by Pamela Wells
Silence filled the line. Sydney peeled off a slice of orange and bit into it. “I guess I really don’t have anything else to say. I just called to tell you I love you.”
He laughed that easy Drew laugh. “I love you, too. And hey, Syd?”
“Yeah?”
“You can call more often like this. You know, just to tell me you miss me. I kinda like it.”
Sydney grinned wide. “I can manage that.”
ELEVEN
Rule 30: Do not tell anyone that you have a crush on someone unless you know you can trust them not to tell your crush!
The early afternoon sunshine spilled over the porch railing as Raven swung slowly in the hammock. She chewed on the end of her pen, trying desperately to ignore the sound of a skateboard hitting cement across the street.
On her lap sat a journal, one she’d made at Scrappe a few weeks ago specifically for her lyric scribbling. There were musical notes glued to the front of the white notebook. Across the bottom of the cover, she’d drawn the words Musical Ramblings with a purple calligraphy pen.
So far, she had about ten pages full of rhymes and thoughts but nothing substantial. There were so many things she wanted to say in a song, but she wasn’t sure where to start. The major thing she was experiencing right now was heartache. She wanted Horace here, now, not thousands of miles away.
It’d been so long since she’d seen him (okay, only two weeks). She was finding it hard to conjure an image of him in her mind. And if she didn’t think it extremely dorky, she would have asked him to send a picture message of himself so she had something to look at.
She closed her eyes, daydreaming about Horace, when the front door of the house opened and Jordan clomped out in a pair of espadrille sandals.
“What are you doing?” Jordan asked, plopping down in one of the wicker chairs across from the hammock.
Raven sighed. “Trying to write a song. Something. Anything! But I can’t concentrate with all that noise he’s making.” She nodded her head in Blake’s direction.
Jordan smiled. “Yeah, because you really don’t get any enjoyment out of watching a hot skater boy get all sweaty and stuff.”
“Very funny.”
“Just admit it, you’re crushing on him.”
Raven put pen to paper but drew a blank. “I have a boyfriend, Jordan. I do not have a crush on Blake.”
“Having a boyfriend has nothing to do with it.”
Oh, it had everything to do with it because Raven having a crush was the same as Superman being exposed to red kryptonite. Raven would go bad in a second if she had a crush. She couldn’t let it happen.
Blake kicked off his driveway and rode out into the middle of the street. He did some sort of kick flip or something (Raven wouldn’t pretend to know what all those skateboarding tricks were) and landed smoothly on his board.
She sat up straighter in the hammock to watch him. It was hard to admire his body in all those baggy clothes, but she could see the intricate muscles working in his forearms as he balanced and then grabbed the board when he slid down the stair railing in front of Mr. Kailing’s house.
If that small part of him looked that good, then what did the rest of him look like?
Oh stop! she chided herself. Get it together.
“Hey, Raven!”
Raven jumped and lost her balance in the hammock. It rolled over, tossing her out and onto the porch floor.
Jordan erupted in a shriek of laughter.
Raven scrambled to her feet. “Shut up!” she whispered.
“Come on over!” Mil-D called, waving frantically.
“I can’t,” she said.
“Yes she can!” Jordan said.
“What are you doing?” Raven gritted her teeth. “You’re…you’re…such a meddler!”
Jordan stood, smacking her lips together. “I might be a ‘meddler’ but you’re crushing on him, and I like watching you squirm because of it.” She giggled again and shoved Raven off the porch. “See ya, sis.”
Grumbling to herself, Raven went across the street. She could feel Blake’s eyes on her as she passed him.
“Thanks for the invite,” she said, once she was in close enough range of Mil-D to have a normal conversation. “But I’m really busy right now.”
From here, Raven could smell something barbecuing in the back of the house.
“You’re never too busy for food, girl. Stay.”
Blake skated up behind Raven. “Yeah. Stay for just a little while. My grandpa skipped out on us for bingo so we’re grilling the goods he bought last night.”
“Umm…” Her stomach growled when she smelled the cooking food. It did sound good…
No, she was busy and Blake was…sweaty and looking extremely good. But she was starving and, really, what could it hurt? As long as she didn’t indulge in anything inedible, she was safe.
“Fine,” she said. “But just for a little while.”
Raven had expected to sit down at the table, eat, have light conversation, and then leave. What she got instead was a lot of insight into Blake’s life. It turned out, Mil-D was not, in fact, Blake’s uncle. He was Blake’s bodyguard.
“Then why did you say he was your uncle?” Raven asked as she wiped her hands on a napkin. They were sitting in Mr. Kailing’s backyard on his deck. The sun was still bright behind her, warming her bare shoulders.
“Because some people treat me differently if they find out I have a bodyguard.” Blake shrugged and tore apart another piece of barbecued chicken. “Besides, Mil-D’s been with me so long, he’s like family.”
“Aww,” Mil-D said, “thank you, son.” He gave Blake a hearty pat on the back.
Blake laughed, shaking his head.
“So,” Raven said, looking between the two guys, “he’s your bodyguard because you’re actually a somewhat famous skater?”
Blake gave a half-hearted shrug.
“Yes he is,” Mil-D filled in. “You should see him when we go to New York. The boy’s like a mini Tony Hawk or something. Little high school girls fawning all over him.”
Blake slapped Mil-D on the arm. “Shut up, dude. They do not.”
When Blake turned his back, Mil-D looked at Raven and nodded.
Raven leaned into her cushioned patio chair, biting her lip. How had she managed to not notice there was a semifamous celebrity living across the street from her? And more importantly, how had Jordan missed it? She was usually on top of celebrity news.
“You know what else?” Mil-D said. “My boy here, he’s sponsored by some pretty big names. Red Bull, Volcom, Etnies…kid’s sick.”
Raven raised her brow. “Really?”
Blake pulled the brim of his hat down even more as if to hide beneath its shadow. “Dude,” he muttered.
“Sorry, son. I just like to brag about you. Can’t I be proud?”
“Wow, that is cool,” Raven added reluctantly. She didn’t want Blake to get a big head, but still…what he did and how successful he was at it had Raven more than impressed.
Maybe being around Blake wasn’t so bad after all.
Alexia scraped spinach dip from a plastic dish and slopped it in the garbage. The stuff looked like mushy seaweed in a creamy dressing, but she had to admit, with bread, it tasted really good.
She’d been at Cherry Creek Specialty Store for over a week now and she felt like she was finally getting the hang of it. Of course, there were still many things she didn’t know. Thank god for Jonah.
He was always patient with her, no matter how many questions she asked. He’d been at the store the longest, which meant he knew everything. Even some of the employees who’d been there for months occasionally had to ask him questions.
Bella came into the kitchen, her hair mussed at the top, wispy strands floating around her forehead. “You’re doing great,” she said to Alexia. “We sure had a rush today.”
Alexia nodded and set the plastic dish in the large industrial sink. “Saturdays are always busy in here, huh?”
“They a
re.” Bella turned the oven off, then grabbed a pan of cooling bread. She set it on the countertop to slice. “It dies down in the wintertime.”
Jonah pushed through the swinging doors at the front of the kitchen. “Can I take my lunch, Bella?”
“Sure. Why don’t you go, too,” she said to Alexia.
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah. We can handle it.”
Jonah grabbed a sandwich from the refrigerator. “Alexia, you want one?”
“Umm…sure. Turkey, please.”
He grabbed her a turkey and brought it over to the sandwich counter.
“Want to come with me outside?”
“Sure.”
They headed out the back door and to the small patch of grass on the store’s lot. There was a metal table there with four bistro-style chairs. Alexia sat and Jonah picked the seat across from her.
A line of elder maple trees kept the hot afternoon sun at bay. A slight breeze cooled the sweat at the nape of Alexia’s neck.
“Nice day, huh?” Jonah said.
“Yeah. I wish I wasn’t working, though. So I could really enjoy it.”
Jonah laughed. “Yeah. Don’t we all.” He ripped his sandwich in two and took a bite. “For some reason, my girlfriend works, despite not having to. She’s odd like that.” He smiled as if his girlfriend’s eccentric qualities were her most endearing.
“How long have you guys been together?”
“Two years.”
Alexia widened her eyes. “Wow. That’s a long time.”
He nodded before taking a drink of his soda, then, “I love her a lot and maybe it’s old-fashioned of me, but I’d like to think there’s only one love of your life. I think she’s it.”
“Really?”
Alexia wasn’t sure if she agreed with having only one major love, but she liked that Jonah admitted to being old-fashioned and romantic. She admired that. Ben was romantic. Too bad he wasn’t old-fashioned. If he was, he’d want to wait until they were married to have sex. That would save her a lot of stress. She could spend the next five to ten years (okay, maybe not ten) blissfully relaxed while she waited for her marriage to come along.
Then she wouldn’t be constantly thinking about It and worrying about Ben breaking up with her if she didn’t do It.
He didn’t seem like that kind of guy, but Alexia was definitely not like the other girls he’d gone out with. What if he realized he missed having sex and found someone else?
Her friends would say that she didn’t need Ben if he turned out like that anyway, but Alexia really loved him. Maybe she didn’t need him, but she sure did want him.
TWELVE
Rule 4: Find out what your crush likes—hobbies, sports, music! Then immerse yourself in it!
Sydney was due at the photo contest awards ceremony at four in the afternoon. She’d gotten up somewhere around nine A.M. and was already showered and dressed. She sat at the dining room table, her knee bobbing nervously. She tapped her pen against her open journal.
She’d sat down intending to write a bit about how she was feeling, but she couldn’t seem to concentrate.
“Syd?”
Sydney looked across the table at Drew. He was working on his essay for his college applications. Drew wasn’t going to waste one moment of the summer, not when his senior year was so close.
“What?” Sydney said, setting her pen in the open spine of her journal.
“I can’t seem to concentrate,” Drew said, grinning. “And you aren’t exactly concentrating either.”
Sydney sighed and rubbed her forehead. She’d never been so nervous in her life. Entering the contest at the hospital had sounded like fun, but now that she knew people were examining the photo and judging it, she wanted to take the submission back.
“Get up,” Drew said. “I have an idea.”
“What kind of an idea?” Sydney asked, looking over at him warily.
He shut his notebook, then her journal, and held his hand out to her. “I’ll take you to the fish store. It always helps calm you down.”
Ever since her mom and dad took her to the New York Aquarium in Brooklyn, Sydney had been in love with marine wildlife. Seeing fish just relaxed her, and she hadn’t been to the fish store here in Birch Falls in what seemed like months.
Drew was right—going might calm her down——something she desperately needed if she was going to make it to the awards ceremony without hurling.
“All right,” she said, slipping into her tennis shoes. “Let’s go.”
Drew turned left down Franklin Avenue, which would take them to the I-99 East.
“Umm, is it too late to ask you to take the side streets?” Sydney said as Drew flicked on his blinker and got into the on-ramp turn lane.
He glanced over at her. “I’m already getting on the freeway. Besides, it’s quicker this way.”
“Yeah, but…” She trailed off as the stoplight turned green and Drew turned. He sped up, hitting fifty miles an hour quickly and bringing the car up to seventy as he merged onto the highway.
“I just like the side streets,” Sydney said. “The highway is so…boring. It’s just traffic and concrete.”
Drew took her hand in his, squeezing gently. “We’ll take the side streets next time. And you can bring your camera if you want. We can make a day of it.”
She nodded, liking the sound of that. “Okay.”
At one in the afternoon, traffic wasn’t too bad. Drew drove at a steady seventy-five miles an hour passing only two cars on the way to the fish store. Sydney stared out the passenger-side window, silent, zoning out as the green interstate signs became a blur.
When they got off the freeway, slowing down felt good. Sydney snapped out of the quiet. “I’ve been thinking about buying an aquarium,” she said as they waited beneath a stoplight.
“Oh yeah? I’ve been thinking about getting a dog.”
Sydney instantly tensed. “What kind of dog?”
Sydney liked dogs, she just didn’t like big dogs. When she was eight, the neighbor’s chow mix bit her on the hand when she got too close to his food. Ever since then, big dogs freaked her out to the point she felt like panicking whenever she was around one.
“I don’t know,” Drew said. “I guess whatever kind I find that I like.”
“Just not anything too big?”
He shrugged, barely glancing at her. “I guess it’ll just depend on what I find.”
He pulled into the parking lot of the large strip mall, and they got out, the sun shining through thin, white clouds. Sydney took Drew’s hand as they walked up. This felt good, the two of them together, getting out and doing something.
“You mind if I go to Pet Shop real quick? See the dogs?” Drew asked. “Then I’ll come to the fish store.”
Sydney nodded, letting go of his hand. “Sure.”
They parted, Drew going inside Pet Shop on the left, Sydney going inside the fish store on the right. Inside the small specialty shop, the outside world faded away. Here, there were no ceiling lights, only the soft glow of aquarium lights. With dozens of aquariums lined up together on every side of the shop, it almost felt like Sydney was in the ocean itself.
“Hi there,” a man said behind the counter. “Anything I can help you with?”
“Just looking, thanks.”
Sydney bypassed the shelves of empty aquariums, the display of aquarium stones and sculptures, heading directly to the fish. She started at the goldfish, ducking down to watch their orange bodies darting around one another. She moved on to the guppies and fancy goldfish and then the tropical fish.
A display tank took up almost an entire wall. A sign above it said THE GREAT CORAL REEF. There was green fluorescent mushroom coral and yellow colony polyp among other things. There were a few anemones and sponges.
Two vibrant clown fish swam lazily in front. A blue tang poked its head out from behind a rock as an auriga buttefly-fish swam past.
Sydney moved on to the other same-species tanks, stopp
ing to admire the black sea horses. They were, by far, her favorite. She could sit and watch them all day as they seemed to float in the water.
How much would it cost to put together a new tank? Would her dad help her with the expenses? Maybe Drew would—“Syd!”
She startled and straightened as Drew rushed over. “Come to the pet store,” he said, grabbing her hand and dragging her next door. He held the door open at Pet Shop, smiling like a kid in a toy store. Sydney went in, and a cacophony of barking dogs sounded from the back. It smelled like wet dog and dry cat food here. Not a bad smell, just not something Sydney was used to.
“In the back,” Drew said, winding through the aisles of dog and cat food and then the hamster cages and plastic exercise balls. They finally reached the back corner of the store, where an arched opening led to another room. Above the archway read PET LAND in big, blocky letters.
Sydney went in beneath the archway and looked around. On one side of the room, puppies yipped from small kennels and on the other side, larger, adult dogs barked and jumped against their cages.
“Hey,” a woman crooned. “Calm down, you guys.” Several of the adult dogs quieted, sitting on their hind legs eyeing the short, petite woman intently. She had long black hair braided down her spine. Oversize square glasses sat low on a crooked nose.
“Oh, you’re back,” she said to Drew. “This must be your girlfriend, then?” She offered her hand to Sydney and Sydney shook it.
“Hi,” Sydney said.
“Your boyfriend here said he couldn’t adopt anything without your blessing.” The woman smiled. “But you look like a girl who can handle a Husky.”
“Um…Husky?”
The woman went behind a partition wall and came back out with a large, fluffy dog on a leash, its tail wagging happily behind.
“His name is Bear,” the woman said. “And I think he was meant for you two.”
Drew crouched down and scratched Bear beneath the chin. “I think he likes me,” Drew cooed. The dog was mostly white save for a patch of light brown fur at the top of his head and a spot on his back.
“Isn’t he cute?” the woman said, the leash hanging loosely from her hand. “He has eyes just like you.”
