Lie In The Grass, Next To The Mausoleum

"Should I wear the pink or the yellow?" Siobhan yelled from her enormous walk-in closet, and I sighed. I had no idea why she was being so fussy about clothes; she usually didn’t care one bit.

"Why do you care so much?" I asked suspiciously, continuing to smear the black eyeliner around my eyes.

"What are you accusing me of?!?!" Siobhan asked shrilly, entering the room with her fists on her hips. I couldn’t help but laugh.

"Guilty conscience much?"
Siobhan glared at me.

"I won’t even dignify that with an answer." She said, marching back out of the room, and I snorted. I put the finishing touches on my makeup as Siobhan changed, straightening my clothes and glancing in the mirror.
I was wearing a pair of bootcut jeans (tight enough to show off my curves but not too tight as to look like I was trying too hard), a black and white striped t-shirt, and a dark green hoodie with "New Trier" written across the chest in block letters.
My eye makeup was smoky, with dark eyeliner and charcoal grey eyeshadow.

"Okay quit staring in the mirror and let’s go." Siobhan barked, reentering the room wearing a denim skirt and a pink polo. She had pulled her hair back into a ponytail and put a little makeup on, but besides that, she looked very natural.
We grabbed our purses and trotted down the stairs, pausing before the door to give eachother a quick once-over.
I was suspicious of Siobhan, who was being strange with all of this worry about her appearance, but was forced to forget my misgiving when I saw Pete standing on the lawn.
He grinned and the butterflies erupted in the pit of my stomach, and suddenly it was hard to walk. Siobhan saved me by linking her arm through mine and practically dragging me across the grass to where the boys stood. Once there, she immediately began chattering away with Casey, which left Pete and I following behind in an awkward silence.
After about 10 seconds, Pete finally spoke.

"You look good." he said, glancing at me and smiling. Little did he know, fireworks were exploding in my chest, but I tried to smile winningly as I looked back at him.

"Thanks, Pete." I said, keeping my voice even. "You do too."
He laughed, brushing my arm with his fingers, and the spot seemed to catch fire. I was finding it a little difficult to breathe.
I mentally shook myself; this was pathetic. I was like a little girl with a crush; completely smitten, and it had to stop. I had my dignity, for Christ’s sake.

"Hey Eve."
It was Pete’s voice, and I returned to reality by turning to look at his face.

"Yeah?" I smiled. I loved it when he said my name.

"I wanted to thank you and Siobhan for making friends with me. It would’ve been hard, cause I’m new and everything." his voice trailed off and he looked at the sidewalk, embarrassed.
I felt the sudden urge to cry at the sweetness of the whole thing but instead smiled, touching Pete’s arm in a friendly way.

"You don’t have to thank us." I said, and he looked at my face, locking hazel eyes with brown. "It was my—our—pleasure."
He grinned and I felt a small loss as I let my hand slide down his arm and to my side, which was quickly replaced as Pete pulled me into a hug.
I wasn’t expecting it, but relished in it all the same as his arms wrapped around my waist and lifted me off the ground, spinning me in a circle.
I could feel his heart beat on my breast, and I couldn’t help but feel safe and warm in his arms. I slid slowly down his chest until my feet touched the sidewalk, looking into his eyes fearlessly now. I could get lost in them.
The hug ended all too quickly and soon, I was back on the cement.
Casey and Siobhan kept shooting us weird little looks and whispering to each other, and Pete and I were both pretending we didn’t notice.
An all-around awkward situation.

After grabbing a bite to eat at Subway, we were all traipsing to the stadium, talking and laughing loudly about school, when Siobhan began complaining that her feet were ‘killing her’. I caught Pete’s eyes and rolled mine, and he tried to hide a grin by coughing, but Siobhan saw it anyway.

"What?! It’s true!" She screeched, and Casey grabbed her arm. She shut her mouth as Casey effortlessly hoisted her onto his back (Siobhan was a petite little thing) and began walking down the sidewalk again. Pete and I exchanged suspicious little looks. Funny, how a week ago Siobhan hated Casey’s guts and now he was giving her a piggy back ride to a football game. Things change.
We got to the school gate and the freshman at the desk raised her eyebrows snottily.

"5 bucks each." she said, and I laughed.

"Are you serious?? Five bucks?? Our team is not worth five bucks."
Pete laughed behind me but Casey smacked my arm.

"Jesus Christ, show some team spirit." he chastised, and then proceeded to flirt shamelessly with the girl until she let us in for free.
Siobhan was peeved.

"Nice, Case." I laughed as we passed the snack bar. ""Are those fake eyelashes?" I don’t think I’ve ever heard that one before."
Casey, who was still carrying a sulking Siobhan, grinned cockily.

"It worked though Al! She lapped it up!" He said, tickling Siobhan’s leg lightly. She giggled and squirmed on his back, and Pete and I looked at one another again.

"I have to pee." Pete said suddenly, looking right at me. I took the hint.

"Me too, I’ll go with you." I said, and before Casey or Siobhan could ask, we bolted.
We turned the corner and I spoke first.

"What is going on with Casey and Siobhan?" I whispered, turning to Pete.

"I don’t know!" He whispered emphatically. "But there’s definitely something up."
I nodded in agreement.

"They seem pretty close. I think they’re into each other. For sure."
He grinned.

"Yeah, I think it’s kinda cute." he admitted, grinning at me, and I laughed.

"Me too. Hey you wanna get a soda or something?" I asked, gesturing toward the empty snack bar. He grinned.

"Sure, ‘cause I don’t actually have to pee. They’ll get suspicious if we come back too fast."
We walked over to the snack bar and ordered two cokes, chatting about music.

"You play guitar?" I asked, surprised, and Pete laughed.

"Why the tone of surprise?" He asked playfully, raising his eyebrow.

"I dunno, you just don’t seem like the musical type!" I said, grinning.
He smiled at me and looked into my eyes; I loved it when he did that.

"I love music. It’s my life."
I smiled at his sincerity.

"Mine too."
He raised his eyebrows.

"Do you play an instrument?" he asked, waving my hand away as I tried to hand the snack bar lady money. Instead, he handed her a five dollar bill and took his change, smiling at me.

"Thanks." I said, smiling back at him. "And yeah, actually. I play the harp, the organ, and the piano. And I sing."
Pete’s grin widened.

"I knew I liked you." He said, winking at me. My heart sped up.

"So just guitar for you?" I asked, trying to change the subject and distract him from my reddening cheeks.

"Acoustic, electric, bass, piano, and a little bit of drums." Pete said offhandedly, spotting Siobhan and Casey having some animated conversation in the bleachers. We began walking up the stairs toward their spot and I raised my eyebrows, impressed.

"Nice! Have you ever played in bands?" I asked, biting my lip when Pete momentarily put his hand on my lower back to steer me to the left. He didn’t seem to notice, but removed his hand after a few seconds and grinned at my question.

"Yeah actually! I’m in four."

"Four?!?" I yelped, wheeling around to face him. He burst out laughing.

"Yeah! The Black Cats, Havoc, Hephaestus, and Pink Slip." He said, counting them off on his fingers. By this time, we had climbed the bleachers and were scooting into the center to sit beside Casey and Siobhan.

"Pink Slip! I’ve heard of them!" I said, recalling some kids at school talking about their EP. Pete beamed.

"Yeah, that’s the most successful band I’m in." he said, and I rolled my eyes as Casey and Siobhan chattered away, not even aware of Pete’s and my presence.

"Didn’t you guys play at The Moon a few weeks back?" I asked, referring to the popular underground music club in Chicago, and Pete nodded proudly.

"Yeah, that was a great show. Great crowd." He said, bending forward to tie his shoe. As he did so, his hoodie rode up and exposed a tattoo of the Earth on his lower back. I choked on my coke a little before regaining my composure as Pete straightened up and smiled at him.

"You okay?" he asked, patting me on the back, and I nodded.

"I’m good. You have a tattoo?"
He smiled a little, touching the place where the ink was.

"Yeah. Not a very good one though, as you probably noticed."
I grinned.

"I’m not an expert or anything, but it looked good to me." I said, shrugging, and he smiled.

"Thanks Evie."

Before our conversation could progress any further, however, the announcer’s voice boomed over the loudspeaker, and the crowd exploded into cheers. The last thing I felt before New Trier’s team ran onto the field was Pete’s hand, moving to rest on my leg.