Love Storm (22 page)

We conversed lightly over scrambled eggs and toast, and I was out the door within twenty minutes. I breathed in the sharp winter air as I unlocked the door to my Nissan, enjoying the cleanliness and crispness of it.

Once I got to school, I sat in my car for a while, looking at Branner High and observing all the people trickling in. I used to be one of those people – not necessarily a jock, or a nerd, or a skater punk, or a band geek, or a community service golden boy, but perhaps a mixture of all of them. I was a little piece of everyone; I had pretended to give a small portion of myself to all, which was the reason everybody knew who I was. I was tired of pretending. God, so tired. I wanted to find someone I could really connect with, I wanted it so badly. The only problem was, I knew that if I ever did find that someone, I'd have to put aside my fear of being betrayed again first. And that was hard.

As I sat in my car, I did a quick mental check-list – what did I have to accomplish today?

1.) Get through the day alive. Easier said than done.
2.) Keep away from the Mother and Father. Hmm, simple, that one. I was the master of avoidance when the occasion called for it.
3.) …3…uh…wait. I was forgetting something here.

Oh. The memory of yesterday came flooding back painfully. Right. Winter. What to do, what to do? I realized that I had pretty much kicked her out of my house without a ride home last night. Damn….not good.

After a few minutes of contemplation I decided the best plan of action would be to apologize to Winter the first chance I got, then give her some breathing room and time to mull over my apology. I ignored the nagging voice in my head that asked me why I cared so much when, if this had happened in the past, I would have simply chosen to just let it go.

I got my opportunity half-way through the morning – I spotted Winter at brunch, and waited patiently for her to finish a short conversation with someone. I noted that it was a
male
someone, and wondered who it was. He said something that made her laugh, and instantly something gave a mini-explosion in my stomach. That was a smile I wanted her to reserve for
me
, and no one else.

I marched over and cut in smoothly. "Hey Winter, sorry to interrupt. Can I talk to you for a quick sec?"

She whirled around, and seemed surprised to see me there. "Hi Zack," she said, and I got that tiny trip in my heart that happened every time she said my name. "Hold on just a moment. Oh, yeah, have you two met? Zack, this is Martin. Martin, Zack."

I sized him up – he was taller than me by about an inch and a half. Argh, he could beat me up easily. He looked like a football player.

Martin (what a
weird
name, I thought to myself with a private smirk) nodded at me. "So you're Zack, huh?" he asked a little less than pleasantly.

My jaw tightened. "Yeah. Got a problem with that?"

"Zack!" Winter said, frowning at me.

"No," Martin replied tersely. A blatant lie. He turned to Winter. "I've gotta run, babe –" What the – ?!
Babe?
"– but I'll see you later. Call me?"

"Yeah, I will," Winter said, glaring at me. "Bye Martin."

He left, pushing into my shoulder roughly and muttering under his breath so only I could hear, "Watch it, Crowne."

I growled after him and looked back at Winter. "Who's
he
?" I whispered fiercely.

"He's Martin! God, are you paying attention or not? I swear you have ADD or something Zack," she said, exasperated, with more than a bit of irritation.

"No, who
is
he?" I asked, frustrated. "How come you never told me about him?"

Winter looked at me, her mouth slightly open. "What, I have to tell you about
everything
that's going on in my life?" she demanded incredulously.

I drew in a breath. "Okay, that didn't come out the way I wanted it to," I muttered. "Let me try again. What I meant was – who is he to
you
?"

She furrowed her brow. "He's…my friend," she said slowly, looking at me like I was pulling her leg and that any moment some person would jump out from the classroom behind us and shout "Hey! You're on Candid Camera!"

"What's up with him calling you 'babe' then?" I asked, still not convinced.

She shrugged. "That's just Martin," was all she said in explanation. "Great job in jumping all over his back," she said crossly.

I gaped at her. "What
is
this?" I asked the ceiling in disbelief. I returned my gaze to her. "Apparently, you weren't paying attention when we were introduced. In case you missed it, he was the one who started it," I scowled, knowing I sounded a tad bit childish but not really caring.

Winter let out a frustrated, strangled, muffled scream into her hands, and turned around for a moment to compose herself.

"Okay," she said when she turned back around, her face slightly flushed and a dangerous spark still in her eye. Her voice was deceptively calm. "What was it that you wanted to say before I interrupted you with that introduction?"

"I – nothing," I said, surprising even myself. "Nothing at all. Nothing important. It's all good, you know. I wanted to apologize for yesterday, but I guess it's too much for a guy to ask for just a second to apologize for something without having someone jump down his throat. You know what," I said, "Forget it. I'll see you later."

I stalked away (not stormed; that would have definitely been crossing into childish areas, and besides, Zackary Crowne does not
storm
, he stalks), regretting a little that it hadn't gone the way I had wanted it to, and that Winter didn't seem to have wanted to give me a chance. The rest of the day passed uneventfully; I saw neither Winter nor Martin again, which made me both relieved and a little peeved – I wanted to see Winter again, but didn't know if I'd have the wits to apologize, and I wanted to meet Martin again to punch his lights out, but knew he could probably beat me to a pulp easily.

The second I pulled into my house's driveway, I noticed that my parents' car wasn't in. They were probably out shopping or whatnot. So I went inside and did the only the thing I could – I opened up my grand piano, adjusted the bench, sat down, and played.

I hadn't played in three or four years or so. Since my parents had stopped making me take lessons when I was in middle school, I had given it up. My piano was still in tune though – Victoria made a point of having it tuned every year. I was surprised at how easily it came back to me. I had studied with a Japanese lady, and I realized that I missed it more than I had thought. Piano had been fun, when I had taken it. The other instruments weren't as interesting, but with piano… there was something about it that always caught my attention. There was a feeling of infinite possibilities that came with the instrument.

I don't know how long I sat there, just playing whatever came to mind – I found that in particular a lot of Chopin's stuff came back to me that afternoon. A nocturne here, a waltz there, even a polonaise or two. I was halfway through his soulful Nocturne in c# minor when I felt someone slide onto the bench next to me.

It was Winter. She studied my hands as I finished up the piece, occasionally glancing at my face to see my expression. When I finished I turned to her, opening my mouth to apologize, but she brought a finger up to my lips, shushing me.

"I'm sorry," she said, her touch on my lips sending a raw shiver through my body. I closed for eyes for a second and had to remind myself to breathe. "You were trying to apologize. And you were right – I completely jumped down your throat for no apparent reason. I'm sorry. It wasn't fair of me." She removed her finger and instantly I missed her touch. I grabbed her hand and brushed my lips over the back of it gently, my gaze never leaving her dark chocolate eyes. Only she would come all the way out here to apologize for something that she didn't need to be sorry for.

"I'm sorry too," I whispered in her ear, snaking my right arm around her waist and enjoying her closeness. She didn't pull away.

I continued to play, just with my left hand, and she continued to watch me.

"Everything's so simple when I play," I found myself telling her quietly. "It's so easy. It's just me and the piano. Just me and notes, the rhythm, the sound, the feeling of the keys underneath my fingertips." I shrugged, playing a scale run. "See? It's not that hard. I don't even have to think. It's like whatever I want to create, I can do it here. I don't have to worry about anything else because it's irrelevant. If I want to play loud, I can play loud; if I want to play quietly, I can play quietly. Fast, slow…short, long…smooth, rough; I have control over all of it, and it's so simple. I feel like…I could almost lose myself in it," I said, tightening my hold on her waist when she rested her head on my shoulder. Without thinking the fingers of my right hand played with a belt loop of her jeans.

Winter nodded against my shoulder, and murmured, "I always knew you were a musician, deep down."

"How?" I asked her, smiling slightly.

"It's…" she glanced up at me without lifting her head. "…in your eyes. It only makes sense that you would be so musically inclined," she said. "It's one of those rules of nature, I think."

I chuckled a little, then finished the little melody I was picking out and closed the keyboard lid one-handed. I didn't want to move my other arm from where it was.

"How'd you get here?" I asked as we sat there, neither of us willing to move first.

"I drove," she said simply.

"What?" I said sharply, turning to her. Winter grinned up at my lazily.

"Don't look so surprised," she said. "I just borrowed my dad's car for a quick moment. What the cops don't know can't hurt 'em. Or me, for that matter."

I shook my head disbelievingly. "I can't believe you," I said. "What if you'd gotten in an accident or something? You'd probably hate me."

"Why?" she asked curiously.

"Because you would have driven out here just to apologize to me, of all people. What a stupid reason to get in an accident."

She laughed, and turned her head into my shirt to muffle her giggles.

"What?" I asked, pretending to get all defensive. "Hey, stop it, you're bruising my ego here,
principessa
."

That made her smile. "Good. It's too inflated anyway."

"Ooh," I winced, clutching at my chest. "Straight to the heart. That was cruel."

"You're a big softy, you know that?" Winter teased me.

"I know," I smirked. "But you love me for it."

She laughed. "You are still quite arrogant, you know that?"

I shrugged, grinning.

"Some things will never change, I guess," she said, smiling.

Chapter 18: Pandemonium

Winter

"Some things will never change, I guess," I smiled.

Zack's hand was at my waist, and he was unconsciously playing with a belt loop on my jeans. Somehow, today I was hypersensitive to his touch, and it was all I could concentrate on. He kept twisting the thin strip of denim around his finger, then releasing it, twisting and letting go. The first time he slipped two fingers into the loop and rubbed the rough material of my jeans in that spot, I jumped a little (but not away from him) and my head snapped up from its spot on his shoulder. Our bodies ended up closer together.

He looked at me, his golden eyes surprised. "What?" he said.

"Nothing," I said, because somehow I didn't want him to stop. A few seconds later he began fiddling with it again.

"Oh," he said with a start, laughing. "I'm sorry. I wasn't even aware that I was doing it. Am I making you uncomfortable?"

"No," I said, shaking my head and resting it back on his shoulder. "You never do." It slipped out of my mouth so easily and when I heard myself verbalize it I knew it was true. He made me nervous sometimes, but never to the point that I was uncomfortable being in his presence.

Suddenly, my cell phone vibrated in my pocket, making me jump again. I gave Zack an apologetic half-shrug when he looked at me curiously, my eyes automatically glancing at the caller ID.

It was Eva.

I blinked uncomprehendingly at my cell phone's little screen, then answered mechanically. "Uh…hello?"

"Winter – oh, my god, I'm so glad you answered – I have something important to tell you –" She was very nearly hysterical, which was highly alarming – of all the people I knew, Eva was one of the most level-headed.

"Woah, slow down, Eva," I said, becoming distressed just hearing the desperation in her voice. Apparently she had temporarily forgotten about our little fight, but at the moment, I wasn't thinking too hard about it either.

"It's – terrible, and it's not fair –
how
can he do this to us?" Her words tumbled out, tripping over themselves, and panic rose in me – what could have possibly happened to make Eva this hysterical?

O-okay, this is not good – hysteria is not something I have a PhD in. Temporarily out of control Eva on the line.

"Eva!" I said firmly but gently. "You need to
slow down
, hun, I can't understand what –"