She grabbed her soda. “Nah, I only recently figured it out myself.”
“When?” I asked, internally freaking out that I’d made a fool of myself, while also struggling to even care as my heart fissured.
She waved a hand. “Oh, about two minutes ago.” A small, relieved laugh sputtered, and she grinned. “Come on, your mom and dad just got here.”
I angled my head at the doors and found them making a beeline for the boys who were mixed up in the audience as the next band began to set up. I knew they’d be bummed they’d missed it, but Mom had a late client every second Friday, and Dad had picked her up on his way here.
The band broke free of the crowd, heading straight for the bar.
Mom and Dad looked to be talking with the owner, so Adela and I waited where we were. There were too many people, and I didn’t feel like fighting my way through them. My stomach ached, and I wasn’t sure why, or why I couldn’t let myself search for Everett again. I knew he’d been with other girls. Everyone did. He’d never made it much of a secret. Though seeing it in the flesh was an entirely different kind of hurt. I knew I liked him, but I never realized how much.
“Guys, guess what?” Hendrix rushed over to where Dale and Graham were standing near us at the bar. “Garry knows someone who’s trying to get rid of a bus.”
“A bus?” Dale asked.
Graham half-rolled his eyes. “To tour after school’s out.”
“I can’t leave.” Dale appeared stricken. “I’ve been accepted into Brown, you fucks.”
“They’re touring?” Adela leaned close to ask.
I shrugged. “Apparently.” I didn’t quite believe they would, though I suppose I should have with the lackluster attempts Hendrix had made to apply for college.
Ignoring Dale, they began hashing out plans to meet with the guy selling the bus.
Everett arrived with Lainey by his side. He was quiet as they made arrangements, yet I couldn’t help but notice the way his eyes brightened as he listened, or how his hand slowly slipped from Lainey’s hip as he drifted closer to the conversation.
We left soon after, walking past the guys packing their gear into Dale’s brother’s van out on the street.
Before I slid into the back seat of my parents’ car, I glanced back at the bar.
Everett was standing outside with a foot propped against the brick exterior, smoking a cigarette. He lifted his hand, flicking his fingers at me, but all I could muster was a glimpse of a smile before climbing inside and shutting the door on the cold.
Graham hit the cymbal just as I walked into the garage, the noise ringing in my ever-adjusting ears. “Some guy is out front, uh, towing a bus?”
All the guys, even Dale who’d been flicking through his Brown brochure on our old couch, leaped from their positions. Hendrix didn’t even set his guitar down. Instead, he almost smacked me in the face with it as they all raced by, and I pressed myself into the wall.
Everett was the only one to take his time, and I averted my gaze to the rug covered concrete floor as he drifted past me, smelling of laundry detergent and cigarettes.
“You avoiding me, Clover?” he asked when I’d thought he was gone.
I lifted my head. “What?” I felt my eyes widen, felt my words sputter out of me, and could do nothing to stop any of it. “What do you mean?”
He sucked his teeth for a moment, sliding his hands into the pockets of those ripped jeans. “You’re a shit liar.”
“I’m not lying,” I lied. “Not exactly.”
“Not exactly?” Taking an unnerving step closer, he collected some of my hair and twirled it around his finger.
My stomach flipped. My eyes were trapped as I watched him stroke the strands between his fingers. “Soft as silk. I’d always wonder—”
“Rett! Where the hell are you?”
I flattened myself against the wall, and Everett’s hand fell away. “Don’t ever lie to me again, Clover.”
He could’ve just been teasing, but when I met those dark green eyes, I saw the vehemence in them. The hurt.
“Coming,” he called to my brother, still gazing down at me while he plucked his cigarettes out and stuck one between his teeth.
He was waiting for me to respond, I realized belatedly, so I nodded. It was all I could do with my heart pattering against my chest. Since seeing him with Lainey last weekend, I had been avoiding him, choosing to