Sounds of Yesterday (3 page)

“Em, text me as soon as you get in the house. I want to make sure you don’t pass out or something,” Sophie says, leaning against Zach’s black Honda. The early October air whips around us, causing Sophie’s hair to blow in my face. It’s not too chilly or warm. It’s perfect, like a beautiful spring day only in the fall. The cold front is moving in, the meteorologist on the news said this morning.

My anxiety has reached a whole other level today. I’m going to Alex’s house. I’m going to be in his car. Alone. He makes me nervous but at the same time, enthralled. I want to be alone with him. I want to know who he is. I just freak out when he’s near me because I feel like I’m going to say something stupid.

“You’ll be fine. Soph is just jealous. You’re going to be
in
their house.” Zach tries to calm my nerves but it’s clearly not working. He steps forward, confident. He grabs my shoulders and makes me stare into his green eyes until I see the protectiveness of them lying within. “You’ll be okay.” I nod a few times because his tall, built frame is not helping me right now and I want some space to think and breathe.

Sophie and Zach look at each other worriedly before glancing at me again. Alex is waiting by his car for me so we can head to his parents’ place and get started on tutoring. I thought it’d be a one-time thing but McAllister pulled us aside after class today and handed me a huge packet full of calculus problems he wants started over the weekend. Alex said he’d tutor me until the packet’s done. It will take
days
or
weeks
.

“I’m really freaking out, guys!” I cross my arms over my chest and squeeze myself tight. “I’m going to be alone with him. Like, we literally have to speak.” What the hell do we even talk about besides calculus? I can’t be a mute. I don’t do small talk. Ohmygod, he’s going to think I’m not normal. I’m not. I’m so weird. I’m clumsy and quiet and love tiny objects to the point of squealing out loud if I
really
love them. I sing every song I hear on the radio. I eat a lot. I–

“Maybe I can come with and keep–”

“No!” I shake my head rapidly, cutting Sophie off while I stop my rambling thoughts. “You need to stay away from his family until your fangirl moment is over.” Sophie flips me off but nods in understanding. The second week of school, she asked me if I wanted to creep on Alex’s house just to see what’s going on inside. She asked that with a straight face. I hit her with my pillow and made her promise to never do that while I’m alive.

“Okay, he probably thinks you’re planning his kidnapping. Go over there already,” Zach says, grabbing my shoulders again, this time making me move. “Text us every twenty minutes. We’ll pick you up afterwards!”

They walk with me and I know they’ll literally stop at Alex’s car just to make sure I’m seated inside.

“Don’t come with me!” I shoo them away then start walking toward Alex’s black BMW.

The school parking lot is almost empty so there’s no one hovering around him, wanting his attention. It’s a breath of fresh air to be honest. I don’t know how he can be surrounded by a flock of people who want nothing but to gain the attention of knowing him.

Alex hears me walking up to him so he steps forward and offers me a smile as he opens the passenger side door. “Ready?” I nod and try to be normal. I’m thinking of a musical piece I’m working on just to get myself in a happy place instead of freaking out over being somewhere I’ve never been.

Alex shuts the door and walks over to his side of the car. Once he opens the door and plops down on the seat, he starts the car and turns on the radio. “Any preference?”

“I like everything.”

He tunes into a station playing the regular top hit songs of the week.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see him glance towards me. I stare straight ahead and hope I don’t start turning red. Being around people is always hard for me. Being around the opposite sex, well, let’s just say I’m single for a reason.

Being near Alex, I suffer from sensory overload. He just speaks and my muscles tighten, I can’t concentrate on anything, and I feel like my organs have left my body and decided to present themselves around me. Alex is terrifying but also captivating.

Stop overthinking. Just be yourself, Emily.

He puts the car in drive and from the side mirror, I watch Zach follow us out of the parking lot. Alex takes a right at the end of the street. Zach does the same. I narrow my eyes and watch him following us closely as we continue down the street and take another right on Commonwealth Ave. Zach does the same. He’s supposed to go left. We live in Mission Hill, a fifteen minute drive from school. I’ve heard Alex lives in Beacon Hill. A fifteen minute drive in the
opposite
direction.

Zach is clearly following us. I grab my phone and text Sophie to go home. She doesn’t respond. I’m going to strangle her when I see her.

“My mom’s home,” Alex starts, when I put my phone away, “and she can get a bit…handsy. So, just giving you a heads up. Is that okay?”

I rub my hands down my thighs and shift in my seat, turning toward him. “I don’t like hugs. They make me uncomfortable so…if she stays clear of that, I’ll be fine.”

Alex cocks a brow. “You don’t like hugs?” He looks at me quickly before looking back at the road. “Can I ask why?” I blink for several moments, not knowing how to answer that. “You don’t have–”

“No, it’s fine.” I bring my fingers to my lips then immediately drop them. I don’t need to be biting my nails in front of this guy. “When I was younger, I hugged my neighbors dog too hard. It died.” Alex hits the brakes a bit too hard when a car pops out of a parking spot along the street and I slam back into the seat. “And everyone I used to hug always mentioned me squeezing them to death.”

“You killed a dog?”

I look up and find him smiling, on the verge of laughing. “It’s not funny!” I say, throwing my arm out to swat his stomach and holy shit, it’s hard as rock.
Don’t touch him!
Rule number one of this tutoring thing working out is ‘no physical contact’. I haven’t had sex in a really long time. I might do something embarrassing, like, attack him and not let go.

“Emily, I’m pretty sure you didn’t kill the dog.”

“I’m pretty sure I did. I hugged it and then it dropped dead. I cried for a whole month. My brother thought it was funny so he brings it up every year around the time Lucky died.”

Alex finally lets it out and has to slow down his driving. “His name was Lucky.” His laughter fills the car and I can’t help but start a low laugh with him. If you really think about it, it is a somewhat funny story. But I killed him! That part isn’t funny. “I’m sorry, it’s not funny but I’m picturing this and I…I just can’t…” He laughs for a full minute before he’s holding his stomach and slowing down to a stop. He’s a good driver because as soon as he’s driving again, his laughter drops to just a smile, his attention fully on where he’s going.

“Do you like driving?” I ask, looking around the black leather interior. The dark wood trim adds to the car’s beauty and I know Declan would love to have this car. He’s a fan of BMW’s and this 535i Sedan would most likely have him begging on his knees to take it for a ride.

“To be honest, not really.” I tear my eyes from the center console and furrow my brows. “Driving is kind of terrifying. There’s only so much control you have, and then there’s other drivers to think about. Some are crazy as fuck.”

“Yes! I tell my brother this all the time. I have my license just in case of an emergency. I’d much rather walk or take the T. I’m too cautious behind the wheel that I’ll focus too much on one thing and possibly hit something else.” I reach out and touch the dashboard. “But this car is beautiful. If I had it, I’d
think
of driving it.” I would be scared the second I’m on the road but I’d love to sit behind the wheel and look out the windshield if given the chance.

Alex chuckles while he merges onto the Storrow Drive exit.

“This was my sister’s birthday gift to me. I still wish it was an Audi though.”

Everyone and their mothers were talking about his eighteenth birthday on social media two weeks back. It landed on a Sunday and I honestly think that was a good thing for him and his family. People at school made a big deal out of it the following day. They act like he’s not a human being sometimes. It’s disturbing.

I perk up in the seat with wide eyes because I love Audi’s and can’t just sit here without voicing my thoughts. “
The Transporter
! God, I love Audi’s because of that franchise! Have you seen the show? It’s not as great as the movies but it keeps me busy.” I sigh and close my eyes, thinking of a hot guy driving a sexy car. I blush when I realize I’m sitting beside one and this fantasy is now a reality.

When I open my eyes, Alex glances my way and I can’t stop staring at the freckles dotting his face, adding to his looks. The way his eyes are shining have me looking away quickly, staring out of the window as we start passing by streets, coming closer to our destination.

We’re both smiling until he parks his car in a gated two-car garage of his house. He switches off the car and gets out. I follow. When Alex rounds the car and sees me standing outside, his lips turn down slightly. “I was going to get the door for you.”

“Oh.” I always open my own doors. It’s weird to see a woman standing by the car, waiting for their guy to open the door when they can do it themselves. It saves time. Stop being lazy.

Alex grabs his backpack from the backseat and stuffs his hands in his pockets. He’s looking at the passenger side door like someone else is coming out of it.

“Do you want me to get back in?” I ask, confused. “So you could…um, open the door?”

“Oh, no! Sorry.” Alex shakes his head and steps back. “I was wondering if Sophie was going to sneak in.”

He was looking at the reflection.

He was looking at the reflection for Sophie!

They followed us.
He
knows they followed us!

Boston is a rich city so you can guess the places around here are worth somewhere in the millions. The garage is located behind the townhouse, on Branch Street. It’s a regular street that cars pass by on and I’m going to guess Zach parked right outside.

“I’m so sorry!” I say, covering my face with my hand. “I told them to go home.”

“Do you want them to come up with us?”

“No!” I stare at the ground, kicking imaginary rocks. “Sophie adores your mom. She will go crazy.”

Alex doesn’t say anything so I finally look up.

“You hate my mom then?”

I pale instantly. I didn’t mean it like–

“I’m joking.” Alex holds up a finger and walks toward the garage door. He pops his head out and waves. I hear a squeal–Sophie’s doing. “Emily said you can’t come up,” he says with a hint of amusement in his voice.

“Tell Emily she’s a whore!” Sophie pops her head into the garage and winks at me. “Call me when you’re done, okay. And…” She looks at Alex from the side of her eyes and brings them back to me. “
Show a little skin!
” she whisper-yells at me. “Love you!”

Alex is right beside her. She didn’t need to whisper because we both heard her loud and clear. I look at anything but them and say goodbye. Sophie exhales loudly and heads back to Zach’s car. Alex closes the garage door and walks up to me. We walk toward the back where seven steps are, leading to a door. I press myself into the wall so Alex can have space to unlock the door. I feel his arm against my arm, his breath on my cheek, and his heart beating against my shoulder.

When the lock clicks, Alex turns the knob and opens the door. He turns his head slightly my way. His lips are right there. We’re standing so close. I should have let him walk ahead of me but he placed his hand on the small of my back and I couldn’t focus.

Hazel eyes lock on mine and we stay like this for some time–staring at each other while breathing the other in. I should move. We both should. We should be walking past the door, setting up for our tutor session, and making me understand what is going on in class.

My backpack’s strap slips down my shoulder so I adjust it and end up dropping my hand on Alex’s arm. His arm which is on my hip. His fingers on my skin.

When did he grab my hip? When did he start rubbing his thumb over the skin that peeks out from under my t-shirt?

I blink, he blinks.

I exhale, he inhales.

I tilt my head up, he tilts his down.

I smile shyly.

He barks.

Wait, what?

I whip my head to the left and see a gorgeous woman–who looks a lot like Alex–holding a white fluffy dog standing there, where the closed door was. She smiles and the dog barks again.

“You scared me, sweetie. Next time, tell me you’re home.” Alex’s mom steps back and lets us in. “You must be Emily. Alex has told me so much about you.”

“Mom.” Alex scratches the back of his neck and looks off to the side.

I feel my cheeks redden. It’s a given when you hear someone’s mom say
that
. Alex talks about me.
To his mom.
He blushes before he talks to me. He seems nervous being around me. He’s shy and adorable and smart and hot and I didn’t even know guys like him existed anymore.