Sound Bites: A Rock & Roll Love Story (27 page)

“I have a bladder infection,” I blurted out, which was half the truth. “And I’m… not supposed to drink while I’m on antibiotics.”

I had no idea where that genius revelation came from, but I was always a better liar on cue. Organized lies had a tendency to include too many unnecessary details.

My glory didn’t last long, as Dylan’s expression was so genuinely concerned that I immediately wanted to kick myself and fess up so I didn’t have to look at it anymore. But I kept reminding myself that I was doing this for him. For us. It was our
night
damn it. I wanted at least one of us to be able to enjoy it.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” he asked, looking at me like I was some sort of fragile baby bird. “If I knew that you didn’t feel well, we could’ve just stayed in tonight.”

“No,” I argued. “It’s not that bad, really.”

He grinned at me devilishly. “Good, because I’m making a quick stop on the way home. I have a surprise for you.”

Not as big of a surprise as I have for you, I thought.

***

Dylan refused to tell me where we were going, despite
my repeated pleas
. Typically, I’d annoy the
hell
out of people who were withholding information until they finally gave in and spilled the beans, but with Dylan it was no dice. All I knew was that we were headed south.

My heart did a backwards somersault when he pulled off the exit for Plymouth center. He was taking me to his mother’s house? On our
date
? That was a bad move for two reasons: a.) It was extremely unromantic to spend
a date
with your boyfriend’s mother and b.) The last thing I wanted to do was pretend everything was fine in front of Terry. She was a mother. Mothers always know. She’d take one look at me and see the word “pregnant” scrolling across my forehead marquee.

I shot him a skeptical look. “We’re going to your mother’s house?” I asked, not meaning to sound nearly as unenthused as I did.

“No, we’re not going to my mother’s house,” Dylan said, looking at me like I had a mental deficiency. “Wh
y on earth would you think that
?”

Because I’m pregnant, I thought. Pregnant people are irrational!

Dylan pulled into a parking lot right on the Plymouth waterfront and shifted the car into park. I recognized the jetty immediately. I wasn’t sure what his big plan was, but I followed him after he stepped out of the car and started walking towards the water.

The cool ocean breeze made the air feel as though the temperature had suddenly dropped twenty degrees. Every time the wind shook, it felt like a thousand ice cubes s
licing
through my skin. I crossed my arms and fought back the urge to whine about it like I normally did, but then Dylan glanced back at me and tossed me a sweatshirt. Bastard.  I hadn’t even seen him grab one out of his car. He knew me better than I knew myself sometimes.

I followed him in silence as we walked closer towards the water, wondering what his ulterior motive was. Maybe he thought it would be romantic to take a walk by the waterfront? Maybe he had a specific place in mind? I gave up asking him since I knew he wouldn’t answer me anyway.

“Romantic walk on the jetty?” I guessed.

He nodded and said nothing, so I hopped up onto the rocks behind him and we continued to walk in silence. For the first time that night, I noticed that Dylan was acting a little peculiar as well. I had been so busy trying to cover up my odd behavior with normality that I hadn’t even noticed that he seemed a little bit on edge. But whatever his reason, I could almost guarantee that it wasn’t anything that came nearly as close to the s
hocker I was about to lay down
.

When we came to the wooden bridge, Dylan stopped abruptly, gazing out at the flashing lighthouse in the distance. As I studied him, I felt an all-too-familiar scenario replay itself in my head. I’d seen that look on his face before. He was acting the same way he did the night that I came back to the hotel after my evening adventure with Walter. I came to the realization that Dylan wasn’t acting strange or peculiar.

He was nervous.

He stared down at his hands for a long time in silence. Several times he started to speak, but nothing came out. It was as if he had rehearsed what he was going to say and forgot the lines.

“When you and I were apart for those few weeks,” he said, “I came here practically every night to think about what to do.”

I reflected back on the night I’d found him here, cold and lifeless, his back growing smaller in the distance as he walked out of my life.

“Come up with any good conclusions?” I asked, trying to force the depressing memories out of my head.

“I did actually,” he replied, staring out into the water. I followed his gaze and saw a large boat in the distance with three horizontal rows of lights. When I looked back at Dylan, our eyes met.

“And what’s that?” I asked.

He smiled. “Well, I came to the conclusion that I didn’t want to be without you. Ever. I know I freaked out at the thought of you with someone else and I shouldn’t have run out, but it just… it just made me crazy.” His expression darkened and the nervousness reappeared. “I had never felt that way about anyone in my life and it scared the shit out of me. But no matter where I went, no matter how hard I tried to get away from you, you were always there.” He laughed. A nervous laugh.

I wondered if now would be a good time to tell him the news, considering we were having a heart to heart conversation, but I didn’t want ruin the moment. Here he was pouring his soul out to me and I was about to ruin it by telling him he was going to be changing diapers by this time next year.

“Renee, that was the worst time in my entire life,” he said with a grieving tone.

“Mine, too.”

He shifted his weight so that his entire body was facing me. “Was it, though?” he asked. “Because honestly, I don’t ever want to feel like that again, and I need to know…”

“Is that a serious question?” I interrupted. “Of course it was. Those were the worst few weeks of my life. I didn’t even feel like a human anymore. I was… empty.” All this depressing talk was starting to damper my mood, and I still wasn’t sure what he was getting at.

Dylan exhaled loudly. “Good because we’ve come so far and been through a lot and I don’t know where I’d be without you. Whatever happens in my life, with the band and everything else, I just want you
to be there. I don’t give a damn
what happens as long as you’re there with me.”

I glanced over at the boat in the distance, wondering if I should tell him. Now was the perfect time. I could get him during an emotional moment and then he couldn’t be upset. Right?

Or what if I ruined our entire perfect evening by telling him? Maybe I should wait until tomorrow. Yes, that’s what I’ll do. I’ll wait until tomorrow.

When my gaze finally shifted from the boat back to Dylan, I noticed that he was shaking a little. Unless he had suddenly developed hypothermia, something was definitely wrong.

“Dylan, what’s…” My voice trailed off as I looked down and saw that he was holding a little tiny diamond ring on his pinky. I leapt backward as soon as I saw it,
like
it was going to leap off his body and bite me.

My mouth dropped open and I stared at him in shock, speechless. What a dumbass I was! Here I was freaking out about how to break the news to hi
m that I’m pregnant and the poor
kid was having his own mini-heart attack about proposing!

A slow smirk crept across his face as he took hold of my left hand. “Listen, I’m not going to do anything cheesy like getting down on my knees because I think ordinary traditions are overrated, but…” He lowered his head and let out another long sigh. “What do you say?”

I burst out laughing at both his proposal approach and the bizarreness of the circumstance. I didn’t even have to think twice. This was it. I had to tell him.

“Under one condition,” I said, pressing my forehead together with his.

He cocked an eyebrow at me. “And what’s that?”

I cupped both hands over my eyes. Now it was my turn to be nervous. “If the baby turns out to be a boy, I’m electing we name him some sort of bad-ass rock and roll name. Like Tyler. Or Buckley.”

I kept my hands cupped over my eyes for what felt like the longest silence in history. Then, I slowly moved my index and middle fingers apart so I could sneak a peek at his reaction.

Dylan was staring at me with a look of confusion. “Are you saying…”

I looked at him with a pained, guilty expression and nodded slowly.

Dylan burst out laughing. “Is that why you were acting so weird?” he asked.

I nodded meekly.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

I shrugged. “It just never seemed like the right time. And we’ve never talked about kids before so I wasn’t sure how you felt about it…”

My explanation was quickly interrupted when I felt Dylan’s lips on mine. I took it as a good sign.

“So, Buckley, huh?” he asked, pulling away from me. “You think he deserves that much credit?”

“Well, he did bring us together and all,” I said.

“Oh, is that what brought us together?” His brows crinkled together. “I thought it was that ten minutes of unprotected passion in a cheap Manhattan hotel room.”

“I’d give it six at most.”

He folded both hands over his heart, feigning a hurt expression.

“So… what do you think?” I asked. “Do we have a deal?”

He pretended to consider it for a second, until I almost pu
shed him over the jetty
. Laughing, he leaned over and whispered in my ear, “Deal.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Rachel K. Burke was born and raised in Boston, MA. She currently resides in Los Angeles, CA. She graduated from Bridgewater University in 2011 with a B.A. in Communications and Media Studies.

Rachel's work has appeared in Prevention Magazine, Worcester Magazine and Starpulse News Entertainment.

For more information on Rachel and her upcoming fiction, please visit www.rachelkburke.com.

Turn the page for a look at the first
c
hapter
of Rachel K. Burke’s newest novel

MY MOTHER’S SHADOW

~1~

January 5, 2009

I was eight years old when I first realized my mother was different from other parents. It wasn’t because of anything specific she did, more so the things she didn’t do, the little things you failed to notice until they all came together, like scattered pieces that made up the puzzle of your life. While the other kids would light up about a field trip or a summer vacation, my happiness was based on what was waiting for me at end of the day.