Obstruction

Crying over You

I looked at him with murderous intent.

He was just grinning back.
Oblivious to the inner trauma I was fighting.
Or just being an ass.

"No!" I said firmly.

"Why not?" Odd asked me.

"I don't moon," I said giving Simon the international glaring signal for "you are dead".

Simon chuckled.

"Sure... so no humming and randomly smiling into thin air?" Simon teased.

I chose to ignore him.
In fact.
I pointedly ignored all three of them.

"What a pair of pussies!" Oddball exclaimed.

In my peripheral vision I registered Ethan frowning.

I sighed dramatically, dragging my attention away from the very interesting paragraph I was reading. I gave Odd a look of infinite exasperation.

"You are in the best fucking rock band ever. You can have anyone you want! I mean anyone! Both of you! Seriously Izzy. How many random guys have you turned down this week?" he asked.

"None!" I huffed.

"You turned down Freddy in class this morning," Simon said.

I saw Ethan's sideways glance at me in my peripheral vision.

"What?" I asked genuinely bemused.

"Freddy asked if you wanted to see a movie. You said no," Simon explained calmly.

I looked at him and saw the mix of amusement and concern on his face.

"No... that was the whole class going and I had practice with you guys. Come on!" I laughed without humor.

The fact that we hadn't touched the instruments all afternoon kind of defeated my argument. But that was besides the point.

"Erm... Izzy. That was not the whole class going. That was him asking for a date," Simon smirked.

I frowned. I had said no to a few social invites. I had just not imagined them to be date invites.

"Open your eyes Izzy. Or you might miss what is right in front of you," Simon said with a concern uncommon to him.

"So shoot me for wanting to be with you guys," I muttered.

I really did love the feeling of belonging in the band. I felt at home with the guys and the creativity of the music gave me a confidence I had never had before.
I had never laughed so often and so wholeheartedly as I did in that band room.
Besides.
Being in the band meant spending time with Ethan.
Nothing beat that.
Nothing felt better than his smile as we finished a good practice.
Or when he figured out a new song or when we nailed a cover version.
Or when he took time to teach me the guitar riffs.
Or when he looked at me.
Or when he was there, in the same room as me.

"So Ethan. When are you going to ask this mysterygirl out?" Odd repeated just as I had almost managed to forget where this stupid conversation begun.

I sighed and forced my attention back to my book, blocking out Ethan's reply. It lasted less than a page.

So I stood up without a word and left for the cafeteria. I seriously needed a break.

I bought a coffee and sat down at a window table.

"I will figure you out you know," Simon whispered sitting down oposite me.

"Nothing to figure!" I stated.