We continued talking about the gig for the rest of the drive home. From the way Hayley kept praising our performance, I feared I was going to have a hard time getting out of the car because my head was getting so big. When I finally pulled in my driveway, she seemed hesitant to get out of the car.
She glanced at her house through the passenger window and let out a sigh. “I should probably get inside.” She didn’t move to leave though, and I hoped it was because she wanted to stay with me a little longer. I wasn’t ready to say good night to her because I never wanted this night to end.
Letting out another long breath, Hayley opened her door. She moved slowly, like it pained her to leave. At least, that’s what I hoped she was feeling. I got out of the car too and met her on the sidewalk. She was twisting her hands together as she looked up at me, and there was a hint of uncertainty in her gaze.
“Thank you for my song tonight.”
“It was nothing,” I said.
“No, it was everything.” She stepped toward me and gently wrapped her arms around my waist. I didn’t hesitate to pull her closer and return the hug. We stood there for several long seconds, and I found the embrace impossible to break. How could such a simple gesture hold so much meaning? It felt almost as intimate as the kiss we’d shared earlier tonight, and from the way Hayley continued to hold me, I hoped she might feel the same way.
Her cheeks looked slightly flushed when she stepped back from the hug, but she turned away before I could tell for sure.
“I’ll see you on Monday, Ethan,” she called out as she hurried toward her house.
She’d seemed so reluctant to leave me before, but now, it felt like she couldn’t get away fast enough. I really didn’t understand girls, and Hayley was more complicated than most. Still, I felt like my feet barely touched the ground as I walked into the house. Tonight had been a complete success.
“How was the concert, honey?” Mom called out, as I entered.
I followed her voice to the living room and found her watching TV. She smiled as I entered the room, and she muted the show she was watching
“It went great,” I said, leaning against the doorway.
“Did Hayley like the song?”
“Yeah, she loved it.”
Mom clapped her hands together. “Oh, I knew she would. When you told me what you were doing, I thought it was the cutest thing I’d ever heard.”
“Mom,” I groaned. “It wasn’t cute.”
“It definitely was.”
I shook my head and walked over to give her a kiss on the cheek. “I’m beat, so I’m going to head to bed.”
“Sweet dreams, honey,” she said.
“Yeah, you too.”
The adrenaline from the concert was starting to wear off as I traipsed up the stairs. And my exhaustion truly hit me as I reached the landing and found my brother standing in the corridor.
“I saw your little performance tonight. Can’t say I’m impressed.” His voice was condescending, and if his words didn’t make it clear he thought my band was a joke, the sneer on his face certainly did the job. “That promposal at the end was just about the most pathetic thing I’ve ever seen.”
Until now, I’d completely forgotten Owen had been planning to come to the gig tonight. I hadn’t seen him or any of his friends during my performance. Hayley hadn’t mentioned him either, so I was guessing he hadn’t made his presence known to her.
“Yeah, well, I’m not sure why you bothered to come.”
“Like I said, I was supporting my brother.”
“Yeah. Sure, you were.” I went to walk straight past Owen, but he stopped me by pressing a hand firmly against my chest.
“Can I help you?” I asked.
“Actually, you can.” He lowered his hand from my chest and dug his hands into his back pockets. “I figure since I was there to support you tonight that perhaps it’s time you tried to show a little support for me too…”
I frowned. “And what exactly does that mean?”
“Mom’s cut off my allowance as part of my punishment for losing my scholarship,” he said. His voice was strained, like it physically pained him to admit it. “Can you lend me some money? I saw the crowd of people at your gig tonight. You must have gotten a decent paycheck for that.”
“You want money from me?” I could barely hide my surprise. Owen never asked me for anything.
“Yes,” he gritted out through clenched teeth. It was clear he was embarrassed to be asking, and he couldn’t meet my gaze. “So, can you do it?”
“What’s it for?”
Owen simply crossed his arms over his chest. “A good brother wouldn’t ask questions.”
“Yeah, well, considering you lost your scholarship for selling drugs at school, I have to wonder if you’re just funding your next investment.” It’s not like he was a drug lord or anything, but Owen had been selling weed to all of his friends. I hated the thought of him repeating that at Lincoln, which was why I’d tried to keep the reason behind his expulsion quiet at school. I didn’t want the other kids getting ideas about Owen and convincing him to sell again.
Owen’s lips remained tight as he scowled at me. When he didn’t answer, I assumed I’d hit the nail right on the head.
“You know you can’t do that shit anymore,” I said. “It’s already messed up your life enough. Don’t repeat the same mistake.”
“Like you care,” he grumbled.
My brother was a dick, but of course, I cared about him. I didn’t want him getting into any more trouble. Expulsion would be the least of his worries if the cops caught onto his little operation. He was lucky his old school hadn’t reported him.
“I do care,” I said. “Which is why I’m not giving you any cash.”
His expression turned dark. “It’s not for drugs, Ethan. Just lend me the money.”
I shook my head at him. “I can’t take that risk. I’m doing you a favor,” I said before pushing past him to head to my room.
“You’re going to regret this,” Owen threatened.
I closed my bedroom door, cutting him off. I felt bad saying no to him, but I refused to help my brother mess up his future.
I rested my head against the closed door as I drew in a deep breath. Tonight had been amazing, but one run-in with my brother and it had quickly turned to crap. Having him home was far harder than I’d imagined.
* * *
Hayley was practically skipping as she came to meet me at my car on Monday morning. She was grinning from ear to ear and looked like she was bursting with happiness. Something pretty great must have happened to put her in such a good mood.
“Guess what?” she asked.
“There’s a sale on at your favorite clothes store?”
“I wish. Guess again.”
“School’s canceled?”
“Nope.”
“You got a tattoo of my name across your arm?”
“You’re horrible at this game.” She laughed. “No, my car is getting repaired today! It’ll be ready to pick up after school.”
“Finally. I was worried I’d have to drive you around forever.”
“Hey!” She thumped a fist into my arm, and I drew back in mock hurt.
“Ouch…”
She laughed. “That can’t have hurt.”
“You have mean fists of fury. I’ll be lucky if I can ever hold my guitar again.”
She rolled her eyes at me, but I grinned. “So, do you need a ride to the shop to get your car? Provided I can still drive and all…” I glanced meaningfully at the arm she’d just punched, making her laugh again.
She shook her head at me. “Thanks, but Dad’s getting off work early to take me. I think he wants to give me another grilling about being a more responsible driver or something. I don’t know how many times I need to tell him that sometimes cars just break and it wasn’t my fault.”
“Perhaps, the mechanic will explain that to him?”
“I hope so,” she replied.
�
��So, no more lifts to school together…”
“I guess not.” Her expression dropped for a moment before perking up again. “But, you’re still my boyfriend, so you’re not getting rid of me that easily.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it.”
She smiled as I opened the car door for her before closing it gently once she was settled in the passenger seat. I was sad this was our last drive to school together. Our journeys were one of the best parts of my day, and I looked forward to them far more than I could admit to her.
As I got in the car, Hayley started bouncing in her seat. “Oh, I nearly forgot, I have another guess what.”
I laughed. “Another one. Was I even close to getting it with my other guesses?”
“Not even a little bit.”
“I think you’re just going to have to tell me then.”
“I’d rather show you.” She pulled her phone out of her bag and turned to me. “I need you to call me.”
“Okay…” I pulled my phone out of my back pocket and realized there was one small problem with her request. “It might be a little hard without your number…”
She blushed and quickly rattled off her number to me. “You can save it under Fake Girlfriend-slash-Velocity’s Number One Fan Girl.”
“Number one, huh? Isla might disagree.”
“Will you just call me?” she asked.
“Okay, okay.” I hit call, and her screen lit up as her phone started to ring. As soon as I heard the ringtone, my chest swelled with warmth. It was a voice recording of the Taylor Swift song I’d sung for her on the weekend.
“How do you have that audio?”
“Isla took a video of the song, and I got her to send it to me.”
“And you made it your ringtone?”
Hayley shrugged. “It’s not every day a guy sings you your favorite song. I don’t think you know how much I loved it.”
She didn’t know how much I loved singing it for her.
“Well, I’m glad you liked it.”
“I did.”
I started the car as Hayley relaxed back into her seat. It felt so easy being with her like this, and I wished once again that our relationship were real. I hadn’t realized just how much I was going to love spending time with Hayley. It was going to be really hard to get over this when our time together came to an end.
I had to keep reminding myself she didn’t see me that way and Owen was the one she wanted. I had hoped I might be able to change her mind, but I wasn’t sure if I was doing enough. She might have loved my song so much that she set it as her ringtone, but that didn’t mean she also loved me.
When we reached school, I stalled before getting out of the car. “So, have you thought any more about your plans for winning over Owen?”
She shifted in her seat but didn’t look me in the eye as she responded. “Oh, ah, more of the same, I guess.”
“More of the same?”
“Yeah, more hand holding at school and dates and stuff,” she said. She seemed vague and almost disinterested, like the subject made her uncomfortable.
“You still want him to take you to prom, right?”
Her forehead creased at the question. “Yeah, I guess so.”
“Okay…”
She glanced up at me, and I got the feeling she was nervous. “I mean, of course, I want to go with him, but I’m worried about you. Your promposal the other night…” Her forehead creased like she was searching for the words, but they all came out in a mad rush once she started speaking again. “Well, I know you weren’t really asking me to prom and that it was just to help convince your brother about our fake relationship, but I keep thinking that it might have ruined your chances with the girl you like.”
She took a deep breath in before you continued. “How can you take her to prom when you asked me that way?” Her voice had turned quiet, and her eyes were large with concern.
I had no idea how she wanted me to answer. I didn’t even know the answer myself. I definitely hadn’t been thinking of my brother when I’d sung to her, and she was the mystery girl, so I was already going to prom with exactly the person I wanted to. What was I going to say?
I gathered my thoughts for several seconds before I replied. “Like I told you before, I’m not worried about taking the girl I like to prom. She’s special enough that I’m happy to wait. And I didn’t sing that song to you to make my brother jealous. I sung it because you deserved to be asked to prom properly. If things don’t work out with Owen, we’re still going, right?”
“Right…”
“So, I wanted to ask you the way I thought you deserved.”
Hayley slowly started to smile, and I felt the pressure around my heart ease at the sight. I wasn’t any clearer on whether her feelings for Owen had changed at all, but I was encouraged by the fact she didn’t seem quite so eager to go to prom with him as she had been when we started this.
“Are you still worried?” I asked.
She slowly shook her head. “Not so much.”
“Okay, good.”
She seemed much happier as we left the car and entered school together hand in hand. I got the strange feeling something was off though as we walked down the corridor. People kept glancing in our direction, and several girls I’d never spoken to before greeted me as we passed.
I gave them a brief nod but was too stunned to answer back. Why were they suddenly talking to me? I’d been holding Hayley’s hand for a week now, so perhaps, her popularity was somehow rubbing off on me.
My confusion only grew as we proceeded to homeroom. The curious looks had followed us the whole way there, and a bunch of girls had giggled as we walked past. There was nothing normal about this behavior, and as soon as Hayley and I were seated in class, I asked her if she knew what was happening. She’d started sitting next to me on Friday, and I was happy to see it wasn’t a one-off.
“Oh,” she replied. “The extra attention might be my fault.”
“Because…” I prompted.
“Because Hayley shared your concert video all over social media,” Isla said, as she sat on Hayley’s other side. “Half the school follows her, so pretty much everyone has seen it.”
Hayley blushed, as she looked my way. “You’re not upset, are you? Please tell me you’re not upset. I didn’t think it would be a problem.”
I wasn’t upset exactly, but I wasn’t really sure how to feel. I loved performing my music, but I didn’t want to draw attention to myself at school because of it.
“Crap, you’re upset,” Hayley said, when I hadn’t replied. “I can take it down.”
She took out her phone, but I quickly placed my hand over hers to lower it. “You don’t have to take the post down.”
“Are you sure? Because I don’t mind.”
I quickly shook my head. “What did you say about the song anyway?”
“Umm…”
Her phone was open on her Instagram account, so I took it from her and looked at the screen. I could see the video from the concert was her most recent post, and below it, she’d written a whole row of heart emojis.
I grinned as I looked at them. “Are the heart emojis for the song, the guy, or the promposal?”
Hayley shrugged. “All of the above?”
My heart did a small flip as I passed her phone back to her. I was probably reading far too much into her heart emojis. There was still a concerned look on her face, and I hated that I’d made her feel guilty for sharing the video. “I swear I don’t mind that you put it up. I was just shocked, that’s all.”
“I should have asked first,” she replied. “Your performance was just so amazing though. I feel like everyone in the world needs to hear it.”
Her eyes were big and filled with sincerity. She honestly loved my music, and I’d let her share it with anyone if it meant I got to hear her talk about it this way.
“Thanks, Hayley.”
She gave me a warm smile before leaning in close. “Plus, with all this attention, your my
stery girl is definitely going to notice you now?” Her voice was low so no one could overhear.
“That’s true.” I smiled brightly as she pulled back from me. She might not know she was the mystery girl, but given the way Hayley was looking at me, I didn’t seem invisible to her anymore. I was going to take that as a small win.
Hayley frowned slightly as she took in my happy expression, but Isla tugged on her arm and pulled her attention away before I could figure out why. The two of them were growing far too close for my liking. I wanted them to be friends, but I was also concerned about Isla accidentally spilling the truth about my very real feelings for Hayley.
“Hey, Romeo,” Colin said, taking the seat next to me.
I rolled my eyes. Hayley might have loved my Taylor Swift song, but Colin was never going to let me hear the end of it. He’d been calling me by that stupid name all weekend.
“I hear everyone at school’s got a new guy to obsess over,” he continued. “And his name is Ethan Beck.”
“No one’s obsessing over me,” I grumbled. At least, no one I cared about.
“Almost every girl I passed on the way to class was talking about how incredible your promposal was,” he replied. “They wouldn’t stop gushing over your voice, and I swear I heard one of them use the term ‘sexy dork.’ I think that’s pretty accurate. Minus the sexy part, of course.”
“Of course.”
He shuffled in closer to me before he continued. “It’s great exposure for the band though,” he said. “I heard people talking about coming to our next gig.”
That, at least, was something I could get behind. I might not have wanted extra attention at school, but the more people who came to watch us perform, the better.
“And this is all just from Hayley’s post?” I asked.
He shook his head. “She wasn’t the only one to post the song. Some of her friends did too, and they’ve all got massive followings after that bachelor contest they did. You should read the comments on the videos. Everyone loved it.”
“And you said it was a stupid idea.”
The Wrong Prom Date Page 14