The Girl in the Love Song (Lost Boys #1)(3)

“It’s usually a last name.”

“Violet is usually a color.”

“It’s still a name.”

Now that we weren’t whispering, I noticed Miller’s voice had pretty much already changed. Deepening but without that squeak to it, like poor Benji Pelcher, who sounded like he took hits off helium balloons. Miller had a nice voice. Low and kind of scratchy.

“Well?” Miller asked. “What do you want?”

I cocked my head at him. “You’re awfully grouchy.”

“Maybe I have a reason to be.”

“Which is…?”

“None of your business.” He glanced around at the darkened forest behind him. “I should get back.”

He said it with a kind of sadness. The giving-up kind. Like he would rather do anything than go back.

So don’t let him go.

I softened my tone. “Can you at least tell me what you’re doing out here?”

“I told you. Taking a walk.”

“In a dark forest at night? Do you live nearby? I’ve never seen you before.”

“We just moved. Me and my mom.”

“Cool. Then we’re neighbors.”

Miller jerked his chin at my house. “I don’t live in a house like that.”

The bitterness in his voice was so strong, I could practically taste it.

“Won’t your mom worry you’re out here?”

“She’s at work.”

“Oh.”

I didn’t know any parents who worked at night in my neighborhood, unless they were in tech like my dad. He spent late hours at his computer, but I doubted that Miller’s mom was working late at InoDyne or one of the other big places near the university.

Most tech kids could afford shoelaces.

A silence fell, and Miller kicked at the dirt with his boot, hands still jammed in his jacket pockets, eyes on the ground, as if waiting for something to happen next. Frogs chirped, and the forest breathed behind him.

“So, you’re new here?”

He nodded.

“I go to Coastline Middle.”

“I’ll go there too.”

“Cool. Maybe we’ll have some of the same classes.”

Maybe we can be friends.

“Maybe.” He glanced up at my house, a longing expression on his face.

“Why do you keep staring at my house?”

“I’m not. It’s just…big.”

“It’s all right.” I slumped down against the wall like he had earlier.

He smirked and sat beside me. “What’s wrong with it? Not enough butlers?”

“Ha ha. The house is fine. It was perfect, actually.”

“And now it’s not?”

“My parents aren’t happy lately.”

“Whose are?” Miller tossed a pebble into the dark.

“Yeah, but I mean, they’re a lot unhappy. Like screaming matches and throwing things…never mind.” My cheeks burned. Why did I say that?

But Miller’s eyes widened in alarm. “They throw things? At you?”

“No, it was just the one time,” I said quickly. “Maybe twice but that’s it. No big deal.” I cleared my throat. “All parents fight, right?”

“I wouldn’t know. My dad died a few months ago,” he said, looking away. “Just me and Mom now.”

“Oh my God, I’m so sorry,” I said softly. “That’s got to be hard.”

“What do you know about it?” Miller asked with sudden tightness in his voice. “At least you can live here. At least if your parents start shouting, you probably have a big cushy room to hide out in, instead of…”

“Instead of what?”

“Nothing.”

Another silence fell. Miller’s stomach growled, and he quickly tried to cover up the sound by scuffing his boots. He started to rise. “I gotta go.”

But I didn’t want him to go.

“Today is my birthday,” I said.

Miller froze and then sat back down. “Yeah?”

“Yeah. I’m thirteen. You?”

“Fourteen in January. You had a big party, I suppose.”

“No. My friend Shiloh and I saw a movie and then my parents bought me a cake. I only ate one piece, and I don’t think Mom and Dad had any. There’s a lot left. Do you want some?”

Miller’s narrow shoulders rose and fell.

“It’s going to go to waste if we don’t eat it,” I said. “And there’s nothing sadder than a birthday cake with only one piece cut out.”

“I can think of a hundred things sadder,” Miller said. “But yeah, I could eat some cake.”

“Great.” I got to my feet and swiped dirt off my butt. “Let’s go”

“Into your house? What about your parents?”

“It’s safe in my room. Dad sleeps in the den now. Mom will be in her room, but she never checks on me. Like, ever.”

Miller frowned. “You’re gonna let me hang out in your bedroom?”

I started to climb back up the trellis. “Yes. I never do anything I’m not supposed to, but today’s my birthday and they screamed at each other on my birthday, so here we are.” I peered over my shoulder down to him. “Are you coming or not?”