Phone Calls From a Rock Star (3 page)

“
You’re the one who
carjacked me, remember?” I reminded him. The asphalt ended and the
dirt road began, inclining as it twisted around the trees. My
window was still down, and I could hear the crickets singing to
each other in sweet harmony.

“
Do you think it’s safe for
you, a young helpless girl, to take me, a strange man, to some
place so secluded?”

“
I am not helpless,” I told
him. I wanted to punch him to prove it, but I refrained. My father
had convinced me and my mother to take self-defense classes a
couple of years ago when a man had gone crazy attacking women in
our town. Still, I knew Jake had a point, but I didn’t want to
admit it—I couldn’t bear to tell the arrogant idiot he was right.
Besides, my dad always said trust your instincts, and Jake made me
feel oddly comfortable.

“
Whatever you say,” he said
with a shrug.

We finally reached the top of the hill, and
I parked the car. I hopped out, taking the bag of food with me, and
climbed on the hood, basking in its warmth. Jake followed slowly
and walked around to lean on the driver’s side.

“
Where are we?” he
asked.

“
Just a place I come to now
and then,” I replied as he accepted the cheeseburger I shoved in
his face. I moved over, and he climbed on the hood next to me. We
ate in silence, listening as the insects serenaded us. It was
perfect, except for the breeze that made the hair on my arms stand
at attention.

“
This is kinda cool,” he
admitted in a low voice. He finished his cheeseburger and shoved
the wrapper in the bag. He reached in the front pocket of his sweat
shirt and fished out a pack of cigarettes, lighting one as he
leaned against the windshield.

“
Do you always have to be a
tough guy?” I blurted. So much for tact. I mean, there we were, two
people enjoying wonderfully-greasy fast food, and I had to open my
mouth. I prepared to apologize, but his laughter stopped
me.

“
What are you talking
about?” he asked as amusement danced in his eyes. Poor guy. What he
must think of me.

“
You’re all tense and
stuff. And then you light up a cigarette. That’s a nasty, unhealthy
habit you know.”

He crushed his cigarette out on the bottom
of his boot and stuck the butt in his pocket. “Happy?” I nodded,
attempting to keep my mouth shut for once. He stretched his legs
out and crossed them at the ankles. “Come over here and check this
out.”

I gawked at him for a moment. What was he,
mental? “Huh?”

“
Scoot back here by me.
It’s cool.”

I bit my lip then shrugged. What the heck? I
slid back and leaned against the windshield. Smiling, he looked at
the sky. I did the same and what do you know, he was right. The
stars were sprawled before us, shimmering and twinkling in the
darkness, reminding me of poetry and children’s tales. I guess I’d
never really taken the time to notice them before, and I wondered
why.

“
Kinda makes you feel
insignificant, huh?” Jake asked. His arm pressed against mine, and
a shudder wracked my body. “Are you cold?”

“
I’m fine,” I lied. There
was no way I could tell him that it was his nearness making me
tremble—I didn’t have the courage. Sitting up, he yanked his
sweatshirt over his head, knocking his baseball cap to the
car.

“
Here.” He held it out to
me, and I stared dubiously.

“
Won’t you be cold?” I eyed
the thin t-shirt he’d had on under the hoodie.

“
I’m fine. Take
it.”

I didn’t argue. I pulled it over my head and
was immediately rewarded with warmth. “Thanks,” I said, giving him
a hesitant smile.

“
Sure,” he said as he fell
back to the windshield. I joined him, a little closer than I was
before. Tucking an arm behind his head, he pointed out several
constellations with his other hand. I was extremely
impressed.

“
Did you major in astronomy
or something?” I asked.

“
Nah. My dad used to take
me camping a lot when I was a kid. He taught me and my sister all
about that kind of stuff,” he explained. I couldn’t imagine a big
rock star like him having a father and a sister and sleeping in a
tent. Yes, it was stupid, but really, when you thought about it,
it’s hard to imagine. Of course at this particular moment, Jake
seemed like just an ordinary guy. And he hadn’t been a bit arrogant
since we got out of the car.

“
Where do your parents
live?” I asked, genuinely curious. I wasn’t one to read every
single scrap of information on my favorite bands, so I actually
didn’t know much about him. I knew his music was good and his
lyrics excellent and that was about all.

“
My dad and my younger
sister, Greta, live near Chicago. I don’t know about my mother. She
left shortly after Greta was born.” He didn’t seem terribly sad,
but I did sense an awkward pause coming so I jumped off the car and
grabbed his hand.

Dragging him to the edge of the hill, I
stopped short. I pointed to the fields below and next to me, Jake
gasped. The corn was tall but that wasn’t what caught our
attention. Swooping in and out of the stalks were thousands of
fireflies, flickering on and off and lighting up the field. It was
an amazing display of nature’s own light show.

“
This is amazing!” he
declared, squeezing my hand. I nodded, a little embarrassed because
I had forgotten to let go. He didn’t seem to mind. “How did you
find this place? Do you live around here?”

“
I live about forty-five
minutes away but my roommate lives nearby,” I explained. “I found
the place when I was waiting for her to get home one
day.”

“
Hang on,” he said, turning
to me. His face was close to mine, and it did funny things to my
stomach. Maybe it was the burgers... “How does your roommate live
nearby but you don’t? How can you be roommates?”

“
We’re roommates at school.
We go to Meridian Valley. It’s a boarding school.”

His lips curled in a delighted smile.
“Boarding school? Are you serious?”

“
Yes,” I said, releasing
his hand to plant my fists on my hips. “Do you have a problem with
that?”

“
No,” he said, eyes shining
with laughter. “Is it for like…juvenile delinquents?”

My breath hitched, and I took a swing at
him. He anticipated it, though, and ducked neatly out of the way.
That didn’t deter me in the least, and I took another step toward
him, swinging again. He dodged my fist, laughing hysterically the
whole time. But he ran out of real estate when he backed into the
car. I grinned evilly and launched again. He grabbed my arm and
held it above my head, capturing my other wrist when I raised it.
He yanked, and I stumbled into his chest—his hard chest. He was
taller than me, and I had to look up at him. His eyes were
sparkling, and I couldn’t tell if they were the same piercing blue
as on TV.

“
You’re way too easy,” he
chuckled.

My cheeks grew instantly hot as I ducked my
head. “I have never been accused of that in my entire life.”

Laughing even harder, he
loosened his hold on my wrists. “I didn’t mean
that
way! I meant easy to annoy.” I
tried to yank my wrists out of his hold, and he let me loose,
grabbing my shoulders instead. “I didn’t mean to embarrass you. How
old are you … umm… I don’t even know your name.”

“
It’s Isabella Ames,” I
spit, yanking my shoulders from his clutch. “And I’m nearly
eighteen.”

“
Nearly as in when?” he
asked, eyes narrowed in suspicion.

“
Two weeks. Why? Thinking
about molesting me?” I asked sarcastically. Not nice, I know, but I
was pretty upset and utterly humiliated.

“
Please,” he muttered. “I
don’t have to molest anyone. Did you see the girls chasing me back
there?”

Wrenching my shoulders out of his grip, I
climbed on the hood of the car. I dug out my cell phone to check
the time, eager to end the conversation. It was pretty late, or
really early, depending on how you looked at it. He hopped up next
to me, and we both settled on the windshield again.

“
I didn’t mean to embarrass
you,” he whispered.

“
You didn’t,” I
lied.

“
Do you need to be home or
something?”

“
No,” I said with a half
laugh. I proceeded to explain about Seth’s hotel room party. “I’m
in no hurry to get back.”

He nodded. “I understand. Our manager
usually arranges all these after-party things, but I just wasn’t in
the mood to attend tonight. So, I snuck out and grabbed a cab
because I wanted something to eat. Stupid move on my part—I should
have just hid out in my room.”

“
Are you staying at the
hotel where the concert was?”

“
Yeah,” he said stretching
his arm behind me. “It’s pretty nice.”

“
It is,” I said, eyeing him
suspiciously as the Idaho hotel sprang to mind. . “Don’t trash it,
okay?”

“
Geez,” he said as he ran
his hands through his thick, dark hair. “I’ll never hear the end of
that one, huh?”

I sat up, gaping in disbelief. “Did you
really trash that hotel?”

He flashed a crooked smile, making the skin
around his eyes crinkle. My heart fluttered. “Believe what you
will, Iz.”

Huh? I gawked at him, my mind a swirl of
confusion. “What is… Iz?”

He closed his eyes and shrugged
nonchalantly. “Your name.”

“
Just wonderful,” I
muttered, falling back to the windshield. I very much enjoy
sarcasm.

Chuckling, he ruffled my hair. “Tell me
about your school.”

I leaned against his outstretched arm, my
own arm brushing his side. I prattled on about my school, my
friends, and my classes. I glanced at him every few minutes to make
sure I wasn’t boring him, but he really seemed enraptured by my
descriptions.

“
Your parents must be
loaded to afford that place,” he mused.

“
They do okay, I guess, but
my grandfather actually pays my tuition. He owns the law firm where
my parents practice. After my grandmother died, he decided to spend
his money on Seth and me. We’re his only grandchildren.”

“
I bet your dad hates
that,” he said.

“
Not really. I mean, all
that money will go to my dad someday anyway.”

“
I guess,” he said. He gave
my shoulder a quick squeeze. “Do your parents get along
okay?”

“
Ugh! Disgustingly well.
They’re always off on second honeymoons.” I winced a little bit.
Yeah, it was nice that my parents were still in love all these
years later, but it could sometimes be embarrassing.

“
And you and your brother
are close?” he asked.

“
Yeah, we are. We hang out
a lot in the summer. He can be overprotective but not in an
irritating sort of way,” I explained.

“
Me and Greta are sort of
close. We don’t really hang out a lot but we talk. She calls me
when she needs to vent and stuff like that. I’m glad; helps me keep
track of her.”

“
How old is
she?”

A fond smile graced his lips. “She’ll be
nineteen in January. She’s starting her first year of college, but
her school is in Chicago so she still lives with Dad.” His smile
widened. “Dad is great. He’s close to us both. He’s always been so
supportive of my career and never missed a gymnastics meet or dance
recital of Greta’s.” He paused to study the sky as a pleasant
silence descended upon us. The night songs were fading, but the sun
was still an hour or two away. “Are you excited about your senior
year?”

“
Not really,” I admitted. I
was actually afraid it was going to be as boring as past
years.

“
Why not?”

“
I don’t know. It’s just
another school year,” I said, hoping he would get the hint in my
voice.

“
It’s got to be a guy or
something,” he said as he sat up to study me better. He cocked his
head, waiting for my reply.

“
No,” I said as I ducked my
head. I knew a blush was sure to follow.

He laughed and took my hands. “Come on, Iz!
Don’t tell me you’re shy?” I continued to avoid his eyes and his
laughter intensified. “You’ve been rambling on and on to me all
night!”

“
That’s because I was
nervous because you carjacked me!” I defended. He continued to
stare at me so I released my best Drama Club sigh. “He can have
pretty much any girl he wants.”

Jake cupped my chin and stared into my eyes,
sending my pulse into outer space. “You’re a very pretty girl, Iz.
All you need is a little self-confidence, and he’ll be eating out
of your hand.”

My cell rang, and I reluctantly pulled my
chin out of his grasp as I yanked the phone out of my pocket. It
was Seth. I groaned and answered. “Yes, Seth? Need me to go on a
beer run?”

Jake raised a brow at my tone but I ignored
him.

“
Where are you?” Seth
demanded.

“
I was hungry so I went for
a burger. I’ll be back in a few.”

“
Fine,” Seth conceded. “I
cleared everyone out, and it’s nearly four in the morning. You need
to get back now.”

“
Yes, master,” I muttered
as I ended the call. Jake chuckled next to me. “I have to go. It
really is late.”