“Who? Mom?” I asked, causing her to roll her eyes in a way similar to Callie’s. “Just kidding. Callie. Her name is Callie and she’s perfect.”
“Oh, dish it.” She pulled her legs up to her chest. “You look lovestruck, bud.”
“Let’s go get you a new shelf and I’llthinkabout telling you.” I jingled my keys at her and she made a face at me.
“You are no fun. I wanted gossip and entertainment. I’m bored. Claire’s always at her boyfriend’s and I need companionship.” She sighed. “And I know it must be good as hell because you really aren’t that shy in talking about your…hobbies.”
“And you are too intrusive for your own good.” I held the door open for her and waved her out. “I got a hot woman waiting for me. Move it.”
“Oh, my god. The day has come.” She locked her door and glared at me like our mom. “When can I meet her?”
“Never.” I said the words as reflex but thought about it. Zaria saw my hesitation and her grin matched the creepy one I’d seen on Greta that morning. “Chill, sis. You probably will at some point. I don’t plan on letting her go.”
“Fuck, you’re serious.” Her eyes widened and softened. “I love you, but I’m going to torture the hell out of you and tell mom. Between the two of us, we’ll get information.”
“If you do that, I’ll tell her about the time you snuck out and smoked weed.”
“You wouldn’t. We made an unbreakable vow. Hello…what about the statute of limitation on those events?”
“Whatever you think. Mom’s an adventurer now—maybe she’ll dig it. Or she might be insanely disappointed and send you drug addiction pamphlets.”
“Oh, god. The pamphlets are the worst.” She laughed and hit my arm. “Remember when she sent you all those about getting herpes from party cups?”
“Yes, Zaria. I remember. Those scared away a potential date one night.”
“Aw, poor guy. You must be very lonely.” She slid into my front seat and I gave her a scathing look.
“You are a pain in the ass.”
“Yeah, but you love me.” She cheesed at me and rolled down the windows. “Let’s blast some music and shit and get me a shelf. Yay, adulthood.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Callie
I strummed the guitar, Greta belting one of our favorites in the background. Her voice complemented mine and we harmonized in a way only people who’d played together for years could. I changed the chords to match an old Taylor Swift song and she jumped onto the couch with the remote as microphone.
I stood, speeding up the beat of the song as she twirled. I joined her for the chorus and that bled intoTeenage Dirtbag. We jammed without a care in the world around our living room and when the song ended, I spun my guitar around to my back and jumped on top of Greta.
“OMG! Amazing.”
“I know. God, I miss it.” She fell onto the couch with me on her lap and someone cleared their throat. “What the fuck?” Greta spun and threw the remote toward the noise coming from our kitchen, made by one of the two people standing there. It smacked Aaron right in the face and Tanner bit back a smile. Then we all burst out laughing at the same time.
“I am sorry about your face, Aaron.” Greta patted his cheek where a slight red mark had appeared.
“It hurt. I’m wounded. And this is my money maker.”
“Oh,okay.” I stretched out the word to make it three syllables.
“I can’t say I’m mad that you left your door unlocked. I didn’t realize how good you guys were.” Tanner finally spoke and stared straight at Greta. Like, his eyes pierced her, but she paid no attention.Good for her.I felt proud of my friend for moving on when her feelings weren’t reciprocated.
“We’re okay.” I shrugged and shared a smile with Greta. They didn’t need to know we’d won Battle of the Bands one year.
Greta tsked me. “Okay?We’re a little better than okay. Also, if guests don’t want to die, they should knock next time.”
“We did. You ignored us.” Aaron held up his phone and shook it at us. “I got that whole thing on video and I posted it.”
“Wait, why?” I grabbed for the phone, but he held it out of reach. “You didn’t, really?”
