The rock music blasting from the St. Bernard-sized speakers on the back wall was so loud, Raven Valenti could barely hear her own breathing. And it was a bad song, too. The drumbeats drowned out the guitar riffs, making the song sound something like a drummer boy leading an army.
Her father, a has-been singer, had taught her how to read music for beauty and flaws. Now it was almost habit to analyze it, to pick apart a song like an English student picking out grammar and punctuation mistakes in a book. Sometimes it was almost impossible to sit through her band class. Not that she was a master flutist, but, well…some people just aren’t musicians.
She elbowed her way out of the living room’s makeshift dance floor and headed for the billiards room. Her boyfriend, Caleb, was there, hunched over to line up a shot on the table. He pushed the stick forward and the cue ball sailed down the length of the red felt, cracking into a striped ball. It clattered into the corner pocket.
“Caleb,” she said.
“Shhh.” He frowned. “Eight ball in the left side pocket,” he called out. After several seconds, he sunk the eight ball exactly where he said he would. He straightened up and grinned at Kenny, who was standing behind him. “Pay up, dude.”
Kenny forked over a twenty-dollar bill. Caleb slid it into his jeans pocket.
“Caleb,” Raven said again, and motioned him over with her finger.
He came up and slid his arms around her waist. His breath smelled like beer, his dark brown hair like Aussie hair gel. “Did you see me kick Kenny’s ass?”
She rolled her eyes but smiled. “Yes, but I wouldn’t exactly call you a pool shark.”
He laughed and bent down, kissing her neck. “You want to go upstairs for a while?” He raised his eyebrows suggestively.
“Not right now.” Raven’s mother was right about one thing (if that was even possible), boys thought about sex all the time. Raven slept with Caleb for the first time a few months ago. Since then he was constantly bringing it up.
“Let’s go get something to drink. My throat is raw from all this cigarette smoke.” She waved away the air around her. Not that it would do much good. The party had been in full swing for an hour now. There was a smoke haze in every room. It wasn’t just in the air, it was the air.
“I’m going to watch the next game.” Caleb tipped his head toward the pool table. “Grab me something though? A beer?”
She sighed and said, “Fine,” then made her way to the kitchen. The song on the stereo had switched to something a little more appealing but still not quite there. She wondered if this was Craig’s CD collection or if someone else had brought the music. If it was the former, Craig had really bad taste, which, now that she thought about it, was not surprising.
In the front foyer, Raven dodged the door as it opened. Drew walked in. Alone. “Where’s Sydney?” she asked, checking the doorway for her friend.
Drew grimaced. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
Raven frowned. That was bizarre. Drew and Sydney were always together, they were like two halves of a whole. Maybe she should text Sydney after she grabbed a drink. Something was definitely up.
Drew scanned the dozens of people hanging around the front room. “Have you seen Todd?”
Raven shook her head. “I just talked to Kelly a little while ago. She said he was on his way.”
Drew cursed and shut his eyes as if annoyed. He pulled out his cell, dialed, and put the phone to his ear. “Todd? Where the hell are you?” Drew nodded a good-bye at Raven before disappearing back outside.
Raven headed off to the kitchen. It was just as packed as the living room. People were filling up red plastic cups at the keg. Figuring that’s what Caleb wanted, she got him a cup then searched the refrigerator for a bottle of water. Finding one, she turned and rammed into someone. The beer sloshed inside the cup. She quickly set it down on the counter before it spilled all over her vintage Firebird T-shirt.
“Hey!” she shouted, then recognized who it was. “Oh, Horace, hi.”
Her heart sped up instantly seeing his green eyes pinned on her. Horace was in the school band with her. He was in the percussion section…but they’d shared more than music recently.
An elbow jabbed her in the ribs. “Oww.”
“Come on,” Horace shouted. “It’s safer over here.” He grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the throng of drink-seekers and into the darkened mudroom.
“Thanks.”
“No problem.” He smiled and butterflies zinged in her stomach. Horace always had this look in his eyes, and a warm tone in his husky voice, like he knew things about Raven she hadn’t told him.
Realizing that she was now alone with Horace in a darkened room, she flushed and looked away. The last time she’d been this close to him, they’d kissed. It was just a month ago, when they’d gone to regionals for the school band. Earlier that day, she and Caleb had gotten into a fight, and then the band lost at regionals. Raven had been in a crappy mood and Horace was good at cheering her up. She’d kissed him in a moment of weakness, nothing more. Since then, she’d avoided him at school and in her mother’s shop, where he worked nights.
Raven didn’t want things to be awkward between them. Like now…when she could think of nothing but that kiss. Or how his breath smelled like the cinnamon mints he ate like candy.
The butterflies grew incessant and she edged away. She had a boyfriend, dang it. She was trying to make it work, unlike all the boys in her past.
“So, uh,” she began, wanting to fill the silence. “I’m sorry I didn’t answer that text message a while back. I just—”
“It’s all right, Ray.”
Lots of people shortened her name, but it didn’t sound half as good as it did coming from Horace.
“No, it’s not okay,” she said, pulling her eyes back up. “I should have explained. Or something…”
“Maybe.” He shrugged. “I kind of figured it out though.”
Right. Of course it was obvious. He probably thought she was a bitch. Probably she was, for kissing him and then avoiding him. “I should go.”
She turned but Horace grabbed her arm. “Wait.”
She stopped, liking the feel of his hand on her skin. Goose bumps popped on her forearm. “Horace, I—”
He kissed her. Just like that. Nothing forceful or gross, just a soft, innocent lip-lock, as if he worried that he’d scare her away with anything more aggressive.
“Raven!”
She pulled away from Horace and turned back to the kitchen, the sound of her name carrying over the din of the party.
Caleb.
Lips pursed, face red, he shouted, “What in the hell are you doing?”
“I’m sorry,” Horace whispered.
“It’s not your fault.”
“Yes it is.”
The drinking crowd parted, letting Caleb through effortlessly. He stalked into the mudroom, putting his nose in Horace’s face.
Raven put her hand on Caleb’s arm. “Let’s just go.”
He yanked out of her grasp. “Don’t touch my girlfriend,” he said to Horace.
While Horace had more muscle, he was a good five inches shorter than Caleb. Raven didn’t want to see them fight. She didn’t want Horace getting hurt because of her.
“Just stop, Caleb.” She tried pulling him away, but he pushed her. Horace reached out as she fell back. Caleb took the opening and punched Horace in the face, sending him down on top of Raven. His lower lip started bleeding, swelling up instantly.
“Caleb!” Raven shouted as Horace rolled over and wiped his lip with his shirt. “I can’t believe you just did that.”
Caleb leaned over her. “That makes two of us, Raven, ‘cause I can’t believe you cheated on me with a freakin’ band geek.”
“I didn’t cheat on you!”
“Oh, yeah, what do you call kissing him, then? Just an innocent gesture between band geeks? Is that something band geeks do?”
“Quit saying that.”
“What? Band geeks!” His voice rose every time he said it.
Raven tried to ignore him and helped Horace to his feet. “Are you okay?”
“I’m alive.”
“Oh, sure, Raven. Baby him,” Caleb retorted.
“You punched him in the face.”
“You know what?” He spread his arms out. “We’re over.”
“Caleb!” She ran after him. “Stop.” When she reached the living room—the stereo having been muted for the “live” show—Caleb grabbed Tina Strong, a blonde sophomore in the crowd, and kissed her. When he pulled away he said, “How do you like that, Raven?” then disappeared into another room leaving two stunned girls behind.
Frozen in place, Raven’s mouth hung open, her arms limp at her sides. He did not just do that! Was she partially to blame? She had, after all, kissed Horace first. Maybe she deserved it.
Maybe.
Head hanging, she made her way back to the mudroom. She wasn’t surprised to find Horace gone. She leaned against the wall and closed her eyes, wishing she could take the entire night back.
Why was her love life so screwed up all the time? Her best friend, Alexia, would probably say it was because Raven cycled through guys too often, and she picked the wrong ones to go out with in the first place.
But Raven liked Caleb. So, okay, maybe he had a temper and maybe he was too much of a “guys’ guy,” but when they first started going out, he’d bought her flowers and called her every night to say good night. He’d felt like Mr. Right. She’d thought maybe he’d become her first serious boyfriend. That’s what she wanted—to find someone she could fall in love with. She had tons of guys to pick from. Why couldn’t she find a great one?
Probably because he didn’t exist. Either that, or she was just destined to be alone. The thought made her nauseous. Alone. She hated being alone. She didn’t want to end up like her mother, who sat home on Friday nights with scrapbooking as her only hobby.
Lame!
Raven’s cell rang in her pocket. Her heart sped up. Maybe it was Caleb calling to apologize. She checked the screen. It was Sydney.
“Hey.”
“Ray?” Sydney’s voice cracked through the phone.
“Are you crying?” Raven asked.
Sydney sniffed. “Can you come pick me up? I don’t want to be home right now.”
Something had happened with Drew. Raven just knew it. She set aside her own drama to focus on Sydney. “Of course. I’ll be there in thirty minutes. Okay?”
“Thanks.”
“I’ll see you soon.” She flipped her phone closed and left.