My Sweetest Escape (14 page)

back up.

“Uh-huh,” she said in a tone that said

she didn’t believe me one little bit. Yeah, I

didn’t believe me, either. I looked away

from the guys and found Taylor’s blond

ponytail and then I saw the rest of the

household joining her.

“So,” I said, facing Hannah. “You wanna

meet the crazies I live with?”

She took a long sip from her straw.

“Lead the way.”

The space in front of the bookstore grew

increasingly crowded as more people

arrived to see the show. Hannah and I

threaded our way through, and I caught

Renee’s eye as she searched for me.

“There you are,” she said, holding Paul’s

hand. “And you must be Hannah.” Renee

barely even looked at Hannah’s scars. I’d

expected that; nothing phased Renee, least

of all something like a scar.

“I must be,” Hannah said, shrugging.

“I’m going to take a wild guess and say

you’re Renee.”

“Ding, ding, ding, we have a winner,”

Renee said, laughing.

“This is Paul,” I said, motioning to him.

He nodded and smiled at Hannah. I whistled

and Mase turned his head.

He’d been deep in conversation with

Darah. You could set a tornado around

those people and they wouldn’t even be

aware of it.

“Hey, nice to meet you. Any friend of

Jos’s is a friend of ours.”

Then Taylor introduced her friend

Megan, a fellow redhead, and her fiancé,

Jake, and I liked her instantly and not just

because we were hair comrades.

I went through the rest of the

introductions and pointed out Hunter, who

was busy chatting with some of the other

guys as they got ready.

“He’s freaking out,” Taylor said,

watching him.

“He doesn’t look like it.” He was smiling

and laughing.

“He’s tapping.” I looked down and saw

that he was tapping his hand against his leg.

One, two, three, four, five times in a row.

“He always does that when he’s freaking

out. I have no idea why—this isn’t his first

show. I swear, the minute I think I

understand him is the minute he decides to

surprise me.” She nibbled on a hangnail and

I noticed her ring was missing.

“Where’s the rock?”

“Hunter’s lawyer, Joe, wanted to get it

appraised or something so they could take

out insurance on it, or something? I feel

crazy not having it. You’d be surprised that

you can get used to wearing something like

that.”

Megan coughed and Taylor gave her a

look. Huh. Wonder what that was about.

“Um, spoiler alert, but that guy over

there is trying to eye fuck you,” Hannah

said, her voice just a little too loud.

I didn’t even need to look up to see who

it was.

“Shh, keep your voice down. I’m fully

aware of him.”

“Uh-huh,” she said, sucking the last few

drops of her rink into her straw and then

tossing it in the nearest trash can. “He’s

pretty sexy.” She turned her head sideways

and then to the other side.

“You should totally hit that. He looks like

he’d be…good.”

Like either of us would know.

I finally decided to look in Dusty’s

direction. While he was talking with one of

the other guys, his eyes were definitely

turned my way. He caught me staring and

winked.

My eyes traveled down his arm, trying

to make out the tattoo, but it was mostly

covered by his sleeve.

“Stop ogling,” Hannah hissed in my ear.

One of the guys cleared his throat and

stepped forward as the rest of the Steiners

formed a line.

“Hello, everyone, my name is Kent, and

we are The UMaine Steiners. Guys, you

wanna introduce yourselves?”

One by one, the guys stepped forward

and said their names.

There were twelve of them in total, and

at least half were very good-looking, which

was a higher amount than I would have

thought.

Kent snapped his fingers to make a beat

and counted.

Dusty came in first, laying down a

drumbeat, and then the rest of the group

started the song. “One More Night” by

Maroon 5. I caught Hunter’s eye and he

pointed at me. The guys traded off who

would sing lead, and Hunter got a turn.

Dusty got totally into his beat boxing,

even dancing a little with it. The other guys

also danced, a few even making a little joke

of it as everyone laughed.

They finished the song, and Dusty made

the cymbal crash sound again. Everyone

cheered and clapped and the guys

regrouped and started another song. This

time it was an old one, Hoobastank’s “The

Reason,” followed by a mash-up of a bunch

of Queen songs that got everyone humming

along and had plenty of awesome dance

moves, and then “P.Y.T.” by Michael

Jackson.

“They’re really good,” Hannah said in my

ear. “And your beat boxer is beyond sexy.

I’m just imagining all of the things he could

do with that mouth.”

I ignored her comments as the group

took a quick break and had some water.

Hunter stepped forward.

“Hello, everyone. I’m Hunter, and I’m

going to have to beg for your attention for a

second.”

“What the hell is that boy doing?” Taylor

said under her breath.

“You see, I love this girl over here.” He

pointed to Taylor, and her face turned red.

“Yeah, you, Taylor.” He held his hand out,

and she stepped forward. “Music has

always been a part of our lives. I sang to her

on our first real date. I sang to her the first

of many times I screwed things up, and so I

thought it was only right that I sing to her

for this. So, here goes.”

One of the other guys brought out a

chair for Taylor, and Hunter forced her to sit

in it. She looked like she wanted to sink into

the floor and kept ducking her head so she

couldn’t see everyone staring at her.

I had a feeling I knew where this was

going, and everyone else was whispering

the same thing around me.

“Oh, my God, he isn’t,” Renee said.

“I think he is,” Paul responded.

This time it was Hunter’s turn to start

the song. Dusty set a slow beat that was

soft and romantic. It took a few seconds,

but I recognized the song, and I knew what

was going to happen.

I watched Taylor’s face as he started

singing “I Can’t Wait”

by Runner Runner. The second he sang

the word
wife,
she put her hands to her

mouth and started to cry. The crowd sighed

in unison as Taylor shook her head and

wiped tears as Hunter held her hand and

sang to her. I caught Dusty’s eye and he

smiled at me and I smiled back. You

couldn’t help it.

Such an open and beautiful expression

of love had that effect.

Hunter was left singing the last note by

himself, holding it and then letting it fade

before he reached into his pocket as he got

down on one knee. My eyes were more

than a little moist, but I wasn’t the only one.

The surrounding crowd held their collective

breaths.

“Taylor Elizabeth Caldwell, you are the

only song I want to sing for the rest of my

life and I love you more than the stars. Will

you marry me?”

She only paused for a second before she

whispered it, but somehow that whisper

carried through the whole room.

“Yes.”

The crowd erupted as Hunter yanked

her off the chair and swung her around, and

she laughed and cried, oblivious now to

everyone watching her. The rest of the

Steiners broke out singing “Chapel of Love”

by The Dixie Cups and a sing-along broke

out as everyone clapped and sang with the

group.

Kent stepped forward and asked for

quiet after everyone finished.

“Yeah, yeah, enough of that.” Everyone

booed. “Just kidding. We have one last song

for you.” Hunter put his arm around Taylor

and pulled her back to stand with the group

as Dusty started another beat and they

launched into “Walking on Sunshine.”

Taylor was so giddy that she sang along and

her voice melded with the rest of the group.

“Thank you, everyone! And let’s have

another round of applause for the happy

couple!” Everyone clapped and then started

heading back to wherever they came from.

Renee and Darah and Megan let out

shrieks that sounded like they belonged to

long-extinct dinosaurs and launched

themselves at Taylor, and lots more

screaming and carrying-on ensued. Hunter

and Mase gave each other back-banging

hugs, and Mase gave one to Taylor that I

was pretty sure crushed her ribs.

“Congratulations,” I said, giving both of

them hugs. “Now you’re really, really

family. No escaping us now.”

“Nice proposal, dude. Well done,”

Hannah said to Hunter, holding her fist out.

He looked at her for a second, perplexed.

“Hunter, this is my friend Hannah.”

“Oh, of course, didn’t mean to leave you

hanging there.”

He bumped her hand. I could tell Taylor

had a hard time not staring at Hannah’s

face, but after Hannah gave her a huge

smile and a hug everything was fine.

“I saw you crying.” I really needed to

stop being surprised when Dusty sneaked

up behind me. He’d done it enough times.

“And you are?” Hannah said, swooping

around and getting right in front of him.

Dusty didn’t look twice at her face before

he smiled.

“Dusty Sharp, at your service.” He

bowed. Hannah didn’t look impressed. Five

seconds ago, she’d been talking like she

wanted to jump him. Jesus, this girl was

going to give me whiplash.

“Hannah Gillespie. And you, dude, have

been staring at my friend Jos, here.”

His smile faltered for just a second and

then he raised his hands as if she’d pointed

a gun at him.

“Guilty as charged. But can you blame

me?”

“Maybe,” Hannah said, narrowing her

eyes. I had to put a stop to this.

“Hey, Hannah, do you want to come

shopping with me?

Like, right now?” I grabbed her arm and

tried to drag her away. I’d been planning on

going on my job search, but he didn’t need

to know that.

“Can I come?” Dusty said, following us.

No, idiot, the point was to get away from

you.

“Uh, no,” I said. “You wouldn’t want to

come with us.

We’ll be buying things like tampons and

yeast infection cream and…other things for

our lady parts and sparkly earrings and lots

and lots of pink.”

“Sounds like fun.” Ugh, could anything I

say turn this guy off?

“Why don’t we do something a little

less…um, disgusting? Do you live on

campus?” Hannah directed her question to

Dusty.

“No, I have my own place in Old Town. I

would invite you there, but I’m pretty sure

the mold growing in my bathroom is

becoming sentient and would murder you

when I turned my back.”

“Ew,” Hannah and I said at the same

time.

“Yeah, I keep trying to get my landlord

to do something about it, but no dice. Can’t

get anywhere when you’re poor as shit.”

“Amen. You speak my language, dude.”

Hannah nodded.

Oh, now she was cool with him again.

They’d bonded over their shared financial

difficulties.

Somebody called out to Dusty to remind

him of plans next week or something.

“Actually, I have to get to work.

Sorry, ladies. Rain check?”

“Sounds good,” Hannah said.

“But, Red, I will see you on Sunday. The

guys have sort of planned a little surprise

party for Hunter and Taylor, and all the

members of Yellowfield House are invited,

of course.

And you, Hannah Gillespie, are also

invited.”

“Sweet,” she said. “I have nothing else

to do.”

“Sounds like fun.”

Renee called my name.

“We’re going out to celebrate. Are you

coming?”

So much for job hunting. “Yeah, sure.”

“Am I invited?” Hannah yelled.

“Of course,” Renee, Mase and Hunter

yelled back.

It was scary how well she was fitting in

with us.

“Well, I guess this is goodbye, then. I’ll

see you tomorrow.

Red, Hannah Gillespie.” He nodded at

both of us, grabbed his bag and waved

goodbye to the other guys from the group

and took the stairs two at a time.

“He is…something else,” Hannah said,

staring after him.

“My thoughts exactly.”

The only topic of conversation when we

went out to eat at Pat’s Pizza was Hunter

and Taylor’s plans. Megan was in the midst

of planning her own wedding and was busy

giving tips and so forth, and Hunter didn’t

seem to be nearly as intimidated as I

expected him to be.

“Did he ask your father?” Renee said,