Then I turned and stormed outside.
I stalked out to the front porch of the gorgeous brick house that now housed the nightmare of Mueller-Fordham and sat down on the top step. My mom wasn’t due for another hour, but I didn’t care. I wasn’t moving.
I hugged my arms to my chest and dropped my forehead to my knees, preparing for Crusty to come after me. The front door squeaked and I immediately lifted my head and started humming JamieX, wiggling my shoulders with the beat. Yeah, look at me, dancing away because I didn’t care about anything.
“You okay?” Rafe asked.
Rafe? I jerked my gaze up at him in surprise. What was he doing out here? But he was definitely standing beside me, his black sneakers right next to my hip. “Yeah. Fine.” Maybe not quite fine, but pretty close, now that he was here.
He sat down next to me, so close we almost touched. Not quite, but thisclose. “That was kinda cool,” he said.
I slid a glance at him, but he was watching a sports car drive by. “What was cool? The car?”
He laughed softly and looked at me. His green eyes were friendly, and his smile was nice. Not mocking. “No. You telling Aunt Joyce off.”
“Oh.” A feeling of warmth flickered through me. “Well, thanks, I guess.”
He bumped his shoulder with mine. “Don’t take her personally. She’s not that bad if you know her.”
I snorted. “She’s been teaching me for three years and I’ve never seen anything good about her.” There were footsteps behind us, and I glanced back over my shoulder, expecting to see Crusty standing at the door listening, but there was no one there. I thought I saw the faint outline of her at the back of the hallway, but I wasn’t sure. Why wasn’t she racing out the door with a straight jacket to drag me back inside?
He shrugged. “My aunt can be okay.”
Uh, oh. I’d forgotten she was his aunt. I tried to recover. “I’m sure she can be, but I don’t bring it out in her. I disappoint her all the time.”
“Maybe.” Rafe fell silent, and I didn’t know what to say, but it didn’t feel like an awkward silence. It felt sort of comfortable. “You need a ride?” he asked.
I almost choked on my tongue. “What?”
“A ride. You need one? Paige had to leave early, so we’re calling it a night. Angel and Chris hate to practice without a keyboard player.”
I had to count to five just to get enough composure to sound calm when I answered him. “Yeah, a ride would be great.” My heart was racing so fast that my chest actually hurt. “I just need to run inside and call my mom...”
He set a phone in my hand, his fingers brushing against my palm. My hand was shaking as I dialed. He had a car and a phone and was giving me a ride home? I swallowed hard and managed to talk when my mom answered her phone. “Mom, it’s me. I got done early with my lesson, so Cru— Miss Jespersen’s nephew is giving me a ride home. Is that okay?”
My mom wasn’t an idiot. “Why is your lesson over early?”
“Miss Jespersen went insane and had to be carted off in an ambulance.”
“Lily,” my mom warned.
I rolled my eyes. “I’ll tell you later. Gotta go. Bye.” I hung up and handed the phone back to Rafe. His fingers grazed my hand again as he took the phone, and I felt my skin tingle where he’d touched it. I was never going to wash it again. Ever.
“Ready?” He stood up and held out his hand to pull me to my feet.
I stared at his hand. Was I really supposed to take it? Was that what he was offering? I didn’t want to look like a dork if it wasn’t, but I was pretty sure that’s what he intended. Cautiously, I lifted my hand. He grabbed it and tugged me up. For what felt like forever, we stood there. It was almost as if we were holding hands, our bodies less than a foot apart...then he let go, spun around and jumped down all the steps in one leap. “Let’s go, then.”
Yes, indeed. Let’s go!
* * *
Rafe swung into a black Jeep parked at the end of the lot. There was no top on the Jeep, just a roll bar and sunshine. “Climb in.”
Oh, wow. This was so awesome. I stepped onto the running board and pulled myself into the passenger seat, plopping down next to him. The dash and seats were all black, and there was a three inch blue and yellow peace symbol hanging from the rear view mirror. “Love the car.”
“It’s a guilt present.” He started the engine and put on his seatbelt. “Where to?”
I gave him directions as I tugged on my own seatbelt, making sure it didn’t mess up my scoop-neck white tank with the cool embroidery around the collar. I’d picked it out hoping I might run into Rafe. Point for me. “What’s a guilt present?”