The Songs in Our Hearts: A Young Adult Romance(6)

“I’ve been going to the same youth group as her for a long time now,” David replied softly as he glanced down at his camera. I could see he was pretending to have more interest in the photos he had taken than in the conversation. “I just got to know her on a new level. She’s pretty great, actually.” So, David liked my best friend, Rachel. I never would have guessed!

“Maybe you can help David out,” Ben said to me. “Who knows Rachel better than you, right?”

“I…I don’t know,” I replied, a bit uneasy. I liked David. But did I really need to be involved in helping him ask Rachel to Homecoming?

“I don’t need your help, Charlie,” David said quickly. “I’d rather ask her myself.”

I watched David a bit longer, wondering if I could really see him and her together. Rachel never mentioned getting to know David at a youth group. I didn’t even know David went to youth group. I wasn’t sure if I could even ask her about him; it seemed like something that should be between the two of them.

“It would be a miracle for any girl to take either one of you seriously,” Josh retorted as he looked between his two friends, Ben and J. “You guys are nuts.”

Ben grinned and started to walk backward, keeping his gaze locked on Josh.

“You’d be surprised, man. Girls dig my sense of adventure.”

I couldn’t help but snort. Ben’s ‘sense of adventure’ could be easily summarized into riding around in a shopping cart and jumping onto a pile of snow in a grocery store parking lot. David, too, rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to another photo shot.

“You keep telling yourself that.” J slapped Ben’s shoulder. “Girls can’t resist my charm.”

“Whatever,” Ben mumbled and shoved J toward the creek bed. J glared at him and pulled Ben’s shirt, jostling him toward the stream. Josh tugged me out of the way, helping to avoid being trampled over as they shoved each other into the water.

Boys.





MY ROOM WAS ILLUMINATED AS my phone buzzed to life. Half-asleep, I turned to glance at my nightstand where my phone was charging. A text. I pushed myself up onto my elbow and reached for my phone. Who was texting me this late? I glanced at the clock as I swiped my finger across the touch screen. It was 11:30 P.M. Usually, I was sound asleep by now.





MICAH: R U Awake?





I was surprised to see Micah’s name appear. Why was he texting me? I leaned my back against the wall on the side of my bed, and contemplated texting him back. What did he want? What was I going to say? I could always play it off and claim I hadn’t seen his message until the morning.





MICAH: U must be. The text window says U just read mine.





Ugh. Why did I have those “read receipts” still turned on? I had no choice at that point but to reply.





CHARLIE: Yeah, I’m awake.



CHARLIE: What’s the matter?



MICAH: Can’t a guy just text a girl?



MICAH: I can’t sleep.



CHARLIE: Oh. Sorry.



MICAH: What did u do 2night?



CHARLIE: I hung out with my brother and his friends.



MICAH: Cool.



MICAH: I didn’t know u had a brother.



CHARLIE: We keep him locked up in the basement.



CHARLIE: When he’s lucky, we give him bread and broth. You know, the basics.



MICAH: HA!



CHARLIE: He’s a senior, so he doesn’t really associate with me at school.



MICAH: Gotcha.





I glanced at the time again, fighting back a yawn. 11:45 P.M.





CHARLIE: Look, it’s late and we have school in the morning.



MICAH: Live a little?



CHARLIE: I take bedtime pretty seriously.



MICAH: A bit too seriously if u ask me.



CHARLIE: I wasn’t asking you.



MICAH: Harsh!



CHARLIE: Goodnight, Micah.



MICAH: Night.





I set my phone back on the nightstand. This was weird. A little too weird, honestly. Was Micah expecting something from me? I lay back down and sank into the blankets. Was this the start of friendship? Pulling the blanket up over my head, I squeezed my eyes shut and forced myself to stop thinking about him, and to just go to sleep.





“Oh No!”

Marina and the Diamonds





THE MORNINGS WERE JUST STARTING to feel chilly, which meant fall, my favorite season, was arriving. I was all for pumpkin spice lattes and pumpkin spice cookies, cozy sweaters, warm scarves, and most importantly, the stunning colors of dying leaves. Our little town, Grand Lakes, was known for its picturesque scenery in the autumn. The mountains alone were breathtaking.

My maroon sweater provided me some warmth against the chill as I waited at the bus stop. The sun had just begun to rise, majestic against the soft music of “Kingdom Come” by Coldplay coming from my iPhone. I watched Josh jump into the family Jeep and wave at me with a smirk.