Aftershocks (15 page)

“You’d better,” he chastised me. “We’re wasting good popcorn.”

“I won’t miss,” I said, with mock determination in my voice.

He tossed it lightly toward me. I leaned slightly to the right and felt the popcorn hit my tongue and closed my mouth around it.

“I did it!” I cheered, opening my mouth to show him and did a little victory-dance like I’d just scored a touchdown.

Connor laughed. “You’re ridiculous,” he said, giving me a high-five, then throwing up a piece and catching it in his mouth.

“My, aren’t you talented,” I said, feigning admiration.

“What can I say? I’m good.”

“Yes, I am so jealous of your mad popcorn catching skils,” I said sarcasticaly, punching him lighting on the arm as we made our way to the theater. He just smiled at me.

“It took you long enough,” Alexis said once we’d reached the seats they had saved.

“Yeah, wel, there was some confusion with the sodas,” Connor lied.

I smiled to myself at his lie. He sat down next to Alexis, and I sat on his right side. When Jordan came in, he sat next to me, wanting to be as far from Alexis as possible. Connor set the bucket of popcorn in my lap so the three of us could share. I took a long drink of my soda before sticking it in the holder. Next to me, I saw Alexis snuggle up to Connor and lace her fingers through his left hand. His right hand was free to reach for the popcorn that was on my lap, so I set it on the armrest between us.

“Sorry, it was burning my legs.”

“Here,” he said, setting it on his own lap. “I’l tough it out.”

“Thanks,” I whispered, as the previews started.

“Anytime,” he whispered back. I could feel his warm breath on my cheek and could smel his clean scent. I breathed in as quietly as I could. He smeled incredible.

I was suddenly very aware of him being so close to me. We had been that close before, but it was different being next to each other in a dark movie theater, especialy after I knew what it was like to have his lips on mine. I had trouble concentrating on the previews for the upcoming movies. Connor didn’t. He was laughing along with everyone else in the theater, as scenes from a new movie starring Steve Carrel flashed on the screen. I joined in, not realy knowing what was so funny, but not wanting to look out of place.

“Sour worm?” Jordan asked, dangling a worm in front of my face. I reached out and snatched it from him.

“Thanks.” I turned to grin at him.

Thankfuly the movie wasn’t long. As the credits roled, I could hear everyone saying that it was good. I hadn’t realy noticed. The scenes I remembered had been trying to be too funny. None of it seemed realistic. I had tried to pay attention to what was happening on the screen, but each time I did, Connor would either move, laugh or make a comment that would draw my focus back to him. I was careful not to reach for popcorn when he did. As much as I would have liked to touch his hand, I didn’t want him to think I was doing it intentionaly.

In truth I had spent more time with my head facing forward, but my eyes on Connor that I now had a headache. I worked to adjust my eyes back to normal as we walked out of the theater. Rich caled someone back on his phone, while Alexis and Faith chatted about their favorite outfits that the actresses had worn which pretty much left Connor excluded from the conversation. Not that he minded. He was texting someone. I swung my eyes to try to get a look at his phone, but I couldn’t tel who it was.

As we walked out into the cool night, he put his phone in his pocket, leaned over to me and said, “Jack says hi.”

I looked up in surprise. I hadn’t expected him to be right next to me. He was grinning.

“Oh, tel him I said hi.”

“You know, he’s not seeing anyone right now.”

“Yes, but he’s stil hung up on Kerry,” I whispered.

“I have it on good authority that he likes someone else,” Connor said, nudging me.

I roled my eyes. “He doesn’t like me.”

“He thinks you’re cute,” Connor sung.

I think you’re cute.

“Awesome,” I deadpanned. Although I knew Jack realy was a good guy, I just couldn’t muster the energy. I’d been thinking about Connor non-stop for weeks, so there wasn’t much desire on my end to date his friend, especialy since I’d already sort of been there, done that.

“He’s a good guy,” Connor said, starting to get defensive.

“He’s a great guy, but I’m not interested in dating – him or anyone else.”

“Why?”

Before I could answer, we caught up to everyone else. Jordan had run ahead to the car and perched on the hood. He had his iPhone out and was playing some sort of game. I said goodbye to everyone to be polite and told Connor I would meet him at his car. I started to walk away but not before I got to see Alexis kiss Connor with more passion that was appropriate for outside of a movie theater. I just roled my eyes at them and started walking at a brisk pace, resisting the urge to tel them get a room, mostly because I didn’t want to think about what they might do in that room.

Connor caught up to me, pressing the remote to unlock the car. Jordan hopped into the backseat, leaving Connor and me outside.

“Hey,” Connor said, walking around to the driver’s side. He leaned his arms on top of the roof and looked over at me. “You realy don’t want to date anyone?”

I shrugged nonchalantly. “I don’t see the point. I’m going to colege in a year. If I start dating someone, then we’d just have to break up and that would suck, so I just feel like it’s better not to get attached.”

I thought it was a pretty good off-the-cuff response since the real answer was that I’d like to date him.

“I guess that makes sense,” he said, not totaly convinced, but he stopped asking questions and opened his car door.

“What did you think of the movie?” I asked, as I fastened my seat belt. “I personaly wasn’t a fan.”

“Me neither,” Jordan piped up from the back. I could hear the theme music to
Angry Birds
coming from his phone.

Connor smiled. “Yeah, me neither. I should have known better than to agree to go to a chick-flick, but Alexis begged me. It’s pretty hard to tel her ‘no’ when she decides she wants something. Next time I agree to something like this, please talk me out of it.”

“Only if you promise to do the same for me,” I said, deciding the only salvation of the night was that I’d gotten to sit next to him for two hours.

“Deal.”

A few weeks later, my stomach was grumbling as I sat in physics, trying to pay attention to what Mr. Winters was saying about the experiment we would be performing the next day with toy cars and a ramp. I didn’t have much luck, since I was more focused on my hunger. I slowly puled a granola bar out of my bag and tried to open it as quietly as possible. I broke off a piece and popped it into my mouth, grateful when it hit my stomach. I ate the rest in three bites and tried to focus on what the goal of the experiment would be.

Maybe it wasn’t just my hunger that had my mind in a different place. I stil couldn’t concentrate. Next to me, Connor was furiously scribbling notes, so at least he would know what was going on.

He had come into work the night before as Luke and I were going through the boxes of new merchandise for the other half of the shop.

The wal was down, but plastic covered the space as the workmen painted and finished the last minute touches, like benches to try on ski boots and shelves on the wals. Luke and I had taken to assembling the racks for the clothing, sorting new shipments of merchandise, cataloguing them in the store computer and putting prices on the tags. It was a tedious process, but at least Luke didn’t complain about being bored anymore. We’d also had a lot of buzz about the new shop, so business would be good when we finaly opened.

Connor had stopped by with milkshakes and sat with us while we worked, puling things out of boxes and putting them on hangers or folding them after we’d catalogued and priced them. Luke had jokingly said he should apply for a job when we started hiring, which I’d thought was an excelent idea, but Connor seemed content to help for free.

Then Luke started talking in code about Alexis, trying to get Connor to spil details about their sex life. I was less than interested, and I think Connor could tel, because he kept changing the subject. It was awkward to say the least, and now the thought of what actualy went on with Connor and Alexis when they were together had my stomach upset. I knew they had sex – since she’d confirmed it so openly – I just didn’t want to picture it.

The bel signaling the end of physics caught me off-guard and brought me back to reality. I hadn’t realized I’d zoned out for the whole class. I would have to get the notes for the lab from Connor. I stuffed my notebook and pen into my bag and swung it onto my shoulder, as we headed out the door.

“You didn’t pay any attention in class, did you?” Connor asked, as we left the classroom.

“Guilty,” I said, looking up at him.

“What were you thinking about?”

You.

“Breakfast. I was running late, so I didn’t stop by Starbucks this morning. I’m under-caffeinated.” I pouted up at him.

“Poor baby,” he said, shaking his head at me.

“Can you copy your notes?”

“I’l do you one better. I’l come over after school, and we can prep for the lab. How about that?”

My eyes lit up. “You’re the best!” I hugged him around the waist not caring who saw.

“I know. I know,” Connor said, as he slung his arm around my shoulder.

***

“Twizzler?” I asked, passing the pack to him that we’d been snacking on.

“Thanks,” he said, puling one out and sticking it in his mouth, biting down on the end of it but not breaking a piece off.

When a song by The National came on a few minutes later, I started to sing along under my breath.

“Turn it up,” Connor said, and I reached over to adjust the volume on his iPod which he’d insisted we listen to so he could introduce me to his favorite bands, most of which I already knew although he had surprised me with some local bands from Austin.

He nodded his head in time with the music, stil chewing on his Twizzler. When his phone rang a few minutes later, it seemed it was in fact break time. I watching appraisingly as he stopped mouthing the words to the song that was playing in the background and looked at the caler ID for a few seconds, debating whether or not to answer, before he finaly picked up. I set my papers down and stretched my arms over my head. Connor tried to keep his voice low, but I could tel he was talking to Alexis.

“It’s a mix,” he said after a few minutes. “The National . . . I’ve played you their stuff before . . . No, you didn’t like it . . . Fine . . . Can you turn it down?”

I realized he had turned and was talking to me, so I lowered the volume since apparently our music was offending Alexis.

“Abby,” Connor said then, but he wasn’t talking to me. “I’m at her house . . . because we’re doing physics homework . . . no, it’s not something I can do alone, we’re lab partners.” He said the last part through gritted teeth.

“Alexis don’t,” he said after she responded, and I realized I was eavesdropping on a lover’s quarrel that Connor probably didn’t want me to hear.

Instead of sticking around like I realy wanted to, I ducked out of the room to get a soda. I caled Wyatt from downstairs hoping he wasn’t in class. He didn’t answer. We’d been playing phone-tag since for a few days, and I was dying to hear how things were going with Jeremy. It they were getting serious, but Wyatt hadn’t been very talkative about his relationship. I think he was afraid to jinx it. His past luck in love hadn’t been great.

After I left him a message, I got sodas for me and Connor, sifted through the mail that I’d colected when I got home, read a magazine for a few minutes, and then decided I’d given Connor sufficient time to work out his drama with psycho-girl. Unfortunately, when I got back to my room, he was stil on the phone, but it did seem like they’d resolved their issues.

I settled back onto my bed and tried to concentrate on what I was reading, but it was hard not to listen in. My ears especialy perked up when Connor started protesting about some party. At first, I figured Alexis was trying to convince him to go to yet another Friday night party, but when he said he just wanted to do something low key for his birthday, I realized she was talking about his birthday party.

I poked him I the ribs with my toe to get his attention. He turned for a second, but waved me off, so I made a face at him and poked him again. He giggled this time which was hilarious since he was practicaly a grown man. He definitely shouldn’t be giggling. He turned and gave me a warning look, but he was smiling. I just looked at him right back, making a mock-menacing face.

When he hung up a few minutes later, I poked him again with my toe, and he turned to smirk at me. He shook his head slowly a few times as if chalenging me to poke him again. I just raised my eyebrows to him a few times before refocusing on my homework. I felt his gaze on me for a few seconds before he too looked back down.

I reached over to turn his iPod back up. As soon as the next song started, I heard the opening chords and yanked the iPod of the dock.

“Hey, what’s the big idea?” Connor asked, as I sat there holding his proffered iPod. “That was a good song.”

It was
July, July
by The Decembrists, and I couldn’t listen to it. I hadn’t heard that song since I’d deleted it from my iPod the year before.

I tried to colect myself as I looked down at his iPod and clicked to the next song. As calmly as I could, I placed the iPod back on the dock and let the music fil the room again. I knew Connor was stil staring at me wondering what the hel had happened. I looked up at his quizzical gaze.

“You don’t like The Decembrists?” he asked, but I knew he could tel something else was wrong.