Lingering Touch - A Story of Young Love (6 page)

He has faced an unusual amount of deaths in his short life, including his sister who died in a car crash, and his father who committed suicide when Trevor was only 12, and he hasn't been the same since, nor has his mother. She is currently facing serious depression, and he has had to take care of her, instead of vice versa. Is he hiding something behind his mainly black wardrobe and consistently long sleeves? Is Trevor on the road to becoming a chip off the old block, ready to give up any moment? We hope to get an interview with him and dig deeper into the story to get to know the Trevor we all thought we knew.

The article wasn't front page news, thank goodness, but between the intriguing title and the blown up picture of Trevor beside the article, I was pretty sure plenty of people had seen it, if not everybody. I shouldn't have said so much, but I left the parts about Travis and Sarah out, and that had to count for something, right?

I still couldn't shake the feeling that I may have just ruined his whole life and now he really might "follow his father's footsteps" or whatever. Trevor was becoming one of my best friends, what would I do without him? What had I just done? Maybe I really was the heartless, shallow person I kept trying to convince myself I'm not. We'd still be friends though, I'd make sure of that. I just wouldn't tell him it was me, he doesn't even know I know all that stuff, anyway. And I'd make it up to him, somehow. I'd get him the best girl in this school, someone who'll make him forget completely about Sarah. And if he did rise in the popularity food chain again, I'd let him. Even if he got above me, I'd stand by and let him. No, I'd help him get there. Anything to get people to stop looking at him like he's a different person now. One girl started crying just because she saw him.

"So? Isn't that just insane? Like, I couldn't even believe it! I never would have guessed, he just seems so, like, normal. You know?" Alyssa said, shaking me out of my thoughts. "Anyway, look at him now, he's just sitting alone. He must have seen it, too, otherwise he'd probably be sitting with us like normal, right? But nope, he's just sitting alone writing in that book. I wonder what's in that book. Maybe he's like, planning ways to kill himself or something in it," she pondered.

I slammed the paper down and growled, "No. That is
not
what he does in that." I didn't care if I had just ruined his life, I still cared about him and I was not going to let anybody diss him like that right in front of me.

"Whoa, chill Ari. It's not like you know any better than me what's in there, anyway." I did, but I couldn't tell her that. I bit my lip, shaking my head.

"Yeah, but I know Trevor, and so do you. You know him better than to believe what's in that stupid newspaper, right? I mean, come on, they write stupid things in that all the time. And they always blow it way out of proportion, so it's rarely right. It can't be true about Trevor, you know that!" I tried my best to hide the nervous tone in my voice.

"OMG, you're totally right! Remember when they said that thing about you and Nick Freeman? Ha, ha, they were way off!" She flicked her hair, tossing the newspaper on the ground. Actually that little tidbit about me and Nick hooking up for like, a day was true, but whatever. I couldn't believe it was so easy to convince her that the story was fake… would it be so easy with everyone? Of course! That was what I'll do to make it up to Trevor, I'll make sure everyone believes it isn't true! They would all believe me, too, because I wasn't kidding when I said the newspaper exaggerates (nearly )everything, and I was one of the smartest, most popular people in this school, they would have to believe me!

But first I had to go see if Trevor was ok.

"Hey," I said cautiously, leaning on the tree.

He just grunted and continued writing, pausing occasionally to erase something or chew on the back of his pen, thinking of what to write next. I walked over and sat next to him.

"You ok?"

He grunted again, and after a minute he stopped writing and looked up at me, his eyes were red rimmed but dry.

"I never told anyone any of that stuff,
nobody.
How could they have found out? You're the only person who knows about my mother, but you didn't know any of the other stuff, and I don't think you would do that anyway." My heart melted. "So how did they figure it out?" He asked in a rush.

"So… all that stuff
is
true?" I was the picture of innocence.

"Yeah," he sighed. "But I wish it wasn't. My dad was really cool, he was way funny and super nice and Angela was his little girl. I'm nothing like him." His reminiscent smile turned into a frown.

"Hey, I think you're cool, funny and super nice, too. And for what it's worth, I think all of that only made you a stronger person, I think they made you the person you are now. And who cares what other people think about you now? You're still the amazing Trevor you were before, don't you let a thing they say get to you. Got it?"

He smiled a little and ran his hand through his hair. Then the smile faded again and he just looked defeated and tired. It broke my heart.

"Let's get out of here," I said suddenly.

"What?"

"Let's just go, to the mall or something, or we can just go driving or whatever." I could convince everyone about the newspaper tomorrow, but right now, Trevor needed me.

He looked unsure, but one look at the kids around him giving him weird stares and he was decided. "Lead the way," he stood up and gestured gallantly.

I grinned and skipped toward the parking lot, taking his arm and pulling him along.

"
Hey, I just met you! And this is crazy! But here's my number, so call me maybe!
" We shouted along to the music with our hair flying behind us. The roof was down and other cars were giving us horribly strange looks, but we just laughed and continued with our wild karaoke jam. After driving around for about an hour, we ended up going to my house, and chilling in my room. The smell of pizza wafted up from the kitchen and soon the timer beeped, alerting us that our food was done. We raced down the stairs and pulled out our creation. This wasn't the normal frozen pizza I usually heat up, we made this from scratch, perfecting it with a huge pepperoni smiley face and mushroom hair.

It smelled heavenly. I wasn't sure what to expect from a homemade pizza, and this was better than I had hoped. I cut it in half with a gleaming pizza cutter and we dug in, betting on who could finish theirs first, but of course I didn't even finish mine. I handed over a twenty with regret, even though I knew he could use it better than me, seeing as he actually had to have a job to get money.

Afterwards we headed back up to my room, and I lounged on the bed while he lay on the floor, staring at the ceiling, which wasn't exactly exciting. There were a few glow in the dark stars stuck up there from when I was younger, but other than that, the plain white ceiling was pretty boring. We sat there in comfortable silence for a while, each lost in thought.

"What's your favorite band?" I asked randomly. I'd seen a few posters in his room, but I didn't recognize half of them, and besides, they can't all be his favorite.

He thought about it for a moment. "Red Hot Chili Peppers. What about you?" I've never even heard of Red Hot Chili Peppers. I hopped off my bed and grabbed my silver laptop off the desk and lay down on my stomach, putting the laptop in front of me. Trevor got up and followed me, perching on the bed beside me. I opened the laptop to my screensaver, a gorgeous picture of Dallas, Texas. And when I opened the internet, Google was already set up to search the Magnolia Hotel. The Magnolia is this really pretty hotel, and the inside is super luxurious. When I go to Dallas, and I will one day, I'll stay at the Magnolia.

Californication
is the first option on YouTube, so I clicked it curiously. It had a good beat, and I liked it before the words even start. It was mellower than I expected. "Play
Snow
, that's my favorite." Trevor said. I played
Snow (Hey, Oh)
and it was better, it was catchier. Trevor started humming along and I smiled at him. He looked so much happier when he was listening to music.

"Okay, so what's your favorite band?" He asked me when the song was over. I didn't even hesitate.

"He Is We," I searched the song
Happily Ever After
without waiting for him to answer. I had typed the words so many times I barely noticed my fingers fly across the keys. Now I was the one humming along,
oh happily ever after, wouldn't you know, wouldn't you know? Oh, skip to the ending, who'd like to know? I'd like to know. Author of the moment, can you tell me, do I end up, do I end up happy?

"Psh, this is girl music." Trevor mocked and laid down next to me, reaching for the laptop. When his arm brushed against mine I felt little tingles spread where our skin touched. I hoped he didn't notice the shiver that ran down my spine.

He played the song
It's Not You
by Halestorm. It was a lot different than the other one, and the girl singing had a very interesting voice. "This is probably the only good chick music existing." He said and pointed to the screen for emphasis. I rolled my eyes and tried to ignore his intoxicating scent of autumn leaves and crisp air.

After Trevor left, I looked at my bed suspiciously. I couldn't help but lean down and sniff the covers where he had been laying. Yep, it totally smelled like him. But then I realized what I was doing. What the heck was I just doing?

.o.O.o.O.o.

"So I heard you were setting up Trevor Rushton?" Mary Bradley asked me right before lunch, flashing a flirty smile. Her posse followed her obediently. Mary was short and stocky with a shock of obviously fake blonde hair and a spray tan so fake she made Snooki look good, but somehow she still passed as pretty in this school. No, Trevor definitely needed someone better than her. I inspected the trio of girls behind her. Bella was too young, she's barely a freshman, Hailey was too Barbie doll-like, and Casey… was perfect!

"Actually, I am," I smiled sweetly at her. Casey Woodhouse was a total party girl, enough like what Sarah sounds like that Trevor should like her. Her blonde hair was always curled to perfection and her face was flawless and her hazel eyes were huge and gorgeous. She was known to be a little flakey when it comes to guys, but Trevor wasn't really looking for someone serious anyway.

"Casey, you don't have a boyfriend, do you?" Mary looked shocked that I wasn't asking her, and Casey looked shocked that I was asking her.

"Not at the moment, I broke up with Liam yesterday." She tossed her hair expertly and smiled gorgeously at me, clearly over her earlier surprise.

"Perfect. What are you doing on Friday?"

"Sounds like I'm going on a date." She smiled knowingly and Mary glared daggers at her.

"We'll will pick you up at 7, see you then." Her face fell.

"You'll be there?"

"It's a double date, Trevor just broke up with a girl and he isn't quite ready for anything serious yet," Yes I totally just made that up. But oh wait, crap, who was I going to go with?

"Oh, well that's fine. I'll see you then." She looked considerably less excited, but her glossed lips curled up and she and her giggling friends (all but Mary) sauntered off.

As luck would have it, I got a text message just then.
I miss you babe, can we talk?
It was from Collin. Ugh, I am so over him. I didn't even reply, because he's pathetic. But that does remind me that he once texted a friend of his on my phone, and I think I saved his friend's number because he was freaking hot. Let's see… yep, there he was. Austin Skye.

I shot him a text explaining that Collin and I are broken up and I needed a date for Friday. He texted back shortly asking who it was, and I explained to him again that I
was
Collin's girlfriend, Ariana. Then I headed outside to my table, where everyone was already gathered.

"You are going on a
date
on Friday." I shoved my finger at Trevor's chest. He looked bewildered, and a little angry.

"No. I'm not."

"Come on, it's just a little date. I told you I'd find a great girl for you, and I did. You said you'd let me, so now you need to keep your word and go on this stupid date. Don't make me beg," I pled, pulling out just a little pouty charm. He sighed. "Great! It's this Friday, and I'm buying you a new outfit, because your whole jeans and a tee look isn't going to cut it."

"Great, girl's day!" He replied with mock enthusiasm, clapping his hands like an idiot.

Lyssa giggled and then asked, "Am I invited?"

I guess it would have been smarter to tell Trevor during math or something where she wouldn't overhear us, but I guess she'd hear the news either way. That's Lyssa for you.

"Uh, well actually I don't think…" I stumbled, and thankfully Trevor came to my rescue.

"Sorry Lyssa, but I don't really know you or your boyfriend, and I'm not really good at making new friends amongst strangers, maybe another time?"

"Omigosh I totally didn't even think of that! I'm so sorry, Trevor! Of course, we can all hang out another time! And besides, Gordon and I broke up so I wouldn't have anyone to go with anyway. Well I hope you guys have fun! And I hope this girl is cool, whoever she is. Who is she, Ari? Oh, that's the bell! I was supposed to get to English early, oops! Gotta go, see ya guys!" And she scurried off, her heels clicking across the sidewalk. Amber rose and followed shortly behind her, and I noticed for the first time Drew wasn't there.

"So really though, who is she?" Trevor asked while we were walking to Calculus together.

"A girl named Casey Woodhouse, you know her? I'm sure you've seen her at parties, she's usually the drunk one dancing on the table."

"Ah, a crazy drinker party girl, just my type." He said sarcastically. Was I wrong about Sarah?

We walked into the classroom to find Miss Carmandy was absent, and in her place, an ancient guy sitting on a chair that looked like it was about to break under his weight. I mean seriously, his butt was hanging off the sides and almost touching the floor, it was so flabby. He sneezed loudly and wetly and wiped the back of his hand across his slimy nose. Many of the girls in the classroom squealed and jumped back away from him, but he hardly noticed. The guys didn't even try to stifle their laughter.