Chapter Seven
It was Sunday morning and I was freaking out. The worst part was I was freaking out over seeing Avery. He said he had some musical surprise, but I had no idea what it could be. He didn’t know that much about me, just whatever I had posted on Facebook and Myspace. I was looking in my closet for something to wear when decided on my skinny jeans with the hole in the knee and a plaid shirt. I put on my converse and left my hair down. I looked at the clock and it said 11:00am. I still had an hour before he was coming over. I made sure Dad and Mike were going to be gone when he came over because I didn’t want him to feel awkward. I decided I should probably eat before I saw him so I went down to the kitchen to find something. I opened the fridge to find a blueberry muffin top with a sticky note on it. It was written in Juliet’s familiar handwriting. The note said:
Jordylynn,
We know you are nervous even if you deny it. We also know how you get when you are nervous and decided you needed some comfort food. So here you go hun, eat up and text us with the details. We love you!
- ♥ Letty and Mika
I smiled and took the note off my muffin top. I ran up to my room and stuck the note in my secret box where I keep all my important things; my forever box. I sat down on the love seat in my room and began nibbling on my muffin top. It was just the way I like it where the blueberries were really juicy. I grabbed my remote and turned on my iHome. “Tim McGraw” by Taylor Swift was playing. It was one of my favorite songs by her. I began to sing along when I heard the doorbell ring. I glanced at my clock and it was 11:40. Time flies when you were nervous. I ran down to answer the door and saw Avery there. He was wearing a pale blue plaid button down shirt with the sleeves rolled up and a white t-shirt under it. The blue made his eyes look even brighter. He was carrying his guitar I noticed. He smiled and was looking at me.
“We match.” He said gesturing at me. I looked down and then remembered I was wearing plaid too. His jeans were in similar color to mine, just less frayed and he was wearing black converse. I laughed.
“Ha I guess we do. Do you wanna come in?” I added remembering he was still outside.
“Yeah that would be great.” He walked in and we headed upstairs.
I had had boys in my room before, but for some reason this felt different. I was suddenly very self-conscious. I blushed when I saw him look over at my iHome; “Tim McGraw” was just finishing playing.
“You listen to Taylor Swift.” I could tell by the way he said it, that it was a statement, not a question.
“She’s my favorite artist. I listen to her all the time.” I stated. I hope I didn’t sound obsessive.
“What song was that?” he asked curiously.
“Tim McGraw. It’s one of my favorites.” I was starting to wonder why he was so curious.
“Can we listen to it again?”
“Sure.” I hit the back button on my iHome remote and the song started to play again.
“Can I use I piece of paper please?” He asked. I nodded and ran to grab one from my printer and a pen for him.
“Thank you.” He began writing something, but I couldn’t make sense of it. Before I knew what was happening I started to sing along with the song. When I sing I get really into it and sing sort of loud, so much for not being embarrassed. The song was coming to an end and Avery had his whole page full. The last few lines were my favorite part of the song, but somehow I sang it quieter than the rest of the song.
“You said the way my blue eyes shined put those Georgia
“Has anyone told you Miss Connelly, that you have a beautiful voice?” I know I turned bright red at this. I don’t think I had ever blushed this much. I thought about it and I didn’t think I had ever been described as having a beautiful voice. I knew my voice was okay, but Jamie was the good singer in the family, or at least the one everyone talked about the most.
“No I don’t think so.”
“Well they should. Jorden your voice is beautiful; it’s simply amazing.” Hearing this I blushed a deeper red, as if that was possible and mumbled my thanks.
“Do you want to try it acoustically?” He asked. I could tell by the way he asked that he was excited. The idea just made me nervous. I never really sang in front of people besides family and close friends. He could tell I was worried because then he said “It’s okay I’ll play the cords. If you want I’ll sing with you? I know most of the words.” This made me smile. I couldn’t imagine a guy volunteering to sing Taylor Swift. I decided I would give it a try and he began strumming. I was hesitant at first but after the first verse I really started getting into it, he even joined in, which shocked me.
“But when you think Tim McGraw I hope you think my favorite song, the one we danced to all night long; the moon like a spotlight on the lake. When you think happiness, I hope you think that little black dress, think of my head on your chest and my old faded blue jeans. When you think Tim McGraw I hope you think of me.” We actually sounded really good together and he did remember all the words and even got all the cords right. I was having so much fun and then we finished the song.
“Oh my gosh that was so fun!” I exclaimed. I looked at him and he was smiling my favorite smile. Since when did I have a favorite smile of Avery’s?
“Do you want to try playing it? Like on my guitar?” Before I could answer he handed me his guitar.
“Be careful with her.” He warned me.
“Her?” I asked laughing.
“Yes. Amelia.” I noticed he was turning a little pink.
“Was she a girl you liked?” I was getting this weird feeling in my stomach that I just couldn’t place. I decided to ignore it.
“No,” he laughed. “That would have been my name if I were a girl. I always kind of liked the name.” He shrugged and turned a little pinker. I didn’t really know what to say to that and I think he was glad. It was a nice change seeing him embarrassed rather than the other way around.
“So let’s get started. The first cord goes like this.” He grabbed my hand and positioned it to make the cord. His hands were bigger than mine and very warm. He showed me how to do all the cords and when they should be played. I got a little confused but he reassured me I was doing better then most people he had tried to teach.
“I think it will be easier if we start you off playing with the song. Do you have the instrumental version?”
“Yeah but it’s not on my iPod. Let me turn on my computer.” I laid his guitar on my bed and walked over to my laptop and hit the power button. We waited in silence for my computer to start and when it did went to my desktop background he began to laugh.
“What’s so funny?” I asked looking at my background. It was a picture of Mika, Letty and I during girls’ night. We had dressed up as guys. I was the skater guy, Mika was the nerd and Juliet was the jock. We all had really funny faces on and were doing things that went with our characters. It was a great night.
“You girls are guys.” He laughed again.
“Shut up.” I laughed and opened my iTunes. It didn’t take long to load. I was looking for it when I noticed Avery standing behind me.
“How many songs do you have?” he asked curiously.
“Uhh… I dunno a thousand something..?” I was still searching for it.
“Can I look through your iTunes?” He asked skeptically. I didn’t know why he sounded so hesitant to ask me… it was just music.
“Of course.” I moved my laptop over to him and he began scrolling through all my music. I knew it was no big deal but suddenly I got that weird feeling in my stomach again and felt self-conscious. He was nodding, shaking his head and smiling as he continued to look through my music.
“Jorden you have quite a variety of music, a good variety. I’m impressed actually.” He smiled and consulted my iTunes again. “I mean you have The Scene Aesthetic, Joe Brooks, Brendan Benson. Where did you hear about them?” He asked astounded.
“Internet?” I said unsure how to explain. I love all kinds of music and therefore I like searching for it on Myspace.
“I thought I had only heard of Joe Brooks. I found him on Myspace and it’s just the kind of music I like to play.” He smiled. “Jorden you listen to everything don’t you? I mean you have country, hip-hop, rock, alternative, pop, Latin!” He smiled again and I think my heart skipped a beat. He was simply jubilant and it was starting to rub off on me.
“I try,” I shrugged. “I’m actually not as shallow as everyone presumes I am.” I smiled but his face got serious.
“Jorden I never thought you were shallow. Actually from the first time I saw you I thought you to be the exact opposite of shallow.” He looked sincere and for like the millionth time I felt appreciated by him.
“Thanks.” I smiled again and my smile made him smile. Oh god what was happening to me. I was supposed to hate this kid.
“So, shall we start? I have just found the instrumental version.” I nodded and walked over to grab his guitar off the bed.
“You know all the words right?” he asked. I nodded and he hit play. I began strumming along with what I had just learned and then began to sing like I never had sung before.
After I had played “Tim McGraw” all the way through without the cd to back me up, only missing less than half the notes, I was starting to get hungry; I could hear my stomach grumbling. I put his guitar on my bed and turned to him. I was just about to ask if he was hungry when he cut me off.
“Jorden, that was amazing. I have never taught someone who just… got it so easily.” I blushed. I didn’t think I had done that good.
“Thanks.” I mumbled. We sat there in silence for a minute.
“Are you hungry?” I asked as my stomach gave another lurch.
“Famished.” He replied and we walked down to my kitchen. I opened my fridge, unsure of what to make.
“What do you like to eat?” I asked moving my dad’s six pack out of the way.
“Anything, I’m not really picky.” He shrugged.
“How about…” I kept looking through the fridge and found some tortillas and last nights roast chicken. “Chicken tacos?” I asked.
“That sounds great.” I began to get out all the stuff I needed to make the tacos.
“Will you chop the onion while I pull the chicken?” I asked.
“Of course.” I handed him a knife and he began to dice the onion and I stood at the counter pulling the chicken from the bone.
“Care to play truths while we cook?” He asked tentatively.
“Sure. You start.”
“Alright… what are you currently reading?” He asked.
“Nothing, last night I finished Frostbite.” I said blushing.
“Frostbite?” He said unsure.
“It’s in the Vampire Academy
“How did you know?” I asked.
“Know what?” he asked.
“You know.” I swear I saw him blush. It looked like he was trying to figure out how to phrase it.
“Well… I was reading your Myspace and Facebook page. I learned a lot there.” He smiled. Then he started to look uneasy. “I may have asked Juliet and Mika some things.” He now wasn’t looking me in the eyes.
“Why did you take so much energy to learn about me?” I asked bewildered. He blushed even more.
“I heard rumors and I didn’t believe them. I figured research was the only way to disprove them.”
“What rumors?” I asked. The rumors about me I thought had died down. In 6th grade a group of boys started rumors about me sleeping around with them, the rumors resurfaced in 7th grade when a group of girls that hated me tried to make my life miserable. Girls were just cruel sometimes. When I asked this he started to look uncomfortable.
“I heard you… uh… slept around.” He looked really tense now and I swear I felt my jaw drop.
“It’s not true.” I said at once.
“I know. Mika told me. I didn’t believe them though, not even for a second.” I was so overwhelmed by his honesty that I got up and hugged him. I stepped back and look at him. I felt like we had some unspoken understanding. I walked back and continued to make us lunch.
рог
“How did it go?” Letty had been badgering me ever since I stepped foot in her house that evening. She was under the impression that Avery liked me, which was ludicrous because he hardly knew me and he knew that I was taken.
“I’ll tell you when we are in your room.” I didn’t feel like explaining to a group. Her brother Benji had his friends over again and I knew that at least one of them knew Avery. Juliet knew this too because she looked over at Logan who was in the same grade as Avery. We walked upstairs and went in her bedroom. She had the biggest bedroom in the house. She had large white, elegant double doors that led to a huge balcony right outside her room. Her room was set up in a very elegant manner, even with purple walls. Her parents gave her this room in hopes that she would be similar to her namesake; Juliet from Romeo and Juliet, minus the tragic death over a guy. We walked over and sat down on her queen sized bed and pulled back the curtains around it.
“Okay spill.” And I did. I began to tell her everything that had happened while he was there; she oohhed and ahhed at all the right places. I decided to skip the part where I got a weird feeling in my stomach, but by the end of my story she seemed really impressed.
“You learned the entire song?” She asked amazed. I smiled and nodded. Then something occurred to me and I asked her about talking to him.
“Yeah he asked me a few things. Nothing really personal, he asked me what you liked to eat and what you listened to.”
“Oh alright then.” That wasn’t as bad as I was thinking. I would have to ask Mika about what she told him later.
“So do you like him?” She asked. I smacked her leg.
“No Letty! I have a boyfriend! Remember?” She looked at me skeptically and said, “That doesn’t mean you can’t like him still. But okay if you say you don’t then you don’t.” She shrugged her shoulders. I really wanted to change the subject, and then it hit me.
“So are you ever going to ask Jack out?”
“Jack? What are you talking about? I don’t like him,” She was blushing and looking anywhere but my eyes. “Even if I did, the girl is never supposed to ask out the guy; it hurts their man pride.” She smiled at the last part. “It’s cute that they think they have it.” She laughed and was trying to distract me from my point.
“You like Jack. Hun you can’t hide it from me, I’m your best friend.” She was blushing again, but I think she was finally going to admit it to me. She turned and looked me in the eyes.
“Yeah, I do. He is really cute and sweet.” She was smiling now.
“You guys would be so cute together.” I gushed.
“You think?” She asked, not sure whether or not I was lying.
“I know. I think he likes you. Have you seen the way that boy looks at you? He is completely infatuated.” She smiled hearing this, but she still wasn’t convinced.
“I don’t know. I don’t think I’m his type.”
“How could you not be his type? You’re beautiful, smart, and athletic. You’re everyone’s type!” I exclaimed.
“He’s a skater boy and I’m a… I don’t even fit into a stereotype!” She was looking worried now. The song “Tied Together With A Smile.” suddenly popped into my head. The song is about a girl who doesn’t see herself clearly and all she wants to do is make some boy happy who probably didn’t even know she existed. I’m not going to let Letty turn into her.
“Hun you don’t see yourself very clearly. You are trying out for the lead in the school play, you’re the soccer captain, you do dance team, and you love anything that has to do with the country. It’s great that you can’t fit into one group. Stop worrying. You are beautiful and amazing and he would have to be crazy not to see it.” I hugged her.
“Thanks Jorden. You’re the best. I don’t know what I would do without you.” She hugged me back. I was glad I could make her feel better and just as glad the subject was off me and Avery. I didn’t know what was going on with me and him, but I know I couldn’t be falling for him. He still was the same sarcastic guy I ran into back in September.
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