Chapter 8 #2
I was as awestruck as when Alec first revealed his identity, but somehow, despite the uncomfortable flutter of nerves in my stomach, I managed to lift my hand in a hesitant wave and say, “Ah, hi.”
“Alec,” he said. “You’re much prettier than I remember. And ginger. Did you color your hair?”
I inhaled at his greeting. “I’m not Alec,” I said, although it was obvious he was giving me a hard time.
This made him smile, and he leaned toward the computer. “Hi, person who clearly isn’t Alec. Do you make a habit of answering other people’s calls when they’re not around?”
“Do you make a habit of calling people naked?” I shot back.
“Half naked,” JJ corrected, and he lifted himself from the chair so I could catch a glimpse of the sweats he was wearing. “But if you want me to lose the pants, I would be more than—”
A high-pitched squeal drowned out whatever inappropriate, dirty thing JJ was going to say. I didn’t have to turn around to know Asha was back from the bathroom.
“Holy shit, that’s JJ!” She pointed at the screen as if it were a one-way video chat and he couldn’t see her ogling him. I was tempted to end the call right there and save myself whatever further embarrassment was coming my way, but JJ seemed to find the whole situation amusing.
“Hey, guys!” He motioned to someone offscreen as he tried to contain his laughter.
“Get over here. Looks like some crazy fans broke into Alec’s apartment again.
” Three second later, a girl with an aqua streak in her hair moved into view and took the open spot next to JJ.
A guy with brown curls and bright-blue eyes appeared behind her, placing his hands on the back of her chair—Oliver Perry.
Asha produced another earsplitting noise at the sight of the Heartbreakers’ lead singer.
“Oh my God,” she exclaimed, repeatedly hitting me on the shoulder. Before I could tell Asha to stop, that she was going to give me a bruise the size of Texas, or explain to JJ that I most certainly had not broken into Alec’s apartment, the girl spoke.
“She’s not a crazy fan,” she said. “You’re Felicity, aren’t you?”
What. The actual. Hell. “Um, yeah.”
The girl smiled as if knowing my name wasn’t creepy at all. “Hi, I’m Stella.”
With narrowed eyes, JJ glanced from Stella to me and back again, trying to figure out what was going on. “Wait, you two know each other?”
“Nope,” she responded. Behind her, Oliver was playing with her hair, and she leaned back against him. “We’ve never met. Hence why I introduced myself, Einstein.”
His eyebrows squished together. “Then how do you know her name?” he asked, voicing my own question.
“She’s the girl from the masquerade ball, duh.”
Alec told Stella about the ball. He told her about me. I was interesting enough to tell someone about! I made myself take a steadying breath.
JJ scratched his head and turned to Oliver. “You know what she’s talking about? What ball? I swear, nobody tells me anything anymore.”
Oliver flicked the back of JJ’s head. “Yeah, because you’re a loudmouth,” he answered, but I could tell from the look on his face that he also wasn’t in the know about the ball. JJ scowled and attempted to swat his friend back, but Oliver dodged out of the way with a smile.
“She’s talking about the Children’s Cancer Alliance masquerade,” Asha blurted out, clearly excited to contribute to the conversation. “It was a charity event, and hi, I’m Asha. I just want to say, I love you guys so much. Your new album is amazing.”
A satisfied smirk flashed on Oliver’s face. “Thanks, Asha,” he replied. She grabbed my arm when he said her name, and I flinched as her nails dug in. “So glad you liked it.”
Asha couldn’t manage a response. She looked dazed—lips parted, eyes glazed over. It was the same way girls at school looked when Eddie Marks paid them any attention, but this was ten times worse. Oliver had clearly perfected the art of making girls swoon.
A beat passed without anyone speaking, so JJ took advantage of the silence and returned the conversation to me. “So, Felicity, you met Alec at a charity ball?” He sounded casual, but from the way he scooted his chair closer, I could tell he wanted more information.
I nodded. “Um, yeah. He spilled his drink on me.”
“Are you serious?” JJ exploded with laughter.
Oliver’s lips quirked. “Smooth.”
Crap, maybe I shouldn’t have told them that.
“It wasn’t entirely his fault. I wasn’t watching where I was going, and—”
“Hey, I’m here,” Alec said, emerging from the hall. “Is it Vanessa?” He glanced down at the screen. “Oh. Hi, guys. What’s up?”
A wicked grin slowly built on JJ’s face. “You have a secret girlfriend.”
“Not a secret,” Stella pointed out. “He told me.”
“We’re not dating,” I added quickly. I didn’t want Alec to think I’d been telling his friends anything untrue. “We hardly know each other.”
“But he invited you over,” JJ said. He waved a finger at me like he thought I was trying to fool him. “Alec never invites girls over.”
“It’s not like that,” I started to say.
But JJ wasn’t listening. He spoke over me to Alec. “No wonder you didn’t tell me about her. She’s totally bangable.”
The flush of humiliation was instantaneous. I peeked at Alec, and to my relief, he was just as red as me.
“Jeremiah!” Stella exclaimed. “Why do you always have to be so vulgar?”
“Ugh, how many times do I have to tell you not to call me that? Just because you know my first name doesn’t mean you get to use it,” JJ complained. “And besides, I wasn’t being vulgar. I was paying a compliment.”
The two bickered back and forth, and I decided to use their distraction as my opportunity to escape. “I’ll let you talk to your friends,” I whispered to Alec.
Alec answered with a stiff nod and refused to meet my eyes. His cool behavior made my throat tighten, but I did my best to ignore the sudden change in his attitude. I vacated the computer chair so he could sit down.
“Come on, Asha.” I grabbed her wrist and led her out of earshot, wishing we’d stayed in the car.
***
“Hey. You didn’t happen to see a Wi-Fi password written down anywhere, did you?” Asha asked. She’d taken a spot next to Boomer on the couch and was scrolling on her phone.
“No, why?” I responded, barely glancing in her direction. My attention was fixed on Alec, who was talking with his friends in hushed whispers. I couldn’t hear what was being said, but from the gestures he was making, he wasn’t happy.
“I need to update my blog,” she said.
That caught my attention.
“But you only post on Thursdays.” I narrowed my eyes as I studied her. She was too focused on her phone to reply, so I pushed away from the armrest I was perched on and went to see what was so important. “What are you looking at?”
“Do you like this filter”—there was a pause as she changed the effect—“or this one?”
I frowned, not sure what to make of the picture on her screen. In it was a lone toothbrush inside a toothbrush holder or whatever they were called, and that was it. It wasn’t even one of those fun colorful brushes shaped like SpongeBob or a Disney princess to get little kids to brush their teeth.
“What’s so cool about a boring old…” I never finished my question.
Realization made my stomach roll, and I wanted nothing more than to crawl under the couch and hide there for the rest of eternity.
“Please don’t tell me that’s a picture of what I think it is,” I whispered, “because that would be all types of creepy.”
“Alec’s toothbrush?” Asha smirked. “Totally is. Saw it when I was in the bathroom. I also got a shot of the shampoo he uses. Head & Shoulders for men, in case you were wondering.”
No. No, I wasn’t.
“Are you joking right now? Because honestly, I can’t tell.”
Asha’s eyes gleamed as she shook her head.
“Nope, and I snuck a picture of JJ, Oliver, and Stella when we were Skyping. This next blog post is going to get massive hits. I know my fans expect something IN-related, but since the Heartbreakers are going to be on the show, this will be the perfect tie-in.”
“No!” My sudden outburst startled Boomer. He glanced up from his game to peer at us, and I quickly lowered my voice to a whisper. “You can’t blog any of this, Asha.”
For the first time since the start of the conversation, she looked up from her phone. “Why not?”
“Because it’s a total invasion of privacy!”
She frowned. “It’s a toothbrush, Felicity. Not his diary.”
My gaze shot to Alec. Thankfully he was still at the computer. I couldn’t imagine his reaction if he found out Asha had snooped through his belongings and taken pictures. What if he gets so mad he decides not to drive us to San Francisco? I couldn’t let that happen.
“Give me your phone,” I demanded.
She snorted. “So you can delete everything? Not going to happen.”
Without warning, Boomer leaned over and plucked the cell from her hands. Before she could react, he punched a couple of buttons and tossed it back to her. “There,” he said. “Problem solved.”
“Boomer!” Asha whined when she saw the pictures were gone. “I totally hate you.”
He grinned, obviously not concerned about her newfound feelings, and poked her on the nose. “Just trying to contain the crazy.”
“I’m not crazy,” she snapped. “Just because I’m passionate about something you’re not doesn’t mean you can make fun of me.”
His face softened. “You’re right. That wasn’t nice of me, and I’m sorry.
” He reached out as if to comfort her, but his hand changed direction at the last second, and he picked up his Game Boy instead.
“But Felicity is right too, Asha. Posting pictures like that isn’t cool.
There’s nothing wrong with being passionate, but maybe you should take it down a few levels.
Otherwise, you’re going to freak the dude out, okay? ”
Asha blew out her cheeks. “Yeah, okay.”
“Sorry for the holdup, but I…er… Is everything all right?”
We turned in unison at the sound of Alec’s voice. He stood at the end of the couch, a small suitcase at his side. Instead of answering the question, Boomer coughed and tugged on his collar while Asha stared at the carpet.
I jumped out of my seat. “Yup,” I blurted. “Everything’s totally fine.”
Alec focused on my friends and said nothing. I waited for him to give me a sign that the Skype call hadn’t made things weird between us.
He didn’t.
“Why don’t we head out?” Boomer suggested when our silence lapsed into awkwardness. “We’ve got a lot of road ahead of us.”
The trip down to the car was quieter than the journey up to Alec’s apartment because this time there was no happy whistling from Asha.
There was a tightness to the air. I could feel it as we walked—a strand of energy as taut and sharp as barbed wire, rigidly knit between me and Alec.
I wanted to reach out and karate chop it with my hand.
All I had to do was open my mouth and say something, but I couldn’t think of the right words, and so our footsteps echoed through the deserted garage.
When the Cadillac came into view, Alec unlocked the doors with a click, and I wondered if the entire drive would be this uncomfortable. I didn’t know how much longer I could stand it.
Thank God for Asha and her love of the Heartbreakers.
“So, Alec,” she said as she pulled her door shut.
“I’ve been dying to ask you…” And then she dove into a series of questions about the band and their music.
Alec seemed happy for the distraction, which helped ease my nerves.
I settled into my seat as he backed out of his parking spot, and for the next few minutes, I was content with listening to their chatter.
Then I realized we were going in the wrong direction.
“Um, Alec?” I said, sitting up straight. “Not to question your navigational skills or anything, but isn’t the highway the other way?”
“I was going to take US 101 through Malibu instead.”
“Isn’t the I-5 faster?”
“Yeah,” he admitted, “but this way is less stressful. More scenic. Not as many big trucks and traffic. Do you mind? I promise I know where I’m going. I used to drive this route all the time.”
For the first time since the Skyping disaster, Alec smiled. It was no more than a brief upward curve of the lips, but God, how quickly it melted my worry. Suddenly, I didn’t care how we got to San Francisco, just as long as we did. Because I was with my two best friends. I was with Alec.
And I was on my way to finding Rose.