Wonderwall

Darcy was awake by seven the next morning. By the time John rolled out of bed around ten, she had already showered, dressed, and started unpacking. He would walk by her open door periodically just to check on her and he would always walk away chuckling.

She didn’t even notice him watching as she loudly sang along with her stereo and slowly unpacked her things. She was trying her hardest to distract herself from the millions of memories of why she left Kansas that were starting to surround her. Around lunch time, she gave up on handling things on her own.

John was casually strolling from his room to the living room, carrying his laptop in his hands when the doorbell rang. He furrowed his eyebrows and diverted his course toward the door. He was surprised when he opened the door and found a fidgety guitar player standing on his door step.

“Kenny?” He questioned and Kennedy waved awkwardly. “Dude, what are you doing here?” John opened the door wider and stepped to the side so that Kennedy could walk in.

Kennedy smiled uneasily as he scratched at his tattoo. “Um, Darcy called.”

At the mention of her name, Darcy came down the hallway, her mouth spread out in a wide grin. John raised his eyebrows as she skipped toward them and took Kennedy’s hand in hers. “I’m so glad you came, Kenny. I’m in desperate need of help.” She squeezed his hand and then glanced at the now smirking John O’Callaghan. “You should really be careful, John. That laptop looks like it’s about to slip from your one-handed grip.”

The statement distracted John for two seconds, but that was enough for Darcy to quickly pull Kennedy half way toward her room. “Make sure you leave the door open!” John shouted after the two and then smiled as he continued on his way to the living room.

Darcy’s cheeks burned at her cousin’s comment, but she hid it from Kennedy. Her hand dropped from his the second they entered her room. She went straight to the pile of old magazines she had been looking through when she’d heard the doorbell.

Kennedy stood awkwardly in the middle of the room, scanning the stacks of still unpacked boxes and scratching away at his wrist. He had been completely bewildered when Darcy had called him earlier, but now he was even more confused. He bit his lip as a quiet silence settled between the two.

Darcy had just about forgotten him as she flipped through a 2006 edition of Alternative Press Magazine. This was why when he cleared his throat, she jumped. Her head tilted back as her big green eyes widened and focused on him. He had to swallow hard and tear his gaze away from her before he could string words together.

“So … are you like, moving here or something?” His mouth frowned a little as he stared a little harder at the word ‘RECORDS’ scrawled across one of the boxes. He thought he sounded like an idiot, which was exactly what he was trying not to do.

Darcy smiled a little and shrugged. “Sort of.”

“Well, do you know how long you’re going to be here?” He was curious. Simply curious or so he told himself over and over. Darcy glanced up at him again, but this time her expression was not as sweet. It was a look that made Kennedy wish he’d never asked because he was sure she didn’t want to answer.

“Not exactly. That’s why I packed everything.” She gestured to the boxes and then sighed. There were still plenty she hadn’t even touched yet.

“Cool.” He nodded and took a step closer to one stack. The top of the pile came to just about Kennedy’s height, making it so that the bold letters were right in his face. “What is sir-den?” His nose scrunched up as he tried reading the word off the box, though he was almost positive it was not an actual word.

Darcy looked over and then laughed. Kennedy turned his eyes over to her as the light, happy sound filled the room. He raised his eyebrows and waited patiently until she had contained her giggles enough to explain. “It’s just S-I-R-D-N. Shit I really don’t need.” He made an o with his mouth and turned back to the box. “It’s just a bunch of trinkets and what not. Would you be a doll and stuff that one in the back of my closet?”

Kennedy didn’t even think twice as he grabbed the box. He cared it to the closet and placed it on the top shelf, sliding it all the way to the back corner. When he turned back around, Darcy was grinning widely at him. “Need any more help?” He offered with his own smile attached and she giggled again.

“Pick a box and open it. We’ll work from there.” She placed the magazines she was holding on top of the dresser and then stood up. She was stretching her legs some as she clicked buttons on the stereo and made it so that music was playing through the room again.

Kennedy was in the process of tearing tape off a box when the music started. He straightened up and looked over at Darcy. She was bouncing to the music with a sweet little smirk on her lips. He waited until someone started singing before he opened his mouth again.

“What the hell is this?” His eyebrows were furrowed together and his nose was scrunched up. Darcy giggled again and then searched the small pile of CD’s already unpacked for the album cover she wanted.

“This is The Click Five.” She giggled harder as his expression twisted into even more confusion. “Remember when I told you that you remind me of Eric Dill?”

“Yeah.”

“Well,” she finally found the right cover and picked it up, turning to hand it to him. “This is him.” She bit her bottom lip as he took the small booklet and looked down at it. His eyes raised to her and then dropped to the picture and then raised to her again.

“I remind you of some arrogant prick pop artist who is apparently a Beatles wannabe?” As he looked at the picture in his hands and listened to the song playing, he felt his chest start to get that empty feeling. It wasn’t like he had feelings for Darcy, he hardly knew her. But the fact that she associated him with such a douche-kind of guy, well, that fact hurt his ego and his feelings.

“At certain moments.” She nodded and then turned back to the stereo. “I take it you don’t like him much?”

Kennedy snorted. “I am not a fan of sell-out pop. No.”

Darcy rolled her eyes as she shut the music off. “You know, if it weren’t for pop, your band would not be flourishing like it is. Technically, your band wouldn’t exist at all.”

“How do you figure?” He was intrigued to hear her thoughts as he handed back the album cover. She was smiling again and he couldn’t help but smile back.

“Pop paved the way for your silly little genre where boys were tight pants and have long swishy haircuts.” She giggled as his mouth opened but no words came out. “Besides, everyone needs a little bit of meaningless pop to even out all the shit in real life.” Kennedy watched her hands closely and then smirked.

“You know, I’ve never heard you curse.” He tried to imitate the sign he’d seen her hands make when she said the curse word. Darcy laughed hard again as she watched him and shook her head.

“It’s more like this.” She redid the sign and bit her bottom lip to hide the smile as Kennedy failed at the sign again. “Try moving your hands like this.” Darcy took a step forward and used her own hands to move his in the right position. She smiled wide and then looked up into his hazel eyes.

“This means shit?” He asked and then smiled as she blushed and nodded, dropping her eyes back to their hands.

“It’s the literal translation of poop, but most of the deaf community uses it for the curse word too.” She shrugged and then bit her bottom lip as her eyes darted to his. “I don’t generally curse.”

He smiled softly and made it so that they were holding hands. “You didn’t seem like the type to.” He squeezed her hands but she quickly retracted them. He cleared his throat and looked around as an attempt to push aside the sudden tension that was filling the room. “So, what is it I can do to help again?”

Darcy giggled and pointed toward the box he’d been working on. “It would be really awesome if you could set that up. But if you don’t know how, then please don’t touch it. I cannot afford to replace it again.” She frowned as Kennedy carefully picked her record player out of the box.

“I can’t believe you have a record player.” He chuckled and set it gently on top of a small bookcase. He was aware of her watching his every move, but it only made him smile. He was eternally grateful that his grandfather had taught him all about record players when he was younger.

“I can’t believe you’re not breaking it.” She scrunched her eyebrows together and stood on tip toes to get a better look at what he was doing. He chuckled some more and glanced over his shoulder at her. His charming smile was enough to make her knees weak.

“I’ve had a bit of practice.” He shrugged and she sighed with relief.

“I didn’t peg you as the record type.” She sat back down with her magazines and continued to go through them.

“I’m hard to read sometimes.” He smirked as she arched her eyebrows. Finally she caved and let a small smile slip back onto her lips as she shook her head.

“Okay, Mr. Hard-To-Read. Start unpacking the box that says records onto one of those shelves.” She pointed toward the box he’d noticed earlier and then toward the bookcase again.

“Yes m’am.” He nodded and carefully took the box over to the bookcase. She was watching him again and he could tell even though his back was to her. After a few minutes of complete silence, Kennedy came across a record that made him bite his bottom lip to keep from laughing.

He hunched over the player so that she wouldn’t be able to see what he was doing and, again, skillfully put the record on. Moments later the music was filling the room and both of them were swaying slightly to it without notice.

“I love this one.” Darcy muttered and smiled to herself.

“It’s one of my favorites.” He commented back and then it was quiet again.

The two worked on the room until most of Darcy’s boxes were unpacked. Then it was time for a much needed break. Kennedy led the way to the kitchen, where they found John talking on his phone.

John’s eyes widened as he saw the two coming into the kitchen and he hastily said his goodbye before ending the call. Darcy giggled as she eyed her cousin skeptically. “Let me guess … your mom?”

John glared but then pouted. “She wants us to come over for dinner sometime this week. I told her you were still settling in, but she refuses to take no for an answer.”

“It’s fine. I’d love to see your parents. It’s been too long, really.” Darcy frowned as she hopped onto a counter. Kennedy went to the cupboard and grabbed two glasses out. “You should tell her we’re coming tomorrow night.”

“No can do.” John smirked as he moved out of Kennedy’s way while Kennedy went to the fridge. “Party tomorrow night at Moose’s and you’re coming.”

Darcy had never had a liking for the party scene and she had no clue who ‘Moose’ was. She uneasily adjusted on the counter. “Um .. I—,”

John cut her off. “You’re coming Darc. Don’t even try to protest. Your ass came here to be immature and childish, right?”

Darcy’s eyes darted to Kennedy just as his darted to her. She didn’t exactly want to put everything out there for him to know. “Ye-yeah.”

“Well this is immature and childish, Oh style.” John smirked and winked at her, making her roll her eyes. “Now you can finally live up to the Darcy ohhhhhh name.” He moaned out the ‘oh’ part and she scrunched her nose up.

“You’re such a perv, John.” She pushed his shoulder gently and then turned to gaze to the soda Kennedy was pouring. “I’ll go to the party.” She muttered and then bit her bottom lip.

“You should go with Kenny.” John grinned as he pointed toward his guitarist.

Kennedy’s head jerked up as he turned to look at John. He had silently been half-listening, but he had paid enough attention to know that John had just thrown him into another awkward set up. Kennedy swallowed hard and tried to think of something to say.

“Maybe I am.” Darcy spoke first, surprising all three of them. John stared at her for a moment and then shrugged before he left the kitchen. Darcy frowned and stole a glance at Kennedy before sighing. “Sorry about that.”

“No.” Kennedy shook his head and then braced himself against the counter. “If …” he trailed off and then mentally smacked himself. If he wanted her he was going to have to make some kind of an effort. Kennedy boldly raised his eyes to hers and smiled brightly. “You want to be my date for Moose’s party?”

Darcy giggled and nodded as her cheeks flushed. “I’d love to.”

“Great.” He grinned and felt the high of victory course through his veins.

Darcy held her tongue for two seconds. “Who exactly is Moose?”

Kennedy laughed and handed her one of the glasses. “Moose is his nickname. His real name is Max and he’s a good friend of ours. He tours with the band sometimes and stuff, but he’s mostly known for throwing the craziest parties.”

“Oh, great.” She rolled her eyes and sipped at the Sprite in her glass. “I guess it’s either go big or go home.” She shrugged and hopped off the counter.

“Hopefully it’s not a call-the-cops night.” Her eyes widened as she swirled around to look at him in horror.

“The cops have crashed his party before?” Kennedy gave her a reassuring smile before gently pushing her out of the kitchen. Darcy shook her head and sighed as she wondered what she’d really gotten herself into.