Sounds of Yesterday (22 page)

My therapist ends our session with a smile and a promise to see me in two weeks. I feel like our time went by way too quickly but looking at the clock, it really was the regular hour-long session. This whole month is going by quickly. It’s almost Thanksgiving already. School and having a boyfriend definitely makes the time fly.

I walk out into the waiting area and tell Zach that we’re good to go. He decided to come with me when Alex had to cancel. He and Soph are busying with science related things so us non-science people are spending time together today. Tyler, Liam, and I have to practice our musical piece for class so we’re going to do it at Liam’s place because the rehearsal rooms were already booked.

              “Liam said they finished setting up so we can head over.” Zach holds out his bag of gummy bears and I pluck a few red ones. We already finished the Skittles. “Tyler’s lady friend is there.”

I groan as we head out of the building, toward the nearest bus stop. “What does he see in her? Like, seriously. The chick is always nagging.” Tyler started seeing a chick in our music theory class a few weeks ago and I guess the sex is really good because he doesn’t want to stop it. His words.

Zach shrugs his shoulders and pops a few bears in his mouth. “She said Soph looked like a washed up troll doll when she was having a bad hair day.” He turns his eyes on me. “I fucking hate that chick. I’d gladly shave off her eyebrows.”

I laugh at the visual. Cindy, Tyler’s girl, is the kind of chick you see making YouTube makeup tutorials. She’s beautiful. But her attitude makes her rotten. She adores her perfect eyebrows so having them shaven would most likely cause her to die of a heart attack.

“I told her she looked like a plastic doll left in an oven too long when Soph told me that.” I steal another gummy and chew on it. “Tyler texted me afterwards, asking me to ‘be kind to her’.”

“Rich girls.” Zach shakes his head and signals to me that the bus is approaching. “Why are most of them like that? They make me feel proud of my four figure savings account.”

“I know! I heard a group of girls talking about this party last weekend where they spent ten grand on dresses and purses and shit, like I can get so much food with ten grand if I had it.”

The bus stops in front of us and opens its doors. We get on and find some seats.

Zach fidgets in his seat for a few minutes, rubbing his hands up and down his legs repeatedly. I stare at him from the corner of my eye debating whether or not I should ask what’s wrong. I finally give in. It’s not every day we have so much time together where we can discuss things, and I miss our little friend hangouts.

“Are you okay?”

Zach stares out of the window then drags his eyes back to me. “I need your honest opinion about something.” I nod, telling him to go on. “I bought Soph a ring.”

My eyes become the size of saucers and I start smacking his arm. “You can’t tell me this! She’ll see it all over my face. What is wrong with you?”

He grabs my hand and holds it away from him. “Chill. I’m not going to propose–”

“You’re such an asshole. She doesn’t deserve you.” I try to hold a straight face but I can’t and I start laughing. “I’m just kidding. Continue.”

“
Yet,
” he adds.

OHMYGOD, this is happening! My best friends are going to get married some day!!!

“It’s small. Like,
realllllllly
small. It was the only thing I could afford.”

His eyes sadden a bit so I start smacking his arm again.

One of the passengers stare at us like we’re crazy.

“Is this why you were talking about rich girls?” He nods. “Soph isn’t high maintenance. She won’t give a shit if it’s small, Zach. The chick literally has a secret Pinterest board for her future wedding and the picture she has as her ring is a goddamn
Ring Pop
. You always gave them to her.”

“No shit.” Zach’s eyes widen and he cracks a smile. “So she sees a future…with me?”

“Do you want me to continue smacking you? Of course she sees a future with you! You guys have been secretly married since you got back together in high school. Only she and I know of this wedding, obviously.”

“You two are so weird.” He chuckles and grabs my hand before I smack his stomach. “Are we too young? This is what I need to know. From you. You’re always the voice of reason. You know us better than anyone.”

“No, I’m not.” I play with the bottom of my shorts as I think over my answer. I’d tell him to do whatever he wants, it’s his life, but he wants a real answer from me. The best I can think of is, “If you have to ask me, then maybe you are too young.” I grab his hand and squeeze. “I mean this nicely, Zach. The moment you know
when
, you’ll know. You’ll feel it in your bones and you won’t need anyone’s opinion. It could be tomorrow for all we know.
You
just need to be sure that it’s what you want. No doubts. I won’t judge you if it’s years from now. As long as you make Soph happy and
you’re
happy, I’m happy.”

He nods once then stares down at our hands.

“This was much more helpful than talking to Sophie’s dad. Phew!” Zach wipes his brows and clutches his heart. “He gave me his blessing then added that if I get her pregnant in college, I’ll be taken care of and a wedding will never happen.”

“Oh, god.” I give him a sideways hug and pat his shoulder that must hurt from my beating. “Looks like you need to stop having so much unprotected sex now.”

“Unbelievable.” Zach narrows his eyes at me. “She tells you when we don’t use a condom?”

I shrug my shoulder. “It’s Sophie. She tells me everything.”

***

After we get off the bus and walk the rest of the way to Liam’s house, both Zach and I feel like we’re so underdressed to be walking down Pine Drive. These houses are valued at way more than a million each. The most expensive thing I have on is my Chucks. I could possibly be considered a homeless runaway by these neighbors.

“This looks like a nice neighborhood,” Zach comments, stopping in front of Liam’s place, heading up the walkway.

“This is a goddamn palace,” I mutter.

You can fit ten or more of Mom’s house in here.

My phone buzzes in my back pocket. I grab it as I stare at the beauty of this place. Trees create a barrier on either side of us. It’s like walking into your dream house. I’ve seen houses like this on TV, never in real life.

“Hello?” I answer, looking from side to side to spot the front door. All I see are pillars and more walkways and trees.

“Did you make it?” Liam asks.

“Yeah, we’re walking up the walkway now. Where’s the front door? Or do we go to the back?
How
do we navigate around here? Help.”

“Oh, we’re in the back.” He covers the mouthpiece of his phone and mumbles something. “I’ll come get you. It’ll take two minutes.”

“Alright, thank you!” I hang up and glance at Zach. “He’ll be here in two minutes.”

Zach’s jaw drops. “I can run around my house, enter it, go upstairs, and leave again in two minutes.”

I nod because it’s true.

We continue up the walkway and stop somewhere on the path that breaks off in two directions. I won’t even try and guess which one to take. So we wait.

Liam appears farther down one path so we start walking toward him. “Welcome to mi casa.” He turns and we follow. “My mom’s with a client so we can’t go through the front. It would be so much faster.” Liam looks over at me. “I have food ready for you so you don’t pass out.”

I flip him off. He and Zach laugh.

“Have you lived here long?” I ask. Even though we’ve all become close, Liam is still the silent guy who doesn’t offer much about himself. I try to see if he’ll open up. We’re both quiet so it’s taking some time.

“Almost four years. My mom designed this house herself.”

“She’s freaking talented, man. This place is amazing.” Zach’s eyes land on the pool in the distance. That pool is massive. It must take some time getting from one end to another. Man, swimming in there must be fun! “Do you have a big family?” See, we don’t know enough of this man!

Liam stares at the pool then looks away. I notice his hands are fisted by his sides. “No, it’s just me and my parents. They planned on filling up all nine bedrooms but…life happens and dreams die.”

Zach looks at me with raised brows. Yeah, I notice the shift in his voice too.

“During the holidays, the house gets filled up though.” Liam waves his hand around and starts pointing at windows. “There’s nine bathrooms all over the house so no one ever waits.”

Damn, that would have been nice back home. Declan always rushed me.

When we finally reach a sliding door near the back of the house we enter a room with floor-to-ceiling windows. I spot a Yamaha C7 concert grand piano sitting in the middle. I spin in a circle and say, ‘wow’ a few times. I feel like singing and dancing around it. I cross my arms over my chest to contain the tingling in my fingers. I want to touch it. I want to touch it so badly. It’s in such good shape.

“It looks brand new.”

“No one plays it,” Liam acknowledges.

“I want to die playing one of these.” I close my eyes and write that on my mental bucket list. Before my last breath, I’ll play the last note of a song I create on a piano like this.
I will.

“You can play if you want.” I stare at Liam like he is God. “I’m serious.”

“If I sit down, I’ll never get up.”

“Next time, then.”

I press my fingers together and wiggle them back in forth like a happy child.

We walk down a hallway and stop at a door. There are more closed doors down the hallway, if I leave, I’ll need a map to make it out alive. When we enter the room, Tyler and Cindy are sitting on chairs with guitars in their hands, lost in their own world. Tyler looks up and smiles at me, waving his hand quickly before going back to strumming a few notes.

I look around and find the drum set, Tyler’s guitar stool, and an upright piano all set up away from each other so we’re not breathing down each other’s necks.

“Can I use the bathroom before we start?” I ask. We’re going to be here for a while and I don’t want any interruptions.

Liam tells me that the nearest one is down the hallway to the right, the third door down. I can’t miss it. “The plumber is checking all of the bathrooms so kick him out if he’s in there.”

“He’s alone?” I ask, staring down the hallway. I swallow the lump in my throat and push away memories of the last time I went to the bathroom in a house full of people.
Not now, Emily. It’s just a bathroom.

“Uh, I think there’s another guy. Just lock the door, they’ll understand.”

I will my legs to move but they don’t.

It’s just a bathroom!

“You know what, I have to go too. I’ll walk with you,” Zach says, behind me.

“There’s another bathroom,” Cindy comments, looking up at us. “You don’t have to wait.”

“I’m good, thanks.”

Zach pushes me to walk so I do.

I hear Cindy giggling about me having to be walked to the bathroom. “I wonder what Alex thinks about her being alone with a guy.”

“Mind your own business, fuck,” Liam interjects.

“Ignore her,” Zach adds.

We head to the bathroom and before I go in, I say, “Thank you for coming with me. I don’t know why I stalled back there. It’s just a bathroom.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I need to piss.” I catch his eyes and I know he’s just being nice. He saw me hesitate. He found a way to make me feel safe when I was starting to doubt it.

I do my business then we head back.

Cindy sits next to Zach but he ignores her by being on his phone while the rest of us practice.

When we’re done and like what we’ve come up with; something fast and emotional where it slowly fades into something darker then picks back up with the promise of something hopeful, we call it a night and stuff ourselves.

I look over at Cindy who is gawking at me and my stuffed cheeks.

“Everything you ate is going to go straight to your ass.”

Tyler groans and throws his head back. “Cindy. Seriously.”

“What, I’m just being honest.”

I chew the rest of the food in my mouth and wash it down with water. “Alex likes having something to grab onto. Fucking a skeleton isn’t his thing.”

Liam chokes on his water and coughs a few times, making himself the center of attention for the time being.

Cindy gets this dark look in her eyes and she looks about ready to jump me. What the hell is wrong with her? I didn’t call her a skeleton. I was just stating a fact about what my boyfriend prefers. He likes my body even if I need to lose a few pounds.

“What about Professor Cohen?”

“What about him?” I ask, drinking more water. She’s making me not hungry and I don’t like that.