Page 2 of It Was Always You

He glanced at the band room exit before meeting my gaze again. "Cool, well, have a good rest of the day." He gave me one of his heart-stopping smiles before putting his music stand and chair away. My gaze followed his back the whole way across the room until he walked out the door.

I slunk back in my seat, feeling dizzy after our short interaction. If Harrison was going to the movies tonight, I was going to be at that theater. I pulled out my phone to see what time the movie started. Seven o'clock. Harrison didn't know it yet, but he was going to be watching the latest Justin Banks movie with me. I was going to finally make this thing happen.

It was snowingwhen I walked outside after school, the early December weather finally deciding it was winter after all in Ridgewater, New York. I zipped up my gray parka and lifted the furry hood over my long brown hair as I zigzagged through the crazy traffic jam of students, on my way to meet my brother, Easton, and his best friend, Noah Taylor. I was the first to make it to Noah’s car, a silver Mazda 6, so I leaned against it to wait.

Noah was the first to come out of the school. He clicked the unlock button on his key fob once he was within range, and I was able to open the door and climb in the back. We both sat in silence as we waited for my brother to arrive.

Noah and Easton had been friends since middle school, but he and I never really had much to say to each other...probably because we were on completely different social ladders. He was the cool, football and lacrosse player who only had to smile at a girl to get her to bow down at his feet and beg him to kiss her. I was the weird girl who played the trumpet and liked to read comic books—someone he’d only seen as the dorky little sister of his best friend. I was definitely not the kind of girl who wanted to kiss him...not anymore, at least.

Yep, Noah and I were about as opposite as two people could get. Which was why I was more than happy to crush on Harrison these days.

I pulled out my phone to scroll through my Insta-feed so I wouldn't have to make small talk with Noah.

Easton opened the passenger door a couple of minutes later.

"So, what's going on with that?" Noah asked when my brother sank into his seat.

"Going on with what?" Easton asked innocently as he brushed the snow from his hair.

Noah laughed. "I was watching you talking to Mercedes Atkins."

Easton shrugged. "I asked her out."

"What?" I leaned forward, not believing what I was hearing.

Easton had actually asked a girl out?

"Don't act all shocked,” he said, turning his face to me. “Ihaveasked a girl out before."

"Yeah, but that was only for a school dance." He'd never been on a regular date. He mustreallylike Mercedes. "What are you doing for your date?"

His eyes widened, a deer-in-the-headlights look. "I don't know. I hadn't thought that far ahead since I didn't really think she'd say yes."

I laughed but then remembered my plan to try and spend time with Harrison tonight. "You could take her to the movies. I was kind of hoping you could give me a ride there around six forty-five, since dad has drill tonight and your car should be out ofthe shop."

My brother sputtered. "Yeah, like I'm totally going to let my little sister tag along when I finally bag a date with the hottest girl in school."

Oh no. This was not going to happen. Ihad toshow up at that movie tonight. I was finally going to make good on my promise to my best friend Juliette to not be the loner band geek anymore. I was going to finally put myself out there tonight.

"I promise I'll leave you alone," I hurried to say. "I just need a ride since…you see, I kind of have a date tonight too." I rushed those last few words out quickly, as if saying them faster would make them sound truer. Ireallyneeded that ride.

My brother turned all the way around in his seat at my comment. "Youhave a date?"

I should've probably been offended at the surprise on both Easton and Noah's faces at that moment. But it was a pretty shocking thing to say, considering I'd never been on a date before. Aside from not being gorgeous and popular, my reputation for having an overprotective father wasn't very encouraging when it came to guys.

"I'm going with Harrison Carter,” I blurted into their stunned silence. “We're watching the new Justin Banks movie."

Technically, not a real date, but the latter part of it could be true—if we were in the same movie theater, then we would be watching it together. But there was no way Iwas telling Easton and Noah that Harrison didn’t even know I was planning to meet him there.

“I thought you hated Justin Banks,” Noah said, looking at me with surprise in his big brown eyes.

I tilted my head to the side and played with the zipper on my coat. "This one looked okay. I mean, it's not every day that you get to watch an alien show, right?" And since when did Noah ever pay attention to what I did and didn't like?

"Do you think Mercedes would like that show, too?" Easton asked, looking at me and then to Noah.

Noah lifted his hands. "Don't ask me. I'm not the girl in here."

I shrugged. "I don't know, she's pretty mainstream so she'd probably prefer the new Zac Efron movie."

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