to be free as a bird to spend tons of time with you while you’re here!”

  “Cool.” He chuckled. “Okay, guess I should hit the sack too. The guys and I—um, I mean the band, you know—will have to pack in as many rehearsals as we can before I leave on Friday. Zoe still thinks she can get us in at the club soon, and we need to be ready.”

  “You will be. You guys are supertalented, and that’s the main thing, right?”

  “I guess.” He didn’t sound too certain.

  But I wasn’t really focused on his band just then. I couldn’t believe I was going to see him in less than a week! “I’ll text you tomorrow so we can start making plans and stuff, okay?”

  “Sure,” he said. “Talk to you then. Good night, Chloe.”

  As soon as I hung up, I immediately called Vanessa. When she picked up, I didn’t bother to say hello. “Oh my gosh, you’re not going to believe this . . . .” I began, barely pausing for breath as I filled her in.

  She was almost as excited as I was. At first all she could manage were some squeals and chirps and other noises. Finally she said, gasping, “This could totally be another verse!”

  I knew what she meant without asking, and started to sing the chorus of our favorite song: “True romance, it’s the air that we breathe. Just us two together. Yeah, just you and me.”

  About two words into it, Vanessa joined in. We sang it twice, and then I collapsed onto my bed with a sigh, resting my head on Gordo’s soft pink belly.

  “I can’t believe this is happening!” I exclaimed. “It’s seriously like a dream come true. A daydream, at least.”

  “I know, right?” Vanessa sounded wistful. “I hope I meet a guy as cool as Trevor someday.”

  “You will. I still want to find you your own romantic date for the dance, remember? Now we can double!”

  “Don’t bother,” she said. “Since you’ll be with Trevor now, I might as well just go stag with Kaz.”

  Kaz. I gulped, realizing I’d sort of forgotten him when I’d heard Trevor’s news. My gaze wandered to the window, where I’d looked out on my geeky troubadour just a few minutes earlier.

  “Right,” I said. “Listen, I haven’t told Kaz about Trevor’s visit yet. I’ll have to let him down easy, I guess.”

  “Oh.” She sounded troubled. “Right.”

  “Don’t say anything to him until I have a chance to talk to him, okay?”

  “I won’t. Are you going to call him now?”

  I closed my eyes, not looking forward to this. How was I going to give him my news without breaking his heart? The tune from “I Could Have Danced All Night” whispered through my mind, and I sighed. “I’m not sure this is something I should tell him on the phone,” I told Vanessa. “Besides, it’s getting late. I’ll talk to him in the morning.”

  • • •

  Mr. Graves had scheduled band rehearsal on Monday morning before school. We had extra morning rehearsals at least once a week, and more often before a big concert or whatever.

  When I walked into the band room, Vanessa was nowhere in sight. Kaz was there, though. He was goofing around with the percussionists at the back of the room. I dropped my clarinet case on my seat and headed that way, arriving just in time to witness Kaz playing a fast-paced jungle rhythm on the timpani with his oboe.

  “Don’t let Mr. G catch you doing that,” I said with a faint smile. “You know how he feels about respecting your instrument.” I cleared my throat, casting a sidelong look at the percussionists. I definitely didn’t want to do this in front of them. “Um, can I talk to you?”

  “Isn’t that what you’re doing?” said one of the other guys, grinning.

  “Yeah,” another percussionist said. “That’s what Chloe’s always doing—talking.”

  Th
e only female percussionist rolled her eyes. “Look who’s talking, Dave,” she said.

  Kaz laughed. But I guess he must have seen something in my face, because he didn’t join in on the joking. “Later, guys,” he said, following me away.

  Ignoring the hoots and razzing comments drifting after us, I led the way to a quiet corner behind the acoustical shell. Then I turned to face Kaz. This wasn’t going to be easy, but I knew I had to be straight with him and not leave him hanging. He’d do the same for me—I was sure of that.

  “Well?” he said hopefully. “Does this mean you finally have an answer for me?” He grinned. “Just kidding—it hasn’t been that long.”

  I lowered my gaze to his chin, not wanting to see the eager look in those familiar brown eyes. “Yeah. The thing is, I just found out that, um, Trevor is coming to town.”

  “Oh.” He looked confused for a second. “Um, that’s nice, I guess?”

  “Yeah. As it happens, he’ll be here the weekend of the dance.”

  Kaz isn’t stupid. He knitted his brow for a second, but then understanding dawned quickly.

  “Oh,” he said, his voice quiet and a little sad now. “I see.”

  I chewed my lower lip. “I’m sorry, Kaz. I thought about it, I really did. Especially after that romantic serenade last night.” I couldn’t help a half smile at the memory. “That was really sweet. But don’t you think we’re better off as friends? I mean, I’d hate to mess that up, you know?”

  “Yeah.” He wasn’t quite meeting my eyes anymore, instead staring down at the oboe he was holding. Kaz doesn’t show every emotion in full Technicolor the way Vanessa does, but he’s not exactly Mr. Poker Face, either. I could tell he was disappointed.

  “Are you okay?” I said, touching his arm. “I mean, we’re okay, right? This isn’t going to be weird?”

  “Definitely not.” He finally met my gaze with a smile, though it looked sort of forced. “We’re totally fine. Friends forever, right?”

  “Totally.” I was relieved but still a little worried. “You’ll go to the dance though, right? Van’s counting on you—Oh! That gives me a great idea.” I brightened as a brilliant thought struck me. “Why don’t you two go together?”

  He looked confused again. “Don’t we always? I mean, usually you’re there too, but—”

  “No, I mean you two could go as, like, a real date.” The more I thought about it, the better I liked this. I was a genius! Kaz was too good for the general public. If I wasn’t available, that left only my other best friend good enough for him. “Seriously, Kaz, at least think about it, okay? You should definitely ask her! Who knows, maybe that’s how this was meant to turn out all along! It’d be like fate, right? You and Van, me and Trev . . .”

  “I guess,” Kaz said uncertainly. “I’ll think about it. Just give me a chance to recover from my heartbreak first, okay?”

  He clutched his chest in the general vicinity of his heart. I could tell he was going for a joking tone, but his face didn’t quite hold up its end of the deal. His eyes still looked kind of forlorn in a way that made my stomach clench.

  Mr. Graves came into the room and called for order, so we hurried back to our seats. As I quickly put together my clarinet and warmed up, I kept sneaking peeks at Kaz, who was playing the oboe today and thus sitting just a few yards away. He was smiling and chatting with the girl who played bassoon, looking perfectly normal. Well, okay, almost normal. Was it my imagination, or did his eyes still look sad?

  Don’t flatter yourself, girl, I chided myself. He’ll get over it.

  I was sure that was true. But I still wasn’t happy at the thought that I’d hurt him, even temporarily. What else could I do, though? Okay, so maybe for a few brief moments I’d actually entertained the thought of what might happen if Kaz and I got together. But that had just been a daydream, a passing what-if.

  Because Trevor was my dream guy, and now he was coming to town just in time for the dance. That had to be a sign. Right?

  Right, I told myself firmly. Resting my clarinet in the crook of my arm, I pulled out my phone and brought up that photo of Trevor playing his guitar. Just to remind myself what true romance really looked like.

  Chapter Nine

  Glancing at the front of the classroom, I saw Ms. Batra still had her back to the students as she scribbled factoids about the industrial revolution all over the board. I carefully slid my phone out from under my leg, ignoring the knowing smirk of the kid across the aisle.

  Trevor had texted me earlier, but I hadn’t dared text him back during English class. Mr. Ortiz had a habit of confiscating phones when he caught anyone using one. And I had way too much planning to do to lose my phone this week. It was already Tuesday, and Trevor and I had been texting back and forth pretty much nonstop since the big news. He still wasn’t sure exactly what his family had planned, but he’d already contacted his seventeen-year-old cousin and found out he had a girlfriend in my town and was more than happy to let Trevor tag along when he visited her—including the night of the dance.

  What were the odds, right? But I was getting used to the way fate or destiny or true romance or whatever was pushing us together. Trevor and I were definitely meant to be, and I liked the feeling. Smiling at the thought, I scanned his last text and then started one of my own.

  I was thinking we could meet for pizza when u get here on Fri night, since I know that’s your fave. There’s a really good place here in town. What do u think?

  Checking the front of the room again, I could tell Ms. Batra was almost finished with her scribbles. I tucked my phone out of sight beneath my leg again, not really expecting to hear back from Trevor right away.

  To my surprise, however, it vibrated just a few moments later. Sliding it out just enough to read, I saw his response.

  Pizza sounds great. I’ll ask Jon if he can bring me over then. It’s probably fine since he usually goes out with his gf on Friday nights. Will let u know later for sure. Can’t wait to see u!

  “Chloe?” The teacher’s sharp voice brought my head up with a snap. “Are you taking a nap, or would you like to start us off by reading chapter twelve to the class?”

  “Um, sure.” Quickly nudging my phone back out of sight, I cleared my throat and started to read, doing my best not to grin like an idiot and give myself away.

  • • •

  At lunch I tossed my brown bag onto the table and slid into my seat across from Vanessa. She was already tearing into her sandwich. The girl might be skinny, but she eats like a horse.

  “Hear from Trev?” she mumbled through a mouthful of half-chewed ham and cheese.

  “He’s in for Friday night pizza.” I beamed at her. “Our first real date!”

  She swallowed and smiled, raising her hand for a fist bump. “That’s amazing,” she said. “So romantic!”

  “Yeah, kind of,” I said. “Although having our first real date be the dance—or, you know, some candlelit dinner or something—would be more romantic than pizza at Angelo’s, you know? Maybe I should think of Friday as just being, like, two old friends meeting up for pizza.”

  “Maybe.” She shrugged. “I guess the song doesn’t say anything about pepperoni, right?”

  I laughed. “No. But the dance will definitely count as a date! Even the song says so—dancing in the moonlight, right?”

  She hummed a few bars and then reached for her water bottle. “You guys are going to get together between this Friday and next Saturday, though, right? Is he coming to the marathon?”

  My smile faded slightly. “He’s not sure yet. He’s trying to find out when all his reunion stuff is supposed to be.” I opened my bag and dumped out my lunch. “I guess his family’s a little scatterbrained when it comes to that stuff.”

  Vanessa sipped her water. “I hope he comes, because I don’t think I can wait a whole week to get a look at this guy in person.” She giggled. “Kaz and I might have to put on disguises and come spy on you two at the pizza place.”

  “Yeah,
funny.”

  I shot a look toward the cafeteria line. Kaz would be emerging from there any second now. I still felt funny talking too much about Trevor in front of Kaz, even though I was pretty sure his crush on me would fade quickly now that he knew I wasn’t into him that way.

  But maybe I could hurry that along? “By the way, speaking of Kaz,” I said. “Are you two going to the dance together or what?”

  “Sure, I guess.” Vanessa grabbed one of my carrot sticks. “Don’t we always?”

  “No, not like that.” I gave her a meaningful look. “I was thinking you two should go as, like, a date. You know? That way we could double.”

  Vanessa looked surprised. “Oh. Um, I don’t know. It seems weird to think of Kaz that way, you know?”

  “Welcome to my world.” I picked up a carrot and stared at it. “Think about it though, okay? It would make me feel a lot better about rejecting him if I knew there was a chance he’d ended up on a dream date with someone even better.”

  She blushed. “I don’t know about that . . . .”

  Just then my phone vibrated. I usually kept the ringer off during school, even during the times, like lunch, when we were allowed to use our phones. Otherwise, I tended to forget to switch it off again.

  It was Trevor: FYI, found out the big reunion picnic is the second Saturday of the visit.

  For a second my heart completely stopped beating. I swear it did.

  “No,” I said aloud. “But that’s the day of the dance!”

  “Huh?” Vanessa looked up from her food.

  I was already furiously typing out my response: The second Sat is the dance! Does this mean u can’t go?!?!?!?

  While I waited for his response, I showed Vanessa both texts. I was too worked up to speak, but luckily, she got it right away. Her eyes widened, and she wordlessly offered me one of her mom’s homemade lemon squares. But I waved it away, suddenly too queasy to eat.

  Fortunately, Trevor didn’t keep me in suspense for long.

  No, sorry, don’t freak out, lol! The picnic is during the day. My cousin Jon is def planning to cut out in plenty of time to get us both to your dance. I’m sure we will both be totally fed up with our fam by then and ready to escape, lol!!!