How to Seduce a Band Geek (7 page)

“Talking
is
the scary stuff.”

He chuckles and flops his hair from his forehead. “I can hold your hand through it again, if that helps.” His face goes Crayola red. He scratches his nose and refuses to look at me. How super cute.

“I-it definitely helped.”

We get into the hallway, and I feel like I’m filled with helium every time he “accidentally” brushes against my arm. He asks if he can take me home today, but damn it, I already promised Adam I’d do a history test cram session before I headed to my mentoring. But I finally bring up that I’m paired with Brea. Yay for not letting the Levi brain cloud warp my mind into forgetting to mention that. Again.

“Really?” His eyebrow arches, and his smile sort of fades. “She said she wasn’t going to do the mentorship thing.”

I shrug. “I guess she changed her mind. I met her yesterday. She’s…” I pause, trying to find the right word for Brea. I don’t want to spout off how sweet she is, since she’s so not. But I also don’t want to tell him what my first impression really was.

“Spunky?” he offers. And we both laugh.

“Yeah.”

“Don’t let her get to you. She has a hard time trusting people.”

Oh, I don’t think trust is her problem. But I nod anyway. He’s known her all her life, and I’ve only got about twenty minutes, so I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt.

We get to our crossroad, where he jets off to Spanish 3 and I go to Physics. I pull in a deep breath and let it out with a smile.

“Guess I’ll see you in Band.”

He goes all red again. “Oh yeah. I forget sometimes you’re in there.” He lets out this weird laugh. “What made you transfer?”

I go to tell him about how the music helps me study or whatever that line of bull Adam provided me was, but the one minute bell rings through the hall, and I don’t get anything out.

“Tell me later. Gotta run.”

Next thing I know I’m swallowed in his arms for a brief moment that feels like a hundred years and a hundredth of a second at the same time. My legs turn to spaghetti when he lets go and hurries to his class. I’m surprised I get to Physics on time. Because with my noodle legs, I can barely walk.

***

“I kissed her.”

All the juice I just put in my mouth goes flying out, all over Adam’s glasses. His face smooshes as he takes them off and wipes them down his button-up.

“I’m sorry,” I sputter, patting at the dribble on my chin with the sleeve of my jacket. “But holy crap, Adam. Are you for real?”

He slides his glasses back on his nose, then runs his hand through his hair. He pulls on the back of his head and slams it down on the library desk. “I don’t know what I was thinking.”

“I didn’t even know you liked her.” The first hint I got was when he tried holding her hand. I had no idea there was something else. Before or after or… when the heck did this happen?

I’m so self-involved I don’t even notice my best friends’ stuff till they aren’t talking to each other. Bah, I need to slap myself for being such a bogus friend.

“I didn’t know I did either. I’m not even sure I do. I don’t know.” He lifts his head up, but keeps his chin planted on the desk. “How do I fix it? What do I say?”

I shake my head, my mouth still stuck open. How am I supposed to know what to do here? I’ve never kissed one of my best friends, and they’ve never kissed me. I can’t even think about that happening. Maybe Sydney feels the same?

“Well, you probably shocked her. I bet she has no idea what to say either.”

“So…you think I should just… keep pretending like she’s not avoiding me?”

I reach over and smack him lightly across the top of his head. “Hell no, doofus.” He laughs and sits upright, and I point a finger at him. “Talk. To. Her. Seriously, you guys are killing me with the silent treatments. I want my friends back.”

“I still have no idea what to say.”

I shrug. “Tell her how you feel. Or that you’re sorry. Whatever it is that comes out when you see her. But do it fast, Adam. Like today.”

“Okay. But if things get weirder, I’m blaming you.”

I roll my eyes. “Noted.”

“Can we change the subject now?”

“I actually have to get running. I’m meeting Brea at 3:15.”

Adam reaches down for his backpack and hikes it on his shoulder. “Ah yes. The mentor thing. She going to be there, or is she just letting you in the house?”

“I have no idea.” But my insides are going nuts thinking about being in Levi Mason’s house. Maybe catching a glimpse of his room. Brea said he wasn’t going to be home, so I have all the snooping time in the world. I should feel bad about it, but I don’t. I kind of like feeling a little naughty without all the guilt from people at school that every single thing I do makes me a tease.

I’m
not
teasing Levi. I don’t want him to think my reputation is who I am. I want him to see someone else. Like someone he’ll want to be with.

So I gotta find out who that someone is.

“Have you even seen his house?”

I nod. “It’s this cute thing a couple neighborhoods away from mine. White picket fence and all that special stuff.”

“But you’ve never been inside.”

“No. Why would I? He’s Zoe’s friend.”

“I don’t know. Seems weird that you’ve liked this guy for so long, yet you don’t really know much about him.”

I want to smack him upside the head again, but I restrain myself. “I know plenty,” I bite back, and then hold my breath to keep from arguing. I don’t want to start a fight with him right before he’s about to talk to Sydney.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to make you mad, too.” He runs his hands over his hair again. “I just, I guess I’m jealous. Guys like him don’t have to do anything to get an awesome girl to like them. I feel like I have to work so damn hard.”

Great. Now he says things like that, making me feel like total crap for wanting to smack him. “That’s not true, Adam. I bet you have lots of girls lined up, doodling your name all over their notebooks, but like me with Levi, they’re too terrified to tell you.”

He smiles and shakes his head at me. “Thanks. You’re wrong, but thanks.”

We walk arm through arm again to his car, and thank heavens not a lot of people stay after school for very long, because I’m sure I’d get crap about the whole touching a guy thing. Adam follows my directions to Levi’s house, and when we pull up both of us crick our necks to the side.

“You sure this is where he lives?”

I nod, eyeing the kiddy play place in the front yard, along with a tricycle and big kick balls. “Um, maybe Brea babysits?” It’s the only excuse I can think of, but I doubt that girl spends any time with kids.

My fingers wrap around the door handle, and I look at Adam. “Stay till I get inside?”

“Yeah, sure.”

I don’t want to admit I’m for certain this is his house because I would walk by it all the time for S and G’s, but it’s been a while. My heart thumps unevenly as I walk up the porch and ring the doorbell.

A dog barks, which is weird because I didn’t think Levi had a dog. Now my heart is trying to beat out of my chest, hop off the porch, and drive away with Adam before I embarrass myself.

This cute mom opens the door, and gone is my heart, and my stomach, because I’ve seen Levi’s mom, and this is not her.

“Can I help you?” she asks. Her hair is all bunched up like she hasn’t brushed it for days, and a toddler with no pants on peeks from behind her legs. Even though she’s got a loose shirt on and stained jeans, I feel like taking a picture for my Pinterest board because she rocks the “Mom” look.

“Um, sorry. I think I have the wrong house.” Even as I say it, I swear on my squishy body pillow this is his house.

“Who are you looking for, hun? We just moved in a couple weeks ago.”

That explains it. “Um, Levi Mason?”

“Yes, his family moved out. I’m not sure where though.” She gives me a sympathetic frown, and I try to smile.

“That’s okay. Thanks for your help.”

I dodge all the kiddy toys in the yard and hop back in Adam’s car.

“I guess I’m taking you home?” he asks, and I shake my head, quickly sending a text to Zoe.

“This was his house up until a few weeks ago. I’m seeing if Zoe knows where he lives now.”

“Isn’t Brea’s address on the packet she filled out?”

Oh, duh! I almost bound across the center console and hug him, but I smash my phone between my thighs and dig through my bag instead.

When I get the address, I read it aloud and Adam nods as if he knows exactly where it is. Good, because I don’t recognize the street at all.

“It’s still in the school zone, right?”

He nods again, and takes me down a few winding roads and back to the kind of dodgy area in our neighborhood. We pass Adam’s place which is on the edge of middle and lower class, but it’s just him and his dad, so it’s not like they need a big place. He takes me to an apartment complex, and pulls in. I double check the address, which has no apartment number, and I’m suddenly wondering if my friend has decided to kidnap me.

We pass over a speed bump, and behind the apartments is a trailer park. It’s not like I’m one of those people who will like you less for where you live, I’m just surprised when he pulls up to one and shuts the engine off.

Brea’s sitting on the front step, blowing bubbles with her gum and drawing in a massive notebook. She doesn’t acknowledge me at all when I hop from the car.

“Thanks, Adam,” I say, leaning in the window.

“Yup. Text me if you need a ride home.”

I turn around and look at Brea, who’s still ignoring me. “I will.” I look back at him. “And good luck with Sydney.”

His lip twitches, and he starts the car again and drives off.

Brea’s suddenly at my side as she watches me watch my friend drive away. “I’m going out,” she tells me, tucking her pencil into her braid on the back of her head. “Levi’s room is the first on the left, but really, he spends most of his time on the couch. I’ll be back in an hour.”

“Wait…” I say, but she ignores me, bee-lining it down the road. I wanted to ask her questions, damn it. Guess she’s just giving me free roam of their house. Or trailer. Or whatever.
Now
I’m feeling weird about it.

My eyes skim over the front door while my hands shake. I didn’t even know he moved. I don’t know what I’ll find when I go inside or even if I want to go about it like some crazy stalker girl rummaging through all his stuff. But my heart kind of hurts as I take in everything in front of me. I thought I knew Levi enough to like him the way I do.

But Adam was totally right. I know pretty much nothing about this guy.

Chapter 8

How can I making puking attractive? Yeah…I so can’t.

Crappit. I left my jacket in Adam’s car. I’m pretty sure my goose pimples can slice through a four by four. I rub my arms, fighting my head again about going into Levi’s place. Instead of darting inside and rummaging through all his stuff, I called Zoe and asked if she’d pick me up when she got off work. Then I planted my tooshy on the front step and tried not to say “screw it” and find out what kind of bed sheets Levi has.

I’ve officially lost my mind. Got so wrapped up in my crush I was about to sneak around his house and through his things to get closer to him. I probably would’ve smelled his pillows and stolen a shirt. That is so not cute. That’s crazy! If he found out, he’d run so far and so fast he’d leave a Levi-shaped hole everywhere he went.

Brea said she’d be back in an hour, but it’s been two, and she’s nowhere in sight. Part of me panics when I see an unfamiliar car because if Levi’s mom pulls up, I’ll turn into a fumbling mess. I don’t want to get Brea in trouble, so she better hurry back or Zoe better get off work soon so no one finds me freezing into a Sierra ice sculpture.

I turn on my phone for the eightieth time, even though I know it’s still blank. I’ve pinned about two-hundred more photos for ideas on my next rip-and-tear project, and I’d usually bug Adam and Sydney since I’m bored to death. But better give them time to work out all that drama.

I’d start walking home, except it’s starting to get late and rainy, and I’d get lost in that scary apartment lot.

Maybe I should just go inside. Not to snoop, (or intending to snoop. Can’t help any accidents!) but to warm my body back up to normal temperature.

No one can blame me for wanting to be warm.

Yeah, I’m going in.

I wipe my butt free of any dirt as I stand and pull on the screen door. It makes the loudest sound known to man, so I bolt in, instantly defrosting.

“Ahhhhh…” A blissful smile pulls on my lips, and I close my eyes. Maybe I can find the furnace or whatever heats trailers and stick my rear right inside. I let my gaze skate over the living room. One couch, no TV, a small bookshelf. There’s a pile of shoes in the corner, and
holy cow
Levi has big feet! Well, at least compared to the tiny shoes that must be Brea’s.

I’m about to check the size on those monstrosities. That’s not too crazy girl, is it?

Then I hear it.

Buzzing.

The screen door practically breaks off the hinges as I swing myself out of the house and land in the nearest bush. A loud rip echoes in my ears, and a stab of pain shoots through my calf.

Ouch, shit, damn, mother of heaven and hell! My teeth sink into my lip as I bring my ripped pant leg up and examine the large gouge left on my skin. I force myself to breathe evenly. Blood is not my friend. My stomach goes
glug-glug
just by looking at the scratch on my calf and ankle. It’s really not that bad (I don’t think), but it stings and droplets of deep, warm, red…oh gag me.
Deep breath, push back the nausea, Sierra.

My ears faintly register the buzzing of Levi’s moped. It’s mostly my stomach twisting and my own deep breathing as I yank my pant leg back down and press against my ankle. If I can stop the blood I can stop the puke too.

The moped grows louder, then it shuts off altogether. I open one eye to make sure he walks on past without seeing my bleeding pathetic body in his front bush or whatever the hell evil plant this is I dove into. His cute helmet hair waves in the breeze as he hops up the one step leading into the trailer. Instead of going inside, he turns and sits, letting out a huge sigh and burying his face in his palms.