Love Songs (Secret Songbook #1) (8 page)

Couples were pressed into private spaces – like against walls – and passionately making out oblivious to anyone else.

Others rushed through the house, drink in one hand and the alcohol in their veins making the bad decisions for them. It would have been fascinating to watch, if they didn’t keep running into her on the way through.

Kaley found a wall to lean against, more out of the way than her previous watching post. She looked at everyone around her and felt completely cut off from them all.

She didn’t feel like them, she didn’t know how to be like them. She couldn’t just switch off all her sensibilities and inhibitions like they seemed to be able to. She wished she could, it would make being dragged to parties something to look forward to instead of dreading.

She was lost in her thoughts and didn’t see the guy coming toward her. He ran straight into her side. By the time she felt the cold drink running down her top, he was already hurrying away again without even muttering an apology.
Yep, completely invisible
, Kaley thought to herself.

She could smell the beer, it had soaked right through into her bra. She went looking for a bathroom to try and at least mop some of it up. She didn’t particularly want to go home reeking of alcohol. She hadn’t done it before, who knew how her parents would react.

The bathroom was upstairs, Kaley had to open four doors to find it. Behind each door held a horrible surprise behind it, like it was a terrifying game show. Couples were making out, groups of people were smoking something interesting smelling, and behind one there was a handful of people doing god knows what.

Finding the bathroom was a huge relief, Kaley was just about to give up and go outside to use the hose.

She stepped inside and locked the door, not wanting anyone to walk in on her unexpectedly. She wasn’t exactly overindulged in the chest region, but it wasn’t like she wanted anyone to get a free show.

She took off her top and dabbed at it with tissues. It only seemed to make the stain even worse. She went searching through the cupboards for something that might help and found a hairdryer. It would probably take forever, but it would eventually dry the beer and water mixture. She plugged it in and waved the hot air over her top.

There was a constant stream of knocking on the door. At times it was accompanied by a yell to hurry up too. Kaley waved the hairdryer quicker, wishing it would work faster.

When her top was half-way dry, she decided it would have to do. At least her bra was kind of dry, it was bearable anyway. She slipped the top back on and left, trying to ignore the looks from the queue waiting outside.

The thought of rejoining the party was too much. She was tired and the crowds were starting to really annoy her. She considered her options.

Mr. Monroe said he would be back to pick them up at midnight, that was still an hour away. She could call her parents but that would mean she had to tell them where she was. Her other option was to walk home but that wouldn’t be the safest choice. Mother Barbie would probably be angrier if she walked than had to come pick her up.

Needing to get some fresh air, Kaley left through the front door. She needed to speak with Harper before she decided what to do so she sat on the porch steps and started texting. She asked Harper to come outside for a minute. She sent it but didn’t expect a fast response, she doubted whether Harper would be able to hear the message alert in all the noise.

It wasn’t too bad sitting on the porch steps. She had closed the door behind her so the music was just a background din. All the people that had spilled onto the lawn when they first arrived had disappeared.

The stars in the sky were bright and twinkling and it was still quite warm. She leaned against the post and waited, thinking she could probably sit there for an hour until Mr. Monroe arrived to take them home.

The door opened behind her, sending a wave of music her way. She didn’t turn to see who it was, silently hoping it was Harper. She felt someone sit on the other side of the porch steps, but they didn’t speak. She assumed it must be Harper, probably a bit out of it from the heat and drink inside.

“I didn’t think you’d get my message so quickly,” Kaley said, expecting to hear something slurred in response.

“What message?”

Kaley turned quickly, the voice hadn’t belonged to her best friend. It was male and definitely one she recognized as belonging to Eli. She could feel her face blush, thankful for the darkness of the porch.

“I, uh, thought you were someone else.”

“Sorry to disappoint you.”

“No, you didn’t. It’s okay.” She was stumbling over her words, she scolded herself for it. She should be making a good impression, trying to be witty and intelligent, not a babbling fool.

Eli laughed, his cute little laugh – the one that made her stomach flip out with a thousand butterflies. She stole a glance at him, his face was illuminated by the moonlight. His eyes still sparkled even in the dimness and his smile was bright enough to light a million candles.

He was gorgeous, rock star gorgeous.

No, that wasn’t even it. He looked like the product of a supermodel mother and an underwear model father.

“Great party in there,” Eli commented, looking out toward the street.

“Yeah,” Kaley lied, trying to keep the sarcasm out of her voice. Perhaps if she had known Eli was in there, she would have tried harder to have a good time. “It was a great game tonight. Congratulations on the win.”

“Thanks, but it was a team effort. I can’t take all the glory.”

“I have no idea what the rules in football are, but it looked like you were doing pretty well.”

Eli turned and smiled at her. “You don’t know how football works?” She shook her head. “I’ll have to show you some time.”

Kaley looked away, wondering if she had heard right. It was probably just something he said, he didn’t really mean it. He probably told every clueless girl he would show them sometime. Right?

She needed something to say to fill the silence. Something non-committal but affirmative just in case he was serious.

“Sure.” It sounded casual enough, she was proud of herself.

“I was looking for you earlier,” Eli started, going back to staring at the street. “I saw you when you arrived and then you disappeared.”

Her heart started beating too fast in her chest, she was either going to have a heart attack and die right then and there, or she was going to pass out.

She started questioning whether he knew who he was talking to. It
was
dark on the porch, perhaps he had confused her with someone else. Someone more appropriate for his attention. Someone like Abigail. She needed to stay calm until he worked it out and made a quick exit.

“Someone spilled beer on my top, I had to clean it off.” The truth, that would work.

“You did a good job. You can hardly tell.”

“Well, it
is
pretty dark out here.”

He laughed again, not the same hearty laugh she had heard from across the classroom, but a nervous, quick chuckle. “I guess it is.”

Silence descended on them like the plague. Kaley grappled to try and find something to say that would fill it but everything she thought of sounded lame.

Eli didn’t appear to be making any type of move to go, nor even wanting to. If it was such a great party, why was he out on the porch talking with her? She knew what she wanted to say – that he should ditch Abigail because she didn’t love him the way he deserved – but she couldn’t. Even if she could get her mouth to cooperate, her brain wouldn’t let her. That was probably a good thing.

Eventually, after what seemed like ages, Eli spoke to break the silence. “So I’m sorry I bumped into you the other day. I hope I didn’t make you too late for class.”

“No, it was probably my fault.” So he
did
realize who he was speaking to. He knew he was talking with Kaley Thorne and he actually remembered her. In that moment, she truly believed in miracles.

“That’s nice of you to say, but I take full responsibility. I think I need to make it up to you.”

Kaley couldn’t think of anything to say to that. If he wanted to make it up to her, then she wasn’t going to stop him. She stayed quiet, hoping he would continue.

“Do you think I could take you out? You know, to make up for it?” He kept looking at the road, not taking his eyes off it. Kaley was glad, she didn’t want him to see the smile she was trying so hard to suppress. She took a few quick breaths, trying to make sure her voice would be casual when she spoke.

“I guess that would be okay.”

Eli finally turned to look at her, except he wasn’t suppressing the smile on
his
face. “Great, can I have your number so I can give you a call? You know, when there is less crazy stuff going on.”

He pulled out his cell phone and entered her number as she said the digits. She had to try hard to remember what they were, they had suddenly completely disappeared from her head.

The door opened behind them, Kaley silently cursed whoever it was that was interrupting them. The person just stood there, refusing to come any closer. Kaley turned, it was Harper. Okay, it probably wasn’t her fault for interrupting them, she
had
texted her asking for her presence on the porch.

Eli stood to leave. “I’ll talk to you later.”

“Yeah, later.”

They waited for Eli to disappear inside the house and close the door. It took that amount of time for them both to compose themselves. Harper hurried over and sat on the step right beside her.

“What just happened?” Harper demanded. “Did what I think just happen, really happen?”

“If you think Eli just asked me out, then yes, that just happened.” Suddenly Kaley felt like a six year old having her first crush. But she couldn’t stop herself.

“Oh my God.”

“I know.”

They sat in silence taking in the awesomeness of the situation. Then Harper said the one thing that would be sure to bring them down.

“What about Abigail?”

She hadn’t crossed Kaley’s mind. However, she recalled the football game and the argument she had witnessed. Her heart sunk, she hoped she wasn’t being used as payback against Abigail for some reason. Surely Eli wouldn’t be so cruel.

“I don’t know about Abigail, he didn’t mention her. They had a fight at the game tonight, maybe they’ve broken up for good?”

“That’s probably it.” Always a true friend, Harper was on her side no matter what she was really thinking. “So why did you want me to meet you out here anyway?”

“I was going to go home.”

“My dad will be here in, like, ten minutes.”

“Have you had enough of the party?” Kaley hadn’t realized how long she had been sitting there.

“It’s hot inside. I think I’m happy to wait out here.” She settled onto the post, making herself comfortable. “What’s that smell?”

“Beer. Someone spilled it all over me. Is it that noticeable?”

“Swap tops with me.”

“What?”

“My dad told me it was okay to have a drink as long as he didn’t pick me up drunk. Your parents don’t even know you’re here. Swap tops with me so they never have to know,” Harper explained, already tugging at her own shirt.

“We can’t take our tops off out here. Someone might see.” Kaley was panicking. Sure, it was dark-
ish
on the porch, but it was still light enough for someone to see glimpses.

“Lighten up, there’s no-one around.”

Without hearing any further protests, Harper’s top was off and being held out for Kaley to take. As quick as possible, she took her own off and accepted it. She slipped it on, praying nobody was around to watch.

“Thanks, Harper.”

“No problem. I don’t want you to get grounded, not when you have a date with Eli.”

Kaley smiled at hearing the words. She had a date with Eli. She, Kaley Thorne, had a date with Eli Stone. She wondered whether she was having some strange dream in an alternate reality. That kind of thing didn’t happen to her. The star player of the football team didn’t even exist in the invisible world of Kaley. Perhaps she was having an out of body experience.

Mr. Monroe pulled up at the curb and beeped his horn but didn’t get out to go looking for his daughter. They walked from the porch and climbed in, grateful to see him after the long night.

“You girls have fun?” he asked as he pulled away. “Did anyone do drugs?”

“No, Dad, nobody did any drugs. We just danced, that’s all.”

“Good, drugs will mess you up.”

Harper rolled her eyes behind her father’s back. It made Kaley giggle. She liked the way Mr. Monroe always gave them warnings about things. He did it all the time. Once, when he had dropped them off at the food court, he had warned them not to eat at McDonald’s because he heard a woman found a plaster in her meat patty. He was always good for sage advice like that, whether you wanted it or not.

By the time Kaley was dropped home, she felt like a zombie. She let herself in, praying her parents would be in bed by now. However, the light in the living room glowed through the window – not a good sign. She stepped inside, so grateful Harper had the sense to switch tops with her.