Unfamiliar (11 page)

“No, I suspect Chase doesn't really consider you just a friend.”

“Yeah, I'm pretty sure he hates my guts.”

“That's not at all what I meant.” She shook her head. “Come on future rockstar.”

We exited out of the quiet bathroom and I ran right smack into a very solid chest. It was like my eyes were magnetically drawn to Chase’s, and when our eyes met a million things were said in that one look.

“Are you staking out the ladies room now?” Tessa teased. He barely acknowledged her—his eyes were focused on me.

“You're not backing out on me are you?” His tone was light but his face was serious. He wanted me to play with him.

“I can't do this. I can't get up there and perform. I'm just not that kind of girl, sorry.”

“That’s what I thought until I heard you play.”

“That was dumb. I was just showing off. I can't.”

“Can you give us a second?” Chase asked Tessa.

“Yeah, sure.” She smiled sheepishly at me.

When she was gone Chase turned the full force of his attention on me again. “You have to play with us tonight.”

“Chase, I can't!”

“And why not?”

“Because this isn't who I am!”

“Really? Because it seems to me that's exactly who you are. Not just anyone can do what you did out there. Don't you know that?”

“I'm not the kind of girl who gets up on stage and performs. I'm the kind of girl who sits quietly in the back
wishing
I had the guts to be up there.”

Maybe before my mom left I was the kind of girl who took advantage of every opportunity to be the center of attention. But that carefree girl wasn't practical. As much as I wanted to sing and make music my life, I just couldn't do it. The chances of me even getting my foot in the door of the business was slim to none. I needed to focus on how I was going to make a realistic living so music got pushed to the side—a hobby that I kept private.

“So that's it?” He smirked. “You know in twenty years you'll be more disappointed by the shit you didn't do than the shit you did.”

“Are you trying to quote Mark Twain?” I asked.

“Maybe.”

“You know you got it wrong.”

“Who cares?”

“Well, I just think if you are going to try to persuade me to save your ass tonight, the least you could do is quote the wise man accurately.”

“Are you going to play with us or not?”

“What if I mess up?” I whispered, all joking aside.

“You won't. Just follow my lead.”

“I'm scared.”

Chase leaned down and for the first time I noticed the depth of color in his eyes. It was like someone had taken a bottle of whiskey and splintered it, letting slivers of amber show through.

“Your fear is holding you back from becoming who you're really meant to be.”

I chewed on my bottom lip. “I guess you're right.”

Chase winked at me. “Of course I'm right. I'm badass.”

He grabbed my hand and led me back into the noisy room. The crowd seemed to have doubled in size. I felt my steps falter but Chase didn't let go of my hand. He just smiled reassuringly and pulled me right along.

“Well? Do we have a verdict?” Tessa asked with a teasing lilt in her tone.

“She'll have to do,” Chase said. One side of his mouth curled up into a half-grin and it made my heart stop for a moment.

“Gee, thanks.” I tried to seem offended, but couldn't help but smile in return.

As I joined the band on stage I couldn't believe I was actually going to go through with it. It was so out of character for me but at the same time the adrenaline that surged through my veins felt amazing. I listened to the melody Chase played first, feeling the music inside me. I matched it perfectly on my first try, giving me the confidence I needed to fill in the melody on my own.

I looked up, wanting to make sure that the added flair was okay with him. The look he gave me encouraged me to go on. Nothing in my whole life had ever made me feel as elated as I did standing on the stage making music with him. It was intoxicating.

I already knew that Chase was an amazing performer, but I found that being this close to him while he performed intensified that— I couldn't help but watch him. He was completely mesmerizing. I actually had to force myself to look down at the stage or my fingers as I played so that I didn't seem like a pathetic groupie just staring at him. I couldn't quite make myself look out into the crowd though. I had a feeling if I did that I would lose all my nerve.

One of the few times I allowed myself to glance over at him, he looked up at me quickly, a guilty smile on his face like I’d just caught him doing something wrong. Was he checking out my ass? Oddly enough the idea that someone was checking me out didn't offend me. I actually think I kind of liked it. And THAT'S what bothered me.

Skeleton tattoo!
I reminded myself. He has a freaking huge ass skeleton tattoo on his forearm—I do not find guys with tattoos remotely attractive.

Nope, not at all.

Even when said tattooed boy was smiling at me in a way that made my head spin. What was wrong with me?

Chase

So I was staring at Hailey’s ass again.

Hey, don’t judge me. If you’re gonna put it on display, then I’m gonna look.

Even though she’d rejected me and I’d been determined to play it cool until we were done with this stupid song writing assignment, it was harder to ignore her now that she’d proved me wrong and rocked out on stage with my band.

Hailey had pretty much put me in my place. She was just full of surprises and I wasn’t ashamed to admit that I was impressed.

I was especially impressed with the way her ass curved in that short skirt she had on. She was wearing leggings and a t-shirt too, but they didn’t seem nearly as important as that skirt.

For a second I wondered if she’d put it on just to torture me. Yeah, right. She hated my guts. Well, whatever her reason was for her change in wardrobe, I liked it.

Hailey turned away from the conversation she’d been having with the professor and began heading toward where I was sitting in my customary seat at the back of the class. I quickly sat up straighter and tried not to look antisocial.

I even cracked a smile. “Hi, Hailey.”

Hailey’s cheeks flushed as she took a seat at the desk beside mine. “Hi, Chase.”

We stared at each other and then glanced away once the staring had reached a level of “we’re staring at each other for too long and it’s becoming weird and awkward”.

Except I didn’t really know what to say. What exactly could I say to the girl I’d misjudged and who’d ended up saving my ass? Because, let’s face it, if it wasn’t for Hailey, we wouldn’t have been able to perform on Friday night.

I didn’t know what Deuce’s deal was, but this was the last time he was going to screw us over. We just couldn’t rely on him anymore. It sucked even thinking about getting a new guitarist though, especially now when we really had a chance to progress with our music. Despite being absent a lot, Deuce was good at what he did and it was going to be a long process teaching someone else the songs.

As I sneaked a glance over to Hailey, I couldn’t help but recall the image of her in that tight, little red dress she’d been wearing Friday night. Holy shit, did it outline her curvy body like crazy. I’d never seen a girl look that good in a dress before. Hailey was hot as fuck and she didn’t even realize it.

“So, what do you want to work on today?” Hailey asked.

It was an obvious attempt to break the growing silence between us. We already knew what we had to work on—lyrics. We’d both decided that we’d perform on our acoustic guitars and had laid down basic music for the song. Lyrics were what we were stuck on.

The problem was we still couldn’t agree on what the song should be about. I was still stuck on about writing a song about heartbreak, and Hailey was just as stubborn about writing a love song.

“Well, lyrics, I guess,” I said, trying to clear away the dirty thoughts I was having about Hailey and her little dress. “Are we ever going to compromise on this?”

“I’m telling you— love songs are always more popular,” Hailey stated a-matter-of-factly. “If we want to get graded well on this then we should stick to something that the professor is going to relate to. Love is a universal theme.”

“You can’t have love without heartbreak. There’s passion and intensity and anger and hate behind heartbreak. It’s real and it’s painful. It’s way more relatable.”

“Are we seriously going to have this argument again?” A small frown appeared at the corners of Hailey’s mouth. “I don’t care what you say; you can have love without heartbreak. Not every relationship has to end badly.”

“That’s not what I’ve learned,” I muttered under my breath.

I knew from the way Hailey’s eyes widened that she’d heard me. Yeah, so I’d probably spilled too much of myself into this discussion, but could you really blame me for being bitter about my break up with Heather?

You put everything into a relationship with someone; you gave them your trust and your love, but in the end it didn’t mean anything. You still got screwed over and left feeling like you were the one who’d done something wrong. Because, really, if something hadn’t been wrong she wouldn’t have cheated on me, right?

Releasing a sigh, I toyed with my
Set the Flames
wristband. Heather and I had nothing to do with Hailey. Heather and I had nothing to do with our assignment.

“Um, why don’t we write our lyrics individually and see what we come up with and then try to merge them together?” Hailey suggested.

I could tell she was feeling awkward and didn’t know what to say after my random comment. I wasn’t sure if Hailey and I were exactly “friends” so it was weird for me to bring up something like that.

I nodded and pulled my notebook and pen out of my bag, and stared at the blank page. Nothing was coming to me right now. This assignment was important but it didn’t seem as important as coming up with new material for the band.

My mind began to drift away from pop songs about love and heartbreak and instead to the fast paced music I usually played. I glanced over at Hailey and pictured her in that red dress, knowing that she had an effect on me that I couldn’t ignore.

The way I feel for you, I can’t ignore.

And then, a flood of words hit me all at once. Except, I wasn’t sure if they were just random words or if they were actually feelings. Feelings that I had for the complicated girl sitting beside me.

I was writing so fast that my hand was aching when I finally stopped to take a break.

Hailey looked up at me and gave me a small smile. “Did you make some progress?”

“Yeah, I did.” That wasn’t exactly a lie. I had made progress—just not on our assignment.

When I read back over the lyrics I’d scribbled down, I realized two things. First, they needed some more work, but it was a start and we could definitely do something with it. I even had a tune in my head that might just work.

Second, as I studied Hailey—not for the first time—it wasn’t a mystery where my inspiration had come from. There was undeniably something about Hailey that drew me to her. She reminded me of my parents in some aspects, yet at the same time she was unfamiliar to me in a way I couldn’t explain.

Too bad I wasn’t her type at all.

Hailey

I felt so bad that Braxton always had to come and pick me up whenever I visited. I had started at the Child Development Center and it was going well. The teachers I worked with were nice and the kids were actually pretty cute when they weren’t snotty and needing their diapers changed. But I only got paid once a month which meant my first paycheck was still weeks away and even when I did get it, it wouldn’t be much. Maybe I should look into getting a second job waiting tables at
Duke's.

“Waitresses make good tips, right?” I asked Tessa. The actual thought of waiting tables and touching dirty dishes freaked me out a little bit to tell the truth, but I was desperate.

“Yeah, I think so. Why?”

“I was thinking of applying at
Duke’s
.”

“I’m pretty sure you have to be at least twenty-one to serve alcohol.”

“Damn. That sucks.” I needed to check the classifieds again.

“Do you need some money?” she asked.
 “I can loan you some, you know?”

“No, of course not.” Even if I did need money, there was no way I would ever borrow some from Tessa. “I’m just trying to save up for a car.”

“Oh. Well, you can borrow mine whenever you need it,” she offered.

“Thanks, that’s really generous of you, but I couldn’t do that.” I was really embarrassed that she even felt like she had to offer. I guess I was obsessing about this a little too much. I didn’t want her to feel sorry for me.

“Hailey, seriously. I don’t mind at all. It’s not like I don’t know where you live.” She winked.