Out of Step

xxviii. awkward band geeks

It took Alana another week before she felt she could actually face Owen. Not that she didn't see him or make small talk with him throughout the week. Seeing as he sat in front of her during Spanish and was at her house nearly every waking hour of the week, it was hard not to. But Alana tried really hard to keep what had happened at the competition – and her subsequent feelings – out of all conversations. And he didn't bring it up at all.

But it was the day of their end of the season band awards and Alana had managed to get squished next to Owen in the auditorium. Alex, who had cornered her once already this week, kept shooting her glances, which she was sure Owen had noticed by now – he wasn't blind – and Alana was over it.

"I'm running out to see if there's any more desserts leftover," she said, tired of waiting for the directors to organize everything. "Anyone want any if there is any? Or does anyone want to come?"

As it would turn out, everybody wanted a cookie or a brownie, if they had any left.

"I can't carry all this." She huffed out a breath, a short strand of straight hair blowing up. "Someone needs to come with me."

"I'll come," Owen said, and Alana gritted her teeth as Alex shot her another glance.

She made sure to 'accidentally' kick her brother ankle as she squeezed past him, giving an innocent smile when he glared up at her. He, in turn, reached up to flick her arm, but she darted away from him and out into the aisle.

Owen and Alana grabbed the last few sweets they had at the table (they hadn't planned to, but the parents insisted they take them all instead of leaving just a few for them to eat or throw out), laughing at themselves trying to juggle all their desserts, and were heading back to the auditorium when Alana stopped suddenly.

She let out a deep sigh, her brother voice echoing in her head. "Wait."

Owen stopped, turning to her with a raised eyebrow. "What's up."

Alana slumped over, her shoulders and head scrunched together and tried to collect herself, which was taking way to long. She tried to convince herself that she just needed to just get it out with and eventually, as Owen's brow furrowed and he got ready to say something, she managed to spit something out.

"I'm sorry about the kiss," she said quickly, squeezing her eyes closed and scrunching up her face. "Or rather, the sorta kiss, I guess. The not really kiss. The kiss on the cheek."

"Oh, is that all?" Owen said, turning to walk back into the auditorium and Alana opened her eyes to gape at him, her mouth opens slightly. That was all he was going to say to her apology? Granted, it wasn't the best apology, but she'd still expected something a little more than a casual dismissal from him. She scrambled to say something else, to stop him from going into the auditorium without a discussion, and move after him, her feet seeming stuck where they were.

"You're in love with me," she blurted out, spitting the words out and wondering if there was anyway that didn't seem as conceited as it sounded to her. He turned to face her, taking a step back towards her, but didn't say anything and her brain, which had mostly calmed down a minute ago, was panicking even harder now. Despite what she thought she knew; she'd been ready for him to tell her she was wrong. "Maybe not in love. That's stupid. But like a crush or something. Like you like me. I mean, go ahead and tell me if I'm wrong, I certainly wasn't expecting to ever be right, especially not on this.... Plus, it wasn't even my idea to begin with...."

She babbled on for another minute before stopping abruptly, midsentence and swallowing hard. "Are you going to say anything?"

He shrugged, his eyes not meeting hers briefly as he shuffled his cookies to one hand in order to push a hand through his hair. Finally, he met her eyes with his own and gave a small smile. "Sorry, I was trying to work up the courage to tell you, you were right."

Her shoulder relaxed and she let out another sigh, one corner of her mouth lifting up. "My god. This is good. Really, though?"

He nodded his own smile growing bigger.

"Why didn't you say anything before? Why?"

"I wanted to tell you a while ago, but I kept chickening out and then it never seemed like the right time and then you were.... Well, you were dating Emmett and it definitely didn't seem like the right time."

Alana grimaced at the mention of Emmett. "Dating him wasn't my best decision," she muttered quietly.

Owen didn't say anything, but she knew him well enough to know he was agreeing with her.

"So, what do we do now?" She sat down on one of the steps outside the auditorium and he followed suit.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, do we like date or what?"

He gave her a hard and long look. "Not to be that person, but do you really think you're ready for another relationship right now? You just broke up with Emmett last week and when we saw you with Claire, you were a mess."

Alana chewed on her bottom lip, her nose scrunching up. "Maybe not."

They sat in silence for another minute. "But I don't want to...."

She'd been about to say make him wait when she trailed off and he seemed to get that, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"I can wait," he said quietly. "And if things change, if you change your mind or something, then that's fine. We're friends and nothing will change that. Well, it may be awkward for a bit, but that's normal in our group, right?"

To hear him say that was relieving and she leaned into him, resting her head on his shoulder. "We're just a bunch of awkward nerds."

"Nerds? I'm offended," he placed the empty had that had been resting on her should over his heart, sniffing slightly. "We are band geeks."

"Oh, right, I'm sorry. Awkward band geeks."

"And don't you forget it."

"I won't," she said, smiling. He put his arm around her shoulders and gave her a quick squeeze before standing up and holding out a hand to help her up.

"We should probably get back in there before we miss the ceremony."

"You think they finally got everything ready?" She muttered, chuckling slightly as she let him help her up. A brownie tried to jump out of her hands, and she fumbled for a second, catching it right as Eli and Alex rounded the corner from the auditorium.

"Ah, there you two are," Eli said, reaching for one of the brownies from Alana's arms. Alana grumbled, but moved so she could reach one. "We were worried you'd gotten lost."

"Or worse, that you were making out in a dark corner and not bringing us our food," Alex muttered, and Alana's cut a glare towards him. He gave her a sweet smile in response.

"And just where were you two going?" Owen asked, raising his eyebrows at them. Alana was glad he had driven the attention off them.

"To find you," Eli said.

"Speak for yourself, I wanted my cookies," Alex said, reaching for one Owen was holding. Owen danced away, stuffing one of the cookies into his mouth.

Eli rolled her eyes. "Come on, the ceremony's about to start." 

09.28.2020 and we're done! finally! 

In case you're wondering, I started this story around 2011/12, during my sophomore year of high school. I started it because I couldn't find like any good marching band books that centered mostly around marching band. I've restarted this story, three or four times since then and each time it has changed a little bit. The first draft was basically like a memory book mixed with what I hoped would happen. This one is less like that, but you can still see some of my marching band days seeping through in this version of the story. 

So glad I'm done with it and thank you! Bye!