This Is Not an After School Special

I hurried across the lawn just as Josh pulled his car to a stop in my driveway. I climbed inside before my mother could look outside and notice that it wasn't Matt that was picking me up.

"Hey," Josh greeted me with his usual grin.

"Hey. How are you?"

"I'm good. Ready for your test?"

I hesitated. "Not really. But I'll give it a shot."

Josh threw the car into reverse and pulled out of my driveway. He began driving in the direction of the recording studio. The sky was dark with blackened storm clouds that had been rolling in all afternoon. I bitter wind had picked up, and I'd had to dig out a heavy hoodie to protect myself from the sudden chill. I noticed that Josh had done the same.

"It looks like there's a storm coming," I said conversationally.

"Yeah," Josh agreed, leaning forward a bit so he could see the sky through the windshield. "It's about time. We haven't had any rain in weeks, and it's been too damn hot."

"I hope it's a good one. It's been awhile since we had some really good thunder and lightning."

We continued to banter about the weather until Josh pulled up in front of the recording studio. When we got inside, Josh handed me some new and unfamiliar sheet music before pushing me back into the recording room. He hurried back to the control room and hit the intercom button.

"Okay, so I guarantee that you've never heard this song before. I'm going to play you the music, and you're going to sing it to me. It doesn't matter if you're not perfect, it's just to see how well you know your notes at this point."

The song intro began, and I feel suddenly overwhelmed. He was right, this wasn't even vaguely familiar. I felt like I was in over my head, and as soon as I started to song, I knew that I was singing the wrong notes. I continued anyway, hoping that he would give me credit for putting in the effort, at the very least. I couldn't take the time to try and read his expression, I was too focused on the sheet music in my hands. When the song finally ended, I felt like I had butchered it. I eventually looked up to guage Josh's reaction, and I was shocked to see him smiling at me.

"You didn't start on the right note, but you did a really good job of the transitions between notes. Of course, since the first note was wrong, all of the consecutive notes after it were wrong, too, but if the sheet music started about three notes higher you would have been dead on for everything. That was really good for your first try, Becky."

"Okay, so how is the song supposed to go?"

Josh grinned. "I was hoping you would ask." He hit a couple of buttons, and then the same song began to play.

As I listened, a familiar voice began singing the words that I'd been belting out moments before. Except that this voice sounded better. Not only because it was the right notes, but the tone was better. It only took me a few seconds to realise that it was Josh's voice. I listened to the remainder of the song, feeling a bit shocked that Josh had written something so professional. When it was over, I was gaping at him through the glass.

"That's your song?" I questioned. "That's incredible!"

He looked a little bit embarassed, but very happy at the same time. "Thanks, Becky. That means a lot."

"Are you going to teach me to be able to do that?"

"You're almost there. It's really not hard to read sheet music once you've had a bit of practice."

I shook my head. "No, I mean writing it. I think that's really impressive that you can do that."

He shrugged his lanky shoulders. "If you really want to write it, you can figure it out easily enough. I just wanted to give you a fair test with a song that you didn't know, and that was a song that I was positive that you'd never heard."

"Are there any other tests you've got for me? Or what else do you have planned for the rest of the evening?"

"Well," he began looking for something in his bag. "I was thinking that maybe we could try naming notes again. I don't expect you to know all of them after only one night, I just want to see how much you remember."

I joined him in the control room and once again sat beside him at the switchboard. I used the memory tricks that he'd taught me, and I only forgot a couple of notes. Overall, Josh seemed proud of me. It was a good feeling to see him look at me with a combination of surprise and pride in his eyes.

"You've been studying," he said, making it sound almost like an accusation.

"I looked those sheets over before bed last night once or twice."

"It's paying off. You're doing really great."

"Thanks, Josh," I grinned, feeling overjoyed by his words of praise.

"I really wasn't expecting you to catch on so quickly. I don't know what else we should cover tonight."

"That's your call. I have no idea what I have to learn."

"What are you and Matt doing this weekend?" He asked suddenly, catching me by surprise.

"I don't know yet, why?"

"There's a party at Jeff's tomorrow night. You should come."

"Yeah, that would be fun. I'll mention it to Matt tomorrow."

Josh's smile widened. "Great. I hope you come. It should be a good time."

"I think Matt might have a family thing on Saturday, though, so I don't know if his mom will let him go out tomorrow night," I recalled. "Does the invitation still stand if I'm solo?"

"Of course. I think I'd actually like to see you let your hair down without Matt around."

"Yeah?" I couldn't help but laugh at the thought. Matt didn't prevent me from doing anything, so I didn't know what Josh was expecting to happen if I was alone.

He nodded. "Yeah. You should come, regardless. If you can find a ride, that is. I don't want to stay sober, so I won't be able to drive you," he chuckled. "But I won't be too drunk. I don't want to scare you off."

I scoffed. "That's unlikely."

"Is it?" He was still smiling, but his eyes had taken on a hard edge. I was about to question him about it, but he began talking again. "Anyways, do you think you'll be ready for our next choir practice tomorrow?"

"I hope so. But given the fact that we've only had two nights of this, I'd say I'm doing better than I'd expected."

"Yes, you're definitely doing better than anyone expected. Matt would be shocked."

"I didn't join the choir to impress Matt," I told him.

"Then why did you join? Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining, but I'm just wondering."

"It's kind of embarassing, actually," I said, trying to avoid telling him the real reason. I didn't want him to think I was in love with him or anything like that.

"It's not like I'll make fun of you for it."

"I know, it's just that..." I paused, taking a deep breath. "I joined so that I would get a chance to talk to you," I admitted, all of my words coming out in a rush of air that made it hard to understand. I waited for Josh's reaction nervously.

"Really?" He asked after a brief moment. He rubbed the back of his neck with one hand. "So, that's why you wanted to come for these lessons?"

"Yeah. But I'm not a stalker, I swear!" I defended myself.

Josh laughed. "I know that, Becky. I just find it kind of amusing that I only offered to give you these lessons so that I would get to talk to you."

"You're kidding."

"No, I'm not. I thought that you were dating Matt, though. Even though you told me in the hallway that day that you were just friends, I had my doubts. And I consider Matt a friend, so I didn't want to do anything to piss him off."

"Hypothetically, even if I was dating Matt, what would you have done to piss him off?"

Now it was his turn to look embarassed. He wouldn't make eye contact with me as he spoke. "I almost kissed you last night when I dropped you off."

My heart hammered in my chest. In a way, I felt relieved that I hadn't been imagining the atmosphere in the car the night before. But mostly I was in shock. He was feeling the same way about me?

"I thought I was dreaming that," I whispered.

"Oh, God, you could tell?" Josh's eyes snapped into focus on my face.

"No," I assured him. "But I felt like something wasn't as carefree as it was when we were still here," I gestured to the recording studio around us.

"Hey Becky? Do you maybe want to go to that party with me?"

I grinned stupidly. "I thought you weren't driving?"

"We'll walk. It's not that far." He seemed a little unsure about my reaction.

"Yeah, I'd love to."

Josh's lips stretched into a happy smile. "Good."

I glanced up at the clock on the wall. It was only eight-thirty. "What else should we do tonight?"

"I can't think of anything else that we need to do."

"Me either."

"Maybe I should take you home a bit early. You could get in the good books with your parents before tomorrow night."

"Yeah, I guess that would work." I got up from my chair. "Can I keep this?" I asked, holding up the sheet music from Josh's song.

"Of course. Go ahead." Josh began gathering up his things and putting them back into the bag that he'd brought with him.

I didn't totally know what to do with myself right then. Now that I knew that Josh felt the same, I couldn't figure out how to act around him. I remembered Matt referring to the 'just be yourself' speech, and I had been myself so far. It seemed to be working, so I should just continue on with that. But I somehow felt inadequate. Josh just kept surprising me, and I still couldn't get over how amazing his song was. I was just too normal to compete with that. And what was I supposed to do when he dropped me off? Would he want to kiss me again, or had that passed now that he'd admitted it to me?

I was still focused on these thoughts as Josh locked the door and we got into his car.

"Are you okay?" Josh asked suddenly, obviously noticing how distant my mind was.

"I'm fine. Sorry. I'm just thinking."

"Well stop it," he joked. "I like the Becky who talks to me, not the one who's lost in thought."

"Yeah, I like that Becky, too."

"Is that the Becky that's going to be coming to the party tomorrow night?"

"Definitely," I wrenched my thoughts back to the present. "I won't be thinking at all, I promise."

Josh laughed. "I'm not entirely sure that that's any better. You need to think a bit. Otherwise, people might take advantage of you."

"What people? You?"

He pretended to look offended. "I resent that. I haven't taken advantage of you yet, have I? And I've had plenty of opportunities."

"You have not. You didn't even know that I was interested in you until ten minutes ago."

"I work fast," he told me. "I could have been there and done that by now."

"Oh you think so, do you?"

"Well, I'm not quite as confident when you use that tone of voice."

I giggled. "You're really something else, Josh."

"Don't I know it."

He pulled the car into my driveway. I began to get anxious again, but I fought the emotions back in an effort to appear normal.

"So, I guess I'll see you tomorrow in choir, right?" Josh asked.

"Yeah I'll be there."

It felt incredibly forced for the two of us to just sit there. I still didn't know what to do. After a long minute of hesitiation, I opened the door.

"See you tomorrow, Josh."

"I'll be here around nine-thirty and we'll walk to the party, okay?"

"Yeah, we can talk about that tomorrow."

"You want to talk about it when Matt is around?"

"Sure, why not? He'll just force the information out of me later anyways," I said.

"Okay. I'll talk to you at lunch."

I stepped out of the car. "Bye."

Even though we never actually kissed, or even touched at all, really, I still felt like something had been accomplished. Now I had a real date with Josh, even though I knew that Matt would argue that I'd already had two. I went inside and headed straight to my room.

"You're home a bit early tonight," Mom observed as I passed where she sat on the couch. "Did Matt get sick of you?"

"No, we just finished early. I'm going to go to a party tomorrow night, okay?"

Her eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Who is having a party?"

"His name's Jeff. He's a senior."

"And you and Matt are invited?"

"It's not so much who's invited, Mom, it's who shows up. And we're going with a senior who's in choir with us."

"Who? Since when have you been hanging out with anyone other than Matt?"

I sighed at her usual overreaction. "It's fine, Mom. His name is Josh, and we're all hanging out because Matt and Josh have been friends for awhile. We're not doing anything wrong."

"Well I know that you and Matt don't get into much trouble. And if he's good friends with this boy, maybe he's alright too. Just be careful, Becky."

"I always am. Night, Mom."

"Goodnight, hun."

I headed down the hallway to my bedroom. It was still too early for me to fall asleep, and I didn't really feel like calling Matt. He would find out soon enough. I set Josh's sheet music on my desk and changed into my pajamas.

I crawled beneath the thick blankets as the rain began to fall. It pelted the glass on the window above my bed. As I lay there, I heard a ripple of thunder echo outside. The storm made me somehow calmer, and my eyelids began to grow heavy.

I found myself contemplating what would happen the following night as I drifted off into a blissful sleep.