301Mastercard Theory
.o8. Happy Birthday, Ho
Oh, Lord. This wasn't happening.
This was the one thing I hated most about the marching band season. I wanted to be like most of the other normal high school kids, but I couldn't. Not only did we have an away game today, but it was also our first competition. Basically that meant I had to be up at this ungodly hour and then stay out until well past midnight.
I turned to my left, ready to pick up my phone which I always used my alarm clock. But as I spun, I came face to face with the last person in the world I wanted to see first thing in the morning.
Conner Flannery.
I screamed bloody murder upon seeing his smiling face only inches away from mine. This was so not how I wanted to start my day, nonetheless my eighteenth birthday. Unlike everyone else in the world, I wasn't having some sort of get together or fancy dinner with my friends. Nope. I'd be spending it at a McDonald's with my fellow marching band peers.
The blanket was yanked down to reveal Conner's face again. I hadn't even realized I'd hidden my face under the sheets, but it was not surprising in hindsight. Waking up to anyone's face would be equally terrifying; the fact that it was Conner's just made it that much worse.
"What the hell are you even doing here?" I groaned, flopping onto my back. "Shouldn't you be bothering Blaine?"
"Well, I would be bothering him if he actually gave me a reason to piss him off. He's getting his stuff together for the game today. Did you forget already?"
I huffed, pushing myself up so that I was leaning back against my hands. "No, I didn't forget. I just didn't think you'd be in my room at seven in the morning trying to give me a heart attack."
Conner smiled happily at me and pushed himself up so he was standing over me by the side of my bed. "What better way to say happy birthday, right? What're your plans for today? The game ends around noon so we could always do something afterwards."
I raised an eyebrow at him. "Are you asking me out on a date, Mr. Flannery?" I mocked, pushing the sheets off of me. I was already wearing sweatpants and a Summit soccer shirt, so there was no reason to change. I was essentially going to be in a stuffy uniform all day; I was going to enjoy the few hours I had out of it.
Conner took one look at my outfit and let out an unattractive snort, one of the many things he never let the other girls in our grade hear or see. Only I was special enough to be treated this way. "You're kidding me, right? I don't take girls who dress like that out on dates. Besides, last time I checked, we still have about $270 worth of dates to go."
Instead of responding verbally and letting him know how much I hated him despite the fact that his kisses always left me speechless and boggled, I picked up my pillow and smacked him swiftly across the face. He cursed beneath the material before I openly glared at him. "Asshole. You're going to make the birthday girl pay?"
Conner flashed his signature grin and nodded. "Yup. So what time are you free today?"
I sighed, walking over to my closet where my garment bag was hanging from the top of the door. "Sadly, I'm not free today. I can't watch your guys' game because we have an away game and then we have a competition right after that. We probably won't be back until midnight, so raincheck?"
"Damn," Conner whistled, "you sound like you're gonna have a kickass birthday. How about tomorrow night then?"
I stared at him for a moment before shrugging my shoulders. "Yeah sure, that sounds good."
All in all, I was still slightly baffled by Conner's behavior. After all, just earlier this week, he'd been flirting up a storm with Danielle Janssen without a care in the world about how it would affect me. That fight we had later was also unlike anything we'd ever done because, well… all we'd ever done was insult each other. Prior to that day, there was never any reason to argue but because of this goddamn deal and Newport's sudden involvement, everything changed.
But after that day, we seemed to forget about it. Actually, it was more like Conner forgot all about it. Hell, if he wasn't going to talk about it, then I sure as hell wasn't going to bring up the topic. There was absolutely no reason to anger him when we were doing okay.
More than okay.
"Good. I'm choosing where we're going to go, by the way. Consider it a present from me to you that you're paying for."
I scoffed at that as I looked through the articles of clothing in my garment bag. "Gee, thanks in advance. I appreciate it."
"Anytime." Even though I was checking to make sure I had every piece of my uniform, it was obvious that Conner had that stupid smirk on his face. "So this competition that you're having – where is it?"
I almost laughed aloud at his question. Connery Flannery was asking about my marching band competition? Since when did he give a crap about my life? "Seriously? You're actually curious?" I asked, turning around to face him. When I saw him give a nonchalant shrug, I figured I might as well amuse him if he insisted on trying to be an attentive 'boyfriend'. "It's in North Dover. It's about an hour away. Why do you ask?"
"Just because. Why? Do I actually need a reason to want to know about your life? Do you know what time you guys start?"
I sighed in frustration, grabbing my drawstring bag from the floor of my closet. I threw in my wallet, phone, keys and dotbook into the bag and yanked at the strings. "Conner, seriously. You've never given a shit about anything I've done since we've moved here. But we're the first band in group five-A so we'll be on at 9:00 PM."
Conner clicked his tongue and gave me a thumbs' up. "Good luck tonight."
What the heck was wrong with the guy this morning?
Just as I was about to call him out for his puzzling behavior, my bedroom door slammed open. Blaine was standing there in his uniform and his cleats flung over his shoulder. He certainly didn't look amused as he leaned against the door, staring at Conner in confusion. Apparently, he was just as confused as I was by this odd version of Conner Flannery who was in my room. "Hey, man. What are you doing in here anyway? We gotta get going." Blaine said, trying to get over the fact that Conner was in my room at 7:15 in the morning.
At least I wasn't the only one to find it weird.
Conner nodded, disregarding the obvious confusion from the two of us. "Alright. Well, I'll see you later Alex. Keep your phone on you, alright?" he said just as he brushed past me to walk out the door. "Good luck with your stuff today and well, happy birthday."
"What the hell, man?" I heard Blaine grumble as he pushed Conner down the hall. "You said happy birthday to Alex before your best friend? You're an ass, I hope you realize that."
Conner's laugh rang down the hall as they walked downstairs. "Aw, come on man. I didn't realize you were a sensitive little girl. Happy birthday to you too, asswipe."
"Fuck you."
I laughed as the front door slammed shut. While waking up to Conner's face wasn't the best thing in the world, the conversations that followed certainly did a lot to brighten my day. Though, Conner's interest in my competition was a little odd and out of place. I shook my head as I began making myself look somewhat presentable before Chris and Kayla came to pick me up. I had more important things to worry about, mostly concerning my clarinet section.
So when Chris pulled up into my driveway a few minutes later, I ran as quickly as possible down the stairs and out the front door. My parents were probably already on their way to the soccer game before they spent the remainder of the day at my competition and watching all the other irrelevant schools perform before we got onto the field.
"Yo." Chris greeted me as I yanked open the door. I returned the greeting, laying my garment bag along the backseat of his car. "Happy birthday, ho."
Instead of thanking him, I leaned over the middle console and smacked his head. "Inconsiderate asshole, that's not what you say to someone on the morning of their birthday."
"It is when you love the person." Kayla said, grinning at me from the passenger seat. "Seriously though, happy birthday." She handed me a folded piece of construction paper with a smile. "It's from all of us."
I glanced down at the drawing of a cake that looked like it had taken less than three seconds to complete. My two year old cousin was capable of drawing a better picture than whoever did this. I couldn't overlook the gesture though, as I opened up the card and saw messages scribbled inside from our friends. They'd gotten my section to sign the card, along with our fellow seniors in the band. Most of them said the same thing – that they were going to win today's competition for me.
But then a few of the names caught my eye. A few guys from the varsity soccer team had wished me a happy birthday and they had even managed to get Blaine and Conner to write a message. Of course, the latter's was nothing more than a simple "happy bday" followed by his name in his scratchy signature.
Deep and heartfelt, I know.
"I'm surprised you actually got Conner to sign the card." I said sarcastically, tucking the card into my folder. "You really didn't have to go through all this trouble though. Thanks guys."
"It was nothing." Chris replied as he drove the ten minutes to our school. "And of course we got Flannery to sign the card; he wouldn't be a very good boyfriend if he didn't. What do you guys have planned anyway?"
I bit my lip when he referred to Conner as my boyfriend. Even though Chris and I weren't necessarily the best of friends, he was still someone I trusted and considered a close friend. The fact that I was unable to reveal the truth about how fake my relationship was to Chris was disappointing. It was almost as if I was treating him along the same levels of everyone else in our school when in reality, he was anything but.
Personally, I didn't see an issue in having other people know about our little arrangement. Sure, it made me seem a little desperate for attention and a relationship. Okay, so it came off a little pathetic and I was sure that the bitches in our school would have a field day with me. Of course, they'd leave Conner alone because well… they were essentially in love with him.
"Well, I just thought he'd be too lazy to." I mumbled lazily, hoping the topic would be dropped. Frankly, it was too early to be thinking about my situation with Conner. "He's treating me to dinner tomorrow night, but he still hasn't told me where."
"Cute, real cute. Now let's get this shit started."
…
Even after three years of changing into our seven piece marching band uniform on a cramped school bus at night, I still wasn't used to it. With random articles of clothing being thrown around haphazardly, it was no wonder that most of us were missing gloves, jackets, jeans; anything that was part of our uniform or our normal day wear was prone to getting lost in the piles of junk.
This was also why Chris was currently screaming in my ear as he searched for his ascot. Needless to say, his cries weren't exactly considered manly.
"You don't need to scream like a little bitch." Jeff groaned, throwing what I assumed to be Chris's missing ascot at his face. "We can all hear you from the other side of the goddamn bus."
"Whatever, man." Chris retorted as he put the ascot on, tucking it neatly beneath his white collared shirt. Of course, this was 'neatly' in his world. To most normal people, it was equivalent to looking like shit. "How's it look?" he asked, turning to me as I pulled the suspender straps over my shoulder.
God, this child really needed help.
One would think that having been section leader meant that he'd be able to properly put on his own uniform. Sure, it was difficult to get the pants on because of the limited space between the seats, but tucking in an ascot shouldn't be so hard. "You're a fool." I sighed, yanking him towards me by his shirt. "I thought you were supposed to be a badass. How are you so inept at life?" I took off the ascot, folding it over twice as he'd obviously forgotten to do. Reaching behind his neck, I velcroed the two ends together and tucked the flap under his shirt, making sure that it bunched up right under his chin.
"I'm not inept." Chris grumbled, but said nothing else to otherwise argue his point. When I finished adjusting his ascot, I stepped back and looked at my handiwork.
"There, done. Now don't fuck it up." I snapped just as he reached up to tug at the ascot. Slapping his hand away, he looked at me and pouted.
"But it's suffocating me…" I tried not to roll my eyes as he spoke. It was hard to see him as being the tough fighter on the mat that I'd seen when he invited Kayla and me to his tournaments for jiu jitsu. A whining fool was not exactly the most intimidating thing in the world.
"Suck it up, Le." Kayla groaned from the seat in front of us. "How the hell did you become section leader and not Jeff?"
"Because he's my bitch. Now where the hell are my shoes?"
I rolled my eyes, pulling on the wool jacket. I couldn't deal with my friend anymore. I only had to put my clarinet together, but that would only take about two minutes. I still had about fifteen minutes before we were supposed to meet in Arc One a few feet away from where the buses were parked. Deciding to leave behind Chris and his ridiculous issues, I pushed my way through the other band members. I had little freshmen who needed a small pep talk.
But just as I was about to slip my phone into my inside pocket and walk out the bus doors, I froze in my spot. Conner was standing a few feet away from me, his hands shoved into the pocket of his sweater. "Hey." He smirked at me as I gawked at him in shock. First, he showed up this morning unannounced in my bedroom. Now, he was standing a few feet away from me at a marching band competition where he absolutely no business attending?
What the hell was going on with him? I'd already had to deal with one insane guy (Chris). There wasn't time to handle Conner as well.
"Why are you here? How'd you know this was our bus?" I finally found my voice, walking down the steps towards him. But as I was speaking, I realized that he wasn't looking at my face. Instead, his eyes were travelling down the length of my body and that was when I realized I was completely dressed in my not-so-attractive marching band uniform.
Yes, I can admit that I look nerdy as hell in it. And nope, up until this point, Conner never had the pleasure of seeing me wearing this uniform ever since I joined the band. So of course, he was biting his lip and trying not to burst out into laughter when his bright blue eyes finally met mine.
"God this just made my day. I don't think you have any idea how happy I am right now." He snorted, flicking away a fake tear from the corner of his eyes. I refrained from punching him in the face and instead played with the buttons on my jacket.
"Well, I'm glad you can laugh at my expense. Now seriously, what are you doing here?"
The smirk still hadn't been wiped off his face as he tilted his head to look at me. "What, a guy can't show up at his girlfriend's competition on her birthday?" I gave him a flat look, not believing a word he was saying. "Okay, fine." He relented, jabbing a thumb over his shoulder. "Your parents wanted Blaine and me to come to support you on your birthday. You can imagine how much Blaine bitched about that, especially considering how you didn't come to our game today. I had him ask your band director where the buses were and he said you'd be here."
"I had my own shit to do!" I argued, pulling my hat off and tucking it beneath my arm. "I can't just skip that. Plus, I didn't force you guys to come."
"Yeah, whatever." He laughed. "So you guys face the front most of the time, right? Not backfield?"
What in the world? This time it was my turn to tilt my head at him in confusion. "You've never given a shit before about anything marching band related. Why are you here, Conner?"
"God, stop questioning me, won't you?" he scoffed, but the grin was still there. "I'm taking that as a yes. I'll see you in a bit." As quickly as he randomly appeared in the parking lot of North Dover High School, he vanished through the maze of buses.
I stood frozen in my spot until Conner disappeared from eyesight. Something wasn't right; something just felt off. I forced myself to stop thinking about it though; I had more important things to attend to. That was when I remembered why I had originally gotten off the bus. Knowing I had wasted a few minutes talking with Conner, I made my way to the bus that the freshmen and a few unfortunate sophomores had claimed for themselves.
As I walked up the steps, I was immediately greeted by the eager and curious faces of at least forty underclassmen. Without even having to ask them, I knew this reaction was just because of Conner's sudden appearance. Ignoring their looks, I pushed myself to the middle of the bus where I found Elisa, Taylor Stanton and Wendy Lin attempting to put on their uniforms.
"Hey, guys." I greeted, leaning my hip against the back of the closest seat. "Do you guys need any help?"
The three girls looked up at me, terror on their faces. "I can't get my ascot on! And we have to be outside in five minutes. Alex, can you help me? Please?" Taylor cried out, holding out that blasted part of the uniform.
Déjà vu, anyone?
"Don't worry so much, Taylor." I smiled softly at her, grabbing the ascot from her. "You know who actually just asked me to help them with their ascot? Chris Le." I said as I repeated the actions I'd just done with Chris, making sure that she and the two other girls could see what I was doing.
"Chris Le?" Taylor asked when I was finished. I nodded, trying to give her reassurance that there was absolutely nothing to fret about. Unfortunately, this wasn't the first time I'd had to calm down the nerves of an underclassman. Even though this was just an extracurricular activity we all did because of our mutual love for music, we all took the competitions very seriously.
Who liked to lose anyway?
"Isn't he the drumline captain?" Wendy questioned timidly, putting her clarinet together.
"Yup." I grinned. "And he was screaming like a little girl the entire time. He's been doing this for four years and he's still having difficulty with the uniform. And just like him, the three of you are gonna get out on that field, hit all your dots and play your hearts out. More importantly though… just have fun, okay? That's the whole point of this; you'll get out there and feel this incredible energy from the audience and the rest of the band. You'll get addicted to that feeling and you'll realize that even after all the pain and suffering we go through for marching band, it's so worth it. Got it?"
I hadn't even realized what I was saying until a few of the other freshmen around me began applauding lightly at my words. Aw, crap, well this was embarrassing. I always hated to be in the center of attention, which was why Conner's way of flaunting our 'relationship' got under my skin. But at the same time, it was hard to fight him about it when he could kiss like a God.
Whatever. Conner wasn't my focus right now; I should be setting my eyes on the main goal of tonight – winning our group.
"You're the best section leader ever." Elisa sighed, popping her reed between her lips. "I said it before and you said I was delusional. This time I'm saying it and I mean it."
"Thanks guys. I'll see you out there in a minute, alright? All of you should start heading out now." I snapped, using my so-called authority to instill some fear in the youngins. It pleased me to see a few of the students in the front sprint out the front door. Having done the work of a responsible section leader, I waved to my three freshmen before I walked quickly out towards the senior bus. I could already hear our band start to warm up individually as I rapped on the bus doors. They pushed open almost immediately as Kayla stood on the other side with my clarinet and her flute in her hands.
She was my lifesaver, when she wasn't throwing me under the bus with Conner Flannery.
"Let's go, let's go!" Kayla said, pushing me backwards out of the bus as she handed me my clarinet and my case of reeds. "I didn't know which one you used so I'm just giving you all of them. We should start moving now before McKinley kicks our asses."
"You're the best, you know that?" I thanked her, finding the reed that I always used for shows. I slid the reed between my lips and strode quickly alongside Kayla before we parted ways for our respective spots in Arc One. As I stood between Billy Jennings, the alto saxophone section leader, and the other senior in my section, Gary Blake, I propped the bell of my clarinet up against my knee.
"So since when did Flannery start showing an interest in marching band?" Billy asked. Despite the fact that he was more focused on removing the excess saliva from his pads, I knew that he was still talking to me. After all, I was the only one who seemed to have daily contact with the man.
I shrugged nonchalantly, not caring that he couldn't see me. Sure, I talked with Billy because he was in the wind section but I definitely wouldn't call him anything more than a friend I'd see every other day in band class. "Since today, I suppose?"
"Man, you've got a dedicated boyfriend." Gary laughed from the other side of me. "If I were him, I wouldn't drive all the way out here just to watch a competition that I'd have no interest in. What a birthday present."
"Yeah, well, that's Conner for you."
Luckily just as I said those words, Casey was standing at the front of the arc at rest position. He silently gestured towards Richard, our lead tuba player, who started the tuning process with a mellow concert A. I listened carefully to each individual section leader starting with the piccolo base their tones off of Richard's. At least now that we were starting to practice, I could shove all thoughts off Conner.
I still wasn't accustomed to the amount of attention that was focused on me just because of the grapevine. I had assumed that the marching band would be above the gossip, but apparently they were just as absorbed by it like everyone else in our school. Kayla and Chris's theory was that I was now leading a life far more exciting than the entire band's combined and they wanted to live vicariously through me.
Then again, apparently every girl in our school wanted to be in my shoes.
The next half hour of warm-ups went by relatively quickly. Before any of us knew it, we were already in parade block formation and facing backfield in rest position. It was an unspoken rule of respect and I'd already had to jab Elisa a few times to make her stop talking. It still didn't prevent McKinley from walking over to me and lecturing me quietly under his breath to control my section.
But by the time we were marching our way onto the field, I'd already forgotten everything I was stressing about a few minutes ago. I forgot about my sudden thrust into the limelight, I forgot about any nerves I had about this being our first competition. I just forgot all of it. This was the magic of music.
As we marched onto the turf, I could hear the screaming of the loyal pit crew mothers who followed us to every performance to support us by ringing their obnoxious cowbells. With the drumline cadence booming across the field and the sounds of the vuvuzuela coming from members of the soccer team-
Wait… what?
I almost stumbled on my own feet as I turned my head towards the audience, I couldn't believe what I was seeing in front of me. I knew I'd get in trouble for this later because we were repeatedly told to never look to the side. Sure, we used peripheral vision, but one of the cardinal rules was to never break formation. McKinley was not going to happy with me, but at this moment, I frankly didn't give a shit.
I needed to know why fourteen members of the Summit High School soccer team were currently shirtless and blowing into vuvuzuelas, front and center of everyone. But then that was when I saw it. How could I have missed it? Their chests were painted either black or gold with one huge letter on each of them. Together, they spelled out:
HAPPY BDAY ALEX!
Sure enough, Conner was the "A" in my name as he stood there, hollering something at me. I couldn't hear what he was saying over the drumline and all the other noise in the crowd, but the gesture was enough to make me smile. Gregg, Blaine, David and Travis were all there, as well as a few junior varsity kids they were priming to replace them after graduation.
We eventually split our parade block into Arc One, slowly marking time as we adjusted our arc. Even as I was doing that, I could still see them going insane behind our drum major. From where I was, I saw the amused look on Casey's face as he waited for us to evenly space the arc. I sneered lightly at him, silently telling him to shut up. Breaking protocol, he shook his head and laughed to himself before he held his hands up, motioning for the drumline to end the cadence.
But when the band stopped, the guys in the audience didn't seem to catch on. Either that or they did know and just wanted to find yet another way to humiliate me in the best way possible. At that precise moment, each one of them cupped their hands around the mouths and screamed, "Alex!".
I ducked my head at that precise moment, hearing everyone around me laughing lightly. Without a doubt, McKinley was going to lecture us about our behavior later and remind us to ignore the audience. Even though the impending lecture wasn't going to be fun, a part of me couldn't help but admit that it was going to be well worth it.
Without even having to think about it, I knew that this was all Conner's doing. He had enough power over the entirety of the soccer team to be able to force them to come out and do it. Blaine showed up at my competitions before, but never like this. He instead chose to blend in with the rest of the crowd. But today, seeing him and the soccer team decked out in body paint and screaming my name was not something I expected.
And it was all because of Conner.
Just the thought of it made my heart speed up. Since when did Conner go this far to put a smile on my face? Wasn't our relationship just for show? Then again, he certainly was going out of his way to publicize his so-called affection for me. So perhaps this was his way of making it obvious as possible to everyone in the damn world.
I sighed to myself. So much for not letting him consume my thoughts because right now he was all I could think of as I made my way towards my starting dot.
Chris fell into step beside me, lightly nudging me with his elbow as discreetly as possible. "And you were surprised he signed a damn birthday card for you. If he didn't care, why the hell would he drag every varsity guy and make them stand shirtless in sixty degree weather? The dude's got it bad for you."
I sighed and turned around in my dot. Chris continued walking and took his dot ten steps behind mine. As I brought my clarinet to attention and focused on Casey as he raised his hands into the air, I couldn't help but think about just how wrong Chris was.
I was nothing more than a sister to Conner.
…
When our school bus finally pulled into the parking lot just before midnight, we were all dead tired. After our first win of the season, we had celebrated exuberantly on the field, the McDonald's we bombarded and then for the first five minutes of the bus ride. But as soon as we reached the dark highway, something happened to everyone on the bus. It started with the rowdy drumline. They each slowly drifted off to sleep or started putting their headphones on. With the decreased noise, others began following suit and before I realized it, even I had fallen asleep on Chris's shoulder.
After an exhausting day, all of us probably could have slept through the night on the bus but McKinley wouldn't let us. The bright lights of the bus had jolted all of us awake as we grumbled in protest by the sudden 'alarm clock'. "You all did a great job today." McKinley said from the front of the bus as everyone began gathering their belongings. "It's a phenomenal start to the season and I'm glad that despite all the distractions, you were all able to perform. Alex, I'm talking about you right now."
I blushed at the comment, ignoring the pointed look he was giving me. Unlike the other directors, McKinley had not been amused by the soccer team's antics. He considered it disrespectful to the art of marching band to have fourteen extraordinarily well-built guys flaunting their abs for the entirety of the audience. Of course, they'd only revealed themselves for the fifteen or so minutes that we'd been on the field.
After that, no other school had the honor of seeing their bare chests.
Unfortunately after the competition, I didn't have the opportunity to see them. They had stayed for the awards ceremony but left after we had been called in order to beat the hordes of school buses and cars that would be leaving at the same time. While I had wanted to ask Conner why he'd done all this for my birthday that discussion could always wait until another day.
"Sorry, Mr. McKinley." I called out, hoisting my garment bag over my shoulder as I followed Chris and Kayla out of the school bus. "I swear it won't happen again!"
"It better not, Alex. We don't need your boyfriend and his team to keep us from doing what we do best."
"We still won though, Mr. McKinley!" Chris yelled out so that our director could still hear him. "If you want us to keep winning, we should tell them to come back more often."
"I don't need your sass right now, Mr. Le. Go home. We're all exhausted." Came McKinley's tired response from the open bus window. "I'll see the three of you in class on Monday. Enjoy the rest of your weekend."
"Will do!" Chris responded as we walked down the sidewalk that wrapped around the school towards the back parking lot where we had left our cars so many hours ago. Each of us was far too tired to function and instead silently split ways. When I was finally alone, I pulled out my car keys and pressed the button. But the happy beep that was supposed to follow never came.
What the fuck?
Did someone fucking steal my car? I distinctly remembered locking the doors of my car, but it was possible that someone had taken it. Crap, crap, crap… my parents were going to kill me when they found out the car was stolen.
Maybe they wouldn't find out…
Oh who was I kidding.
I quickly pulled my phone out of my pocket and began dialing 9-1-1 until I heard the sound of a car stopping next to me. Looking up, I saw Conner leaning out the door and gesturing for me to get inside. Without hesitation or even questioning why he was suddenly popping up everywhere I was going today, I ran around towards the passenger side of his car and got in. "What the hell happened to my car, Flannery? You had something to do with this, didn't you?" I cried out, jabbing him in the chest as I tossed my stuff in the back seat.
"Chill, North." Conner laughed, knocking away my finger. "I drove some of the guys to North Dover and they left their cars here. Blaine decided that he was just going to drive your car back home instead of making you do it; he knew you would be exhausted and didn't want you to inevitably crash on the way back. Also because I dragged his ass all the way out there, I said I'd pick you up."
"Wait, so how long have you been waiting for me?"
"Not long; maybe only five minutes so maybe it would've been easier for Blaine to take you home. But whatever. So did you enjoy your birthday present?" Glancing over at me, I saw that impish grin on his face and the sour mood I'd been in a few seconds ago disappeared.
"You got me in so much trouble with McKinley! I swear if you guys stuck around and talked to me after the show, he would've killed all of you."
"Psh," Conner scoffed, pulling easily out of the school parking lot, "he's just jealous he's not as sexy as we are when he's shirtless and covered in body paint."
"Oh, God." I groaned, banging the side of my head against his window as he laughed. "Please, don't put that image in my mind. That's definitely something I don't need to be thinking about right before I go to bed. Thanks a lot, Conner."
"Anytime." Even though I wasn't looking at him, I could see the smirk on his face. "I do what I can to help you."
"Whatever." I grumbled under my breath, staring out the window as the trees and houses passed us. Neither of us said anything, but it was actually okay. An easy silence came over us and I was happy that Conner wasn't pushing me to converse with him. Today had been exhausting and especially after falling asleep on the bus, my body was already in sleep mode.
He pulled into my driveway a few minutes later and killed the engine. My parents had left the front porch light on, so I knew I could walk straight into the house without worrying about being locked out in the relatively cool autumn night. I turned to Conner who was already looking at me with a smile on his face. "I said it sarcastically before, but I actually mean it right now. Thanks for everything, Conner. What you did today… it was amazing and unexpected. You didn't have to go all out for your fake girlfriend."
"Hey, it's my pleasure." Conner winked, leaning his elbow against the steering wheel. "Gotta show the world that I can be the best boyfriend in the world."
"Yeah, well… they don't know that I'm essentially paying for you to be my boyfriend."
"Semantics." He waved away my retort and leaned forward towards me. "All they know is that I show up shirtless everywhere and kiss you until you're moaning my name."
"Oh, hell no!" I cried out in denial, but at the same time, thankful that the car was dark enough so he couldn't see the blush creeping up my cheeks. After all, that was exactly what his kisses were capable of doing to me; I just didn't need him knowing that small detail. He was still laughing as I reached over the middle console to grab my garment bag. By the time I turned around again, he had finally stopped laughing at me and was just smirking as he laid his head against the headrest. "You're disgusting."
"And you're adorable, North."
His words hit me in the chest as I stopped breathing. Was he actually complimenting me right now? This never happened between us; why was he starting now?
As I stared at him in surprise, I was waiting for him to break out into a grin and tell me that he was just joking and that in reality, I was a fat cow. Maybe not those exact words, but something along those lines. I truly wasn't expecting him to say something like that, especially not after what he'd just said to me.
"What?" Conner smiled, leaning forward onto the middle console so that he was resting his elbows comfortably between us. "Have I rendered you speechless yet again?" he tilted his head, urging me to say something.
Anything.
"Thanks, Conner." I whispered, unsure of what else I was supposed to say.
"You've thanked me way too many times tonight." Before I was capable of comprehending what he was doing, Conner reached up towards my cheek. He tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear, letting his hand linger by my neck. The simple contact shocked me to my very core, a reaction I did not anticipate. I was suddenly aware of how little space separated us. "It's your birthday; you deserved everything."
I nodded mutely, unable to respond to the gentle touches of his fingers against the sensitive skin of my neck. When his blue eyes met mine, I found myself unable to look away and that was when my chest clenched in anticipation. It struck me at that moment; Conner was going to kiss me. The very thought of that could stop me from breathing. No one was around for show, but he was still going to do it.
However, the moment I let that thought cross my mind, Conner suddenly blinked and just like that, everything shattered. He pulled back quickly, almost smacking his head on the window behind him as he retreated. He brought his hand to the back of his head, rubbing it as he glanced away from me. I had still yet to say anything or even react, but Conner was acting as if I'd slapped him across the face the second he touched me.
"Um, so, tomorrow." Conner coughed, turning to face the front windshield. "I'll come by at six. Is that okay?"
Tomorrow? Oh right… my birthday dinner that I was ultimately paying for… because Conner was a boyfriend I was temporarily buying after I destroyed all his textbooks.
Hell, who was I kidding? Why the hell did I even think that Conner could be remotely attracted to me? Everything he had done today was for the sake of his image; it wasn't because he liked me. The thoughts I had after Chris talked to me on the field were confirmed; I grew up with Conner. He was like Blaine 2.0 to me.
He'd spent years tormenting me, and he still was by making me pay him back $300 in this fashion. Who was I to think that he'd kiss me because he wanted to, not because he had to?
Regardless of my thoughts, I nodded and opened the door. "Sounds good. I'll see you then."
Without waiting for his response, I slammed the door shut and walked up the steps of my front porch. I half-expected him to chase after me and explain to me what had just happened, but I shouldn't have even let myself have those thoughts. The distinct sound of the engine turning over filled the air, immediately followed by the screech of his tires as he pulled out of my driveway as quickly as possible.
I turned my head to the side just as I saw him drive down my street. He certainly was in a rush to get away from me.
So much for a perfect birthday.
Author's Note
Hmmm, chapter 8 already. Because I make these chapters so damn long, I feel like I'm so much further along than I actually am. At least I'm almost halfway? Heh. Anyway, if you couldn't already tell, once upon a time, I used to be a marching band fanatic. Oh, those good old days of never having a life in the fall. Beautiful time. Thank you everyone for the spectacular response! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter :)
-mff
9.28.2013