Connection (Le Garde) (25 page)

“
You so need to hit that,” Jordan said.

I shrugged with a grin.

“
Double date this Saturday,” he said, pushing me in the shoulder. “Or triple. Chandler, how are you and Stacey?”

“
We’re fine, but she’s out of town this weekend.”

“
Oh. Well, I assume you don’t want to be a fifth wheel.”

Chandler laughed. “Do whatever you want.”

Jordan turned to me, raising his eyebrows.

“
I don’t know,” I said, fiddling with a tear in my jeans. I thought of Anna, of course. When did I
not
think of Anna? She was all over Steven since the crash on Tuesday. We texted a lot, about Steven’s stupid mom, about Kristina and Drew, about teachers or friends. Even though we’d fought on Tuesday, she wasn’t angry at me anymore. We’d hardly talked in person since the fight, mostly because she was coddling her boyfriend in crutches. I just hated the thought of giving up on her.

Jordan peered at me. “Are you sleeping with Anna Beauvais?”

“
What? No!” I said. “She’s going out with Steven.”

Jordan shrugged. “That hasn’t stopped her before.”

I clenched my teeth. “Jordan—”

He put his hands up. “All right, all right. You’re not sleeping with her, though?”

“
No! She’s.
 
.
 
.she’s not into me.”

He put his arm around my shoulders, and it made me want to shove him away. “But Wendy is. Vickie says she won’t shut up about you.”

“
She’s never even talked to me,” I said.

“
She’s shy. Come on, Saturday night? We’ll see a movie or something.”

I hesitated again, but maybe Jordan was right. I had tried with Anna. More than once. It wouldn’t be like I was giving up on her. Maybe she’d break up with Steven someday. Right now, she only liked me as a friend. And considering where we’d been six months ago, being friends with Anna was pretty awesome.

“
Okay,” I gave in. “Let’s do it.”

* * *

Saturday night came, and Jordan told me he’d swing by to pick me up around six. I guess we were going to see a movie and maybe hang out at Jordan’s house afterwards. I threw on some nice jeans and a black t-shirt. I was spraying on some cologne when I got a text.

Anna. It said,
What are you doing tonight? I’m bored.

I swore, running a hand through my hair. Was she asking if I wanted to do something? I actually considered bailing on Wendy for a second, but I knew that’d be a jerk thing to do. It took me a while to decide what to text back. I finally settled on,
I’ve got a date, actually.

Anna text back,
Wow, that was quick. ;)

I half-laughed, wondering if she’d stuck that smilie on to hide some kind of bitterness. If I were in her presence, I’d have known how she truly felt about it. Sometimes technology just made communication more complicated, not less.
You jealous? :P
I asked.

Ha! You wish! Who’s it with?

I hesitated. Anna would probably have no problem with Wendy. It was her sister that gave me caution.
Wendy, she’s a sophomore. She’s going to play bass with pinwheel.

As I pulled on my shoes, Anna sent,
I know her. I hope she’s nicer than her sister.

Oh, she definitely is. They seem like opposites to me.

Well, cool. Have fun.

Outside, Jordan’s car pulled up and honked. I went downstairs and grabbed my jacket. I told my mom I’d be home in a couple hours. “Call if you’ll be late,” she called after me. “Have fun!”

“
Thanks, Mom,” I said, walking outside. I slid into the backseat where Wendy sat. “What’s up, guys?”

Wendy smiled at me. She wore a low-cut green top, and her blonde hair was curled at the ends. “Hey, Aaron.”

“
Hey, Wendy. You look nice.”

Her cheeks went pink. “Thanks.”

We went to get pizza before the movie. Vickie wasn’t that bad when she wasn’t shit-talking other people. She was kind of funny, actually, and she and Jordan could banter all night.

When they got going, I turned to Wendy. “So, you’re a sophomore,” I said, half-question, half-statement.

“
And you’re a junior,” she said.

“
Yep,” I said, chuckling.

We fell into awkward silence. I think this was the first time I was on an actual, honest-to-god
date
. When Sam and I went on dates, we were already going out. We already knew we liked each other. We weren’t trying each other out or anything.

“
So, how long have you played sax?” Wendy asked.

We made small talk for a while, mostly talking about music. Wendy liked a lot of good bands, and I told her I’d send her a list of more bands she’d like. She told me she got into our music after seeing us at the talent show last year. I laughed because we’d pretty much sucked that long ago. She said otherwise, but since we were on a date, she was kind of obligated to.

We decided to see a horror movie because I guess that’s what teenagers did on dates. While we were in line for popcorn, I felt Anna. I glanced around and saw she and Sam buying tickets.

“
Well, look who it is,” Vickie said.

I winced. I hoped Vickie didn’t make this whole date unpleasant just because Anna was around.

“
I wonder what clarinet would sound like in Pinwheel,” Wendy commented. I stared at her like she was crazy. She blushed. “What?”

“
Nothing, sorry,” I said.

Anna and Sam got in line behind us.

“
How’s Gimp?” Vickie asked, a wicked smile on her face.

“
He’s fine,” Anna said.

“
How did he break his leg?” Wendy asked. She really didn’t listen to her sister’s crap. The most recent rumor Vickie was spreading was road head, and I’d just barely kept myself from hitting Jordan a few times over the last few days. I was starting to like Wendy more and more.

Anna, though, wasn’t sure whether Wendy was being serious or mocking. I tried to send her signals that she was genuinely curious.

“
We were in a car wreck,” Anna said. “He didn’t see a stop sign in time and sped right past it. A truck hit the driver’s side.”

Wendy gasped. “That must have been really scary.”

Vickie scoffed, rolling her eyes. “Well, he was very distracted, if you know what I mean.”

Wendy ignored her. “Is that why you have the stitches?”

Anna nodded.

“
Once, when I was six or seven, I was walking home from school.” Wendy grinned at me. “I was running with my head down, though, like I was a football player, and I ran right into a truck. I had to get twelve stitches right along the top of my head.” Anna, Sam, and I laughed. She bent her head down, spreading her blonde hair to show us the scar. I ran my fingers along it. When she looked up, her cheeks were pink again. It was starting to look really cute. “It was so funny.”

“
It was gross,” Vickie said with a shudder. “There was so much blood!” She turned to order food with Jordan.

“
I heard this movie we’re seeing has a lot of gore,” I said. I looked at Wendy. “I hope you don’t get sick on me.”

She stuck her chin out. “I’ll be fine.”

“
Are you guys seeing Night of Corpses?” Sam asked. “We are, too!”

I grinned at Anna. “Really? How’d she talk you into that one?”

Anna hated scary movies. She usually did everything she could to avoid watching them. She shot Sam a dirty look. “I’m still not sure.”

Sam threw her arm around Anna’s shoulders. “You’ll love it!”

We reached the stand, and I bought Wendy and I some popcorn and soda. “Do you want any candy?” I asked Wendy.

She shook her head. “Popcorn’s good for me.”

I paused and ordered some skittles for myself. I nodded to Anna and Sam. “See you guys.” I pointed at Anna. “Don’t get too freaked out. Just remember, it’s not real.”

She rolled her eyes and waved me away.

I thought Anna’s presence might fade from my mind as Wendy and I walked to the theatre, but she didn’t. It seemed like our distance was growing greater. I wondered how far Kristina and Drew could be from each other before losing each other. I wanted to see them again, and Joseph Harwood, but Anna and I hadn’t spoken about it since Tuesday. I’d left a voicemail before the car crash that she could tell Steven if she wanted to, but she still hadn’t. I was okay with that. More than okay, actually.

Jordan and Vickie had saved us seats near the middle. A couple minutes later, Anna and Sam walked in and sat a few rows behind us. Vickie said something to Jordan as they passed, and he laughed loudly.

The movie started. Five minutes in, Anna was already scared. Half an hour in, Wendy grabbed my leg at a scary part, and I nearly spilled my popcorn.

Wendy giggled. “Sorry,” she whispered.

“
It’s okay,” I whispered back.

Anna was freaking out, and her fear was making me panic more than the actual movie. I used to hate watching scary movies with her because by the end, I had a whopping headache from Anna’s mental freak outs. Wendy’s hand found mine halfway through the movie, and she gave me a shy smile in the dark.

By the end of the movie, I had an ache behind my eyes from Anna. It was like when she called out to me during the car crash—except it went on for
an hour and a half.

As we stood up, I threw a glance at Anna. She gave me an apologetic look, shrugging helplessly. Never again was I going to watch a movie like this with her. If Sam knew anything about our connection, I’d blame her for all of this. I couldn’t help but smile at both of them, though, as we left. Okay, mostly Anna. Sam was ignoring me by staring at her phone.

We walked to the car, talking about scary parts and the weird ending. “What should we do now?” Vickie asked once we were inside Jordan’s car.

“
We could go hang out at my place,” Jordan said. He glanced at his watch. “My mom’s working the nightshift tonight, shouldn’t be home for a couple hours.”

I saw Vickie’s hand touch Jordan’s knee, and I made a face at Wendy. She giggled.

We went to Jordan’s apartment. It was just him and his mom here. The place was a two-bedroom full of his mom’s Disney collection and Jordan’s crap. Jordan suggested popping in another movie, but I’d just sat through one, so I thought we could play video games. Vickie got bored of that quick, and she and Jordan went into his room, leaving Wendy and I alone.

“
This is kind of embarrassing,” I said.

Wendy looked at me, her eyes wide. “What is?”

I nodded toward Jordan’s room.

“
Oh.” She blushed. “Yeah, it is.”

“
You seem a lot different from your sister.”

“
Yeah. We don’t have that much in common.” Wendy shrugged. “Vickie’s into shopping and gossip and guys. I mean, I’m into guys, too, just not as much. Well, I mean.
 
.
 
.you know what I mean, right?”

“
Yeah,” I said with a laugh.

We put in a racing game. Wendy was pretty good, so to distract her, I tried tickling her. She pushed me away, laughing. Whenever she got ahead, I tickled her again. She giggled and squirmed, eventually even kicking my hands away.

“
Okay, you know what?” she said. She threw her controller down and started tickling me back. I yelped, darting away from her, and she laughed. “Somebody’s ticklish!”

I grabbed her wrists, and she tried to tickle me with her toes. I sat on her legs, and she bucked me off the couch when I was trying to get her stomach. My knees hit the floor, and she pushed me onto my back.

“
Hey, what are you—” I began.

She sat on my hips and started for my stomach again. I laughed, trying to push her hands away. I twisted my hips. She was light so it was easy to spin us around and pin her underneath me. I grabbed her wrists again and held them above her head. “You have to stop doing that,” I said breathlessly.

She grinned up at me. Her hair was splayed across the ground, and her chest rose and fell as she panted. My eyes lingered on her chest for a moment, and she cleared her throat. “My face is up here,” she said, smirking.

“
Oh, right,” I said. “That’s what I wanted to kiss.”

Her mouth fell open in shock, and I leaned down to kiss her. Anna hadn’t looked so different when I kissed her. Wendy’s mouth was soft and warm, and she slowly opened her mouth to my tongue. I let go of her wrists, and she wrapped her arms around my neck. My hands went to her small waist, holding onto her hips, then running up and down her sides. I hadn’t kissed anyone like this for months, though I’d definitely daydreamed about it.