Spoiler! :
Mum and Dad left for their weekly meal out on Tuesday evening, so it was left for me to cook tea. I wasn’t nearly good enough at cooking to get any Michelin stars, but I could cook a mean spaghetti and meatballs, if I did say so myself. Leanne’s contribution was two strawberry smoothies that she’d bought home from work. I set the table to the sound of her going on and on about a customer that had been rude to her today. Apparently the woman had commented on Leanne’s tattoo, calling it tacky, and Leanne had threatened to spit in her drink. I was surprised she still had her job, though it was a well-known fact that the owner of Retro Shack was a fan of Leanne’s band. She never seemed to luck out.
“I would have punched her if she hadn’t had a kid with her. I mean, what a cow!”
I was pleased that Leanne’s choice of language was slightly less colourful than normal. Our dad wasn’t here to hear it though, so it wouldn’t have made much difference if she’d had sworn to her heart’s content or not.
“Maybe she was just having a bad day?” I offered, positioning the plates onto the wooden tablemats that Mum had made us promise to use. If it were up to us, we’d have eaten in front of the TV, but Mum didn’t trust us not to get the carpet covered in food without her there to watch us with her hawk like eyes.
“Meh. I just hope she doesn’t come back in a hurry. I don’t wanna see her stupid face again.” Leanne dropped into her seat and picked up her knife and fork. “Nice job on tea, by the way.”
I smiled at her compliment. “Thanks,” I replied. “I figured you might not have eaten much all day.”
Leanne nodded. “Usually, yeah, but Sonny dropped in today.”
I couldn’t help looking up from my food at the mention of his name. “Oh yeah?”
“Uh, huh. He bought some cookies from Keke’s. They were so nice.”
I found myself wishing that I’d bought a brownie for afters. “What did he want?”
“Nothing really,” she replied. “Just dropped in for a chat.”
I chewed on my food slowly, slightly disappointed that she hadn’t gone on to say anything more about him. Even hearing about what Sonny got up to without me there, made me smile.
“He did mention you though.”
My eyes widened, but I forced myself to sound only slightly interested. “Yeah?”
“He asked if you were still coming to the gig on Thursday.”
My heart swelled. Did that mean he actually wanted me there? “Oh, cool,” I said, trying to sound nonchalant, when really I wanted Leanne to say more on the subject. Like whether he’d asked what I was wearing or not.
“You are still going, right?”
I nodded. “Course.”
“Great.” She smiled just as her phone sounded. She grabbed it from her pocket and read the message. Her smile grew.
“Who’s that?” I asked, nodding to the phone.
“No-one,” Leanne replied, though the grin on her face said otherwise.
“It can’t be no-one,” I said. “Is it your crush?”
Leanne’s eyebrows flew upwards. “And what crush would that be?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. You won’t tell me who it is.” I pouted, trying to show her how much it upset me that she wouldn’t let me in on her secret.
“Who said I have a crush?” she asked. “You’re making me sound like a teenager again.”
“You did,” I replied. “And you are still a teenager, Leanne.”
She shrugged and the sound of cutlery clinking against plates filled the kitchen for the next couple of minutes. I chewed slowly, trying to think of a way to get her to tell me. I didn’t really need to know. To be honest, I was just being nosy.
“So who is it?”
“No-one,” she replied, without even looking up from her food.
“It’s someone. I’m sure of it.”
She took a drink of smoothie and placed the cup back down on the table, still not looking at me.
“Just tell me and I’ll shut up.”
She laughed. “Blackmail?”
“Do you want to eat in peace?”
“It’s no-one, Harri. Promise.”
I frowned. “Why won’t you tell me? Is it some fifty year old guy, covered from head to foot in tattoos?”
She laughed again. “No.”
“You’re not going to tell me, are you?” I tried to sound sad, but really I was just frustrated. She wasn’t usually this hard to crack. It had only taken a little pressuring to get Tom’s name out of her. This, however, was proving to be a challenge.
“Nope.”
“Why?”
“’Cause I’m not.”
I smiled. “So there is a guy?”
Leanne glanced up at me quickly before tutting. “No.”
“There so is!” I teased, my smile growing. “What’s his name?”
Nothing.
“Do I know him?”
Nothing.
“What colour eyes does he have?”
“Why? Are you going to go around town, looking at every guys eyes?” She was wearing a smirk, thinking that she’d beaten me. She hadn’t.
“If I have to, yes. And he lives in town?”
She rolled her eyes and spooned a meatball into her mouth. Her phone bleeped again.
“Aren’t you going to get that?” I chewed my food with a beam as she reached back into her pocket to read the message. “Is it him?”
Leanne took her time replying to the text before she looked up at me, studying me hard with her kohl blackened eyes. “You know. I reckon some of Cassie’s stubbornness has rubbed off onto you. You never used to be this annoying.”
“No it hasn’t,” I denied.
“Has.”
“Hasn’t,” I insisted. “Anyway, you’re my sister. I’m interested in who you’re maybe or maybe not dating.”
She smiled at that. “Oh yeah? Then why don’t you tell me who you like?”
I felt myself blushing before I could try and stop it. “What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked, trying to appear like my face wasn’t bright red. It would be great if I could just come out and say Sonny’s name, but I knew I couldn’t. I had no idea whether anything was going to come of my crush on him, even though Cassie was sure something would. Besides, he was Leanne’s best friend. She was bound to say something to him, and then what? Embarrassed for life. I wanted her to find out naturally. Ideally when Sonny and I had been dating for a few weeks. The thought made me excited and I shoved a forkful of food into my mouth to try and hide it.
“It means I reckon you have a secret crush too.”
I smiled around my food. “So you do have a secret crush?”
Leanne faltered for a second, before turning the spotlight back on me again. “So you don’t like anyone?”
I shook my head and swallowed, hoping the lie would sound convincing. “Nope.”
“Not even Aiden?”
I’d seen it coming, but the accusation still made me blush. Again. “Will you give that a rest?”
Leanne smiled. “No. I reckon he likes you.”
“We’re just friends,” I said, ignoring her last comment. She was just trying to bait me into saying something that would make her right.
“Are you sure?” she asked. She set her knife and fork down and sucked on her smoothie straw for a moment. “’Cause he’s always talking about you at band practise.”
Leanne’s words made me feel flattered, and even though I wasn’t sure if she was lying or not, I couldn’t deny the warm, fuzzy feeling that had suddenly invaded my stomach. “Yeah, well,” I said finally. “He’s a nice guy. We get on really well. He makes me laugh and I like sitting next to him in English.” I saw the triumphant look on Leanne’s face. “But we’re just friends. Honest.”
Her expression deflated. “Really?”
I nodded. “A girl can be just friends with a guy. They don’t have to fall for each other all the time.”
Leanne nodded slowly. “Yeah. I suppose.”
We went back to eating then. Me thinking about what Leanne had said about Aiden liking me; so wasn’t true. And Leanne carried on grinning like a mouse in a cheese factory every time her phone buzzed, even though she didn’t have a secret crush. Yeah right.
“So what colour eyes does he have?”
“Harriet!”
***
Cassie text me non-stop all the way to dance practise. Mum kept calling me rude because I wasn’t listening to her go on about some actor she couldn’t remember the name of.
“You know, the one with the red hair?”
I just kept sighing and looking out of the window, praying that we got to the community centre soon so I could be free of her rambling.
Apparently Cassie had had another major argument with her mum about the piercing. She was probably overreacting in a big way in the texts she was sending me, but I still found myself replying to every single message, reiterating the fact that I thought it was a crime that she was being kept indoors for something so stupid, too. And of course she was totally in the right as well. I thought back to the day that she’d forced me to go to the piercings shop with her. What would have happened if I hadn’t have gone? Would she have gone alone? I doubted it. Cassie talked the talk, but she very rarely walked the walk. The Mike situation was proof enough of that. In her head, Cassie was Mike’s soul mate, but in reality, she’d barely said two words to him.
“I think he was in that show your dad liked. The one about war.”
I rolled my eyes and looked up from my phone screen. I could see the community centre in the distance and a feeling of relief spread through me.
“It was called ‘A tale of war’ or something.”
I nodded. “Yeah. Okay.”
The indicator clicked on and seconds later Mum was pulling up into the car park. I spotted Aiden hanging about by the entrance so I waved.
“Oh, that boy’s here again. Did you know he was coming?”
I nodded, shattering Mum’s allusion that he’d turned up unannounced as some sort of romantic gesture. “See you later,” I said, giving her a quick one armed hug before I pulled my gym bag up from the foot well and bounded out of the car.
I heard Mum beep the car horn just as I reached the paved area outside of the double glass doors. I could see a swarm of children in the foyer and I guessed there was a birthday party going on. The swimming pool was rented out for parties a lot. I’d celebrated a few birthdays there when I was younger. I stopped to let another couple of kids cross in front of me just as I heard Aiden shouting. I glanced up from the little girl carrying a giant rubber ring, to see him frowning at his phone. When the coast was clear, I joined him to the left of the doors.
“What’s up?” I asked, startling him into looking up at me. His frown lightened as he waved his phone.
“Why does the battery always die when you need it?”
I shrugged. “It’s life, I guess.”
He nodded and shoved his phone into his bag. “I’m supposed to be getting a call from Sonny about the gig tomorrow. So I know where to meet them and stuff.”
I couldn’t help smiling at the mention of Sonny. “You can borrow my phone if you want to ring him.” Yeah, and then I’d have Sonny’s number in my phone. My smile grew.
“Uh, thanks,” he replied, looking down at the bright pink phone in my hand that I’d gotten last Christmas. Beggars can’t be choosers.
My phone sounded then and I chuckled. “You’ll have to wait until Cassie stops texting me first, though.”
“What does she want?” he asked. “Lost her make-up bag?”
I gave him a withering look. “No. She’s had another argument with her mum.”
“Sounds about right,” he said.
I rolled my eyes before checking my phone. I felt myself frown when I saw Maddi’s name flashing on the screen instead of Cassie’s. I opened the message and read it quickly, curious as to why she’d text me when she was only inside.
“Maddi can’t make practise,” I said, pointing to my phone. “She’s just found out that she’s pregnant and her family’s taking her out for a meal to celebrate.”
Aiden nodded slightly. “Uh, cool.”
I laughed. I knew that Maddi and her boyfriend, Mark, had been together for a few years, but I had no idea they’d been planning on starting a family. The good news made me smile and I text her back, saying how happy I was for her. At least her massive binge on junk food last week sort of made sense now, too.
“So what do we do now?”
I stashed my phone in my gym bag and looked up at Aiden. He had his backpack on one shoulder and the camera bag at his feet. “Well I’m still up for practising,” I said. “At least I’ll have something to show Maddi when she comes back next week. The contest is only a fortnight away too, so I need to start working on a final routine.”
Aiden smiled. “And I need some footage for my media project.”
“And there’s that, too,” I agreed. “Shall we?”
Aiden picked up the camera bag and followed me inside. The fan above the entrance blew out warm air as we entered, sending both mine and Aiden’s hair into our faces. I laughed and flicked my fringe out of my eyes to see that Aiden was doing the same. His blonde hair was messy the majority of times, but today he seemed to be intent on flattening it back down into a neater style. I raised an eyebrow as we walked to the practise room.
“Have you had your hair cut?”
He turned to me and smiled. “Yeah. Only a trim though.”
“It looks nice,” I replied. “I can see more of your eyes now.”
He laughed. “So you can tell whether I’m staring at you or not?”
I rolled my eyes and pushed the studio door open. The room smelt of floor wax and I glanced down to see that the wooden floor was shining more than usual.
“The one day they decide to clean and Maddi’s not here,” I said to myself, chuckling at the irony.
We didn’t waste time getting to work. Aiden had the camera set up just as I finished my warm-up routine and we went straight into filming.
“Is there anything you want me to do?” I asked, checking the cupboard for the CD that I’d been working with. I couldn’t see it anywhere and I frowned. Maddi never took it home but it was sod’s law that she had last week. “Though it’ll be hard without music. I can’t find the CD,” I added.
“I’ve got a mixed CD in my bag,” Aiden offered. “It’s a bit different from the stuff you usually use though. Less dance and more chart stuff.”
“I thought you liked rock?” I asked.
He smiled. “I like all kinds of music actually. Just because I play in a rock band, doesn’t mean I only like that type of music.” He fished around in his bag before handing me the CD.
“I guess I like all kinds of music, too,” I said, slotting the disc into the stereo. “But I’m not too keen on rap.”
“Me neither,” Aiden replied. “Though that’s not to say I hate it.”
I nodded just as a song I recognised came blaring out of the various speakers that were dotted around the room. “I love this song,” I said. “Though I have no idea how to dance to it.”
Aiden shrugged. “Don’t ask me. I’m just the camera guy.”
I closed my eyes for a second, trying to really listen to the rhythm of the music. It started slowly. A steady beat that seemed to grow as the verse progressed. The drum beat was strong and I found myself tapping my hands against my legs. My mind scrolled though all of my past routines, trying to pick out the best bits. Soon, my right hand was swaying back and forth at waist height. Then my arm was above my head and I was swaying from side to side. I sprang up onto my toes, my eyes still closed, and span on the spot, getting faster as the tempo of the music increased.
Then the chorus struck and my eyes sprang open. I was moving around the room quickly, my arms cutting through the air like blades and my feet hitting the floor every time that a drum beat sounded. I could feel a smile on my face as I stopped only inches from Aiden and the camera. I glanced at him quickly to see him watching me with wide eyes, before I was off again, spinning and leaping and turning and pulling shapes. Bold movements with my hands and arms and soft, gentle steps with my legs.
“How do you do that?” Aiden asked as the song finished.
I crossed to the stereo and pressed pause, my chest rising and falling as rapidly as my heart was beating. I loved the feeling that dancing gave me and I could still feel a smile on my face.
“I don’t know,” I replied. “I just listen to the music and let it take me away to my imaginary world where the only thing that matters is dance.”
Aiden patted the camera and grinned. “I’m so glad I remembered to turn this thing on.”
“Oh really?” I said, sounding a little coy.
“Course. I got all the footage I need right here.” He patted the camera again. “Though it might be a little better if you had your eyes open.”
“I was thinking,” I replied.
“You can’t think with your eyes open?”
“I think you’re being mean,” I said, pointing to my open eyes.
He laughed.
“The camera still on?” I asked.
“Why? Are you going to burst into dance again?”
I pressed the button on the stereo again and another song erupted out of the speakers. I recognised this one too and I could feel my feet twitching to take me around the room. “Yep. And you’re going to join in too.”
Aiden stepped back behind the camera tri-pod as if it could protect him. “Uh, I don’t think so.”
I smiled. “Oh come on. It’s not hard. You just have to listen to the beat and let it do the work.”
He shook his head and his hair fell out of its neat style. “No. I’ll look stupid.”
“Fine,” I relented. “We won’t film it.”
He chuckled. “I’m still not dancing.”
I pouted. “Why not? Don’t tell me you have two left feet. That excuse is lame.”
He looked down at his shoes and shook his head again, messing up his hair even more. “No. I have perfectly normal feet, thank you very much.”
“Then dance with me,” I insisted, stretching my arms out to him. His gaze fell to my hands for a moment before he looked back up at me.
“Why?”
It was my turn to shrug. “Because it’ll be fun,” I said. “And it’ll help. Maddi usually dances with me.”
I heard him sigh as he finally stepped around the camera tri-pod. “We’re not filming this.”
A huge beam slipped onto my face. “Not if you don’t want to.”
“I don’t,” I heard him say just before I turned the music up.
“Any suggestions for a song?” I asked, my fingers hovering over the buttons on the stereo.
“Track six,” he replied.
I did as he said and skipped the next few tracks. Another familiar song filled the room and I instantly felt myself moving to the beat.
“You have a good taste in music,” I said, moving so that I was closer to him. I made to grab his arm but he inched backwards. “I’m not going to make you dance with me,” I added, feeling a little insulted that he’d backed away from me, but keeping the smile on my face. “I just wanted to move you away from the camera.”
The confused expression that he’d been wearing lifted at my words and he followed me into the middle of the room. “Good idea. I don’t wanna fling my arm around and break it.”
The song hit the chorus and I started to dance around him, spinning and shaking to the music. “You know, you have to move your body in order to dance.”
He stuck his tongue out at me and I smiled at how childlike he looked. “No, duh.”
“Why are you standing still then?” I asked. I leapt to the left and landed behind him.
He turned around to face me. “Because I don’t know what to do,” he replied. “It doesn’t come as easily for me as it does for you.”
I halted my swaying and cocked my head to the side. Aiden’s ears tinged pink under my gaze.
“What?” he asked, and I heard his voice crack, even with the bass pounding in my ears.
Without warning, I grabbed his hands and started spinning him around. He tried to pull away at first, jerking backwards with a startled expression, but when I loosened my grip and slowed down a bit, he seemed to stop struggling.
“Are you trying to give me heart failure?” he asked through a tiny smile.
I grinned and came to a halt. “No, but it was the only way I could get you to join in.” I gestured to his feet with a flick of my wrist and he followed my gaze. His feet were shuffling on the floor. I wouldn’t call it dancing, but it was a start. His eyes moved to the hand that was still in his, then, and my hold slackened. His palm felt warm beneath mine and his fingers were long and thin, almost feminine, but they suited his frame. His skin felt rough like Sonny’s but the contrast against my own smooth palms felt nice. That thought made me drop his hand totally and it fell to his side. His feet stopped shuffling and his eyebrows puckered. I made a mental note to kill Cassie later. If she hadn’t put the stupid thought in my head in the first place, then I wouldn’t have noticed how his hand felt in mine. Leanne was to blame as well; her constant allegation that Aiden and I would make a cute couple must have stuck in my mind somewhere, too.
I only noticed the song had finished when I realised I could hear a knocking sound coming from the door. I glanced up from the hand that had lingered on Aiden’s to see a familiar face peering through the glass in the door. I almost thought I was imagining Sonny’s dark brown hair and sexy smile until I realised that he was actually standing in the corridor outside. I swiftly crossed to the stereo and turned it off before hastily making my way to the door. My heart was beating wildly in my chest and my mind was whizzing through explanations to why he was here. The metal handle felt cold on my palm as I pulled the door open.
“Hi, Harriet. I’m not interrupting, am I? Only Leanne said you’d be here and…”
My eyes widened and I glanced behind me to see that Aiden was now back behind the camera. “No. Just dance practise.”
Sonny smiled and I felt myself trying to mirror it. “Cool. Well, I came here to see Aiden.”
Disappointment flooded my body as he stepped past me and walked over to Aiden. I let the door shut, only then catching my reflection in the mirror above the ballet barr. My fringe was stuck to my forehead with sweat and what little mascara I was wearing had smeared under my eyes. I looked awful. No wonder Sonny wasn’t here to watch me dance like I’d so naively assumed. God I was stupid.
I turned around to see that they were still talking, so I grabbed my bag and chugged down half the contents of my water bottle. The cool liquid soothed my insides but I still felt like the third wheel, dithering in the background. I checked my phone but even Cassie seemed to have given up on me. It was either that or she’d run out of credit like usual. Every now and then I would catch parts of the conversation. Meeting times and addresses. Time slots and sound check information.
“How are you getting there, Harriet?”
I jumped at the sound of my name. “Uh, Leanne probably,” I replied. Then realising that I’d given away that I’d been eaves dropping, I added, “to the gig, yeah?”
Sonny nodded. “Okay. As long as you’re definitely coming?”
I felt myself smiling as I took in what he’d said. So he still wanted me there. “Yeah, course.”
“Good,” he replied. “Well, I’ll see you guys later then.” His eyes flitted between Aiden and I for a brief moment before he strode to the door.
I stared at where he’d been standing for a second until I heard Aiden’s footsteps on the wooden floor. I glanced up to see him removing his CD from the stereo. There was an awkward silence as he crossed back to his bag and stashed the CD inside.
I watched dumbly as he began packing the camera away. I wanted to help, but I wasn’t sure if I’d imagined the way he’d looked at me, just before Sonny had arrived or not.
“The camera was on.”
My eyes flew to where he was crouched down, pointing to the camera in his hands. I tried out a smile, hoping that he’d smile too. “Really?”
He nodded, his hair too much of a mess to mind the way it fell over his eyes. He swept it back slowly. The skin around his eyes crinkled as he grinned. “I bet I look like a right saucepan.”
I love the growing tension between them, the one that barely seemed to be there in the first chapters, but is so present in the last few. Also, Sonny's interruption: brilliant. That was just so funny and ironic. 
Gender:
Points: 30280
Reviews: 529