what is that noise they’re playing in there? It’s horrendous!”
He tipped his head back and laughed. A loud belly laugh.
“What?”
“That’s my band. We’re called Whack-a-Mole. Daphne’s playing our demo.”
Suddenly all the heat got sucked right out of the pool. I turned a hundred shades of white. I wanted to disappear under the surface of the water. I remembered he played in a band, I’d just never actually heard his music before. But now it made total sense. Tristan was a rock star at our school. It went along with his popularity.
“Well,” I said, pulling my legs out of the water and readying myself to stand up. “That’s my cue to leave.”
But he pulled me back down. “Don’t.”
“I just insulted your art. You can’t possibly want to spend any more time with me.”
“Au contraire. It makes me want to spend even more time with you.”
I gave him a dubious look. “Because you’re … demented?”
“Because you’re honest,” he corrected.
“I wouldn’t give me too much credit for honesty. If I had known that was your band, I would have lied to your face.”
Smile.
Heart.
Puddle.
“Well, I’m glad you didn’t know then.”
“You’re not making all that much sense, you know?”
He gazed up at the night sky. “I know. I’m just kind of tired of it.”
I wasn’t following. “Of people liking your music?”
“Of people saying they like something that they don’t. Of the fakeness.” He nudged his chin toward the NASA-manufactured sliding glass door that was so soundproof I almost forgot half of our school was on the other side. “The girls in there. They’re all the same. They say the right things. They wear the right clothes. They post the perfect pouting duck-face selfies on Instagram.”
I was starting to think this wasn’t about every girl in there. I was starting to think this was about one girl in particular.
Colby Osbourne.
Tristan Wheeler’s girlfriend until two days ago.
He pulled his eyes away from the stars and looked at me. “I guess I’m tired of all the drama.”
I nodded. “Yeah.”
“So you get it?” I wasn’t sure why he sounded so surprised.
“Sure. I get it.”
Of course I got it. I dealt with those kinds of girls every day. I knew exactly what he meant.
“You seem so different, though.”
I laughed. “From the girls in there? I hope so.”
This wasn’t a lie. I never felt like I fit into that crowd, that scene, that exclusive, members-only club.
“I know so,” he said, with such confidence it startled me. I tore my eyes away from the water and looked at him as he went on. “You seem so much more chill, you know? Laid back. Not a drama queen at all.”
The truth was, I didn’t know who I was. Particularly not when it came to relationships. Was I the dramatic type? The pouting type? The jealous type? He didn’t seem to think so. Was it possible he’d gleaned more about me in the ten minutes we’d been talking than I’d learned in my entire life?
I was so ready to be the person he thought I was. The person I thought he needed me to be at that moment.
“Oh, totally. I hate drama. It’s such a waste of energy.”
That dimple again. “That’s a relief.”
I nodded earnestly, like I understood his frustrations. “Drama is the worst. If drama was an ice cream flavor, it would be Rum Raisin.”
I felt guilty as soon as I said it. I actually liked Rum Raisin. Owen and I were probably two of the only people in the universe who did. But my comparison made Tristan laugh again, so I didn’t take it back.
“My last girlfriend, Colby, was queen of the drama. She lived off it, thrived off it. If she saw the chance to make a scene, or start a fight, or rock the boat, she took it. I think maybe it was some sick way of making sure I was paying attention to her.”
There was a long drawn-out silence, and I could tell he was waiting for me to speak, waiting for me to comment on this revelation he’d just dumped into my lap.
So I chose something eloquent. “Ugh.” And I made an equally elegant face to go with it. “That’s super annoying.”
He stared at me like I was the most fascinating thing he had ever seen. Like he was an extraterrestrial researcher no one took seriously and I was alien life.
“I like you…” He faltered, realizing for the first time that he didn’t know my name.
I tried to ignore the dagger in my chest.
“Ellie.” I helped him out.
“Ellie,”