More Than Maybe - Erin Hahn Page 0,52

It runs all summer, but the first show is only five weeks away. Immediately following graduation. Interviewing a band and reviewing a show that I helped manage from start to finish? That would be enormous. How many other eighteen-year-olds could say that on their applications?

Just in case, I refresh. Nothing. Fine. I close my laptop with a click and settle back against my pillows and grab my phone instead. Looks like Cullen loaded The Grass Is Greenly early this week, maybe since it’s the end of spring break. I reach for my earbuds, plugging them in and turning off the light while the podcast downloads. I sink into my pillow and let Luke’s soft voice wash over me.

* * *

Oh. My. Gosh.

19

LUKE

Something has definitely changed. I’m not Mr. Popularity by any stretch, but I’m liked well enough. A hazard of being Cullen’s twin. Everyone likes him, so they like me by default. And despite what my brother might imply, I have dated around a little.

But this morning, I feel like every girl I ever dated is trying to kill me with her eyes. And that’s not … normal. I’m usually on good terms with my exes.

My fingers work the familiar combination on my locker in the senior hallway, and I raise the latch with a click. I like to keep my locker neat, so I find my book quickly and shove it into my backpack. Another group of girls walks by, openly glaring at me.

“Morning, ladies,” I say experimentally. They walk on. I swipe at my face. “What in bloody hell—?”

“I think they’re mad at you.” I turn to Zack, who’s leaning against the bay of lockers with a smirk, his thumbs stuck in the straps of a backpack.

“Right. I guessed that. But why?”

Zack straightens. “Well, you did break up with Lindsay, so she has reason enough. And didn’t you dump Rachel before that?”

“I guess. But I talked to Lindsay, remember? She was fine. A bit delusional about the whole prom thing, but otherwise okay.”

I follow Zack’s eyes, and Lindsay and her best friend, Mary Anne, are in a huddle of girls at the end of the hallway. They turn at once to shoot daggers at me, and I look away.

“Yeah, I don’t think she’s going to hold you to that, man.”

“Probably not,” I concede, closing my locker with a click. “No real loss. I could honestly not care less, unlike a pair of homecoming kings I know. More of a relief, to be honest. She was pretty insistent on the turquoise.”

Zack ignores the jab. “Did you hear the podcast last night, by chance?”

His tone is offhand, and I start walking toward English, him at my heels. “Not the final version. I went to bed before Cull got home.” Not that I slept. I couldn’t stop my brain from replaying the way it felt having Vada’s body pressed against mine, interspersed with the fact that we’d held hands. That meant something. At least that’s the conclusion I’d settled on around 2:00 a.m. Then I’d downloaded the entire Kodaline album and listened to it twice through, finally drifting off sometime before my alarm woke me. “Thought he was out with you, actually.”

Zack’s cheeks flame, and he suppresses a grin.

“That’s what I thought,” I say. I continue lightly, “I feel like I should be offended that my best friend prefers my brother.”

Zack laughs, good-natured. “He kisses better.”

“You can’t know that.”

Zack shakes his head as if dispelling the thought. “Okay, but back to my point. Did you hear what Cullen put out?”

“Nooooo…” I trail off slowly, things clicking into place. “Jesus. Did I say something about Lindsay?”

“Not exactly. Which is … sort of the point.”

“We talked about celebrity couples and revenge breakup songs—” I start.

“Really?” cuts in Zack.

I pause. “Yeah, really.” My stomach starts to knot up. “Why, what did you think we talked about?”

“Well, I mean, there was some of that, but you sort of went into this long rant about real love…”

“No.”

Zack grimaces apologetically. “That’s what I figured.”

I spin on my heels, tugging out my phone. “I need to find Cullen. The fucker was supposed to cut that stuff.”

LUKE

Where are you?

CULLEN

Study hall, why?

“It was kind of nice. I mean, I could completely see your parents in it, and that bit about the lotion, well, I mean, I didn’t know Cullen had done that for me.”

“Holy … you could tell all that? I was just talking. I didn’t even know what I was saying.” I stop, starting to panic.

“Well, yeah.” Zack interrupts