A Smile for Your Scrapbooks

“What on earth are you wearing?”

My jaw dropped, and my eyes drifted down to the knee-length, teal skirt that I had paired with a plain white t-shirt. A pair of gold gladiator sandals covered my feet. I didn’t see anything wrong with what I was wearing. Actually, I thought I looked cute. It was the perfect outfit to go out in and be extremely comfortable.

“What the hell are you talking about?” I asked Zachary, who was looking at my clothes with his nose wrinkled up.

He shook his head and made a tsking noise before grabbing my hand and dragging me back up the stairs to my room. We passed Rachel in the hallway, who said nothing, just merely arched a brow in our general direction. I scowled at her, silently thanking her for her help.

Zachary flung me onto my bed and drifted into the closet. “Where we’re going, you can not wear that. Or anything that even remotely resembles that. I’d like to live through the night, okay?”

Okay, so that freaked me out a bit. I didn’t think Zachary would take us anywhere dangerous. At least, I hoped not. I mean, he seemed like a pretty average guy. Clean cut, in a way. The type of guy you’d take home to meet your mother. Or at least, that was his cover. Underneath, he was a bit more out there, but nothing absolutely horrible.

“Where are you taking us?” I asked slowly, biting at my bottom lip as he tossed a neon pink t-shirt at me. I caught it in one hand and held it there, awaiting his response.

“That, darling, is a surprise. Don’t worry about it. I’m not going to take you somewhere horrible, I promise. You can trust me, right?” he asked as he poked his head back out of my closet to look at me.

I wanted to say yes, but I didn’t want to lie to him. So, instead I just changed my shirt before waiting to find out what bottoms he was going to throw at me. I got hit in the face by a pair of my favorite holey jeans, followed by a pair of white tennis shoes. I changed quickly, Zachary shielding his eyes out of respect.

We headed downstairs to find Rachel and Alex sitting on my couch, waiting. They smiled and stood as we made our appearance, and I couldn’t help but notice the way Alex’s chocolate eyes drifted down my body, then back up, making my cheeks flame up.

“Um. So. Let’s get this show on the road,” I said nervously, grabbing my wallet and keys.

Zachary tucked Rachel beneath his arm as we made our way outside. I locked up my house and turned, nearly colliding with Alex, who was standing just behind me. He smiled, tucking a stray strand of my long hair behind an ear.

“You look cute,” he said before leaning down and kissing my cheek swiftly.

If my cheeks were to get any hotter, they’d be a fire hazard. He laughed gently and took my hand in his, leading me towards Zachary’s dark blue SUV. Like a gentleman, he opened the door for me, sending me a flirtatious wink as I got into the backseat.

Rachel, in the front, turned around to look at me as Alex made his way to his side of the truck. Her eyebrows wiggled at me knowingly, causing me to swat at her arm in an attempt to get her to stop before Alex saw. Once Alex was in the car, Zachary started it up and put it into gear, pulling out of my driveway. The sounds of some unknown band came over the radio and out of the corner of my eye, I saw Alex mouthing the words along with the female singer.

“This is who we’re going to see,” Zachary said, pointing towards the radio as he spoke loudly to be heard.

“We’re going to see them?” Alex exclaimed.

I looked over at him and arched a brow. He looked like he was about to have a heart attack as he looked at Zachary with wide eyes. He gave Alex the same look I was, before nodding his head.

“Um. Yeah. Is that a problem?” he asked as he turned onto the highway.

I watched Alex’s Adam’s apple bob nervously as he shook his head. “No, not at all.”

Well, that was strange, to say the least. Alex looked like the last place he wanted to be was going to go see this band. Personally, I thought they were pretty good, and couldn’t really understand his reaction. But then, he was famous. Maybe he knew the band too, and didn’t want to be around the music scene, where he was known. He had said that he wanted to get away, that that was why he was here. Still, one would think that he would’ve denied the invitation if that were the truth.

After about half an hour, we pulled off of the highway. I peered out of the window as he drove up and down streets. The part of town we were in was more run-down than I was used to. Graffiti covered the brick and concrete. Groups of people huddled at street corner, their cars parked nearby with the windows down and rap music blasting.

I felt a little uneasy, to say the least.

Zachary pulled into a parking lot in front of a large, non-descript building. A sign overhead called the place The Blue Mermaid. We all got out and headed towards the door, our IDs ready. Inside, more people than I thought could fit in there stood around, neon blue cups in their hands. A large, unlit stage loomed in front of us with instruments already placed on it. To the left was a large bar, the skirting made from blue neon lights. Behind it was a woman with tattoos all over her face, filling another one of the blue cups with some clear liquid.

“You guys go get us a place. We’ll grab some drinks,” Zachary said, leaning close to my ear. I nodded and reached for Alex’s hand.

I began dragging him close to the stage, off to the right a little bit, but he stopped me. I peered at him over my shoulder, wondering what was up.

“Maybe we should hang out back here? I mean, you never know with this crowd. I don’t want you to get hurt,” he said, not looking me completely in the eye.

I wanted to scowl at him, but instead, I left my face expressionless as I shook my head. “I’m sure I’ll be fine,” I said before continuing on my way towards the front. I heard Alex sigh behind me, and then he followed hesitantly.

It didn’t take long for Rachel and Zachary to join us. They each handed us a blue cup, which I downed quickly. I had no idea what it was, nor did I really care. All I knew was that something was about to happen, and that it would probably be best if I were more than a little tipsy to handle it.

My eyes strayed to the small watch that adorned my wrist. We still had about fifteen minutes before the show was about to start.

“ALEX? Is that you?!”

We all turned towards the shrill voice that had yelled in our general direction. A girl, probably around our own age, stood just a few feet away, her hands on her hips. She was beautiful, with pale pink hair and dark, almost black eyes. She was a few inches shorter than I was, and curvaceous. I instantly envied her. You could almost see the confidence oozing out of her as she walked towards us, her black skirt swishing around her thighs.

“I thought I recognized that unruly hair,” she said once she was closer. Her voice, now that it wasn’t yelling, was sweet sounding, almost like a child’s.

I watched, mesmerized, as she put her arms out towards Alex, asking for a hug. Her thin, white tank top rose up a few inches, revealing smooth, white skin, marred only be a freckle that sat just to the left of her belly button. Alex placed a smile on his face and brought her close to him in what appeared to be a loving embrace. I couldn’t help the tightening that erupted in my chest, or the lump that formed in my throat, or even the over-whelming sickness in the pit of my stomach. I felt Rachel’s hand envelop mine, but I didn’t look at her. I was still staring at Alex and this girl, wondering why watching them upset me so much, wondering who she was, and what she meant to him.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Um. Jordyn, this is Cecilia. Ceci, this is Jordyn, Rachel, and Zachary,” Alex explained once he pulled away from her.

I said nothing, just stared at her small hands, which had wrung themselves in the blue material of his shirt. Everyone else exchanged pleasantries, and then I heard her beautiful voice once again.

“Alex, I’m in town for a few days. We should catch up. It’ll be like old times,” she said.

My eyes came up to peer at her face. She was watching Alex intently, a smile playing across her lips as she waited for some kind of response from him. Old times? Catch up? My mind was going a hundred miles a minute as I imagined just what kind of past the two of them had. All of them involved no clothes.

“Sure. I’ve rented a beach house for the summer. You guys are welcome to stay with me until you leave,” came Alex’s soft reply.

I think my heart just jumped out of my chest at that. I felt my mouth drop open and for some odd reason, tears sprang to my eyes. I knew that Alex and I weren’t anything specific yet. And that was fine by me. But I had thought…I had thought that we were working our way onto something. I guess I had been wrong, and it really hurt.

All sounds left my mind. I heard nothing as I watched her mouth move once again. Then, they were hugging and she was gone. Alex’s chocolate eyes turned to me, begging for understanding. But I couldn’t give that to him. I shook my head and began moving through the crowd, towards the door. Just as I reached it, I heard that beautiful voice blare through the speakers, welcoming everyone to the show. A tear crept down my face as I looked over my shoulder and saw that amazing woman on stage, her hands gripping the microphone.

I had to get out of there, and I had to do it now.