The music practically floats out of the speakers; it fills up the fenced yard, flies over the swing set, and spins into eddies under the deck. Peter Gabriel’s voice is gruff and soft in all the best ways, but my arms are already tired and I’ve been holding this speaker dock over my head for less than a minute. How did John Cusack do it with a boom box three times this size?

Behind me, Lily shifts in the overgrowth at the edge of the Lawsons’ property. The spotlight she’s holding stutters, then points up at the trees. I turn to glare back at her just as she fixes her aim. I’m immediately blinded by the beam of light.

“Sorry,” she says in a stage whisper. I shake my head and turn to face the house. Peter’s just reached the chorus, but there’s still no sign of Tommy.

I’m starting to second-guess this approach. Say Anything is a classic movie, but I have no idea if Tommy will get the reference or if he’ll understand how devoted the main character, Lloyd, was to his true love, Diane. If he’ll know that the words of this song say everything I’m feeling about him. If he’ll realize that it says everything I want him to feel about me.

No lights in the windows, no doors opening. I glance back at Lily, who shrugs.

“Maybe no one’s home,” she suggests. I shake my head.

“They’re home. Maybe it isn’t loud enough . . .”

I lower my arms and practically groan with the relief of a renewed blood supply, then switch the volume up five more notches. I take a deep breath and raise the speaker dock back up over my head. It’s hard to remember why we thought this was a good idea, now that I can’t feel my fingers.

And then a light goes on in one of the bedroom windows, shining a hazy golden glow over the yard. I suck in a breath and push the speakers even higher, as though that will make all the difference.

The light doesn’t go off, but no one comes to the window and no other lights turn on. I squint up at the second floor, trying to calculate which bedroom it’s from. Tommy’s house is so big that it’s really hard to figure out, especially since his room is in the middle of half a dozen others. I bite my lip. I really hope I didn’t wake his snotty sister, Gina, who’s home from college this weekend. The last thing I need is to explain myself to Tommy’s family.

“Marijke? Is that you?”

A man’s voice calls out from the darkness. A man’s voice that isn’t Tommy’s.

The back door is open now and there are footsteps on the deck stairs. I peer at the pale-blue-robed figure moving toward me. Behind him, another one follows. Unsure of my next move, I lower my arms and press pause on the iPod. The immediate silence is unsettling, and I can suddenly hear my racing heartbeat.

Tommy’s parents are standing ten feet away from me. I swallow. They don’t look mad, exactly. But they don’t look happy either. How am I supposed to explain this to them? At least, how can I explain it in a way that doesn’t sound completely insane? I consider my options.

I want your son to love me, so I’m acting out movie scenes.

Say Anything is just the beginning. There are a dozen others I’m willing to try.

Haven’t you ever wished you could fall in love like they do on-screen?

I set down the speakers. This is something Lily and I didn’t plan for. It’s ten at night and I’m standing in front of my boyfriend’s parents. If this were a movie, the director would call “Cut!” But this is real life, not a movie set, and there isn’t a script to follow.