Rule 34: Do not get depressed and listen to sad love songs if your crush does not notice you!
Raven’s decision to act distant toward Blake was working well. Maybe too well.
She grabbed a wet cloth and came out from behind the counter at Scrappe. Blake and Mil-D were there sitting on the two pumpkin-colored chairs near the front window. Blake had said no more than two words to Raven since he came in and it was starting to drive her nuts.
Was he playing games with her now? Served her right. She had, after all, used the Crush Code on him, which really, in its truest form, was a game. Especially when one of the rules specifically said to act distant but interested.
Cloth in hand, Raven went over to the round café tables and started washing them, hoping she wasn’t too obvious.
Had she done something to piss Blake off? Why was he ignoring her?
With every table she washed, she got closer to the front windows and closer to Blake. He had his cell open, texting someone.
“Andrea wants us to come out to Vegas,” he told Mil-D. “She’s having her birthday party at PURE.”
“Dude,” Mil-D shook his head, “that ain’t our scene. I don’t know.”
Yes, good thought, Mil-D. Keep Blake away from those scary Hollywood starlets who hop cities just to celebrate their birthdays.
Was that the kind of girl Blake liked? Because if that was the case, he was way out of Raven’s league. She couldn’t compete with Hollywood girls with their pearly white veneers and bleached blond hair and stick-thin figures.
Not that she needed to compete with them anyway. She didn’t like Blake like that.
Blake flipped his phone closed and took a sip from his frappé. “Who cares where it’s at? Andrea always throws the best parties.”
Mil-D shrugged. “All right. Whatever you want.”
When Blake looked over at her, Raven suddenly realized she’d stopped washing the tables and was now staring at him. She went ill with embarrassment and disappeared in the back room before she did something really stupid.
At home later that night, Raven put on one of the quieter, more angsty songs by the alternative band, Gray Door. She was in no mood for peppy, upbeat songs. Most of all Kay-J’s songs were poppy tracks, no matter how badly Horace wanted her to learn the lyrics.
“But you’ve thought about the contest, right?” he asked, twirling in half circles in her computer chair.
“Yes, I’ve thought about it.” She flopped back on the bed and spread out. She knew she was being dramatic, but she didn’t care.
Horace stopped twirling. “Have you talked to your mom yet?”
Raven rolled her eyes. “Yeah, right. She’d never let me go.”
“So what are you going to do?”
“I don’t know. I probably shouldn’t even go.”
“No. You need to go.”
She sat up. “Why? Why do you want me to do this so badly?”
He sighed, scrubbing his face with his hands. “I’ve already told you.”
“Yeah and you’ve never been one to think the band was pointless or a dead end. I mean, seriously. What is going on?”
He shook his head. “It’s nothing, okay?” He got up and came over to kiss her. “I just want to see you succeed. Is that so bad?”
“Well…no.” She grabbed her throw pillow and picked at the fuzz sticking to the fleece material. “I guess I can probably get to the city without my mom finding out.”
Horace thought about it before answering. “I hate to see you lie to your mom, but once you win that contest, she can’t really say much about it. And you’ll only be there one day.”
She nodded. “Now I just need to figure out how I’m getting there without her noticing I’m gone.”
Horace kissed her forehead. “We’ll figure it out, okay?”
“Okay.”
“I gotta go. But I’ll see you tomorrow. Think about practicing those Kay-J tracks.”
“I will.”
He waved to her before leaving, and she begrudgingly turned on her iPod to the first Kay-J track.