Page 15 of Hard Rock Love
5
Laying on my bed, feet in the air, I flipped through the sticky notes I’d stuck onto various pages of the novel in my hands. I’d read Pride and Prejudice before so I only needed to skim it. I loved English Lit, but I couldn’t deny I’d taken a look at the syllabus and chosen this class because I’d already done most of the readings. Everyone needed at least one easy cake walk class.
I had just finished re-reading the last section I’d marked when Everly knocked on my bedroom door and poked her head in.
“Still studying?” she asked. “You’ve been at that all day.”
“Just catching up on some reading.” It wasn’t like I had anything else planned for the weekend. Maybe before I would have gone out for coffee and light studying with some classmates. Now, that was the last thing I wanted to do.
I flipped the book closed with a snap.
“Did you need something?” I asked my sister.
Everly had essentially moved in with her fiancé, but she still came back to visit every once in a while. She also still paid her share of rent. She didn’t want me taking on the full payment by myself. I had protested, but she insisted. Everly had once explained to me that she liked still having her own space, at least for now.
“Some days Julian’s hanging with Seth,” Everly had once said. “And you know I love the guy, but sometimes I just need tonotbe there. That boy can be an annoying handful.”
Mostly though, Everly was worried about me being alone so often. Otherwise, why would she sometimes bring Julian along and invite me to their popcorn and home movie nights in the living room?
Although, to be honest, it wasn’t like my sister had ever been around much, anyway. I was used to being alone. She’d always been off working at the music store, or practicing at jam sessions, or traveling to play shows. I never faulted her for it, but it would have been nice to see more of Everly growing up. We’d grown closer in recent years, but I had to admit, as a teenager it sometimes barely felt like I had a big sister at all.
“I was going to tell you I’m going out now and spending the next few days at Julian’s, but now that I think about it…” Everly eyed the books and papers surrounding me on the bed. “I think you should come with me.”
“With you where?” I asked. “To Julian’s place?”
“August is throwing a house party tonight,” she said. I recognized the name as a member of some rock band. “You should come.”
“You mean one of those crazy rock star parties?” I sat up straight in bed. “Those wild ones I hear all those stories about? The ones where people dive into pools from rooftops and swing from chandeliers?” I gave her a skeptical look. “You want me to go to one ofthoseparties?”
“Normally I’d want to keep you as far away as possible,” she said. “You know I don’t want you getting mixed up in the rock star lifestyle. But this time it’s not Cameron throwing the party. August is the mature one. It’s probably going to be more like a casual get together than anything else.”
I doubted any party with rock stars was going to stay casual.
“He's throwing it to celebrate the Cherry Lips album release,” she continued. “All our friends are going.”
Our friends. Really, they were all Everly’s friends. I barely knew anything about the rock stars she hung out with, aside from Seth and Julian.
Seth.
I knew it was just a stupid crush, but that didn’t stop my heart from fluttering whenever I thought of him. Which was often. It had only been days since our first tutoring session, but my mind couldn’t stop fixating on every moment we’d spent together.
Had I just been imagining it when I saw his eyes focus on my lips?
“You should come,” Everly repeated. “It’s not good for you to be cooped up at home studying all the time.”
“I also go to classes,” I pointed out.
“I thought you’d made some new friends. You used to go out with them sometimes.”
I looked down at my novel, playing with the dog-eared pages.
I hated that I’d lost all my friends. Although, I supposed they weren’t my friends to begin with, if they so easily believed those lies.
The few times I’d tried joining their study sessions after word had gotten around, they’d all looked to each other with hidden smirks on their faces. I hadn’t been able to stand the jeering looks. I’d stopped going and they’d stopped asking.
Maybe if I had made any real, true friends on campus, they might have stuck by me. As it was, all my social activities revolved around classmates and studying. It wasn’t worth the heartache to try and reach out, only to risk being rebuffed.
“Schoolwork’s taken up a lot of my time,” I told my sister. “I need to keep my grades up to keep my scholarships.”
