The Lost Boys

by Lilian Carmine

  He eyed me cautiously. He didn’t understand my sudden change of mood. He looked like he didn’t remember a thing about last night, either.

  “I’m going to see Mom today. Would you like to send her a hug?” I asked, standing up and walking over to my suitcase.

  “Huh?” was all he could say.

  “Rose. Remember her? I’m off to see her for the weekend. As long as you feel well enough? I’ll say you sent her a hug, okay?”

  “Okay,” he mumbled, still trying to figure out what the hell was happening.

  “And please don’t be that stupid again and not call me next month. You weren’t being very smart keeping this from me,” I said. I guess he would take it that I was talking about his monthly illness. But I was also talking about everything else. See? I could do this double-meaning stuff that he excelled at too! Take that, mysterious-ex-ghost-boy! I chuckled quietly to myself and grabbed my bag, turning to leave.

  “And, since I’ll be gone this weekend, band practice is today at four. Now your fever has broken, you’re well enough to be there. Two Grays missing won’t be acceptable, and you’re in the band too, even if you seem to be forgetting about it. They’ve been asking about you all the time. They miss you,” I said, opening the door.

  He sat on the bed, baffled. “They … d-do?” He really looked surprised.

  What? Did he think they didn’t care about him? That just because we’d had a fight, his friends had forgotten him? He was my Tristan, and he was adorable and sweet and all, but it turns out he was such an idiot too. I’ll have to remember to smack him in the head repeatedly when all this secret business was over.

  I shook my head, chuckling again, making him even more baffled. “Of course they do, Tris! They are your friends! And your band. So be there. Four o’clock. And practice. I gotta go, see you Sunday,” I said, and walked out, laughing a little. He looked so cute when he was clueless!

  I went to Tiffany’s room to finish packing. While I stuffed my clothes into the bag, I told her about my evil plan. I actually needed her help to get things into motion.

  “You’re gonna what?” she shouted, surprised.

  “You heard me. And I need your help to do it. You’re going to be my special adviser,” I said beaming at her. I was in a very cheerful mood today.

  “Are you serious, Joey? You’re gonna seduce him until he caves and admits he has feelings for you? He’s with Caroline now!” she said gently.

  “Not for long. I’ll make sure of that. Come on! You know me. I’m … persistent,” I said.

  She laughed loudly. “Yeah, that’s a swift way of putting it. You’re the most stubborn, strong-minded person I have ever known!” She shook her head, amused.

  “Well, thanks … I guess. But I still need your help. Boys go wild about you … I need to learn a few of your tricks to pester Tristan now!” I said with a laugh.

  “Okay. I’ll do my best to help you. I already told I could have Caroline expelled if you wanted to! You didn’t even let me kick her out of cheer squad!” she whined.

  “No, Tiff. It’s not her fault. She’s just head over heels for him, but let’s be fair, what girl wouldn’t be? He’s the one to blame! He’s the one who must suffer! “I said, smiling evilly.

  “That reminds me … and I’m just realizing this now, but Seth didn’t return to our room at all! Where did he …? Wait! Did he stay here all night? Did you and he …? Did you guys?” I said, squinting my eyes hard at her. She turned a deep shade of red. “Oh my God,” I mumbled.

  “I was going to tell you! It’s just … I’m kind of … embarrassed about it … ahem.” She coughed and blushed again.

  “Embarrassed? About what, pray tell?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

  “Well … I sort of tackled him last night,” she mumbled, shuffling her feet.

  “Tackled?”

  “I jumped his bones, okay? There! I said it! Happy now! I’m a big pervert!” she shouted, throwing her hands up in the air for dramatic effect. She was such a drama queen!

  “He snuck into my room all worried, and I convinced him to stay for the night, to give you guys some privacy. But then he was all cute, and geeky, and I love when he gets geeky on me” She blushed again. “So I jumped on him. And he spent the night. And I can’t believe I actually did this! He’s gonna pester me for ever now, saying I can’t resist him and can’t keep my hands off him …”

  “Well, he does have a point,” I said, stifling a laugh.

  Tiffany ended up coming with me to my mom’s house for the weekend, and she even helped me go shopping for some new special outfits for my evil plan.

  We had fun with my mom and when we got back late at Sunday, I grabbed all my clothes that were in her room and moved back in to the boys’ dorm room. Seth and Tristan were in our room chilling out. I guess band practice on Saturday had done Tristan some good; he looked a lot happier having his friends back. I guess he’d been feeling lonely this past month. But then I remembered he had Caroline to keep him company, and I didn’t feel that sad about his loneliness any more.

  As soon as I stepped into the room the atmosphere changed, and they both tensed, anticipating the possibility of another fight. They didn’t know I was done fighting. I had my evil plan now.

  “Hi, boys! Missed me much?” I entered beaming widely at them. Tristan eyed me suspiciously from his bed. He was trying to figure out my game. “How was band rehearsal? Did you guys work on my new song? It still has a lot of tweaks to be done.” I dumped my bag on the bed.

  “Yeah, we worked on it a little. Harry wasn’t in the mood to play … He gets awfully lazy when you’re not there, you know?” Seth answered.

  “Oh, I’ll have a word with him about it, don’t worry!” I said, winking at Seth.

  Tristan started to rise from his bed, getting ready to leave. “Tristan, you don’t need to leave because of me. We need to get past this. In fact, I want to apologize for any yelling I may have done. I’m moving back in now, and I wanted to tell you I’m okay with you and Caroline, so stay, will you? There’s no need for you to leave every time I’m around now!” I said, still in a cheerful mood.

  I was really impressed with my acting skills! I didn’t even stutter or pause after saying Caroline’s name!

  “Hey! I even got you guys presents!” I said, opening my bag. “This is for you, Tris. I think you needed another one of these.” I tossed him the package. He eyed me even more suspiciously before opening it. I had bought him another blue T-shirt, this one a very deep, dark blue. “It might make your eyes look as blue as Sammy’s,” I said, smiling at him.

  “And this one is for you, Seth!” I said, tossing him his present. “It’s actually from Tiffany. She told me to give it to you and record your reaction, so … wait just a second, need to grab my camera to film this!” I pointed my cell phone in his direction.

  He looked at me with an even more suspicious, puzzled look than Tristan’s.

  “Hey, I’m just the messenger. Just open the thing already!” I said, laughing.

  He unwrapped it and took out silk Superman boxer briefs. He looked at them, wide-eyed, and then at me, and turned all pink. His mouth was hanging open too. I cracked up laughing at his face. He turned a deep shade of red, pink, purple and then violet. It was freaking hilarious! Those two crazy blonds belong with each other, all right!

  He stuffed the underwear back in the box, and frowned at me. “Joey! Cut it out! And please, don’t let this video end up on YouTube, or I will kill you! You hear me?” he shouted.

  I laughed even louder. Tristan was trying to be serious, but the corner of his lips twitched slightly.

  “Okay, then. I need to grab some dinner. Who’s coming?” I asked, after I managed to stop laughing. I closed my bag and headed to the door.

  Tristan shook his head and leaned back on his bed. “I’m not hungry. Maybe I’ll grab some with Caroline later,” he said, testing me.

  “Okay. Have fun,” I said, smiling softly. “Oh, wait, I need
to take my cell phone and show this to Tiffany at dinner!” I said, turning back to grab my phone.

  “Oh, no you won’t!” Seth shouted, running after me. “And don’t you dare show this to anyone else, Joey!”

  We ran outside the room together, leaving Tristan behind. I sprinted fast, holding my cell phone tight in my hand with Seth went running after me. He eventually caught up with me, and snatched the phone out of my hands, deleting the video. At dinner he acted all cool and thanked Tiffany for his sexy gift, and I laughed the whole time, because I knew what his true first reaction was. Tiff and Seth kept teasing each other during the whole meal. It was a fun night. Not as much fun as the week was going to be, though. I had my evil plan to work on now! I was going to drive Tristan crazy. I felt a little mean about Caroline, but I knew now he didn’t love her. He loved me.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Game On!

  Monday came and The Plan was set into motion. I had Tiffany’s coaching during our weekend at home and a new killer wardrobe to add to my arsenal. I had bought some low-cut shirts, and even a few dresses.

  I also bought a few outfits in a “rock chick” style, for band performances and rehearsals. I was more comfortable keeping the tomboy attitude in place for shows, but this was at least a little sexier. I liked those outfits far more than the dresses, because they were more my style. But this week I wasn’t going for tomboy; I was going for driving boys crazy!

  I would tease, and flirt and provoke Tristan in every possible way, until he cracked and caved, and confessed he was crazy about me! And after that he would have to confess his idiotic plan to make me move on and forget about him. But I decided to start gently at first, so as not to make Tristan suspicious. I put on my brand new low-cut cherry tank-top for first class, and my tight black jeans, and cherry lip-gloss. I was kind of nervous about doing the teasing thing because it was so out of my comfort zone, and totally uncharted territory, but I guess all’s fair in love and war. I had watched Tiffany doing this very same thing with Seth a lot of times before, so all I needed to do was copy her moves and see how I faired. I was no Tiffany in the looks department, but I had something to work with.

  Tristan was already inside the classroom, sitting and talking to Tiffany about something. I sat by his side, and greeted him with a soft smile, winking playfully at Tiffany. Tristan turned his head and looked at me with this usual blank stare. That was my cue to “accidentally” drop my pencil on the floor, and then lean over slowly to pick it up, exposing a lot more of my cleavage area.

  I felt so stupid doing this! It was never going to work! I fought back the urge to blush or giggle, but when I looked up, I saw Tristan’s eyes glued to my chest, the blank stare completely gone from his eyes. Then he snapped his eyes up, lingering momentarily over by my lips. I guess the cherry lip-gloss was a hit too, because his eyes shone intensely for a brief second. Then he blinked and diverted his gaze fast, staring hard at the blackboard.

  Holy crap! It had totally worked! He was really checking out my boobs! I glanced quickly at Tiffany, and she was stifling a laugh on the other side of him, and then she gave me a nod of approval. I had passed my first test!

  So the lean-in-cleavage-move totally worked. I stared ahead, smiling widely. This was going to be so easy! I couldn’t believe it had actually worked! But I tried again later at the lunch table, and I actually caught Tristan and Sammy glancing down, and Josh stretching his neck a little, trying to sneak a peek.

  Boys … It was so easy messing up with them! If only I’d known this before. It was like their brains shut down at the slightest possibility of breasts showing up. I have to admit, though, that I had my own brain shutdown when Tristan had kissed me. But that was different … somehow … I think. Okay. Not so different, after all. But I was glad to know I had the same effect on him.

  That afternoon we had band practice. I changed into my tomboy/rocker girl attire for the rehearsal: baggy low-slung pants and a black tie over a tight white tank-top, leather wristband and Converse shoes. I walked into the room and Harry was the first to compliment me.

  “Hey, Joey! Looking sexy and delicious!” he yelled from the other side of the room. He was barefoot and shirtless, for some reason, his red and green tattoo curling up in his arm and half his chest. I was always amazed by how good Harry’s tattoo looked on him. The others greeted me and complimented me too.

  “Thanks, guys. I’m testing some new outfits for Wednesday’s presentation! I’m glad you like it!” I said, waving at them. “Oh, man, have you guys been stripping Harry again?” I said, watching Harry putting his T-shirt back on.

  Seth, Josh and Sam sniggered. They were constantly forcing Harry to strip to embarrass him. They picked on him because he was the youngest and the smallest – and he got the most embarrassed at being stripped down to his underwear! It was like brothers teasing a younger sibling. I had watched them doing this to him a lot of times already, and I always turned my back when they reached the critical moment, for decency’s sake.

  Harry walked in my direction, sniffing loudly. “I might as well walk around naked all the time to save them the trouble!” he grumbled, annoyed.

  “Guys, you should at least take turns who to strip! Picking on Harry all the time isn’t fair!” I berated them.

  “So, maybe we should take a turn with you, then, Joe! You look good in those clothes, but I’ll bet you’ll look even better without them!” Sam hinted, smirking at me.

  “Hey, you are all free to try to strip me!” I said, shrugging. They all stopped and stared at me.

  “No way! Are you serious? You should’ve mentioned this before!” Josh said from behind his drums. They were all smirking evilly and walking closer to me. Except Harry and Tristan; they just stood still and watched.

  I gave Josh a beatific smile. “I said you can try to strip me. I didn’t say I was going to let you.”

  “That’s good enough for me!” Sam said, reaching out to grab my hands. It was a rookie’s mistake. I side-stepped him and grabbed his wrist instead, twisting it lightly and making Sam grunt in pain.

  “Come on, Sammy! Did you forget about my martial arts classes?” I said, walking behind him and pushing his back, making him stumble forward and away from me. Seth and Josh tried it too, but it was easy escaping their grasp. Josh was a little more difficult, but I managed to skip away from him too. They all tried a couple of times again, individually and together, and I wriggled free each and every time.

  They gave up after a while, panting and sweating. “Okay, we give up. We might as well keep to picking on Harry, then,” Josh said, holding his hands on his legs and panting. Then he stood up and started walking in Harry’s direction. Sam and Seth smirked too, coming to Josh’s aid.

  “Hey! Come on, guys! Again? No fair!” Harry shouted, trying to evade Josh’s grasp. He wasn’t fast enough, though. I waited until they’d completed the dirty job, while Harry struggled and laughed and shouted at them. They liked to tickle Harry to hear him laugh and wiggle more during strip sessions. Harry was very ticklish and his high-pitched laughs were funny!

  After the rumpus subdued, we started working on our songs, and a sweaty Harry started getting dressed again, muttering darkly under his breath. I chuckled and opened my notepad. I could have helped Harry, but seeing him getting stripped was always too damn entertaining for me. Not to mention that it was always a nice view. I glanced at Tristan and he was looking at me and Harry, all serious and in a foul mood. I smiled to myself. Jealousy was actually a good color on him.

  I had a new song that I was working on, and I was helping Josh and Sam with theirs too. Tristan was scribbling a song of his own, leaning over a pile of boxes at the other side of the room. I wondered what his song was about … I guess I would have to wait until he was ready to show it to us.

  After a while I stopped what I was doing and walked over to Sam, looking over at the pile of papers around him. “Sam, do you want me to give some tweaks to your song?” I asked, leaning over him.


  He smiled warmly at me. “Sure, Joe! You can tweak my song as much as you want!” he teased. The other boys starting cracking up at that the innuendo. I rolled my eyes at them.

  “Man! What is up with you today, Sammy? You’re way over-excited!” I said, exasperated, but I smiled at him nevertheless. His flirting was kind of flattering.

  “Sorry, Joey! You just look too good in those new outfits! I can’t help myself!” he said, chuckling and putting his arm around my waist, pulling me closer to him. I laughed and rested my head on his broad shoulder.

  “Yes, Joey! I need you to tweak my song as well!” Josh shouted, laughing at Seth’s side. Seth and Harry were still cracking up over this. Boys.

  “Yeah, yeah, I’ll be there in a minute!” I said, waving at them in annoyance, and looking at Sam’s lyrics. I glanced over at Tristan and he still had a dead-serious expression on his face.

  I whispered to Sam that I would be right back and stood up, walking over to the other side of the room, where Tristan was slouched. He watched me approach with a frown, and closed his notebook when I got right in front of him. I leaned over, resting my hands on my knees, and looked him straight in the eyes. Caution and suspicion flashed inside. But then his eyes slowly descended to my neck and a little lower. Heat burned in his eyes for a split second. Yep. Cleavage-move still working good!

  “So, Tristan,” I purred softly at him. “Do you want me to give a tweak to your song too? I’ll do my best to make you pleased.”

  He snapped his eyes back at me, with raised eyebrows and a hanging mouth.

  “Uh …” was all he managed to say.

  I smiled teasingly at him. “No? Well, let me know if you change your mind. I’m at your service,” I said, and turned to leave, walking back to the other side of the room where Sam was sitting. I crouched by Sam’s side and saw Tristan with his mouth still hung open, staring at me. It was like he needed a brain reboot to start operating properly again. Evil plan was on full blast!