The Lost Boys (35 page)

Boys … It was so easy messing up with them! If only I’d known this before. It was like their brains shut down at the slightest possibility of breasts showing up. I have to admit, though, that I had my own brain shutdown when Tristan had kissed me. But that was different … somehow … I think. Okay. Not so different, after all. But I was glad to know I had the same effect on him.

That afternoon we had band practice. I changed into my tomboy/rocker girl attire for the rehearsal: baggy low-slung pants and a black tie over a tight white tank-top, leather wristband and Converse shoes. I walked into the room and Harry was the first to compliment me.

“Hey, Joey! Looking sexy and delicious!” he yelled from the other side of the room. He was barefoot and shirtless, for some reason, his red and green tattoo curling up in his arm and half his chest. I was always amazed by how good Harry’s tattoo looked on him. The others greeted me and complimented me too.

“Thanks, guys. I’m testing some new outfits for Wednesday’s presentation! I’m glad you like it!” I said, waving at them. “Oh, man, have you guys been stripping Harry again?” I said, watching Harry putting his T-shirt back on.

Seth, Josh and Sam sniggered. They were constantly forcing Harry to strip to embarrass him. They picked on him because he was the youngest and the smallest – and he got the most embarrassed at being stripped down to his underwear! It was like brothers teasing a younger sibling. I had watched them doing this to him a lot of times already, and I always turned my back when they reached the critical moment, for decency’s sake.

Harry walked in my direction, sniffing loudly. “I might as well walk around naked all the time to save them the trouble!” he grumbled, annoyed.

“Guys, you should at least take turns who to strip! Picking on Harry all the time isn’t fair!” I berated them.

“So, maybe we should take a turn with you, then, Joe! You look good in those clothes, but I’ll bet you’ll look even better without them!” Sam hinted, smirking at me.

“Hey, you are all free to try to strip me!” I said, shrugging. They all stopped and stared at me.

“No way! Are you serious? You should’ve mentioned this before!” Josh said from behind his drums. They were all smirking evilly and walking closer to me. Except Harry and Tristan; they just stood still and watched.

I gave Josh a beatific smile. “I said you can
try
to strip me. I didn’t say I was going to let you.”

“That’s good enough for me!” Sam said, reaching out to grab my hands. It was a rookie’s mistake. I side-stepped him and grabbed his wrist instead, twisting it lightly and making Sam grunt in pain.

“Come on, Sammy! Did you forget about my martial arts classes?” I said, walking behind him and pushing his back, making him stumble forward and away from me. Seth and Josh tried it too, but it was easy escaping their grasp. Josh was a little more difficult, but I managed to skip away from him too. They all tried a couple of times again, individually and together, and I wriggled free each and every time.

They gave up after a while, panting and sweating. “Okay, we give up. We might as well keep to picking on Harry, then,” Josh said, holding his hands on his legs and panting. Then he stood up and started walking in Harry’s direction. Sam and Seth smirked too, coming to Josh’s aid.

“Hey! Come on, guys! Again? No fair!” Harry shouted, trying to evade Josh’s grasp. He wasn’t fast enough, though. I waited until they’d completed the dirty job, while Harry struggled and laughed and shouted at them. They liked to tickle Harry to hear him laugh and wiggle more during strip sessions. Harry was very ticklish and his high-pitched laughs were funny!

After the rumpus subdued, we started working on our songs, and a sweaty Harry started getting dressed again, muttering darkly under his breath. I chuckled and opened my notepad. I could have helped Harry, but seeing him getting stripped was always too damn entertaining for me. Not to mention that it was always a nice view. I glanced at Tristan and he was looking at me and Harry, all serious and in a foul mood. I smiled to myself. Jealousy was actually a good color on him.

I had a new song that I was working on, and I was helping Josh and Sam with theirs too. Tristan was scribbling a song of his own, leaning over a pile of boxes at the other side of the room. I wondered what his song was about … I guess I would have to wait until he was ready to show it to us.

After a while I stopped what I was doing and walked over to Sam, looking over at the pile of papers around him. “Sam, do you want me to give some tweaks to your song?” I asked, leaning over him.

He smiled warmly at me. “Sure, Joe! You can
tweak my song
as much as you want!” he teased. The other boys starting cracking up at that the innuendo. I rolled my eyes at them.

“Man! What is up with you today, Sammy? You’re way over-excited!” I said, exasperated, but I smiled at him nevertheless. His flirting was kind of flattering.

“Sorry, Joey! You just look too good in those new outfits! I can’t help myself!” he said, chuckling and putting his arm around my waist, pulling me closer to him. I laughed and rested my head on his broad shoulder.

“Yes, Joey! I need you to
tweak
my song as well!” Josh shouted, laughing at Seth’s side. Seth and Harry were still cracking up over this. Boys.

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll be there in a minute!” I said, waving at them in annoyance, and looking at Sam’s lyrics. I glanced over at Tristan and he still had a dead-serious expression on his face.

I whispered to Sam that I would be right back and stood up, walking over to the other side of the room, where Tristan was slouched. He watched me approach with a frown, and closed his notebook when I got right in front of him. I leaned over, resting my hands on my knees, and looked him straight in the eyes. Caution and suspicion flashed inside. But then his eyes slowly descended to my neck and a little lower. Heat burned in his eyes for a split second. Yep. Cleavage-move still working good!

“So, Tristan,” I purred softly at him. “Do you want me to give a
tweak to your song
too? I’ll do my best to make you pleased.”

He snapped his eyes back at me, with raised eyebrows and a hanging mouth.

“Uh …” was all he managed to say.

I smiled teasingly at him. “No? Well, let me know if you change your mind. I’m at your service,” I said, and turned to leave, walking back to the other side of the room where Sam was sitting. I crouched by Sam’s side and saw Tristan with his mouth still hung open, staring at me. It was like he needed a brain reboot to start operating properly again. Evil plan was on full blast!

Later that evening I tried a new approach. After taking a nice warm bath, I rubbed scented lotion all over my body. Then I put on some small, soft white cotton shorts and a white tank-top, letting my hair fall slightly over my chest. I watched myself in the mirror. There was a lot of leg and skin showing. I usually slept in baggy sweats and long T-shirts, like the boys did. I was glad it was very warm inside the room, otherwise the small PJs were going to look a bit off. I bit my lips, wondering how Tristan was going to react to this new sleeping outfit. Well, I wasn’t going to find out hanging in the bathroom. I walked outside and thanked the angels because the lights in the room were already off; only my night-stand lamp was lit. I felt a lot more confident with semi-darkness hiding my embarrassment. In this gloom, Tristan might not be able to see me blushing.

Seth was just about to sit on his bed, and actually managed to miss the mattress and slip on to the ground when he saw me passing by. Tiffany had helped me pick out the cotton shorts and top, and she was curious to know about Tristan’s reaction, but I thought I better keep Seth’s to myself … But right now I needed to focus harder on trying not to blush. Or trip over.

Tristan was already under his covers. He was in the middle of a yawn when he caught a glimpse of me, which made him shut his mouth tight and stare silently at me. The look on his face alone was priceless! I walked over to his bed and sat by his side.

“Tris, I was just thinking in the bathroom … What do you think about this new lotion I’m using? Is the smell too strong?” I said, extending my arm right up to his nose.

He stared silently at me until he realized I was waiting for an answer.

“It’s … a bit much,” he mumbled. It had a
bit-much-I-can’t-handle-this-it’s-driving-me-crazy
sort of meaning, though. There he goes again with his double-meaning answers! He was a very clever boy, telling the truth and not telling the truth at the same time.

“You think?” I said, sniffing my arm inquisitively. “Seth, what do you think?” I said, standing up and going to Seth’s bed. He had managed to compose himself in the mean time, and was fairly normal again when I extended my arm up his nose.

He inhaled and exhaled slowly. “I think it smells awesome!” he said, smiling. “It’s so great having a girl in the room! It’s lavender, lilies and vanilla scents all around … When I had to share the room last year with Harry and Sammy, it was the battle of funky smells here!” he said, making a funny face.

I chuckled and went to my bed. “Well, it’s a tie. One vote pro, one con. I’ll ask Tiff tomorrow to settle this thing, then,” I said, and climbed under my covers. “Good night, boys.”

Tristan tossed and turned that whole night, unable to sleep after that. He looked like a fish out of water, flipping in his bed so many times. It was great! It was about time for him to have some restless nights as well.

The next couple of days were filled with round after round of more torture and tease. I didn’t feel guilty for making him suffer – I wanted to see him hot and bothered.

On Wednesday morning I noticed Seth leaving the room earlier, to meet up with Tiffany and hang with her a little before classes. I took the opportunity with Tristan still sleeping, and headed to the bathroom, taking a quick bath. I was preparing a major Round Four knock-out for this morning!

Tristan was leaning over Seth’s bed switching off his alarm, blinking sleepily with his hair all crumpled, when I timed my entrance, wrapped only in my small towel, hair all wet and water dripping slightly over my back and chest. We usually got dressed inside the bathroom, but today I thought it would be best if I “forgot” my clothes over my bed. Tristan turned his head towards me, eyes wide open, suddenly completely awake. I felt his eyes roaming my body and I didn’t allow myself to blush. “Morning, Tris!” I greeted him nonchalantly. “Forgot my clothes here,” I said, walking over to my bed. I felt his eyes following me all the way, burning into my back. Then I sat on the mattress, wrapping the towel more close to my body, and crossing my legs slowly. I grabbed my clothes with one hand and looked at him for the first time. His eyes flashed with complete lust for a second. It was almost like there was fire glowing from inside.

I smiled at him. “You can use to the bathroom now, I’ll get dressed in here,” I said softly.

He just stood there speechless. I was having that effect on him quite a lot lately!

“Go on, now!” I said, waving him away and flapping my shirt in the air, and then I looked up at him again, with a curious expression on my face. “Come on, Tris! It’s almost like you want to stay and watch me get dressed!” I inquired, smirking teasingly.

That made him snap out of his trance, blush intensely and turn around fast, heading for the bathroom, almost hitting the wall near the door at the last second. I giggled quietly and almost felt sorry for him. Almost.

He still insisted on dating Caroline, though. But I could see his heart wasn’t into lying and pretending any more. I was breaking his resolve. Seeing him with Caroline still made my insides twist, and bile rise in my mouth every time she touched him intimately, but I sucked it up and pretended it didn’t bother me at all. I was starting to get really good at acting …

Then it was time for the presentation at music class. I arrived a little late and saw that the boys were already inside, all set and ready to play. Tristan was on the stage today and Caroline stood, watching him with googly eyes. I frowned, glancing up at the stage area. Tristan was looking at me intently. I put on my fake smile. The room was full of people. Each time we did a music presentation, more and more kids showed up to listen. I noticed a few even knew the lyrics from our older songs already; they mouthed the words as we sang. I guessed The Lost Boys were getting to be a bit of a hit, at least on campus.

“Kids! Everybody quiet now!” Professor Rubick shouted. “I hear the band has a new song today. I’m very pleased with you, boys … and girl,” he said, looking at me sitting by the piano “You are managing to come up with so many amazing songs! So, let’s hear it, then, shall we?” he said, clapping his hands. Everybody cheered on cue. I looked up at Seth, confused. I didn’t know about any new song for today. What was he talking about? Seth shrugged and gave me an apologetic look. Then he grabbed a sheet of paper and walked over to the piano, handing the paper to me.

“I’m so sorry, Joe. We rehearsed this while you were home at the weekend, and … it’s Tristan’s song,” he said, looking at me guiltily and then back at Tristan. “So sorry,” he mumbled, and got back to his place on stage.

I glanced at the sheet of paper in my hand. It was the part I needed to play in the song. Then Josh started playing his drums, and I hurried to play along with him. Tristan started singing then, and I finally understand what Seth was so sorry about. The song was about me.

About the way my smile made him feel, how much pain it caused to him, and about lovers and lies. He sang about how much he didn’t want things to end this way, but there was no other way to go. It was a song about how much it hurt to be heartbroken, to love and to lose. Tristan sang that he was better off without me; that I could leave at any time because he was tired of all the fights. It was such a heartbreaking song, full of pain and despair. When it was over, Tristan looked so sad, staring at the floor. The room erupted with clapping and cheering, but he seemed unaware of the success of his music. He didn’t care because his heart was broken.