Since I received nearly a perfect score on my take home test, Mom agreed to let Kurt come over for a little while after school on Tuesday. Somehow he managed to fit his guitar case in the school’s paper-thin lockers, but that was beside the point. I was still in the midst of my friends barraging me over the fact that I had a boyfriend.
Even the word itself sounded weird. It didn’t fit with my whole Lonely Lia ego. I was no longer single, and it was already bothering me. I had to think about Kurt, not just myself, which was difficult to get used to.
“So, this right here is the basement studio,” I said to him.
I counted the steps in my head, then put my foot safely on the concrete floor at number fourteen. Star followed behind me, and Kurt behind her. For some reason the musty smell was stronger than usual.
“Well, it looks like a basement,” he said. “I didn’t know that studios were filled with Christmas decorations.”
I crossed my arms. “What, you don’t have the same crap in your basement?”
“No.” He chuckled. “I’m Jewish.”
I sighed. “Just follow me.”
I held my arms out through the path between all the boxes. Dad always had a slight hoarding problem. When I reached the drums, I sat down and grabbed the mallets. I heard his guitar case open after he set it down.
“Wow. Old set,” he said.
“It’s not old, it’s vintage.”
“Well I don’t mean to be offensive, since it’s your dad’s set and all,” he said, “but vintage or not, you need a new pair of sticks.”
I turned to him. “Sticks?”
“Yeah, the drum sticks.” His fingers started strumming the acoustic guitar as he tuned.
“You mean the mallets,” I said.
“Okay, they’re mallets,” he said. “But whatever you call them, you really need new ones dude.”
I rubbed my thumb over the one in my left hand and felt the slippery texture of the duct tape that held it together. “Let’s just play.”
“Hang on, I’m not done tuning.” He paused. “What should we play, pretty lady?”
I turned away, trying not to let him see me blushing again. I thought about all my favorite songs and tried to think of something that wasn’t Rayvn. How was I even supposed to know what he knew and what he didn’t?
“Okay,” I said. “What about something by The Crazy Monkeys?”
“Oh wow.” His voice lightened. “I thought you didn’t like listening to older stuff.”
“I don’t mind some sixties stuff,” I said. “Do you know Heartbreaker? Back to Earth? See You Saturday?”
“Yes, that one! See You Saturday.” He walked over and stood close to me. “It’s extra adorable. So that’s why we should play it.”
I gripped my ancient mallets and started playing the drum beat from the beginning of the song. Kurt joined in with his guitar and then vocals. My goal was to keep focused through the end. I really liked Kurt a lot, but he wasn’t exactly the best singer. There wasn’t much room for my own criticism, seeing as how I was such a bad singer I was taken out of chorus in seventh grade, and it was a mandatory class.
As Kurt sang, I tried to picture the song’s story in my head. It appeared to be about a guy who liked “this girl with long blond curls” and really wanted to take her out on a Saturday night for a root beer float and onion rings. However, she was “giving him the cold shoulder” when all he wanted was “to hold her.” It was insanely popular back in the late sixties.
Right when we finished playing, my phone vibrated in the back pocket of my jeans. I reached for it and pressed the button on the front.
“Text from Sarah,” the voice said. “When are we going to double date?”
I rolled my eyes and slid it back into my pocket. Kurt put his arm around me, giving me one of those side-hugs. I tried to finagle my arm around his guitar, accidently latching my hand onto one of his butt cheeks instead of his waist. I gasped and put my hand back at my side.
“I’m so sorry,” I said.
I felt his lips press against my left cheek. They were a little moister today. “You do know that I have no problem with you touching me anywhere, right?” I smiled and got to my feet, trying not avoid the urge to wipe his saliva off my face. “You’ll live, I promise.”
I sighed and plopped back onto the stool. “I just didn’t know lips could be so…weird I guess.”
* * *
The next morning, Kurt was invited to our morning girl talk sessions. He met me by my locker and we walked to the back of the cafeteria holding hands. The place was just as loud as it was usually. Everyone smelled of coffee, the girls were extra scented from just putting on their body sprays.
“I’m excited to meet the rest of your friends,” he said.
I didn’t answer, since I was more nervous about Nathan. Kurt’s family coffee shop still wasn’t doing well and I could tell that his anxiety was on the rise. My friends called to us when we got closer.
“Oh, you guys are so adorable!” Maxi said. “I’m Maxi, the prettier twin.”
“Nice to meet you,” Kurt said.
Maya, Bryan, and Trevor introduced themselves as well. Nathan didn’t say a word. Over the noise I could hear their sloppy kissing.
“You guys are gross!” Maya said.
Nathan groaned and they separated. “So Kurt, how’s the family business?” he asked.
“Its fine,” I interrupted.
“I was asking Kurt.” There was an edge to his tone. I tried to calm myself.
“Well, I guess it’s going okay,” Kurt said. “We’re getting some more bands this weekend.”
“Anyway!” Sarah jumped in. “Did you guys here about Kayla and Mark’s huge fight yesterday?”
Maya gasped. “No way.”
“Was that the one in the hallway?” Maxi asked.
I just tuned everything out from there. There was a pull in my right hand, and I let go of Star’s harness so she could lay down. As the girls talked, I just smiled and nodded so it looked like I was paying attention. Trevor and Bryan attempted talking to Kurt about sports, which was a total failure since the only games he played were on a computer.
When the bell for homeroom rang, I reached down to grab Star. Usually if she was on the floor, the second my hand touched her harness she would get right to her feet. I wrapped my hand around the bar and she didn’t move.
“Come on Star,” I said.
When I pulled, she finally got up. Kurt took my other hand and we started walking out of the room and down the hallway.
“Is Star okay this morning?” Kurt asked.
“What do you mean?”
“She looks tired.”
My grip tightened around her harness. “She’s nine years old. I think it’s just her age.”
He kissed me goodbye on the cheek and we went our separate ways. The day dragged just like every other one, but as we got closer and closer to winter break, school just felt worse and worse. Kurt sat a few seats away from me in LRA. There were only a few math problems I had to do. I was too busy typing up notes on my laptop for Living Brighter since we were having a quiz on Friday.
At the end of the period, Kurt walked with me to my locker as usual. The way he fidgeted when he held my hand made it seem like he was even tenser than that morning. It made me nervous. I just wanted him to be happy. I wanted the coffee shop to be fixed, mostly because it would’ve warmed my heart to see Nathan and his family go broke.
“You’re stressing,” I said, pulling my locker open.
“I know.” He paused. “It’s just that we’re not getting any business and my dad can’t get his job back. We’re going to have to close in a few weeks if we don’t get more customers.”
“Maybe you guys just need better marketing,” I said. “Or better bands.”
He leaned onto the lockers. “We don’t even have enough money to advertise.”
I felt for my math textbook in my backpack and put it onto the shelf. “Then you should get some better entertainment.”
“And how am I supposed to do that?” he asked. I smiled. “Really? Is that the best you’ve got?”
“Hear me out,” I said. “I’ve got a family and like, three friends with boyfriends. That’s like ten people right there who will come to watch!”
“And what are we supposed to do after that?” he asked.
“We’ll figure that out. So are you in?” I put my hand out.
He sighed, then shook it. “I don’t have any other choice, so I guess I’m in.”
I laughed. “Who knows? Maybe this could turn out to be the start of our music careers.”
He wrapped his arms around me and squeezed me tighter than ever before. “One step at a time, okay?”