Trembling With the Strings

You, Kind Sir, Are On Crack!

“Keep telling yourself that,” I muttered, standing up vigilantly. I didn’t know who to keep my eye on: Darius or Gwen and Dante! I glanced over and saw Darius rising cautiously to his feet. I was a safe distance from Gwen, so I decided to focus on the boy standing right beside me.

“I don’t need to tell myself. I’m not in denial like you,” he mumbled, grinning cruelly. I didn’t find him amusing at all.

“Look, I don’t care if you’re on drugs or whatever. Just please leave me alone. Better yet, go fall in a deep trench. Okay?” I smirked at the annoyed look on his face, but scowled as he started laughing.

“As if that could kill me. Choose to believe what you will: I sincerely don’t care. But when you decide to be mature about this, you know where to find me,” he breathed on my neck, wrapping his arm around my waist. I hissed at him and he cackled even more. “If you only knew what you were up against, girl.” He shook his head as he abruptly tore himself from me and, shoving his hands carelessly into his pockets, walked back into the house.

“Whatever,” I scoffed after him, glaring into his back as he walked away. I glanced over to Dante and saw him staring back at me. It was a little unnerving, but I forced myself to relax as he walked to me. A car shot out of the driveway and Marcy and her friends were nowhere to be seen.

“Are you okay? Do you feel any burning or tingling sensation anywhere?”

“No, I’m fine. Except my ass hurts.”

“Uh, from what?” I smirked.

“There’s this pain in my ass named Darius.” He laughed lightly, though his expression remained serious. It was an odd way to laugh. “So why did she bite me?”

“You won’t believe me,” he muttered, his lips curving slightly into a smile.

“Oh, I’ve heard that before—from your brother. Please tell me you’re not going to—”

“You didn’t believe him, so you won’t believe me. Look, just don’t sweat it. Just try not to lose too much bodily fluids. It’d end badly,” he warned, voice low. He grinned suddenly. “Well, looks like you’ll be needing something to do, huh?” I smiled sheepishly. “I thought so. Here, you can come watch our rehearsal.”

“Will Lyndell be there?” I couldn’t help asking.

“Yeah, but you should probably steer clear of that minefield. He’s not the guy for an innocent girl like you, Grace. Now come on.” He gently caught my wrist and led me into the house. With lights on, it didn’t seem so hard to find the music room. Dante found it quickly and I found myself stumbling after him as he took these really long strides. Three of my steps were equal to one of his! Maybe the Jameson family was just full of giants or something.

When we walked in I saw Lyndell sitting behind his drums, the brunette still on the Les Paul, two boys with black hair just standing and talking, and a girl with dirty blond hair talking to the boys. She glanced over, still talking with them, and smiled brilliantly when she saw Dante. She came bounding up to us, her curls bouncing all over the place. Her blue eyes shone with happiness as Dante threw his arms around her.

“Oh, Gracie, this is the love of my existence, Cameron.” He had this grin plastered to his face as he looked into her eyes.

“Oh, you’re such a softy,” she giggled, tearing herself from him and interlacing their fingers. “So you’re Gracie, Dray’s girl?”

“I’m not his girl,” I muttered. “I don’t like him one bit.”

“I don’t blame you,” she giggled. “Oh, but those two boys over there are my brothers, Max and Ron. The guy on the Gibson is Dante’s cousin, Troy, and the guy on the drums is a homeless boy with nowhere else to go. We like to call him Lyndell.”

Upon hearing his name, Lyndell’s eyes shot up and when he saw me he smirked and stopped beating on his Pearl Reference drum. He strode up to us with a bounce in his step.

“Hey, Grace,” he greeted me, giving me a quick arm-over-the-shoulder hug. I smiled.

“Wait, you two know each other?”

“Yeah. If Darius hadn’t butted in, she could be carrying my kid right now!” Lynn joked, laughing. I didn’t find it so funny when Dante stared at me through wide eyes and then narrowed them at Lynn.

“Just what did you try on her?” he demanded, poison in his voice.

“What’s the big deal?”

“She’s my brother’s and you’re fooling around with her? He’d kill you if he finds out that she’s his property and you’re trying to bang her!”

“I’m not scared of him,” Lynn scoffed.

“I’m not his property!” I hissed.

“Okay, but my brother tends to be a very possessive person, Gracie. I wouldn’t get on his bad side.”

“I’m done with this,” I growled, storming out of the room and trudging up the stairs. By something short of a miracle, I found Marcy’s room and slammed the door behind me.

I don’t get along so well with control freaks.