Falling for Forever (Before Forever)

by Melissa Chambers

  “We could play Never Have I Ever,” Nicolette says.

  I mentally roll my eyes. This game is only ever suggested by people who have done plenty so they can brag about it.

  Dev holds up his can. “Never have I ever ridden in a limo with four beautiful women.”

  Kiss-ass. But mainly I’m just pissed I didn’t think of it first. The girls grin their appreciation, and we all drink.

  I hold up my can. “Never have I ever gotten my hair cut to look like Pharrell.”

  Everyone laughs and messes with Nat. He glares at me, but refuses to drink.

  Nat holds up his can. “Never have I ever been initiated in the theatre.” Nicolette, Dev, and Nat all drink.

  Jasmine scrunches up her face. “Bullshit you’ve been initiated.”

  Nat’s eyes widen. “I have.”

  “I think he’s having flashbacks from last year’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” I say. They all laugh.

  “What are you all talking about?” Jenna asks.

  Everyone sort of snickers and giggles. I drink my beer, unable to look at her.

  Nicolette clasps Dev’s knee. “It’s a right of passage for kids at our school.”

  Jasmine flips through her phone and Greta keeps drinking her beer.

  Jenna scans the room. “So what do you do? Hit a bong, or what?”

  Nat stretches back on the futon. “It’s not bongs that are getting blown in those curtains.”

  The disgusted look on Jenna’s face makes my skin crawl from embarrassment.

  Jasmine puts her phone down. “God, Nat, you’re so nauseating sometimes.”

  “What? She asked.” He grins. “Greta doesn’t think it’s gross, do you, Greta?”

  Greta attempts a smile, but it doesn’t get near her eyes. I could fucking kill him right now.

  I backhand him in the shoulder. “Asshole.”

  Jasmine throws up a hand. “Get your nasty ass out of this apartment.”

  “What’d I do?” Nat asks, actually looking like he thinks he’s innocent.

  “Come on,” I say. “Let’s take a walk.”

  He lumbers up like a third grader who just got scolded by the teacher. “I still don’t know what—”

  “Shut up,” I say as I open the door.

  Once outside, I backhand him on the chest. “Dude?”

  “What? We all know what she did at Bonnaroo.”

  I rub my forehead. “Do you think that’s cool to out her in front of all of us like that?”

  He tosses up his hands. “What happened to no slut-shaming? If she likes it, that’s cool. I’m not making fun of her. Hell, I think she’s cool. If Jasmine wasn’t so hot I’d be trying to hook up with her.”

  In his totally effed up way, I honestly do think he thinks he’s done nothing wrong here.

  I shift my weight, letting out an exhausted sigh. “It is fine if she’s into it, but it’s private, man. Don’t you get that? Nobody wants their shit broadcast for their whole group of friends to hear.”

  He frowns, looking confused, like common sense might be kicking in…hopefully.

  He tosses up a hand. “Nicolette’s always talking about doing it with Dev. Hell, she won’t shut up about it.”

  “That’s Nicolette,” I say. “Just because she wants to brag about something doesn’t mean Greta does.”

  He stares at the railing for a long while, then looks up at me. “Should I apologize?”

  “Not in front of everyone. Don’t make it worse than it already is.”

  He purses his lips. “God, everyone’s always so sensitive all the time.”

  The door opens and Jenna walks out. “I think we’re ready to go. We can just cruise around in the limo for a bit, right?”

  “Yeah,” I say.

  “What about the beer?” Nat asks.

  I glare at him. “Leave it.” Nat waves us off and starts to head down toward the limo.

  “Wait,” Jenna says and closes the door behind her. “Thanks for that today.”

  Nat shrugs. “No problem. Sorry I fucked it up to begin with.”

  She closes her arms over her chest as a cool breeze floats by. “Why didn’t you say something to me first? I almost denied the whole thing. I thought you might be trying to sabotage me again somehow.”

  He tilts his head back, seeming proud of this. “It all happened kind of fast. I had to actually fuck up the monitor and one thing kind of led to another.”

  I close my eyes, shaking my head. “Nat.”

  “What?” he asks. “It’s all fixed now. Well, this is fixed. The monitor is fucked.”

  She lets out a huff of a laugh. “Sorry. It’s not funny.” But we all start chuckling now.

  “I’ll be in the limo,” Nat says and then bounds down the staircase.

  She narrows her gaze at me. “He doesn’t seem like you at all. How did the two of you hook up?”

  “We’ve known each other our whole lives. Our moms are best friends.”

  She nods understanding.

  “He’s actually the one who got me into music if you can believe it.”

  She looks surprised. “Really?”

  I huff a laugh. “Yeah. He was always introducing me to new bands and artists. I know he’s socially awkward, but we’ve been friends our whole lives. I’m not sure what I’d do without him. We didn’t talk this whole last week, which was totally unprecedented for us. It was…weird.”

  She frowns. “I feel bad.”

  “No, you had every right to call me out on what happened, and I had every right to be pissed at him.” I look down at him getting into the limo. “There’s got to be a time where you put your foot down even with your closest friends.”

  She nods, a little smile on her lips. “I don’t hate him, you know. He reminds me a little of myself. If someone screwed with Chloe, I would totally do what he did and ten times worse, with or without her permission. And it likely would be without. She’s a way better person than I am.”

  I smile. “I doubt that.”

  She widens her eyes. “No, like, she totally is.”

  Nicolette, Dev, Greta, and Jasmine file out. “We can come back here to get our stuff before we go to my house, right?” Nicolette says.

  Jenna gives her a look. “We can, but the guys can’t. And we need to be to your house by midnight.”

  Nicolette holds up a hand. “I know.”

  “My dad would have my ass if I stayed here with y’all overnight. He’d be shouting words like liability and minors. Trust me. I’ve been there.”

  I can’t help but love the fact that she’s following her dad’s rules even when he’s halfway across the state.

  “I know,” Nicolette says. “Come on. Let’s hit the limo, y’all!”

  Everyone heads down the stairs, but I wait for Jenna to get her purse and her sweater. I hate to see her covering her upper half. She comes back out and locks the door. “Ready to tear it up?” she asks.

  I shrug. “I’m ready for something.”

  Jenna raises her eyebrows and then grins just before jogging off to catch up with the girls.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Jenna

  We pile out of the limo at the school, and Shane is waiting for me outside, since I texted him that we were almost there. He’s dressed up in a gray button-down with black khakis and the same black boots he wears every day. He waves, only giving half a smile, and then puts his hands back in his pockets.

  I look him up and down. “You cleaned up well.”

  He chews on his lip. “You look really good.”

  “Thanks,” I say, trying not to smile too big. Tonight is going to be tricky. I know we agreed to the whole friends thing, and he has been fine with it all week, nothing weird, but we’re still at a dance together. This’ll be the first time we’ve taken our friendship outside of the eight to three confines. I just want to make sure I’m not giving any mixed signals.

  Shane does that cool guy nod thing in the direction of Miles. “Did
he get the limo for you guys?”

  I shrug. “I don’t know. I assume one of the guys did.”

  All the couples pair off, even Jasmine and Nat, although she elbows him when he tries to take her hand. We head inside the gym, which has been transformed with sheer drapes and white twinkly lights everywhere. Silver and lavender balloons float and decorate the floor while a cluster of them filled with helium hover from a low portion of the ceiling with streamers trailing.

  “Do you want to go ahead and do the selfie station?” Shane asks.

  We walk down a piano key path flanked with painted white trees decorated with blue balloons all over the limbs. “This doesn’t look like the gym at all,” I say. “Pretty cool.”

  We walk behind a trellis of balloons and white tree limbs, and Shane puts his arm around me for the picture. Dev and Nicolette go next, all lovey dovey, then Jasmine reluctantly agrees to take one with Nat as long as he doesn’t touch her in it.

  Miles and Greta step up last, and they look good together, which really does sort of make my stomach ache. But it shouldn’t, because they are here on a date. She is with him…not me. And the last thing I need to do is screw up the new girl friendships I have made by going for the guy Greta is into.

  Besides, my focus is not on any guy. It’s on this talent contest. I didn’t make it in by my own merit. I made it because Nat messed with my audition. Everyone is going to assume that I’m only in on some technicality or something to do with my being on a national talent show. I don’t know. I just know I’m going to prove that I’m worthy of winning that contest no matter what it takes. Falling for Miles and letting my guard down is not part of that equation.

  As we enter the party, the cotillion cluster spots Shane and waves him over. “Go on,” I say.

  He makes a motion with his head. “Come with me. I can formally introduce you to everyone.”

  We start to walk toward them, but Nicolette grabs my arm. “Where are you going?”

  “Just to say hi,” I say.

  “Make it quick,” she says and then plasters on a smile. “I want to hang with you.”

  I nod, a little wary of Nicolette. It seems like there’s always an ulterior motive brewing with her.

  The cotillion cluster girls are decked out in what I’m sure are the most expensive dresses purchased from the most expensive stores in Nashville…or maybe even Atlanta or somewhere else. This same group of kids was at Cliff Ridge and at my last Nashville school. I imagine they are in every school in every town in every state in this country. The clothes and the hair change from school to school, but this group remains. The popular kids.

  One can always spot a popular kid, mainly because they’re the prettiest people in the school. They’re always deeply manicured, hair-styled, and dressed in clothes that come from boutiques with short, one-word names like Posh or Blush.

  The girls turn to me, the expressions of fake surprise etched on their faces. But they’re ready for me. In fact, I’d be willing to bet they’ve had a meeting about me. Do they want to let me in? Will I fit or will I screw up their balance?

  Shane introduces each of them, but their names all run together. He gets distracted by some guys who slap him on the back and draw him away.

  “So nice to meet you, Jenna,” the ringleader, Bianca I think, says as her eyes discreetly make their way up and down my dress.

  “I think we have Spanish together,” I say.

  “Yeah, I think so. So what track are you on?”

  “Choral,” I say. “What about you guys?”

  “Dance,” they all say in unison and then laugh.

  I point across the gym at Nicolette and the girls. “I’ve been hanging with Nicolette, Greta, and Jasmine. They’re in dance.”

  Some snarky looks pass between the girls. One of them leans in. “We heard they tried to make you be in their talent show group.”

  God I hate bitchy girls like this. “Well, they didn’t try to make me do anything. Nicolette just asked if I danced.”

  Bianca lifts her chin in consideration of me. “What about Miles? Rumor has it you’re songwriting partners.”

  I shrug. “Rumor is correct.”

  Her lip snarls upward. “How’s that going? Has he enlightened you with his supreme world of vast musical knowledge?”

  “What, because he wrote that rock opera or something?”

  She rolls her eyes. “He’s so overrated. Such a kiss-ass. All the teachers love him and he wins everything. So unfair.”

  Shane rejoins us and rests his hand on my lower back. Under this group’s scrutiny, I don’t mind his protective physical contact.

  “Anyway,” Bianca says. “So is it true they created an eleventh spot for you? What happened there?”

  Damn. News travels fast around this school.

  “What?” Shane asks, eyes wild.

  I shake my head, waving them off. “It’s not all that. There was just a technical problem during my tryout that they didn’t discover until after the announcements were made. They thought the only fair way to handle it was to give me a spot.”

  One of the bitchy girls snorts, and my lip curls up in a snarl. I need to be cool, though, and remind myself that I’m new here. When I first got to Cliff Ridge freshman year, I fell right in with this same type group there. The Squad, with the emphasis on The, as if there could be no other squad in town. I totally got into it with this awful hag who thought I wanted her asshole boyfriend who I wouldn’t have touched with a pair of rubber gloves on. I made them all hate me from week one. It turned out to be the best thing that could have happened, because that’s when I found Chloe…but I can’t take that chance again.

  Bianca holds up her hands like a queen quieting down her minions. “That’s okay, girls. We welcome the competition. Don’t we?”

  They all shrug and groan.

  Shane nudges me. “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me.”

  “I just found out late this afternoon. I was planning on telling you tonight. I didn’t think people knew yet.”

  “Oh, we know everything, sweetie,” Bianca says with what can only be called a warning smile.

  One of the girls bats a stray balloon away. “Shane’s probably going to take the whole thing, anyway.”

  “No doubt,” I say. “He’s really good.”

  “Shane’s a guitar prodigy,” one of the girls says, like I don’t know the difference between an acoustic and an electric.

  “Guitar Universe magazine did a feature on him,” one of them says.

  Shane shakes his head. “It was tiny. It was a top twenty-five list of high school kids. A lot of schools were featured.”

  One of the girls pokes him in the chest. “Don’t be so modest. You’ve earned the title. Take it.”

  Shane smiles, running his hand through his hair, clearly uncomfortable. He’s so not like these people. It’s weird to think these are his main friends, especially after finding out he lives in the not so trendy part of East Nashville. I really wonder what the scoop is there.

  Shane shakes his head, and then turns to me. “So will you do the same song you did for tryouts?”

  One of the girls touches me on the arm. “If you want some advice, don’t do pop.”

  “Why not?” I ask.

  The girl lowers her chin. “Look, I know you did America’s Newest Whatever, but these people at this school are seriously talented.” She lifts her eyebrows, head tilted. “You’re going to need more than stage presence if you want a shot at the money.”

  Man, I want to lay into this bitch, but I bite my tongue…hard.

  “You must not have seen the show,” Shane says. “She can sing.”

  She stares Shane down, deadpan. “I saw the show.”

  And there’s my quota of jealous bitch for the night. I turn to Shane. “Do you want to dance?”

  “Nobody’s dancing yet,” one of the girls say.

  I shrug. “They are now.”

  I take Shane’s hand, and we make our way to th
e dance floor. I do my thing, and he follows my lead with a big smile on his face. And here come the girls, following us. Ugh. Their dates trail them, and now it’s a party.

  Shane is not a bad dancer. Most high school guys end up making asses out of themselves on the dance floor, but this guy can totally hold his own. In fact, he’s a better dancer than me.

  I poke him in the chest. “You took, didn’t you?”

  He shrugs. “Not officially. But I hung a lot at this community center as a kid. There were some guys there who were serious hip-hop and break-dancers. They showed me some stuff.”

  I stop. “Are you telling me you can spin around on your head?”

  He shrugs with a grin. “A little.”

  I put a hand on my hip. “I gotta see that.”

  “Maybe later, after some liquid courage.”

  I can’t help taking glances at Miles, who sits on a stool holding a can of Coke. I shake off the image. Why do I want it to be him out here dancing with me? Shane is totally hot and really nice. His group of friends is questionable, but other than that, he’s really cool. Not that I need to be interested in either of these guys. As of this afternoon, they are officially my competition.

  I must be looking too much at Miles, because Shane seems to tune in, glancing at him as well now. He slows down and nods at Miles. “So are you and him…”

  I meet Shane’s gaze. “We’re songwriting partners. Music IV.”

  He cocks his head to the side. “Yeah, but you want more.”

  I shake my head firmly. “We’re just friends.”

  He shrugs. “As long as you say so.”

  I point at him. “I do…say so.”

  I give Miles one last look only to find Greta stepping up to him and sliding her arm inside his. She rests her head on his shoulder like she’s tired…or flirting.

  Maybe she is into him. Maybe he’s into her, too. I don’t care. It doesn’t matter. I’m not interested. I’m hanging solo, at least until the competition, and even then, I don’t need to pair off with some guy who’s going to derail my L.A. plans. Not interested. Period.

  He smiles at something Greta says, and my stomach burns with jealousy. This is going to be a long school year.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Miles