Strings Of Harmony

♫20♫ Nice Lisp, Bro

I saw a blush make its way onto his cheeks.

After Erving’s statement, there was nothing but awkward silence between the three of us.

I was the one who finally broke the silence. “Sterling and I are just friends…” I said, slowly. I mean, we are friends, right?

“Of course,” Sterling finally said, although there was something about the tone of his voice that just didn’t make him sound believable; almost as if he was forcing some sort of emotion down his throat.

“You say that now, but I bet that’ll change once the party starts,” said Erving, winking.

“Party?” I asked. Did I hear him correctly? Since when would I be invited to a party?

“Well yeah, there’s a party for the remaining twenty-five bands—didn’t you know about this?”

“Uh, no? When does it start?”

“I think it’s three days from now. I just learned of it this morning, when I had bumped into Alex.”

“I’m not going,” I said. “Parties are when people make a fool of themselves.”

“This isn’t some sort of underage party,” Erving pointed out. “It’s just a party where the remaining twenty-five bands get to know each other—do you get it?”

I shook my head. “I don’t even care if it’s some kind of gift-giving party. Point is, I hate parties and I surely won’t go to one.”

“Georgette’s going to be there.”

“That’s not going to work,” I said, glaring at Erving. “I’m still not going.”

“It’s mandatory,” he added.

“I don’t care. I hate parties and that’s final.” I crossed my arms and laid them over my chest.

“I don’t think there’s going to be any kind of extreme party going on,” said Sterling. “It’s just a casual meet-and-greet.”

I bit my lower lip and thought for a moment. I shook my head anyways. “I’ll have my brother and friends go. I’ll just stay at home.”

“You sure about that?” asked Erving, as he wagged his eyebrows at me.

“Pretty sure,” I said. “Oh, and there’s nothing you can do about it,” I added.

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“Where were you this whole day?” asked Ivy, suspiciously, when she saw me enter the room.

It was already eight at night and I made my way tiredly to my suitcase, where I took out my pajamas.

“At the hospital.”

“The what?” Ivy bolted up into a sitting position on her bed and then looked at me incredulously. “Were you hurt?”

Lola, who was sitting at the computer desk IMing, looked up at the mention of ‘hospital.’

“What happened, Jules?” she asked, worriedly.

I shrugged. “Nothing to get you guys worried. Plus, it wasn’t me who got hurt, it was Carson.”

“Carson?” asked Ivy. “What the heck happened to him? Is he alright?”

I nodded sheepishly. “I accidentally gave him a peanut-containing sandwich.”

“Wait, so are you implying that he is…?”

“Allergic to peanuts? Yeah, pretty much it,” I said, as I threw my shirt up in the air and then caught it with my hand. “I don’t really want to talk about it, so I’m just gonna coolly make my way over to the bathroom.” I slowly backed into the bathroom and then locked the door behind me.

I sighed. I hope Carson gets better. I still feel pretty guilty about feeding him something he was allergic to.

After I was done with my shower, I quietly got out of the bathroom and then slipped into bed beside Ivy.

“Did you hear about the meet-and-greet party this Friday?” whispered Ivy.

I nodded. “Erving told me earlier today.”

“Wait…you were hanging out with Carson, Erving, and Sterling this afternoon?”

“Only because of Carson,” I said. “We were visiting him.”

“Lucky ass.”

I rolled my eyes.

Ivy suddenly gasped from beside me. “Oh my god, speaking of which, did Sterling ask you out?”

Oh right, I totally forgot about that. Thanks for reminding me, Ivy—note the sarcasm.

“No,” I said, shaking my head. “I misinterpreted his actions.”

Ivy pouted. “That sucks. I was routing for a relationship.”

“That won’t happen for quite some time,” I said. “Oh hey, speaking of relationships, how’s yours with Kyle?” I looked at Lola questioningly. She was still at the computer, typing away.

“Um, it’s good so far,” she said, with a slight blush on her cheeks. “We’ve been texting for a while except at this point; we’re still trying to see where this relationship is going to take us.”

“So you’re still an off-and-on couple?” asked Ivy.

“Kinda,” she said, sheepishly. “I’m just not fully committed yet to an actual relationship, that’s all.”

“Jules…” Ivy suddenly turned her attention back to me. “Since we’re on the discussion of relationships here…I’m just wondering: do you like Sterling?”

“Can we talk about this some other time? I’m tired,” I lied. I really didn’t feel like talking about him at the moment.

“How about your relationship with Carson?” asked Lola.

I groaned and turned around on the bed. I buried my face into my pillow.

“Can you two please leave me alone?” I whined.

“Not until you give us details on the two men in your life,” Ivy said.

“What?” I lifted my face from the pillow and then glared at her. “The two men in my life? I don’t have two men in my life besides Hyde and Kale!”

“For now, yes, but later on, no.” Ivy smirked. “I’m routin’ for a Stules!”

“A what?” I blinked at my friend. What the heck is she talking about?

“You know…couple names? Sterling and Jules put together is ‘Stules.’”

I wrinkled my nose in disgust. “That’s a horrible name!”

“Do you prefer Juling?”

“Ew, no,” I said. “And plus, I don’t think a ‘Stules’ will be happening any time soon. He hasn’t asked me out yet nor will I think he ever will. How do I know that? Oh geez, I don’t know, because he doesn’t like me!” I suddenly noticed how distressed my voice sounded towards the end of my statement. I almost sounded…disappointed; disappointed in the fact that he didn’t ask me out.

I silently prayed that my friends didn’t take notice of the sudden voice change and then with that last sentence uttered, I shifted around in my bed so that Ivy wouldn’t be able to see my face and then waited impatiently for sleep to claim me.

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