A Fine Line

by Courtney Brandt

  bassgirl17: Yeah, but if I do that, I could wreck one of my most important relationships I have. I think I’ll just stay the course.

  Cartwright213: By staying in the next consecutive Saturday nights? By watching a guy you like go out with someone else?

  bassgirl17: I need to work on my college applications.

  Cartwright213: You need to do right by yourself.

  bassgirl17: I’ll work on it – that’s the best you’re going to get out of me tonight.

  Cartwright213: Well, don’t get so melodramatic about things. It’s *one* date. I guess if he really likes you, then there is still hope.

  bassgirl17: :( Maybe…

  Cartwright213: Is it too late to actually stop the date?

  Lucy’s eyes glanced at the clock… 9:00PM…

  bassgirl17: Yes, but maybe it’s for the best.

  Carwright213: Is there a possibility they didn’t hit it off?

  bassgirl17: (cringe) No. The date I set up was foolproof. I mean, anyone would’ve fallen in love if they went on it. It was seriously THAT good.

  Cartwright213: Sounds like someone thinks pretty highly of herself. Or that someone has entirely too much time on her hands.

  bassgirl17: Hey now, I thought you were going to help me. I didn’t sign online to have someone insult me.

  Cartwright213: Fine. I guess it is possible for two people not to work out. If they do like each other, well, it’s just high school. I’m sure there is some other young man worthy of your affections.

  bassgirl17: Maybe. Maybe I’m doomed to be alone until graduation.

  Cartwright213: Given what you went through last year, I’m not sure if that would entirely be a bad thing.

  bassgirl17: …

  Cartwright213: Buck up, bassgirl. Don’t be a stranger. Let me know how things go.

  bassgirl17: I will.

  Lucy signed off, feeling melancholy and definitely NOT looking forward to the conversation that she was going to have with either Wes or Molly the next day.

  * * *

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN: Picture Perfect

  Lucy tossed and turned throughout the night. Finally falling asleep, she dreamed she was attending the wedding of Wes and Molly and that she was the Maid of Honor. Then, in a complete rip off of The Graduate, she broke things up, stole the groom, jumped on a bus and took off. She was just about to kiss Wes when she woke up. Her heart was pounding and she was sweating. Lucy sunk back into her bed and glanced over at the clock.

  6:30?!

  In case you’ve managed to forget, this is Sunday and you have a big week ahead of you. Go back to sleep.

  Lucy woke up a few hours later not feeling any better. She was sorely tempted to call Sam, but didn’t think he’d really want to hear about it or her crazy situation.

  When Wes showed up to the Karate residence after lunch, Lucy felt like she had been transported back to seventh grade. She had been going through her closet all morning trying to decide what she should wear to see Wes when he came over. It took everything in her power not to run downstairs, knock him flat, straddle him, and demand he tell her every single detail of what happened the night before.

  Since that’s not an option…

  Lucy squinted her eyes as she looked at Wes through her window, trying to figure out from his demeanor if he looked like the type of guy who had given someone a goodnight kiss hours ago…and how much he enjoyed it.

  He’d better not have!!!

  Uh, that’s what people do on dates. Especially dates that are exceedingly romantic, and that’s exactly what you gave him.

  Lucy closed her eyes and immediately imagined Molly and Wes making out. Her eyes flew open and she decided to go for a run. Quickly abandoning her carefully selected “running into Wes” ensemble, she threw on an old marching band t-shirt and some Adidas soccer shorts. She grabbed her running shoes and went outside to put them on. Lucy thought she had escaped any Wes interaction when she finished stretching and stepped off the front porch.

  “Hey.”

  Lucy turned around, “Oh – hey.”

  “You made some great plans last night. You know, you might want to consider selling your services to high school lads who don’t have a clue.”

  “Really? You had that great a time?” Lucy hoped she didn’t sound too disappointed.

  “Yup. What did you get up to last night?”

  Besides obsessing about what you were doing? Not much.

  “Oh you know, not much.”

  “Oh.”

  It took everything in Lucy’s power, again, not to get the exact details of the date, especially those details that occurred near the end of the evening.

  “Well, I’m just going to go for a run.”

  “See you later.”

  “Later.”

  Lucy ran and ran, pushing herself for no apparent reason, cranking up her iPod so that she could block out any stray thoughts.

  Wes watched Lucy sprint away. The girl was even more of an enigma to him than ever. After last weekend’s memorable car wash flirtation, he really thought there was something between them.

  Maybe I was just imaging things…

  Then, she had practically shoved him in the direction of her friend, Molly. It turned out Molly was a perfectly wonderful girl, but there was no real spark between them. He had given her a perfunctory kiss on the cheek at the end of the evening. Wes wasn’t a total expert on the opposite sex, but he thought he recognized a weird sense of relief from Molly. He silently cursed as he remembered what he had said to end the date. The words had just come out of him…

  “I had a great time with you; we should do this again soon.”

  He’d said it to be nice. He’d said it because it was just something you said at the end of a date…whether you meant it or not.

  Did you mean it?

  The look in Molly’s eyes had been one of slight confusion, and then she had responded with an answer in the same tone that he had just used, politely saying, “That sounds like fun.”

  When Lucy returned from her run, Wes was gone and she was glad. Lucy checked her phone and saw that Molly had called. She powered her phone off, deciding not to return the call.

  I just can’t deal with this now!

  You’re going to have to deal with it some time.

  Just not today.

  C’mon, you can do this…it’s just like ripping off a Band-Aid…

  Lucy put on her bravest face as she sat down next to Molly at the senior end of the drumline table at lunch the following day.

  “Hey.”

  “Hey.”

  “Sorry I didn’t return your call yesterday.”

  “No worries.”

  Lucy asked, in her now super fake patented voice, “How’d it go?”

  “Good.”

  GOOD?! I slave for a week on the details on the date and all you can say is ‘good?’

  I told you to reconsider it…

  All I’m asking for is a little credit!

  Mark was sitting on Lucy’s other side, and in true perverted fashion, asked bluntly, “Did you get some?”

  Not exactly how I would’ve phrased it, but…?

  Molly’s cheeks were instantly rosy, “For your information, I did get a kiss good night.”

  WHAT?!

  Lucy felt like she had been punched in the stomach. She struggled to come up with some topic to change the subject, but couldn’t concentrate on anything else than the information Molly had just provided.

  Mark put his hand up, “High five for getting some!”

  Molly rolled her eyes, but knew the only way to shut Mark up was to play along. She put her hand up and the two slapped high fives.

  Lucy didn’t want to admit it, but a small part of her was holding out, hoping that nothing like a kiss had actually happened – that the pair had a wonderful time together and shook hands. Or patted each other on the back. Or maybe just shared a nice, friendly hug…

  There are all kinds of kisses…

&nb
sp; I’m not going to pretend theirs was anything beside the French variety.

  You don’t know that.

  Did you see how red Molly got?

  Did you think that her reaction might be a reaction to Mark?

  No, but if you think that I’m going to get any further details out of her, you’ve got to be kidding…

  Just keep in mind that there’s always hope.

  Pfft.

  Slowly, the week moved on and Lucy tried to get past her hurt and devastated feelings, concentrating all of her energy on the halftime show and avoiding Wes. As Thursday’s practice ended, Lucy was fiercely proud of the performance and instinctively knew the Marching Flyers were ready. The fact they were heading to their first competition was something that struck the bass drummer as a little depressing. It didn’t seem possible that they were already this far along in the season. It didn’t seem fair that the days were getting shorter and the nights longer…that the football fans were already talking about playoffs…that everyone in the band was discussing the rapidly approaching Homecoming dance.

  I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that I won’t be going…

  Well, in all fairness, you did go to two Homecoming dances last year. Besides, I’m sure you could always find someone to go with “as friends.”

  Not interested.

  With the revelation her senior season was nearing (or already past) its halfway point, Lucy decided to make Friday night’s game an unofficial picture night. She smuggled her camera on the march down to the field, taking loads of pictures in the stands and snapping pictures of each section in its element. Lucy was in the snare section trying to get J.D. to smile, which he was flatly refusing to do when she felt a tap on her shoulder.

  She turned around to see Molly and asked, “What’s up?”

  “Can you get one of me and Billy?”

  Lucy shrugged, “Sure.”

  As Lucy centered the two in her viewfinder, an interesting thought crossed her mind…cute couple… She blinked and took the picture. Leaving her bass drum with Bronwyn, the senior made her way over to the Auxiliaries to get a few pictures with Gina and Mandy. Lucy grinned at how much she stuck out in this section. Even with her newly approved “uniform” (one of the band parents had gotten hold of a Bedazzler and hadn’t let go until the hem of Lucy’s formerly black dress was christened with green and silver rhinestones and sequins – complete with emerald bloomers to match), Lucy still felt uncomfortable immersed in estrogen.

  As much as I complain about the guys, I can’t imagine being in any other section.

  As the yellow school bus hurtled toward the competition the next day, Lucy was reviewing the snapshots she had taken the night before. Smiling, she browsed through pictures of the halftime show. She had loaned her camera to Mandy’s mother, who had snapped some excellent pictures of the performance. Lucy nudged her seatmate, “Hey, Tom?”

  Tom’s brown eyes opened and he asked, “Yeah?”

  “Look at these.”

  Tom began scrolling through the photos on the tiny viewfinder, “Hey – we look pretty great!”

  It was true. Mandy’s mom had captured quite a few of the best moments from their routine – including one of the successful aerials.

  Tom stopped on one picture, “Hmm.”

  “What are you ‘hmming’ about?”

  “Look.”

  Lucy looked at the small screen and saw Molly and Billy, “So what?”

  “This doesn’t strike you as particularly odd?”

  Lucy squinted and took a good look at the picture. It was the same one that had made her pause when she took it the night before. Billy was smiling for the camera and Molly was messing with his beret. The two definitely looked like a couple.

  But what about the goodnight kiss from Wes?

  Lucy tried to convince Tom and herself by replying, “They’re just playing. I mean, you could look at any of our pictures and think the same thing, right?”

  Tom gave her a skeptical look.

  “So what? I’m sure it’s just flirting. All of us are guilty of that.”

  Tom gave her another, even more skeptical look.

  “Okay, so what if they do like each other?”

  Tom shrugged and kept looking through the pictures, and started laughing hysterically, pausing on one. Lucy scrambled to get the camera, wondering what her seatmate could be going so crazy over. Her heart started sinking in her chest when she finally got a look. She had taken the picture as a joke and hadn’t intended anyone but her to see it.

  From the stands and in the foreground, Bronwyn was positively gazing at Drew, who was conducting in the background. The redhead was obviously lost in her own little Drew shaped world. Lucy felt somewhat of a kindred spirit when she had taken a picture of young Bronwyn. The bass drummer could remember more than a few moments during her freshman year where anyone could’ve taken a similar picture of her staring at the completely gorgeous, very upperclassman snare player, Cameron MacKenzie. It was a girl thing, and there was no way of making Tom understand.

  Tom grinned and started looking around, “Is she on the bus?”

  “No, she with her friends on one of the other buses, and you are definitely are not going to do or say anything about this.”

  “Oh, come on, I’m just going to tease her a little bit.”

  Lucy said very sternly to Tom, “Absolutely not.”

  “What are you going to do about it?”

  “Two words for you: Jewel Branscombe.”

  Tom narrowed his eyes, “Fine, you win.”

  “Smart move, Finnegan.”

  * * *

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN: Battery Powered

  Once at the competition and satisfied that Tom was going to stay far away from Bronwyn and her Drew crush, Lucy stuck around with the Line seniors as they walked around watching the other lines warm up. As the group made their way through the campus, she tried not to read into the signs she thought she was picking up between Billy and Molly. Being in such a male dominated section, what most people would probably regard as blatant sexual harassment, was generally an everyday occurrence in the world of the Line. However, there was a tension between the two percussionists that Lucy hadn’t noticed before…

  I’m sure they are just friends.

  But what if I set her up with the wrong guy? What if Billy and Molly were meant to be together? What if I wrecked Molly’s love life for her senior year?

  Get a grip. If Molly doesn’t like Wes, I’m sure she’ll let you know.

  Will she?

  Sticking that particular thought in the back of her head, Lucy left her fellow drummers to go buy a soda. Strolling through the competition grounds, for the first time in four years, Lucy was struck by just how lucky she was to be on the Forrest Hills drumline. She had taken it for granted for so long that she was a member of a large Line that was always competitive. From the time you ‘graduated’ as a middle school percussionist and if you were lucky enough to get a position on the Line, the legends, pressure to be the best, and endless stream of inside jokes were passed down to you as soon as you picked up a mallet or crashed a cymbal for the first time – if not earlier.

  Lucy paid for her drink and spaced a moment, glimpsing Bronwyn and her woodwind friends walk around, laughing, and having a good time. Suddenly, the senior bass drummer was a little jealous of the freshman and the years she had ahead of her.

  In just the few minutes since she had walked away, Lucy suddenly realized how differently her entire high school experience could’ve been if she hadn’t stuck with marching band. She smiled to herself, walking back to her Line, and felt sorry for all the people at school that were missing out at how awesome it was to be in band.

  So, who cares if it’s not working out the way you thought it would with some guy? You’ve got something that’s going to last a lot longer.

  Since Lucy had started competing with the Battery last season, she would never get used to the rush of adrenaline that surged through her vein
s when she was in the half arc for the warm up before taking the field for competition. The event this week was at a smaller venue and Forrest Hills expected to take home most of the major honors. Mr. Izzo figured it would be a tradeoff for the seniors. There were no guarantees about the following week’s major district competition and the band director had a soft spot in his heart for this particular graduating class.

  After finishing the warm up, Tom and Lucy went through the paces of their choreography, giving the brunette an extra surge of nerves. Lucy was surprised she felt this way, but there was a completely different pressure performing in front of your peers versus dancing in front of the welcoming stands at a Friday night home game.

  She tried to swallow, but had trouble, and commented to Tom, “It was a lot different at the games, wasn’t it?”

  Tom nodded slowly, “Yup.”

  “We’re going to do fine, right?”

  “Would I let you down?”

  That was definitely something that was not in Tom’s vocabulary. He was a permanent fixture in Lucy’s life and from little things to major ones; she knew he wouldn’t let her down.

  Lucy felt instantly better, “Then let’s go show these judges that drummers really do know how to dance!”

  As they lined up on the far side of the pristine field, Lucy felt a wave of calmness surge over her. She was ready. As they performed the show, she had a moment of glee when the on field percussion judge simply stopped talking when they threw their drums off and started dancing. It was obviously something he wasn’t expecting.

  At the front of the field, Bronwyn was terrified when the show started. While everyone else in the section, it seemed, had utter confidence that they going to win the Percussion caption, Bronwyn was worried that she was going to do something inexcusable like drop a mallet or come in early or play the wrong note and lose the honor for everyone. She tried to stop her hands from shaking but the percussion judge was standing practically right in front of her. Finally, after what seemed an entire song, he moved away.