Chapter Nineteen
Brock
“Man,” Cooper groans as he turns over onto his stomach. It’s Friday after school and he and the others are squished on Lexi’s bed, some of them trying to read the same comic book together while the others wait their turn. I’m on the floor with my fantasy book. “I’m bored,” he continues. “Is it my turn yet?”
“No,” Nate says as he turns the page. Gael and Theo are trying to read with him, arguing when one of them finishes the page before the others. Lexi, Finn, and Dean are reading old comics as they also wait.
I lift a brow at them. “You know you can buy more copies, right? You all don’t have to share the same comic book.”
“Nope,” Finn says. “This is a limited edition. We were lucky to snag this one.”
“Hey, man, pass me your book,” Cooper directs at me. “I’d read that over staring at the walls.”
“Heck no. This book is mine.”
He scowls.
Lexi bends over to peek at my book. “Why does that look like it’s falling apart? And why are there so many scribbles?”
I smooth my hand over the wrinkled pages. “This was my grandfather’s. The one who died in the fire. Dad gave it to me when I was eleven, but I never read it. Until now. I was scared to ruin the pages. But it’s fun reading his comments. My granddad was such a nerd. See here?” I point to some scribbles. “He’s fanboying over this dragon. And see here?” I go on to talk more about his notes.
Lexi smiles. “You feel connected to him? Reading the book, I mean.”
“Yeah. It kind of feels like I’m getting to know him, you know?”
She smiles again as she squeezes my hand. A tingle shoots down my spine as my eyes dart to where her fingers are wrapped around mine. I notice Finn also looks in that direction before Lexi drops my hand.
Cooper holds out his palms. “If the book is delicate and means that much to you, keep it. I probably wouldn’t make it past page one.”
“And you’d lose all the pages,” I tell him.
“Yep.” He lies down on the bed, banging into the other guys who start complaining.
Dean glances at all of us. “Anyone want to get out of here? There’s a party at Sarah Linn’s house.”
Gael’s eyes widen. “Right! It’s supposed to be epic. First party of the year and all that. Edenbury High is known for killer first parties.”
I frown. I’d rather stay home with Grandpa’s book. “Pass.”
“Yeah, man,” Nate agrees. “We’re good here.”
“But we’ve gone to parties in the past,” Dean argues. “Maybe we’ll meet girls.”
Cooper sits up. “Girls? I’m in!”
Nate frowns. “It’ll only be fun if all of us go. Lexi, you in?”
She glances at me. “If Brock comes.”
“Not sure I’m in the mood.”
“Brick,” Theo groans.
My eyes snap in his direction. “Did you just call me Brick again?”
He smiles crookedly. “I’ll call you that until you agree to come with us.”
I cross my arms over my chest. “Pass. I want to read my book.”
“Brick.”
I narrow my eyes at him.
Lexi glances from me to Theo. “Am I missing something here? What’s with this Brick thing?”
Theo spends a few minutes telling everyone about it. They laugh, a few slapping hands at how ridiculous that story is.
“Let’s call him Brick until he agrees to come,” Theo says.
“Brick! Brick! Brick!” Everyone except for Lexi chants. She playfully rolls her eyes at how irritating the guys are. I know they’re just messing with me and don’t mean any harm. One of the best things about our friend group is that we’re so comfortable with each other that teasing doesn’t bother us. At least, that’s how it was in the past. I’m glad the guys aren’t treating me any differently.
“Brick! Brick! Brick! Come on, Lexi.” Theo elbows her in the ribs. “He’ll listen to you.”
“He doesn’t want to go and I won’t force him.”
Gael drops down next to me, folding his hands under his chin, his eyes widening in a begging manner. “Please, man. Do a guy a solid.” His eyes widen even more. They’ll pop out soon.
I sigh. “Look, I really want to read this book. You guys can go without me.”
“I don’t want to force you to go if you don’t want to,” Lexi says. “But you can always read the book when you come back.”
“Yeah, the party is for one night, but you can read the book any time,” Dean says.
I take a few seconds to scan my friends. Gael’s still begging with his eyes, Cooper looks like he really needs to get out of here, Dean is bored out of his mind, the others appear like they just want to have a good time. And Lexi smiles sweetly like I’d make her night so much better if I came.
The truth is, I can read Grandpa’s book later. It’ll be waiting for me when I return. I’m trying to go back to my old self, which means I can’t hide in the house anymore. I should hang out with kids my age and have a good time with my friends. I owe them at least that for ignoring them for four years.
“I’ll go on one condition,” I say.
“Anything,” Dean says.
I direct my attention to Theo. “No more calling me Brick.”
He chuckles as he rams his fist into mine. “You got a deal, bro.”
We make our way out of Lexi’s room and down the stairs. Lexi, Finn, and I walk together, behind the other guys.
“Have you gone to parties at your old school?” Finn asks me.
“A few. They weren’t really my scene.”
“Did you dance with girls?” Finn prods.
Lexi’s ears perk up.
“Not really. I mean, I talked to girls and hung out with them, but most knew I wasn’t looking for a girlfriend.”
Lexi’s mom is in the kitchen, talking on the phone. Sounds like it’s her boss or someone else from the elementary school.
Lexi taps out something on her phone and holds it up to her mom. It says: We’re going to a party.
Her mom gives her a nod, mouthing at all of us to have a good time. We thank her and file out of the house.
“Come into the van with us, man,” Finn tells me. “Got room for you.”
“Okay, thanks.” I’d be worried about parking my bike in front of Sarah’s house, where who knows what could happen to it.
We climb into the van, Lexi getting shotgun, which she apparently always gets because she’s the queen. I chuckle as I find a seat in the back next to Nate. It sucks that she’s so far from me.
She glances toward the back, smiling at me when our eyes meet. It’s like she’s so happy I’ve decided to join them. Does she miss me when we’re apart? I definitely miss her.
Finn pulls out of the driveway and drives toward Sarah’s house. She doesn’t live that far from Lexi and we reach there in only a few minutes.
Once we’re all out of the van, we make our way to the entrance. Loud music emanates from the house. There are so many people here, it’s hard for us to walk through the crowd. Because I’m behind the rest of the guys, I’m pushed to the back. But a warm hand slides into mine, preventing me from getting lost. Looking up, I find Lexi beside me.
“I’m never letting you go again,” she whispers to me.
I tighten my hold on her hand. “I’m never letting you go, either.”
She smiles sweetly at me.
We’ve lost the rest of the guys, but I can’t say I’m too upset about that. I wonder if she likes when it’s just the two of us, too.
“Should we look for the guys?” I try to ask over the loud music.
“What?”
I repeat it, but she shakes her head, tapping her ears. She’s wearing a sly smile, so I’m wondering if she’s pretending not to hear me so we have an excuse not to look for them?
She pulls me all the way to the side of the room, where there aren’t many kids. It’s still loud, though, which is a bummer because I love talking to her.
“Let’s dance,” she says.
I go still, but then I smile. “Okay.”
I’m not the best dancer, but I used to dance with them all the time when we were younger. We’d goof off and just have a good time. Considering they’re dancers, it’s second nature to them. For me, I just liked having a good time.
She moves her body to the beat of the music and I do the same. We’re quite some distance from each other, though I wish we were closer. But maybe this is for the best. As friends, we can’t be too close.
“This is fun!” she says as she twirls.
I copy her like I did many times in the past, since she’s the expert. “Lots of fun.”
She glances around. “Where do you think they are?”
“Maybe they’re looking for us.”
She laughs. “We’re so rude for dancing without them.”
I chuckle. “You’re the rude one.”
“No, I’m not.” She laughs again. “Okay, maybe. But I want some Brick time.”
“Oh my gosh.”
She giggles. “Couldn’t resist.”
We continue dancing. I grab her hand and spin her around a few times. She loses her balance, crashing into my chest.
My arms come around her to hold her in place before she goes flying again. “Sorry.”
She just laughs, her entire body convulsing as she rests her head on my chest. “That was fun!” Drawing back, she gives me a bright smile, one that awakens something in me. “I always have fun when I’m with you.”
“Me, too.” My hand moves to stroke her hair, when a voice says, “There you are.”
Lexi and I stumble away from each other as the guys stand before us.
Finn looks from me to Lexi. “You guys are dancing without us?”
Nate waves his hand. “It’s cool. We all know Lexi can’t not dance when the music is blaring,” he teases.
She playfully sticks out her tongue at him. “At least I’ve got killer moves.”
Cooper snorts.
She places her hands on her hips. “Think you’ve got better moves than me, Coop?”
He shrugs. “Well yeah.”
“I was cast as Clara.”
“Meh.”
“Fine. Let’s have a dance-off. But in teams of two.”
Cooper pulls Gael to his side. “I got The Nutcracker on my team.”
Lexi pulls me, Finn, and Nate. “The winning team.”
Cooper snorts again. “We’ll see. Who’s going first?”
Lexi gestures to him. “Honor is all yours.”
He grins. “Watch us smoke you.”
“In your dreams.”
Cooper’s team does these crazy moves, following the beat of the fast song. They’re killing it and it makes me a little nervous. Even though this is all fun and games, I want to win for Lexi.
When they’re done, they bow.
“Pssh.” Lexi snorts. “Watch the pros kill it.” We quickly huddle together, and she tells us what moves she wants us to do. I know them very well because we did them all the time as kids.
But as we start, I realize they’ve upgraded the moves to make them edgier. I’m a little lost in the beginning, but I catch on very quickly. Soon, we’re dancing so well, definitely showing them up. And when we’re done, we cross our arms over our chests, giving attitude.
As Cooper’s team goes again, we plan our next moves. Lexi makes sure to use dances that I’m familiar with, and they explain to me how they’ve improved them over the years.
“Lame,” Lexi says when Cooper’s team is done.
Our team goes again, and as we’re dancing, I notice that many kids have stopped dancing or chatting and are watching us. My team notices as well, which lights a fire under us and causes us to perform much better than we did before. When we’re done, everyone claps and cheers.
“Last round,” Lexi tells Cooper. “And the audience will decide the winner.”
The kids cheer again.
Cooper’s team whips out some interesting moves. My team once again discusses what we’re going to do, and when it’s our turn, we completely demolish Team Cooper.
Lexi lifts her head in triumph. “Take that, Coop.”
He smiles smugly.
“So who won?” Theo asks the crowd. “Team Cooper…?” Everyone cheers. “Or Team Lexi?” They cheer harder. “Darn it.”
“Yes!” Lexi waves her arms over her head. “We won.”
All four of us gather in a group hug. Lexi holds out her hand to Cooper. “Good game, Coop.”
He scowls, but shakes her hand. “No one can beat the queen.”
“Long live the queen,” Nate says with a laugh.
Lexi raises her chin. “You mean Clara. But thanks.” She curtsies. “That was so much fun.”
“Yeah, it was, even though we lost,” Gael says. “But no more competition. Let’s all dance together.”
Dancing as a group is great and fun, but I miss when it was just Lexi and me. At the same time, I’m glad I’m spending time with my friends, just like we did when we were little.
They teach me a few more moves that they perfected over the years. Some of them are so sick and seem impossible, but I surprise myself when I’m able to pull them off.
“Nice,” Lexi says with a bright smile. “You sure you don’t want to take dance classes with us?”
I make a lame attempt at a pirouette. “I think I’ll pass.”
She and the others laugh.
We continue dancing together. Each guy has a chance to spin Lexi around, dipping her, and doing crazy moves with her. When it’s my turn, the music suddenly shifts to a slow song.
She looks at me and I look at her. Some of the guys “ooh” like they’re curious what’s going to happen next. Does Lexi want to slow dance with me? From the look in her eyes, I get the feeling that she does. But I can’t know for sure.
She steps closer to me, a shy, but sweet smile on her face. I inch close to her. I’ve never slow danced before, but I’ve seen it on TV. And anyway, I figure my brain, or at least my body, will know what to do.
Just as I’m about to raise my hands and place them on her waist, Finn’s phone blares. “Ugh! Sorry, guys, but my parents want me to come home ASAP. So lame.”
Lexi and I back away from each other, her pushing some curls behind her ear. “Oh, really?” she asks. “Did something happen?”
He scans his phone. “Not sure. Maybe they just don’t want me to be out this late. Ugh, my parents are so lame. Sorry.”
“It’s cool,” Dean reassures him. “It is getting late.”
We nod and walk toward the exit. I glance behind me at Lexi, who’s walking in the back, and when her eyes meet mine, she smiles. I wonder if she’s as disappointed as I am that we didn’t have a chance to slow dance together.
But if we had…what exactly would that mean? Do best friends slow dance together? Does it always mean something?
“Brock? You coming?” Finn calls.
Looking up, I realize I stopped walking and am standing outside the house. The other guys have already piled into the van.
“Yeah, coming.”
As I climb inside, I look at Lexi, but Finn’s keeping her busy with something on his phone.