Echoes of Us (13 page)

“She’s crazy,” Jade said.

“She’s nervous about my sister coming and her history final,” I said. “This is how she copes. Wait until it’s the end of fall semester and she has more than one final. It’s scary. Last year, I stayed at a hotel for a few nights.”

“How do we snap her out of it?” Jade asked.

“I have an idea,” I said.

“You smell like cleaning solution,” Mrs. Morgan said when she answered the door.

“Brownies,” I said. “We’ll be right back.” She nodded and disappeared.

“What are we doing?” Jade asked, following me to the garage.

“Mrs. Morgan is going to make brownies, and you and I are going for ice cream.”

“On our bikes?”

“I’m not going back into the house until I have dessert,” I said. “She’ll probably make us refold all the towels or organize the silverware drawer.”

Jade jumped on his bike and took off for the nearest store with me in hot pursuit. It was warm outside, so we were going to have to be quick or we would be eating ice cream soup. But it would be worth it to snap Maggie out of this weird mood. I’d used brownie sundaes before, so I knew this would work.

The house was quiet when we walked into the place with ice cream and brownies in hand. I expected Maggie to swoop down on us and scold us for not cleaning the dust bunnies living under our beds. We found her standing in the middle of the living room staring at her phone. The cleaning supplies were scattered all over the living room floor.

“I have news,” she said quietly.

“Um, okay,” I said, setting the food on the dining room table.

“Promise you won’t freak out, Rylan,” Maggie said in a low voice.

I frowned at her, but held my tongue. She was probably going to make me clean under the fridge or something equally horrible.

“Maybe Jade should hold your hand or something.”

“Maggie,” I whined, feeling the irritation rise. I hated when she prolonged the agony.

“I got you guys a gig,” Maggie said.

“What do you mean by gig?” I asked. My voice sounded squeaky and very shaky.

“I mean you play and they pay,” Maggie said.

“Holy shit!” Jade shouted. “When?”

I think I heard three weeks, before the walls started closing in on me. I headed for the backyard, leaving Maggie and Jade shrieking and doing some odd dance while they raced around the room high-fiving each other.

I’m not sure how long I stood outside counting my breaths.

“What number are you on?” Jade asked.

“Two hundred and forty-four,” I answered. He wound his arms around my waist, and I leaned back against his chest.

“This is a good thing, Rylan,” Jade said.

“Is it? We don’t even have a band. All we have is a guitar, a keyboard, a couple of songs, and absolutely no fucking clue.”

“Think of it as an adventure,” Jade said. He turned me around, pushed my hair away from my eyes, and raised my chin with his finger. “One that I would love to take with you.”

He opened his mouth, pressed our lips together, and tangled his tongue with mine. I groaned and melted in his arms. He definitely didn’t fight fair.

The peace of the moment didn’t last long. We both froze when Maggie’s shrieks filled the air again. “Rylan! Jade! Holy shit. Get in here. You have to see this.”

What could she possibly want now? I was almost scared to go inside.

Mrs. Morgan stepped out on her deck, clutching her golf club. Maggie shouted again and Mrs. Morgan looked at us. We both shrugged and waved her over. I was pretty sure Maggie wasn’t in mortal danger, and Mrs. Morgan deserved to hear the news about the gig.

This time Maggie was sitting at the dining room table staring at her computer screen.

“What’s going on?” Jade asked.

“Yes, dear,” Mrs. Morgan said. “You’re going to give me a heart attack with all your screaming.”

Maggie ignored us and pushed a key on her computer. Her mouth dropped open.

“Maggie,” I said cautiously.

“I sat down to check my e-mail, because I haven’t checked it lately with all the cleaning and studying and stuff. I thought someone had hacked my account or I got spammed or something,” she said and pressed the button again.

“Maggie, you’re not making any sense,” I said.

“I know. I thought I was crazy too, but then I checked the site and there were all these comments.”

“What are you talking about?” I asked.

“I hooked up your page to my e-mail account. But I was so confused. I checked the site a few times this week only the counter wasn’t doing much of anything. I asked around and people told me the counters have a mind of their own. They told me to watch the comments, and holy hell, the comments are piling in from all over the place.”

She pressed the button again, keeping her eyes focused on her screen.

“Maggie,” I said. “You’re freaking me out.”

Jade walked up behind her as she pushed the button again.

“People just keep commenting,” she squeaked.

“Is that… Is…?” Jade stammered.

“Yeah,” Maggie said.

Mrs. Morgan bumped Jade out of the way and looked at the screen. “Holy cow!” she shouted.

“What is going on?” I asked.

“The comments keep piling up,” Maggie said in a dazed voice. Jade reached across her and pushed the same button Maggie had been pressing.

I finally pushed my way close enough so I could see the screen. They had our YouTube page open and were staring at a long line of comments.

“Holy shit, Rylan!” Jade shouted. “Look at them all! And it looks like they’re from loads of different users.”

Jade hit refresh and scrolled through the comments.

“Someone must be spamming our site,” I said. “There is no way we’re getting that much traffic.”

“Rylan, I’ve clicked on some of them, and they belong to different subscribers. It’s not like they’re new accounts. They’re as legit as you can get on YouTube.”

She scrolled down to the list of comments. I cringed and closed my eyes.
What if they were telling us we sucked?

“You don’t suck,” Maggie said.

“Quit doing that,” I snapped. Maggie frowned at me and bumped me with her shoulder. I turned around, and Jade was sitting on the couch, holding his head in his hands. I walked over to him and sat down next to him. I slid my finger under his chin, lifting his face so I could see his eyes. They were swimming with unshed tears.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

He closed his eyes and rested his head on my shoulder, reaching for my hand. “People actually like our music,” he said quietly. “Ever since I was a little kid, my mom made fun of me for being a dreamer. Wouldn’t it be something if this actually worked out?”

This was the first time Jade had really talked about his family. As far as I knew, his mother was no longer among the living, but when alive, she’d made his life a living hell.

“She always said I lived with my head in the clouds. She told me that dreaming wasn’t for people like me, that it was a fucking waste of my time.”

I wasn’t exactly sure what Jade meant by people like him, but I didn’t interrupt. He seemed like he needed to get this off his chest.

“She always told me I’d end up like my dad,” he whispered. “I think she hated me because every time she looked at me, she saw him. Just because I physically resemble the guy didn’t mean I’d end up like him.”

I was dying to ask him questions, but when he turned his nose into my neck, I could feel the wetness of tears on my skin. All I wanted to do was take away his pain, so I wrapped my arms around him and rubbed his back. There would be time for questions later.

“I love you, Jade,” I whispered. “I think you’re perfect the way you are.”

“Holy shit. Holy shit!” Maggie shouted. “You guys are not going to believe who commented. Holy shit.”

The doorbell rang, interrupting Maggie’s excitement. Mrs. Morgan pulled the door open, and my sister walked into our living room. My first thought was to untangle my arms from Jade. I was so used to hiding everything from my family it was second nature to shrink into the background when they were around. This time I stayed put.

“Kelli,” Maggie said, rushing over to her.

“Hi, Maggie. Thanks for letting me stay here,” she said, glancing at me. She smiled and bit her lip. “Hi, Rylan.”

Jade let go of me, wiped his face with the back of his sleeve, then stood up and held out his hand. Kelli hugged him instead, whispering something in his ear. He blushed and looked over his shoulder at me, quickly settling back down next to me.

“So what was all the yelling about? The cab driver was concerned,” Kelli said. “Thought maybe we should call the cops or something.”

“Oh, holy shit,” Maggie said again and leaped over to her computer.

Mrs. Morgan smiled at my sister and introduced herself. It was hard to hear over Maggie’s screams.

I finally couldn’t take it anymore and left Jade sitting on the couch to see what had Maggie so excited. I stared at the screen and she pointed at a comment.

“Who the fuck is tuv?” I asked.

“Not tuv, you idiot,” Maggie said. “T.U.V. He’s a rapper and songwriter.”

“Oh,” I said. “Should I care?”

“He’s also a big-time music producer,” Maggie said. “His real name is Trevor Ulysses Vance.”

Jade flew off the couch and shoved me out of the way. Even Mrs. Morgan was gaping at the screen. I went and sat next to my sister.

The dark circles under her eyes were deeper. “Hey,” I said. “You okay?”

She sighed and leaned against me. “Thanks for letting me come here. I needed to get away.”

“Is everything okay at home?” I asked.

She chewed on her lip, but didn’t say anything. I was going to try to pry more out of her, but she gave me a silly grin and poked me in the side.

“What?” I asked.

“So.” She paused. “You and Jade?”

“Yes, me and Jade,” I answered, cringing a little bit. I half expected some mean comment, instead she giggled.

“God, he’s a hottie,” she said. “What the hell are they so excited about?”

“Maggie posted a video on YouTube of Jade and me singing a song we wrote and apparently people like it,” I said.

“How many hits?”

“Seven thousand or something,” I said. I’d glanced at the screen, and all I saw was a seven and a zero. It was probably seven hundred.

“Try seventy thousand,” Maggie said.

“Holy shit,” Kelli said. “How long has the video been up?”

“I don’t know? A couple of weeks or so,” I answered.

“We need to put up another one and see what happens,” Jade said. “Like right now.”

“I agree,” Mrs. Morgan said. “You should strike while the iron is hot.”

“No time like the present. The iron is fucking scalding,” Jade said and left the room. He came back carrying his guitar and several notebooks.

“But… but,” I stuttered. “I have an assignment due tomorrow.”

Jade handed his guitar to Maggie and told her to go get the studio set up and put the melting ice cream away.

He knelt down between my legs and stared up at me. “School will always be here, but this opportunity may disappear if we wait too long. I don’t want to live with regrets anymore. Please. I can’t do this without you,” he said.

“Fuck, Jade, this is insane,” I said.

“I know,” he answered. He kissed my wrist and smiled at me. “T.U.V. likes our sound.”

“I can’t keep up with all this shit,” I said. “We have a gig I don’t know anything about. We don’t have a set list or a band or much of anything. And now, some guy I’ve never heard of likes our music.”

Jade put his hand over my mouth. “I know this is new, but, Rylan, we have each other. Take the chance with me, please.”

How could anyone say no to him? He had me in the palm of his hand, and he knew it. But the thing I found most scary was I didn’t want to say no to him. I think I was searching for some reassurance from him. I still didn’t trust people with my heart, but since I’d met Jade, I’d taken countless leaps of faith, and so far things were working out okay. I just needed to keep one eye open in case the fucking roof caved in on me.

“Okay,” I whispered.

Jade climbed into my lap and smashed his mouth against mine, driving my head into the back of the couch. He stood up on his knees, cradling my face and kissing me hard.

Kelli cleared her throat and Jade released me, turning so he could smile at her.

“Sorry,” he said.

“Don’t apologize,” Kelli said. “Maggie keeps texting me. She told me to pry you two apart and haul your butts over to Mrs. Morgan’s house, like now.”

“You don’t have to come with us if you don’t want to,” I said to Kelli. “I know you must be tired.”

“Are you kidding, Rylan?” she said, leaping off the couch. “I wouldn’t miss this for the world. I need something fun.”

Between her and Jade, their excitement could light up the city of Chicago. Jade didn’t let go of my hand until we were seated in the studio. The moment he dropped my hand, he hooked his ankle around mine, drawing a smile from me.

T
HE
NEXT
three weeks were insane. I barely knew when the sun rose or set. It was great having Kelli here. She cooked most of the meals for us and made sure we slept. She and Maggie plodded through all the e-mails and comments on YouTube. There were so many exciting comments even I was catching the Rylan and Jade fever.