Page 73 of Rock Out Together
My mom stabbed a spear of asparagus on her plate, having barely eaten more than I had—while my dad was close to cleaning his plate. “You’re not getting too serious with Jason, are you?”
“What does that even mean,too serious? He hasn’t proposed to me if that’s what you mean.”
“You know that’snotwhat I mean, Allison Rae Lancaster.”
“Then what are you saying?”
My father placed his knife and fork on his now-empty plate. “She’s reminding you to not drop the ball. You’re soclose to the goal, baby girl, and we don’t want you to flub it up.”
Mom agreed. “AndIknow how easy it is to fall for a boy who sweeps you off your feet and makes you feel special.”
In my defense, I quickly said, “You and dad met in college.”
“We did,” my dad said, “but we waited until we graduated.”
“To get married,” I added, “but didn’t you fall in love before that?”
My mother’s face said it all—of course, they had.
So I’d won the battle…but I wasn’t sure about the war. And fighting about all this might lead to something I didn’t want—like them forbidding me to see Jason. I wasn’t eighteen yet and still lived under my parents’ roof—not to mention that I wanted to maintain a civil relationship with them.
And that was why I resumed my good girl façade and lied through my teeth. “But it doesn’t matter. Jason and I are just having fun. It’s not serious.”
But I wondered if my parents believed my words any more than I did.
Before I knew it, it was Friday after school, and I was changing clothes for the party at Walker Adams’s house. I hadn’t told my parents where the party was, because I didn’t want them to know it would not be chaperoned. At least,that was the impression I’d been under, and I didn’t want anything stopping me from watching Jason and the band play for a live audience.
More than a tiny audience of just me and a handful of cheerleaders.
Usually, I dressed in fashionable but muted earth tones, but tonight I wore blue jeans and a black Slipknot t-shirt Jason had let me borrow for the occasion that wasn’t too big on me—but, because it was his, I would never want to take it off. Paired with black sneakers, I looked like I couldalmostfit in with kids at a concert.
When Emma and her boyfriend arrived out front, I headed out the door with my purse and a water bottle, locking it behind me. My parents had gone out to dinner and had even invited me to come along, but I told them I had plans. Again, that was for the best, because I really didn’t want them questioning what I was wearing.
When I hopped in the back of Cameron’s Charger, Emma turned in the seat to look at me. “Oh, my God. I need to take a picture of you later.”
“Don’t you dare.”
“I swear I won’t post it on my socials—but this might be the only time in my life I’ll see you in a rock band t-shirt—and years from now, when my memory is failing and I question it, I’ll have the picture to look back on, confirming it wasn’t a figment of my imagination.”
Rolling my eyes, I laughed. Emma always knew how to help me see the lighter side of life. “Hey, Cameron.”
Her silent boyfriend with dark hair simply nodded. “Allie.” Although he drove a sports car, he’d always seemed to be calm on the road and his driving had never made me nervous. Plus, it helped that he was eighteen and could legally tote us around.
“What areyouwearing?” I asked my friend, unable to see much over the seat.
“That cute top I wanted at Kohl’s,” she said—as if I would remember something she’d wanted to buy when we were clothes shopping a month ago. The fabric of the blouse was a dusky blue in a gauzy fabric, perfect for making Emma’s blonde hair and blue eyes pop. “Cam likes it, so that’s all that matters.”
Because Walker’s house was less than five minutes away, we didn’t get much time to talk—and I remembered my dad saying one time that everything in Pueblo was just twenty minutes away, regardless of where in town you were or where you wanted to go. Obviously, when kids all went to the same high school, that distance and time was even less.
When Cameron pulled into the long driveway, I knew this was the kind of house my dad envied and perhaps aspired to. Even though we had a beautiful home with a well-manicured yard in front and back and more rooms than we needed, my father always wanted more—and, the older I got, the more I wondered if it was just for the message his things sent to his clients. I didn’t know what, if anything, Walker’s mother did for a living, but I knew his dad was a dentist—one who obviously did well for himself. The ostentatious, sprawling two-story building with a perfectly tended yard spoke volumes.
As if she could read my mind, Emma said, “I hear they have a place in Aspen, too.”
Of course, they did—because they no doubt went skiing a lot during the winter months. My dad insisted we do it too, and I’d taken skiing lessons as a kid, but it wasn’t my favorite thing. Ice skating was far more preferable.
So quiet I could barely hear him, Cam said, “Don’t go falling for the rich kid.”
Emma started laughing. “You are my one and only, babe. Besides, I’m pretty sure Walker has a girlfriend already—and he’s gay.”
