Virtually in Love (8 page)

“Be right back,” I told Vanessa.

I hurried out to the kitchen, wanting a little privacy. Opening the text, I scanned it.

Hey, C! What's up? Figured I'd check in while we're taking a break. The next drummer is due in, like, five. But there's probably no point in seeing anyone else—we just auditioned this totally awesome drummer, and I'm pretty sure she's going to be the one.

I blinked, my gaze catching on that word:
she
. “A chick drummer, huh?” I murmured.

Interesting. Not that I was going to freak out about it, though. I didn't want to be
that
almost-girlfriend. The one who got all jealous when her guy was friends with other girls. No way, that so wasn't me.

“Is it Trevor?”

I looked up, realizing Vanessa had followed me into the kitchen without my even hearing her. No wonder. The ruckus in the next room had gotten even louder as everyone switched over to our school fight song. It would be a miracle if the neighbors didn't call the cops. Then again probably not. They all loved Kaz too.

“Yeah, it's Trevor.” I showed her the text. “Guess they found their new drummer.”

“It's a girl?” Vanessa shot me a surprised look. “Are you okay with that? I thought the band was all guys.”

I shrugged. “So now there's a girl. It's no biggie. Trevor is into me, not her.”

Vanessa smiled. “Good for you. You have no reason to feel threatened. I mean, you and Trevor are obviously meant for each other, right?”

“Right. Like the song says.” I started singing the chorus of “True Romance,” and Vanessa joined in.

“True romance, it's the air that we breathe. Just us two together, yeah, just you and me.”

I smiled, tapping out a quick response to Trevor. Then I pocketed my phone, and Vanessa and I hurried back out to rejoin the fun.

•  •  •

An hour and a half later everyone had gone home except me and Vanessa.

“Where do you want this?” I asked Kaz as I pulled down the disco ball. I twirled it around on its string, enjoying the way its cheap aluminum foil facets caught the light.

Kaz looked over from picking potato chip crumbs out of the rug. “Don't throw that out!” he said. “I want to hang it over my bed.”

“You would,” Vanessa said with a laugh. “By the way, Chloe and I totally didn't mean for that silly thing to be your only birthday gift. You never told us what you wanted, though.”

I lowered the disco ball, realizing she was right. “Yeah, now or never, dude,” I told Kaz. “What do you want? I know! We could take you to that display of antique musical instruments at the museum. I think it started last weekend, right?”

Vanessa wrinkled her nose at me. “What kind of gift is that? The museum has free admission for students, remember?”

“Oh right.” I grinned and shrugged. “Well, the gift part would be the pleasure of our company.”

Kaz smiled. “That's the only gift I really need,” he said. “I would kind of like to see that
show
, actually.”

“Fine, but that's not going to be your gift,” Vanessa insisted. “Tell us what you want. For real.”

Kaz rubbed his hands together. “Actually, I've been thinking about it over the past few days, and there
is
something I want from each of you.”

“So spill it already.” I set the disco ball on the coffee table and bent to pick up a crumpled napkin poking out from beneath the sofa.

“Okay.” He looked at Vanessa. “I volunteered to make the posters for the sci-fi club's next movie night before I remembered I can't even draw a stick figure.” He grinned. “So will you help me with them?”

“Sure, I'd love to,” Vanessa said immediately.

“What about me?” I asked. “I can't draw either, so I'll be no help with the posters.”

“No, I have another idea for you.” He took a step toward me, sort of grinning and puffing out his cheeks at the same time.

I tilted my head. “What? You look weird.”

He cleared his throat. “Um . . .”

My eyes narrowed as I tried to read his expression. “What are you going to ask me to do?” I said cautiously. “Nothing illegal or immoral or involving big hairy spiders, right?”

“No, nothing like that.” He cleared his throat again, his gaze bouncing from me to Vanessa to the floor to the ceiling. “I just thought, well, if you think it's okay, uh—”

“Spit it out already,” I said. “What is it?”

He met my eyes again. “I want you to go to the school dance with me,” he blurted out in a rush. “As, um, my date.”

Chapter
Six

F
or a second I couldn't
respond, though I felt my face go red as that little fantasy from earlier popped into my head. Had Kaz sensed I was thinking about kissing him? Was he messing with me?

“You're kidding, right?” I sounded a little panicky, so I cleared my throat and tried again. “I mean, um, what do you mean? We always go to the dances together.”

“Right. But this time I want us to go
together
together.” He shuffled his feet, still watching me. Then he shifted his gaze to Vanessa. “You don't mind, right?” he added, suddenly sounding worried. “I mean, I know Chloe promised to find you some big romantic date or whatever, but if you were counting on us to—”

“No, it's totally fine,” Vanessa cut him off, shooting me an uncertain look. “I can tag along with someone from band. I mean, if Chloe, um . . .” She let her voice trail off and then shrugged helplessly, clearly not sure what I would want her to say.

I took a deep breath, not sure what to say either. Had I started all this with that spur-of-the-moment kiss the other day? Did Kaz think I
wanted
him to ask me?

The weirdest thing was, the fantasy-generating part of my mind was off and running again. Wondering what it would be like. Me and Kaz on a romantic date . . .

That word snapped me out of it:
romantic
. Because it reminded me of “True Romance,” which of course reminded me I already had my dream guy.

Still, I didn't want to hurt Kaz's feelings . . . . “Okay, I'm going to need some time to process this,” I told Kaz. “Trust me when I say this was
not
what I was expecting you to ask for as a birthday gift.”

“That's fine,” he said quickly. “I can wait for your answer. No hurry.” He grinned. “Well, actually you have a two-week deadline. There's not much point in either answer after the dance is over.”

I smiled weakly. “Okay, then. Um . . .”

The faint sound of a car horn drifted through the house from out front. Saved by the bell.

“That's my mom.” Van checked her watch. “Right on time, as always.”

“Go ahead. We're almost done here anyway.” Kaz looked around the room. It wasn't quite back to its usual sterile condition, but it didn't look like a tornado had just rolled through, either. “See you guys at the meeting tomorrow?”

“See you then,” I replied, heading for the door without quite meeting his eyes.

“Yeah. Happy birthday, Kaz,” Vanessa added.

As soon as we were outside, the door shut behind us, she turned to stare at me. “What was that?” she exclaimed.

“I know, right?” I shook my head as we walked toward her mom's car, which was idling at the curb. “What in the world is he thinking?”

“That he likes you as more than a friend?” Vanessa shrugged. “Maybe Maya was onto something after all.”

“Get real.”

“I am real,” she said. “If you think about it, it really does make sense. You and Kaz have a ton in common. You get along great. You spend all your time together. You make each other laugh until you snort soda out your noses.”

“So do you and Kaz,” I pointed out. “Not to mention you and me.” I spun around and dropped to my knee. “Vanessa, will you go to the dance with me? As, like, my date?”

“Get up, you loon.” She kicked me lightly in the knee. “I'm serious about this.”

I sighed as I climbed to my feet. She had that dreamy look in her eyes—the one she got when she watched those sappy romantic movies. “Stop,” I said.

Too late. “I can see it now,” she singsonged, her blue eyes unfocused as if gazing into some rose-tinted future only she could see. “You and Kaz at the dance, slow dancing to the music, realizing this was what you both wanted all along . . .”

“Hold on. Stop right there.” I frowned at her. “Aren't you forgetting something? Or rather some
one
? What about Trevor?”

Vanessa blinked, her eyes returning to the here and now. “Oh right,” she said. “I did forget about him for a sec.” She shrugged and hurried forward to open the car's back door. “I mean, he's superdreamy and all, but he doesn't seem quite real, you know? Living so far away and everything . . .”

“Have fun, girls?” Vanessa's mom looked up from texting as we climbed into the backseat. “I hope Kazuo enjoyed his party.”

“He did.” Vanessa shot me a look. “He really, really did.”

I scowled at her, miming a lip-zip. I so didn't want to talk about this in front of her mom. Or anybody, really. Not until I figured out what was going on and how to deal with it.

As Mrs. Bennett pulled away from the curb, I leaned back against the seat, staring at nothing. Vanessa might not think Trevor was real, but I knew better. I mean, I'd spent two whole weeks with him at music camp. Not to mention talking or texting with him pretty much every day for the past few months.

Besides, who could argue with the way we'd reconnected? It was fate—meant to be. Just like the song said. That was the difference between Kaz and Trevor. Maybe Vanessa didn't get it, but I did.

Closing my eyes, I hummed “True Romance” the rest of the way home.

•  •  •

That night after dinner I went up to my room and changed into the shorts and T-shirt I usually slept in. I liked to be comfortable for my weekend phone sessions with Trevor, since they often lasted long into the night. I set my phone on my desk and then started my math homework while I waited for Trevor's call. I'd be busy with that fund-raiser planning meeting the next day, and Ms. Feldman didn't accept any excuses for unfinished problem sets. Besides, Trevor was a little late, and some geometry seemed as good a way as any to distract myself while I waited.

Normally I was pretty good at math. But that night the numbers and symbols swam in front of my eyes, refusing to arrange themselves into any patterns that made sense.

Something else that didn't make sense? The recent weirdness between me and Kaz. We were so great as friends. I couldn't even imagine trying to turn that into a romance. Or could I? Maya certainly didn't seem to have any trouble picturing it, and even Vanessa hadn't seemed to find it so strange.

Dropping my pencil, I leaned back in my chair and stared at the ceiling. Kaz wasn't anything like the kind of guy I'd pictured having as a boyfriend someday. Was I missing the romantic potential in the boy next door? Could I even begin to imagine living out the lyrics to “True Romance” with someone like him—good old geeky Kaz?

Suddenly I realized my phone was vibrating, making that impatient little stifled-bee buzz it makes when the ringer is off.

I grabbed the phone, expecting it to be Trevor. But the name over the little telephone icon on the screen was Kazuo Aratani.

With a deep breath, I hit the green button. “Hello?”

“Hey, Chloe,” Kaz's familiar voice responded. “Don't panic. I'm not calling to demand an answer from you.”

I relaxed and even smiled a little as his familiar snorting laugh rang out over the tiny speaker. “Okay,” I said. “So why are you calling?”

“Wanted to make sure your phone was on. I'm texting you a very important picture right now, okay?”

“Okay.” I pulled the phone away from my ear. Sure enough, a text popped up a moment later. It was a photo of Kaz striking a
ta-da
pose in front of his shower—where he'd hung the disco ball from the ceiling, several flashlights pointing up at it and making the whole bathroom sparkle.

I laughed. Classic Kaz! “What a nerd,” I murmured, shaking my head. Then I put the phone back to my ear. “Very nice,” I said. “You'll be able to take the grooviest showers in town.”

“Yeah.” Kaz sounded pleased with himself. “Okay, better send it to Van next. See you tomorrow.”

“Bye.” As I hung up, I was still smiling. Kaz always made me laugh, that was for sure. Still, a guy who hung a fake disco ball in his shower? Perfect as a friend, but maybe not so much as my super-romantic knight in shining armor. I just had to remember that and not get myself all confused again.

The phone buzzed again in my hand; I still hadn't turned the ringer back on. I put it to my ear without checking. “Okay, Kaz, what now?” I said.