Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter
twenty-two
“IT’S TIME TO TALK ABOUT date two with Andrew, Grandma. The people want to hear it,” I said a couple days later. The last episode was now at two hundred views, and I was getting daily messages on my social media asking for the next part. People loved my grandma. I understood. She was lovable.
“They’re going to be disappointed with how underwhelming it was,” she said.
“I doubt it.”
The blinds on the window in my room were open today, and she was distracted by some kids who were riding scooters on the street outside. But she wasn’t playing with the cord to her headphones, so that was good.
Despite her distraction, she answered my question. “In the summer, on the first weekend of the month, a band would come to the beach and perform. It was free and I went a lot, but this time, Andrew asked me to go with him. He picked me up in a convertible he’d borrowed from his grandpa, and we drove it to the packed parking lot by the rock.”
“Do you remember which band was playing that night?”
“I wish I did. It would make for a better story,” she said.
“Either way it’s a good story.”
“They were usually local bands who mostly played cover songs. They’d get together one summer and were broken up by the next. Moved on with their lives to things that actually paid money.”
“Sounds like some things never change,” I said.
“And so many other things do,” she said, her eyes still on the window.
“Was it a fun date?”
“It was loud and crowded and, yes, very fun. He bought me a hot dog and a lemonade, and we sang and laughed. That was the night he told me he was working on a painting for me.”
“Did you know it would be on a surfboard?”
“I had no idea. I asked him if I could see it, and he told me to have patience. Then a slow song came on and he looked at me and said, Do you know how to slow dance or do you need to stand on my feet? ”
I smiled. “He didn’t give you the option to say no.”
“I didn’t want to say no.”
“So did you dance or stand on his feet?”
“A little of both,” she said with a smile. “I coiled my arms around his neck. He had long hair that came past his shoulders, and it was wavy and soft. I played with it as we swayed back and forth. After I’d rejected his last attempt at a kiss, I could tell he was waiting this time, even though we were close, staring into each other’s eyes. If I wanted a kiss, I was going to have to initiate.”
“Did you?”
“It was romantic, but I didn’t want my first kiss to be in the middle of a crowd. So no, we danced and held each other, sand pressing between our toes, the moon bright overhead, but we didn’tkiss.”
“Sounds like a lot of excuses, Grandma,” I teased. “When you were really just scared.”
“I was,” she admitted. “I liked him at this point, but I didn’t quite trust him. He was the type who could have any girl he wanted. Why me?”
“What did he say to change your mind?” I asked, hoping she had some insight because I completely understood where she was coming from. “To convince you.”
“He didn’t say anything. He just kept being him.”
“I LIKED YOUR LATEST EPISODE,” Jensen said. “Seems like everyone else did as well.”
We were outside, heading toward the cafeteria for some reason. Nolen had been intentionally vague when we got to class, saying we were going on a field trip of sorts. And now we were walking across campus. The seagulls sounded louder when the hallways were empty like they were now, and their squawks echoed around us. I was just about to jog ahead, ignore him, catch up with Ava, when Nolen turned around.
“You have a podcast?” He walked backward with the question. He had obviously overheard Jensen’s words.
“I do,” I said. “It’s about my grandma’s life.”
He slowed down until I’d caught up, then started walking beside me, on the opposite side as Jensen. “What was significant about her life?” It was a rude question, but I knew what he meant.
“Nothing,” I said. “And everything. She was just a normal person, but the way she tells her story makes it interesting.”
Jensen could’ve said that I helped her tell an interesting story, like Theo had, but instead he contradicted me and said, “She dated Andrew Lancaster.” As if that was the only thing that made her story worth telling.
“The painter?” Nolen asked. “That’s really cool.”
“I think it’s less about the fact that he was a famous painter and more about the fact that he was just a regular guy, falling in love.”
Jensen and Nolen shared a glance as if that wasn’t true at all.
“It has over a thousand listens now, and we have talked very little about his painting life,” I insisted. I still couldn’t believe a thousand people had listened. I’d only recorded and posted the latest episode two days ago.
“Wow, that’s impressive,” Nolen said. “Good job. That’s hard to do as an indie podcast.”
“Thanks,” I said.
Jensen mumbled something under his breath.
“What?” I asked.
“I shared it on my Insta last week.”
“What?” I asked again.
“Your podcast. I told people to listen to it.” He was the one who had shared it?
Nolen let out a surprised hum. “That was good of you. Hopefully your support of our podcast will drive some numbers our way as well.”
We were approaching the cafeteria, and Nolen, who had fallen to the middle of the pack while talking to us, seemed to realize he was the leader here. He gave us a nod before rushing to the front.
“You’re something else,” I said. Jensen shouldn’t have been able to surprise me with his actions anymore, but he still managed to.
He seemed to think that was a compliment instead of the sarcastic insult it obviously was because he said, “You’re welcome.” And not in a snarky way.
“Ugh,” I groaned. “Don’t talk to me.” With those words, I really left to find Ava.
“What are we doing here?” she asked as we walked through the doors of the cafeteria.
It had been a while since I’d eaten in the cafeteria, but I suddenly remembered a time last year when it was raining out and nearly everyone had piled into the building from where they normally sat in the courtyard or front lawn. It was packed, and there were no seats as I looked for Jensen or my friends. I wasn’t watching where I was going in my search and nearly ran into Theo. He’d prevented the crash with a quick hand to my elbow, and then he kept walking. That memory immediately washed out the bad taste in my mouth left by the conversation with Jensen.
It wasn’t raining now, and the cafeteria was empty. It was Thursday and I hadn’t seen Theo much this week. Just a couple times while passing in the halls. His earbuds in, his hands in his pockets. He’d give me a nod and a smile, but didn’t try to catch up with me or walk me to first period like he’d been doing the week before. After seeing him so much last weekend, it felt a bit like withdrawal. I wondered if I’d hurt him more than I realized on Sunday when I said I didn’t trust him. The acidic taste was back in my mouth.
“I’m not sure why we’re here,” I said to Ava.
“Okay!” Nolen called as we stopped in front of a table with two cafeteria trays. “Features are short side stories that can be told in regular reports as part of the bigger podcast. For example, Jensen thought a fun feature could be a weekly review of the cafeteria food. He also thought this would be a way for more people to have a voice on the podcast.”
“Jensen?” I said with a scoff, not able to keep it in. “Features were literally something I wrote in my topics notebook that he looked at.”
“I didn’t know what features meant when I saw it in your notebook,” he said.
I pursed my lips together, forcing myself to shut up because the look on Nolen’s face said that he thought I was acting immature.
He continued as if I hadn’t interrupted. “I would like you each to put in a bid. As to why you’d be good for the job as feature reporter. I’d also like to hear a few other ideas for features. It will be great on-mic practice and could lead to a bigger role on the podcast if they’re well received.” His gaze fell on me with those words.
Maybe I was being ungrateful, but this felt like a consolation prize. A pat on the head. Or maybe Nolen was looking at me because he wished he’d picked me instead of Jensen, who knew next to nothing about podcasting.
“Thanks, once again, Jensen,” Nolen said. “For this great idea. This is what happens, people, when you bring in an outsider. It might seem threatening at first, but there is something to be said about fresh blood.”
I almost rolled my eyes but held back. He talked a little bit more about features, and when he was done people asked if they could actually try the food on the table. That’s how class ended. I held back as everyone quickly left the cafeteria, then approached Nolen and Susie, who were cleaning up the trays from the table.
“Hey, guys, can I…?” How did I even start this? I really didn’t want them to think I was a sore loser, but Jensen taking credit for my ideas again today was simmering in my chest. “I had that feature idea written in the notebook he looked at.”
Nolen nodded. “You have good ideas. We’re glad to have you on the team.”
Susie just gave me a sympathetic look.
Right. They didn’t care. I turned toward the door.
“Finley,” Nolen said.
“Yeah?”
“We almost picked you,” he said. “We did. And had Jensen not tried out, we would’ve. But your main problem is that you’re in your head too much. We can see you thinking. Trying to get it just right. You need to relax behind the mic. Let yourself make mistakes. Mistakes make you more relatable.”
“I have a feeling Jensen will be very relatable, then,” I said. I couldn’t help myself. I understood what Nolen was trying to say, but too many mistakes were just messy.