Virtually in Love (19 page)

I laughed at the memory. “Too bad I forgot you had a spare bow in your suitcase. We totally would've won that game if you'd stayed on second base where you belonged!”

Trevor chuckled. Then he plucked a string and hummed along with the note.

“Chloe, Chloe, Chloe,” he sang softly, strumming the already familiar chords of “my” song. “You're the girl for me . . . .”

Suddenly I wasn't bored at all. I leaned a little closer, drinking in the sight of his earnest green eyes, the scent of the trees and the grass and the pond—and of course the sweet, sweet sound of the greatest guy in the world playing just for me.

•  •  •

“Ta-da!” I swung open the door of Aesop's Diner and led the way inside. “Here we are!”

Kaz, Vanessa, and Trevor were right behind me. That's right, I said Trevor. When we'd parted ways on Tuesday afternoon, I'd convinced him to join me and my friends at our favorite hangout spot on Thursday after school. Okay, actually, I'd wanted to make it Wednesday. But Trevor's aunt and uncle had some sort of big family dinner planned on Wednesday, so Thursday it was.

Anyway, I figured this was his big chance to get to know my best friends. Sure, they'd met briefly at the marathon. But we'd been so busy, and Trevor had left so abruptly, there hadn't been much time for any serious bonding.

But here at the diner there would be no distractions. He would be able to get a big, juicy taste of my daily life. Not to mention some tasty Aesop's deliciousness.

One of the usual waitresses noticed us and waved us vaguely in the direction of our booth. Kaz charged over there.

“Hurry up, you guys. I'm famished,” he said. “I just hope we don't end up with, like, steamed carrots and gluten-free pudding today.”

Trevor gave him a strange look as he slid in beside me. “What's he talking about?”

“You'll see.” I winked at my friends. “We have sort of a tradition about how we decide what to order.”

He looked confused, but shrugged and reached for the water glass our waitress had just thunked down in front of him. “Be right back with menus,” she told us.

As she hurried off, Kaz sat back and gazed at Trevor. “So,” Kaz said. “You and Chloe, huh? What do you think of our girl?”

Trevor looked a little uncomfortable as he shot me a look. “Um . . .”

“Shut up, Kaz.” I leaned across the table to smack him, though he easily dodged me. Then I gave Trevor an apologetic nudge with one shoulder. “Don't pay any attention to him. He's a wack job.”

Vanessa giggled. “Yeah, Kaz is a nut.” She nudged him with her shoulder. I couldn't help noticing they were sitting pretty close together.

“Okay.” Trevor fiddled with his napkin. “So, uh, what do you guys do for fun around here?”

“This, mostly.” Kaz waved a hand to indicate the diner. “Hang out. Play music. Achieve world peace. The usual.”

“If you want fun, you should've been there for our jam at Kaz's birthday party,” I told Trevor, grinning. “Did I tell you about that?”

“It was great,” Vanessa agreed. “We had a serious jam session.” She glanced at Trevor and blushed. “Probably not the same kind you'd have with your band, though.”

“Cool.” Trevor smiled. “Actually, my band loves to jam. We've come up with some of our best stuff that way over the years. Especially lately—we have this new drummer, okay? So one day last week we're taking a break, and she just starts waling on her kit, thump, thump, thump . . .” He banged on the table to illustrate, making our silverware jump. “I reacted first—I ran over and grabbed my axe, just started riffing to the beat. The other guys jumped in after a few seconds. We must have played for, like, half an hour like that.” He smiled and stared into space, practically glowing with the memory.

I caught Kaz and Vanessa trading a look. “Um, cool, sounds very Dead of you guys,” Kaz said.

Trevor blinked, returning to the here and now. “Did you say dead? What is that, local slang or something?”

“No, like the Grateful Dead,” Kaz explained. “They're this old band that was famous for their long jams, and—”

“Yeah, I know who they were,” Trevor cut in with a shrug. “My uncle used to follow them around in high school. He still has all these lame old bootlegs he's always trying to get me to listen to.”

“Kaz loves all those lame old geezer bands,” I put in. “He's always trying to get us to listen to them too. Right, Van?”

Vanessa nodded. “Look, she's finally bringing us a menu.”

Sure enough, the waitress raced past, flinging a stack of menus onto our table without even slowing down.

“Nice service in this place,” Trevor commented with more than a hint of sarcasm.

Kaz was already spreading one of the menus out in the middle of the table, tucking the extras away behind the napkin dispenser.

“Hey, can I have one of those?” Trevor said, reaching toward them.

“You won't need it,” I said with a smile. “Check it out. We have this game we always play here—let's show him, guys.”

“Me first.” Kaz closed his eyes and held his finger a few inches above the menu. “Count me down, Chloe.”

“Okay.” I started the menu spinning. “Round and round she goes, where she stops . . .”

“Nobody knows!” Kaz sang out, punching his finger at the menu.

Vanessa leaned forward. “Bean burrito,” she said. “Cool.”

“Yeah, I guess.” Kaz shrugged. “I could go for a burger, though. Why don't you see if you can get us one, Trevor?”

Trevor looked confused. “What do you mean? If you want a burger, just order a burger, right?”

“No, see, that's the game,” I explained. “We can only order stuff we pick that way.” I waggled my fingers at the menu. “Randomly, you know?”

He blinked at me. “Huh? Why?”

“Why not?” I was a little surprised by his reaction. My friends and I had loved our game from the first time Kaz had come up with the idea back in seventh grade. “It's more fun this way, right?”

He looked dubious. “Well, you guys can do what you want,” he said. “I think I'll just order the normal way if that's okay with you all.”

Once again, I saw Kaz and Van glance at each other. I just smiled weakly at Trevor. “Sure. Whatever.”

My friends and I finished our game, ending up with a toasted bagel and some creamed corn to go with our burrito. But my heart wasn't in it the way it usually was.

Things didn't get much better after that, either. I couldn't help noticing Trevor wasn't really hitting it off with my friends. Oh, they were all being polite enough. They just didn't seem to have much in common. You know, other than me. And being music lovers, of course. Just maybe not the same kind . . .

Trevor had barely finished chewing the last bite of his grilled cheese sandwich when he glanced at his watch. “Jon will be picking me up soon,” he told me. “I should get going.”

“What? Already?” I exclaimed.

“I told him to meet me at your place,” he added. “Figured I'd walk you home. You know, wait for him there.”

“Oh.” Now I felt much less disappointed. Maybe he hadn't clicked with my friends yet. But Trevor and I always clicked just fine when we were alone. My mind flashed to that almost-kiss the last time he'd walked me to my door, and I smiled. “Okay, let's go. Later, guys.”

My friends mumbled good-byes as Trevor and I left. As soon as we were outside, he took my hand.

“That's more like it.” He smiled down at me. “Your friends are nice and all. But it's awesome to hang out with you—you know, just the two of us.”

I squeezed his hand. “Yeah, I know what you mean,” I said as we strolled down the block, hand in hand. “Maybe we can get together tomorrow? I mean, you already told me your reunion is on Saturday, right? So tomorrow after school will be our last chance to get together before the dance, and—”

“Okay, okay!” He laughed, squeezing my hand. “You don't have to try to talk me into hanging out with you again, Chloe. Tomorrow sounds great.”

“Great.” I smiled sheepishly. “Sorry. Guess I'm just anxious to get in as much time together as we can. I mean, it feels like you just got here and you're leaving in, like, three days . . . .”

“Chill,” he said. “It's cool.”

“Okay.” I wasn't sure I liked him telling me to chill when I was just trying to have a conversation. But when I looked up at him, he was smiling down at me again.

“Chloe, Chloe, Chloe, you're the girl for me,” he sang softly, his voice husky and low. “Zoe, Zoe, Zoe, you're all I see . . . .”

I froze. “Hey,” I said. “Did you just sing the wrong girl's name right there?”

Trevor looked startled. But then he laughed and shook his head.

“Oh man,” he said. “Sorry, Chloe, guess I'm getting even less sleep than I thought! My little cousin kept the whole house up for hours last night screaming his lousy little head off.” He ran his free hand through his hair. “Anyway, I guess Zoe's name is on my brain too—the whole band's really psyched about her. You know, what her drumming adds to our sound?”

“Oh.” I bit my lip, still not sure how to feel about the slip. Yeah, he'd been talking about Zoe a lot. That was only natural—he talked about all his bandmates a lot. But accidentally slipping her name into
my
song?

Trevor dropped my hand and slid his arm around my shoulders, squeezing me up against his side. “Forgive me?” he whispered.

I shivered, loving the feel of his arm around me. So what if he'd messed up our names? They did sound pretty similar, and he was only human, right?

“Of course,” I said, snuggling against him. “No biggie.”

All too soon we reached my house. On the porch, he finally let go of me and turned so we were face-to-face. “Okay,” he said. “I guess I'll see you tomorrow, right?”

“Right.” I held my breath, waiting to see what happened next.

He leaned a little closer, suddenly looking nervous. Adorable! As gorgeous as he was, somehow I'd figured he'd be totally smooth when it came to stuff like this.

“Wait,” I said, a little breathless as I saw his lips come even closer to mine. “Have you ever—”

Bang!

The front door flew open, and my little brother blasted out, almost running into us. “Out of my way,” he said, darting between us. “I need to get the mail.”

As Timothy hurried toward the mailbox, Trevor stepped back. “Okay, see you,” he blurted out, his face going red. “I'll go wait for Jon by the road.”

“I—um . . .,” I began helplessly.

But it was no use. The moment was gone—ruined by my total dork of a brother.

Oh well. Maybe this was fate. Maybe we were supposed to share our first kiss during a more romantic moment than on some random Thursday afternoon.

I smiled, liking that idea. After all, it just gave me one more thing to look forward to at the dance.

Chapter
Fifteen

O
n Friday at school, I
sat at lunch listening to Kaz and Vanessa plan their outfits for their big date to the dance the next night. Most people would just be wearing regular fancy dress-up clothes, but my friends and I always preferred to liven things up by inventing our own themes. This time they'd decided to go with a
Great Gatsby
theme, since we'd read the book earlier that semester. I wasn't sure exactly when they'd come up with the idea, which once again made me feel like the third wheel on a bicycle. Normally we always planned stuff like that together—the three of us.

But I've been spending a lot of my free time with Trevor lately,
I reminded myself, sipping my water as Vanessa laughed over Kaz's idea to switch roles and have him dress as Daisy and her as Gatsby. No wonder they didn't want to wait for my opinion. Besides, this time it wasn't about the three of us—it was about the two of them. As a couple.

As usual, thinking about that made me feel strange. For a second I almost wished Trevor hadn't come to town. That way we'd all be going to the dance together, the three of us, just like always. We'd all be planning our outfits together, just like always. Having a great time together, just like always.

Or maybe I'd be Kaz's date
, a little voice in my head piped in.

I banished that insane little voice immediately. Yes, Kaz had asked me to the dance. But that was over, and now he was into Vanessa—just as I'd hoped.

Anyway, I needed to get a grip. Kaz was my friend—that was all. And yes, I always had fun goofing around with my friends, but I could hang out with them anytime. A date with Trevor, on the other hand? That could be a once-in-a-lifetime romantic moment, one I'd savor forever.

Just then Vanessa turned to me. “So, Chloe,” she said, “your next big date with Trevor is today, right? What are you guys going to do?”