Page 17 of Rock Strong

Tucker’s arms reached the sky, then his whole body swooped down to touch the ground. He looked like one of those old jazzercise exercise gurus my mom still liked to watch sometimes. “I think I’m feeling you. So what you’re saying is, she was all class, and because of it, she refused to give you the time of day.”

“Yeah.” That sounds about right. “Yeah, that’s what this girl is like.”

“So she’s not eye candy?” Tucker raised one eyebrow.

“She could be, but not in the typical way. She’s natural. And it drives me ape-shit bonkers that she won’t talk to me. Absolutely bat-shit crazy. Not because I can’t take it when a girl doesn’t give me the time of day. On one hand, part of me wants to show her that I can be a nice guy. On the other hand, part of me is like, Dude, you’re crazy. You’ve only talked to her twice, and she’s nothing like you.”

“Your brain talks to you like that?” Tucker recoiled as if a snake had bitten him.

“You don’t get it. I want to talk to her, ask her questions and shit, but it’s like…like I feel like a fucking sewer rat. I don’t get that way about anybody, Tuck. You know this.”

“Hmm. I feel you. Maybe you could start by not saying fucking and shit when you’re around her. Just talk to her, Liam. Tell her you like her because she’s different. A little persistence never hurt anyone.”

“She’s already decided she doesn’t want to like me,” I said, but even as I said it, I knew she could change her mind. If only I could impress her with something—music, most likely, but even then…why would I want to?

I had more girls than I’d ever need.

“Well, then your reputation precedes you.” For a minute, we were quiet, and then he laughed.

“What’s so funny?”

“I was just remembering…” Tucker actually looked off into the distance, as if seeing his memory there. “How bad you wanted girls to like you in high school. So bad, you took drama as your elective so that they’d have to talk to you in fake situations.”

“You have to admit that was pretty clever of me,” I said.

He reached into the fountain and stirred his hand around in the water. “Now you’re surrounded by women, and the one you want is the one you can’t have. Go fuckin’ figure.”

I watched him. Garrick was right. This was why I’d needed to talk to Tuck. He had a way of putting things in perspective. I cleared my throat and sang the opening notes of When I Get You Alone one more time. I was trying out a catchy new opening that would segue right into the recorded version.

“Don’t get too experimental with that opening, bro. You know how the minions get. They like their music like they like their dead bodies—recognizable.”

I stared at him from beneath knitted eyebrows. “What the fuck, Tuck?”

“I don’t know. I just like making shit up.”

I tried the opening again. Maybe it was last night’s cello solo and hearing Abby bring real music to the stage, but I wanted to try something a little more melodious, something that would sound like I took more than twenty minutes writing it.

“What was that noise?” Tucker straightened like a meerkat to scan the garden grounds. “Liam, we shouldn’t be out here so close to the fence.”

“Why, because the forest abounds with evil butterflies?” I did my best impression of a villainous garden insect.

“Dude, because you know as well as I do that once the fans know we’re out here so close to city sidewalks, they’ll come tromping over for pics and autographs. Let’s go. It’s getting late.”

Suddenly, the crunch of gravel beneath rubber soles sounded nearby. I stopped, pointing to my ear. Tucker nodded. We listened. There was no more crunching, but the moment we took another couple of steps, more crunching. Someone was hiding nearby and trying to mask their footsteps by mirroring ours.

“Hey, who’s there?” I asked.

It was silly, the way someone hovered there, breathing quietly, just out of view. I hoped it wasn’t a paparazzo. Next thing you knew, Tuck and I would be on the cover of Rumor Magazine with the headline, Liam Collier Trysts with Tuck in Garden.

“It’s just me,” said a familiar voice. “I swear I wasn’t eavesdropping. I was just walking…and I saw you here. So I tried to be quiet and waited.” Abby came around the fountain looking lovelier than a summery Seattle day.

The first thing that happened was, my heartbeat picked up speed. There she was—the very girl I’d been talking about, the object of my strange obsession. The second thing that happened was, I gave her a smile. Not a Liam Collier heart-zinger, but a real, genuine so glad to see you smile. She made me feel like I was middle-school Liam again.

Tucker made a show of buttoning up his shirt. “Oh, hey, Asian Persuasion. No drinks today, I hope?” He took a few dramatic steps away from her.

“You have a death wish, don’t you, man?” I mumbled to him.

“No,” she said, “but if I did have a drink to spill on you again, you’d deserve it.” Abby padded out of the shadows in her cute long skirt, tank top clinging to her adorable, tight body, and a pair of flip-flops.

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