Virtually in Love (15 page)

“Well, thanks for everything,” I said softly. “This was fun.”

“Yeah.” He smiled down at me.

I held my breath. Okay, maybe he hadn't kissed me in the movie theater. But this time I was
sure
I knew what happened next. And I was pretty sure he knew it too. I hoped my breath wasn't too garlicky after all that pasta. Then again he'd had garlic too, so no worries . . . .

The soundtrack was already playing in my head as we stood there, still smiling at each other.

You'll share a first kiss if you dare.

Remember it always: True romance is rare.

He leaned a little closer. “So I guess this is where we . . .,” he began in a husky, sexy voice.

Gobble, gobble, gobble!

The sound of an excited turkey rang out in the still night air, startling both of us. Trevor dropped my hand and jumped back.

“What was that?” he blurted out, staring around as if expecting a flock of gobblers to leap out of the darkness.

I grimaced, grabbing my phone out of my bag. “Sorry,” I said, quickly silencing it. “Just a funny text tone.”

I didn't bother to tell him it was one Kaz found so hilarious that he was always programming it in for himself in my phone, even though I kept changing it back to something a little less obnoxious. Usually I thought it was funny when he did that. Right now? Not so much. Talk about a mood killer!

Trevor was already moving toward the porch steps, his hands in his pockets. “This was fun,” he called over his shoulder. “See you tomorrow.”

“Yeah.” My heart sank as I realized our first kiss would have to wait. But so what? We had all week to make it happen. “Don't forget to get there early if you want to help us set up. And be sure to bring your guitar!”

He lifted a hand without turning around, disappearing back into Jon's car a moment later. I stood in the dim, bug-shadowed light and watched until the car's taillights disappeared into the night.

Chapter
Twelve

W
hen I walked into the
gym the next morning, Maya was already there barking orders like a drill sergeant. She spotted me right away.

“Chloe,” she said, hurrying over. “Kaz the spaz dropped the sheet music all over the place just now when he was supposed to be taking it to make copies. Can you go help him get organized?”

“On it,” I agreed.

I looked around, pausing for just a moment to admire the work we'd done the day before. The gym looked amazing. Kaz's idea had been to decorate it in the style of a shabby old hotel ballroom, like the one in the old movie he'd seen about a dance marathon during the Great Depression. But the Depression wasn't exactly the most cheerful thing in the world, so some of the other organizers had favored more of a sock hop vibe, since Kaz had also told us there was a dance marathon on an episode of
Happy Days
. We'd ended up with sort of a fusion—Kaz had donated his disco ball to the cause and begged several local antique shops to loan us some stuffy old upholstered chairs and stuff. One of the cheerleaders had liberated a bunch of vinyl albums from her dad's stash, which were taped to the walls, along with homemade posters that said
DANCE!
in bright colors. There were streamers and balloons, and someone had even brought in a couple of big fake potted palm trees that stood on either side of the sign-in table. Basically the place looked wacky and a little confusing—but fun.

At least a dozen of the other volunteers were already there, and they looked wacky but fun, too. Kaz had told us that dance marathons were popular from the 1920s through the 1960s or so, and most people had dressed up in costumes from one of those eras. Vanessa had reused her flapper dress from last Halloween, several of the guys were wearing Al Capone–style gangster costumes or zoot suits, and Maya looked adorable in a puffy pink poodle skirt.

As for me? I'd opted for a combination of costume and cute. My flapper dress had a big rip in it from an impromptu game of tag and a spiky shrub in Vanessa's front yard, and I wasn't sure Trevor would be impressed with the look anyway. So I'd borrowed a full black skirt from my mom, pairing it with a sparkly silver top and my favorite ballet flats.

Speaking of Trevor, I hadn't heard from him yet that morning. I pulled out my phone and sent him a quick text to let him know I was at the marathon. Then I continued on my way.

Vanessa was over by the refreshment table, helping some of the others arrange cookies and brownies on trays. I gave her a quick wave as I passed, and then I headed to the bandstand. That was what we were calling the circle of chairs we'd set up for the musicians under one of the basketball hoops.

When I arrived, Kaz was bent over a huge mess of sheet music lying on the floor, digging through it with Cody, a senior saxophone player. My favorite sax player, actually, since he was the one who'd convinced Mr. Graves to let us perform a hip-hop medley at the spring concert last year, which had been absolutely hilarious. Normally Cody was pretty laid back, but at the moment his dark brown eyes were anxious. Kaz just looked disgruntled.

“Hi,” I said. “Maya sent me over to help.”

Kaz glanced up. He was wearing a snazzy vintage suit I hadn't seen before, his black hair slicked back. “Great,” he said. “Grab the playlist and read it out to us so we can put the music back in the right order.”

I picked up the stapled sheaf of papers he'd indicated. We'd all come up with the playlist at one of the earlier meetings, creating a fun list of songs we thought would entertain people who came to watch or participate in the dancing.

“We already found the first four pieces,” Cody said. “We're looking for ‘Sing, Sing, Sing' right now.”

“Okay. Watch for the disco medley while you're at it,” I said. “That's next.”

Cody shuffled through the loose pages on the floor. “We have to hurry,” he said. “We still need to make copies of everything for the whole band.”

“We can do it,” Kaz said. “If we're still working on it when this thing starts, the band can always play ‘The Stars and Stripes Forever.' We all know that one by heart, right?”

I laughed. That particular Sousa march had to be Mr. Graves's favorite song ever. The marching band had played it every single year for as long as anyone could remember.

“Let's hope we don't have to resort to that,” I joked. “It's not much of a dance tune.” I scanned down the list as I waited for them to find the music they were looking for. “Speaking of which, are we sure we really want to play the Rossini? That could be hard to dance to too.”

“You mean the ‘William Tell Overture'?” Cody shrugged. “That was actually the cheerleaders' idea—they thought it could be fun for the kids.”

Kaz laughed. “Yeah. I think the term Maya used was
up-tempo
.”

“Hmm.” I could just imagine what Trevor would say when he got a load of our playlist, with its weird mix of modern songs, show tunes, kiddie pop, and classic concert band arrangements. “With the whole 1950s thing going on, maybe we should add, like, the theme from
Happy Days
, or maybe some old rock songs or whatever. I'm sure I could find sheet music on the Internet.”

Kaz looked surprised. “
You
want to add some vintage rock?” he said. “No argument here. We could use it to replace ‘True Cliché.'”

“We are
not
ditching ‘True Romance,'” I informed him, sticking out my tongue. I'd lobbied hard to get that song included, and I wasn't about to back down on it now—especially with Trevor coming. “But I think a little more of a rock 'n' roll vibe could be fun, right? Maybe Trevor could even do a guitar solo.”

I threw the last part in casually, not sure how Kaz would react. He didn't—at least, not really. His eyes stayed on the mess of paper as he let out sort of a humph.

“Who's Trevor?” Cody asked.

“My, um . . .” I shot a look at Kaz. “A friend of mine who's visiting from out of town. He's a really amazing guitarist, so I asked Maya if he could sit in with us.”

That was true. I'd texted her the night before after my date. She'd texted back right away, saying it was fine.

“Whatever,” Kaz said. “Let's worry about it after we get this music in order. Hey, here's the disco medley.”

“Give it here. I'll add it to the stack.” I held out my hand. Kaz jumped to his feet and handed it to me. At least that was probably what he meant to do. What he actually did was lunge to a semistanding position, immediately slip on some loose sheets of music, and come flying straight toward me.

“Look out!” Cody cried, diving out of the way.

My reflexes weren't as fast as his. “Oof!” I grunted as Kaz hit me square in the midsection, sending us both flying.

The pile of music broke my fall, at least a little. Kaz landed right on top of me, knocking all the air out of my lungs.

“Ouch!” I yelped as his elbow banged me in the hip.

“Sorry!” he cried at the same time, trying to roll aside.

“Wait!” Cody said. “Stop. Your cuff link is caught in her skirt. If you yank your arm away . . .” He shrugged, not bothering to go into detail.

“Hold still,” I ordered Kaz, trying to remember which underpants I'd put on that day. Reaching down carefully past his torso, I scrabbled for the cuff link.

“Don't break it,” Kaz said. “I borrowed it from my uncle.”

I rolled my eyes at him. At least I started to—his face was so close to mine, it was a little unnerving.

Not that it should have been. I mean, it was Kaz, and we were totally over that whole awkward let's-go-out phase, right? I was with Trevor, he was with Vanessa, all was right with the world . . . .

Still, I was way too aware of his heart beating against mine, and the scent of his shampoo filling my nostrils. I felt my face starting to go red and I muttered at him for a second time to hold still as I reached again for the cuff link.

At that moment a couple of guys from the brass section wandered past. “Get a room, you two!” one of them yelled.

The other let out a wolf whistle. “Way to go, Kaz-man!” he exclaimed.

“Shut up!” I told them through gritted teeth. Kaz didn't say anything, but when I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye, his face was looking decidedly lobsterlike.

The two brass players laughed and moved on.

“Need help?” Cody asked, leaning closer.

“I've got it.” Luckily, my fingers are pretty nimble from years of playing the clarinet, and I soon had the cuff link loose. “There,” I said, hoping my—er, Mom's—skirt didn't have a hole in it now. “Got it.”

“Thanks.” Kaz stayed where he was for a second, looking down at me. “Sorry about that, Chloe.”

“It's okay. But you can get off me now, all right?” I gave him a little shove.

Soon we were on our feet again. I smoothed down my skirt, and Kaz fiddled with his cuff link while Cody surveyed the mess we'd made. “If you two wanted to cuddle, you could've chosen a more convenient place,” he said.

“If that's what you consider cuddling, you have a problem,” I informed him, trying not to let myself start blushing even harder. Seriously, when were people going to get that Kaz and I were just friends? Maybe seeing him and Vanessa at the school dance together would help.

“Come on.” Kaz didn't bother to respond to Cody's comment. He was already crouching down by the messed-up pile. “Let's get back to it before Maya strangles us all.”

That seemed like a good plan. Working together, the three of us finally got the music sorted and organized. Then Cody rushed off to the school office to make copies, while Kaz and I headed over to ask Maya what else needed to be done.

“Sorry again about, you know, tackling you before,” he said with a sidelong glance at me. “Guess it's a good thing your boyfriend isn't here yet, or he might get the wrong idea. You know, like those guys obviously did.”

“Those guys are idiots,” I muttered. “You could've killed me.”

“So, speaking of the amazing Trevor, is he really showing up today?” Kaz's voice was light and casual. “Guess I'll have to eat my words about him not being real.”

“Yep. He should be here anytime now.” I pulled out my phone, but he hadn't returned my text yet. Checking my watch, I realized it was almost eleven thirty. “Actually, I should make sure he didn't sneak in and get put to work by your crazy cousin when I wasn't looking.”

As Kaz continued toward Maya, I rushed off in search of Trevor. But two rounds of the gym later, he was nowhere to be found. Vanessa came up behind me while I was peeking out into the hallway.

“What are you doing?” she asked, tucking a loose strand of blond hair back under her flapper hat.

“Looking for Trevor.” I took out my phone again. Still no response. I texted him again.