Charged (2 page)

He turns towards me and Brie, and I brace myself for the letdown that is my life. “Um, thanks,” my eyes drop so I can’t see his. “I already have plans today with Kat and Brie, maybe some other time.”

I raise my eyes, with my mouth gaping open, to find Kiera with a similar expression, but hers looks way more pissed off. She’s not used to not getting her way. “Well, just so you know, being new and all, you may want to be careful who you associate with here, just saying.” She flounces off back to her table.

Brie starts mumbling, but stops when I give her an elbow to the arm. Mason looks at us. “Wow.”

“Yeah, sorry about that; she kind of hates us.” I say.

“Nah, she’s just a spoiled bitch.” Brie pipes in.

I’m about to chastise her when Mason laughs. “That’s pretty much what I was thinking.”

“I think we’ll get along just fine.” Brie tells us.

Mason looks right at me, “Me, too.”

The rest of the afternoon is pretty mundane. Mason is in two more of my classes, and even manages to get a seat next to me. I try not to over think how friendly he is towards me. It’s not like someone who looks like him, could ever think of me as more than just a friend. My imagination is just running away with me. And once he sees how beautiful Brie is without all of her punk makeup, I will be a distant memory. Which is fine. Really.

The last bell rings, announcing freedom and you can hear the relief waft off all twenty-something of us in the classroom. English class I love, Homer’s Odyssey, not so much. Mason looks at me. “What do you do for fun around here?”

I laugh, has he seen the town yet? “Not very much; Brie and I usually practice at her house after school.” I leave it open ended, unsure if my ego can handle a refusal from this guy.

“That’s cool. What do you practice?” He falls in step beside me, so I take it that he’s coming with.

“We have a band. It’s just the two of us, though.” I try to pay attention to where I’m walking, so I don’t make a fool of myself again.

“That’s sweet! What’s it called?” Mason asks. He sounds sincerely excited and impressed. Huh.

“Hot Noise,” I feel silly so I add, “it sounds better when Brie says it.”

“It sounds awesome. Would you guys mind if I watched you practice?”

I glance over at him, surprised, “I guess so. If you want to, I mean.”

He smiles that smile, again, and I quickly turn forward. “Kat, I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t want to.”

“Oh. Ok, then, sure.”

Next thing I know Brie, Mason and I are in Brie’s garage. Brie flicks on all of her equipment. All I know is that whatever it is that she does, it works. All that techie stuff is her deal. I pick up my guitar and make sure it’s tuned. I notice Mason’s surprised look, but he doesn’t say anything.

Brie gets behind the drums and starts tapping out the opening to one of our songs. I smile. Figures she chooses this one first. It’s our only slow number. She swears I almost make her cry every time I sing it. I’ve never played it for anyone else, other than our moms. Now I’m extra nervous, because Mason is here. But my anxiety doesn’t hit my fingers, which have the song memorized themselves. I close my eyes and start to sing a sad ballad about a lost lover. I keep my eyes closed the whole time, not allowing myself to gauge the reaction from Mason.

When I’m done, it’s silent,-cricket chirping silent. I open my eyes to find Mason gaping at me with his mouth open. “Holy crap, Kat, you freaking rock,” His excitement is palpable, and his reaction relaxes me. I hadn’t realized how much his approval meant, until he gave it.

“I keep telling her that, but she never listens to me.” Brie throws out. “Maybe you can change her mind.”

“Well, thanks, but really that’s the only song like that we have.” I desperately try to change the subject. “Let’s play some other stuff, Brie.”

Maybe an hour or so later, we finish up and Brie flips off all of her equipment. She grabs three bottles of water out of the mini-fridge that she keeps stocked and passes them out. “We’re getting better.” She declares.

I nod, too busy chugging water to speak.

“I think you guys have some real potential.” Mason says. “Have you played anywhere yet?”

Oh, no. Here we go. I open my mouth to answer, but it’s too late. Brie’s already beginning her rant. “We’ve played a couple places. We’d play more if our loser, quote unquote, manager did his job.”

I don’t know why I always feel the need to defend Joel to her, maybe because he’s always been so supportive. Either way, I begin my calm rebuttal, “Brie he tries, but he’s got other things going on, too.”

She looks at Mason. “No, he doesn’t.”

Mason is now standing with his hands out in front of him. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to start anything.”

Brie exhales noisily. “It’s not your fault. I’m not really even mad at him, just frustrated. Sorry, done flipping out now.”

“I should get going anyway.” I grab my bag. “I’ll see you guys tomorrow.”

“Bye,” Brie says.

“Wait,” Mason calls, “thanks for having me, Brie, I got to get going, too. Kat, I’ll walk with you.”

Brie shoots me a look that guarantees she will be calling me later. I suppress an eye roll and turn back around, waiting for Mason to join me. He’s by my side in seconds. “Where’s your house?” I ask.

“We moved into a house on Bruyn Ave. Do you know where that is?”

“Sure, that’s around the corner from my house. Which house is it?” I think I know exactly which one, but wait for his confirmation. There weren’t a lot of houses for sale on that road.

“It’s white, with dark blue shutters.”

I smile. “That’s funny. Ironic even, just follow me.”

I lead him to my own house just two blocks away. I take the side yard, past the dining room, assuming my mom is in the living room, so she doesn’t start with embarrassing questions when I get in. When we get to the backyard, recognition hits his face. “Hey,” He gives me that smile again. “We’re neighbors.”

For the first time I return it and smile back at him. “Yeah, we are.”

He shuffles his feet a bit, and if I’m not mistaken, looks nervous, which is odd. “Thanks for letting me hang out with you today. I had fun.”

Now his nervousness is making me nervous. “Thanks, and anytime. Really, I mean it’s usually just Brie and me.” I need to stop babbling, so I bite down on my lip.

Mason chuckles a little. “Can I walk you to school in the morning?”

I grin. “I’ll see you then.”

He takes a step towards me, looking thoughtful. “Goodnight, Kat.”

“Goodnight, Mason.” I turn to go, but he grabs onto my hand, spinning me back to him. I’m about to ask what he wants, when he gently pulls me to him and quickly, softly lowers his mouth to mine. My entire body ignites into a very pleasant tingling sensation. It’s as if everything is amplified while our mouths are joined. I’m stuck, frozen in disbelief as he pulls away. From the smile on his face, he enjoyed it as much as I did.

“Was that okay?” He asks me, with a smile playing on his lips.

I grin and nod my head. My brain refuses to make words right now. He lets go of all of me, but my hand.

“I’ll see you in the morning?”

I smile and nod some more, feeling kind of like a moron, but not totally caring. He chuckles and plants one last chaste kiss on my hand that’s entwined with his before he lets go. He starts walking to his house and turns around halfway. “Goodnight, Kat.”

“Goodnight, Mason.” I manage to say again, before I turn back to my own house. That was…nice. A thought crosses my mind.
I
know that that was my first kiss, but I’m hoping I wasn’t obvious about it. This is what’s rambling through my brain as I make my way inside. I wave a quick hi to my mom, barely making it to my room before my phone goes off. I don’t have to look to know its Brie.

“Hello?” I answer.

“He was so making eyes at you!” Brie replies.

“I have to admit, I wasn’t sure if he was…until we walked home-his house is the one right behind mine by the way-and, well-“

“Spit it out, Kat!” I love getting her worked up.

“This stays between us, for now. When we got to the backyard, we said goodbye. Then, he sort of kissed me.”

I hear Brie whoop loudly on the other end of the phone. “It’s about freaking time, Kat. I was wondering when a guy would finally catch your eye. How was it?”

“Freaking phenomenal! If that’s what kissing someone is like, I have no idea what took me so long.”

“Trust me, it’s not always a pleasant experience. I’m actually kind of proud of you for waiting until you found a ‘freaking phenomenal’ guy to practice on.”

I smile. “He seems pretty great. He wants us to walk to school together tomorrow.”

“Then I’ll get my mom to drive me,” I start to protest, but she continues, “a one-time deal mind you. This way you two can have a little time to get to know each other better. But once you hit school grounds, all bets are off. I’m going to have to get used to sharing you.”

“Thanks, Brie. You know you don’t have to share me, though.”

“Yeah, as your best friend, I kind of do. Now go get all beautified and rested, so you can knock his socks off tomorrow morning.”

I know that she won’t like it if I get all mushy on her. “Night, Brie.”

“Night, Kat.”

I hear my mom yell up the stairs, “You eating tonight, Kat?”

“Be right down!” I yell back. I think about Brie’s beautification suggestion. I better hurry up with dinner, apparently I have a lot to do.

I’m up early the next morning. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t excited to see Mason again, because I’m not just excited, but also super happy and a bit nervous. The total effect is quite overwhelming, and the closer it gets to the time to go, the worse it’s getting. I take a deep breath as I hear a soft knock on the back door. I’m also grateful my mom leaves before me. She’d inadvertently add stress to the situation.

I grab my bag and keys and open the door, momentarily floored by Mason. My mental images did not do his face justice at all. I force myself to speak. “Good morning, Mason.”

“Hey, Kat,” He replies, “good morning to you, too.”

To my surprise, he reaches for my hand to help me down the stairs and doesn’t let go. Perplexed, but happy, I don’t say a thing.

Mason turns to me, “So, I need to get your number. I forgot to yesterday, and short of throwing rocks at your window, I didn’t know how else to get a hold of you.”

I smile at the thought. “That wouldn’t be so bad, but I can give you my number too.”

“If I had known which window was yours, I might have.” He pulls out his phone and dials in the numbers I recite, and then calls me quickly so I have his number, too.

As we make our way to school, I have to admit, I walk extra slow to prolong our time together. Our conversation consists of more getting to know each other. We talk about favorite music, books, movies and the like. We have some similar choices, but I like some things he’s never heard of and vice versa. We debate the best Iron Man movies as we head into school.

Maybe it’s my exceptionally great walk to school, or the fact that I like basketball, but gym isn’t that bad again today. By the time I meet up with Brie in Biology, I’m grinning from ear to ear. It could also be because I know I’ll see Mason next period. It certainly helps. She doesn’t have a chance to start grilling me before Mr. Murphy pushes a television into the classroom. His excitement is palpable.