Page 39 of Secondhand Smoke
“I see.” Barrett could hear the other man pondering, then a short scratching sound of the phone moving. “Well, Scott. Let me go get her.”
“Thank you, sir.”
The line went completely quiet as Pastor Duncan put down the phone, footsteps fading in the background.
“Jesus Christ.” Barrett rubbed his face.
“Now,Scott, don’t you know better than to take the Lord’s name in vain?” Toni snickered, and the other two howled with laughter.
“This was your idea.”
“Yeah, and I’m thinking it was an even better idea than we originally thought.”
“Hello?”
Barrett hadn’t been holding the phone right next to his ear, but as soon as he heard her soft voice answer, he perked to attention and motioned for the others to shut their mouths. “Hi, Duncan.”
There was a soft brushing sound, and then she hissed back through the line in a soft whisper. “Barrett?”
“The very one.”
Pause. “Scott.”
Barrett rubbed the back of his neck and turned away from his friends so they couldn’t see his face. He was worried it might be red.
It was strange hearing his name come from her, much less his real name. No one called him that. Not even Ron. It felt intimate. Like him calling her Nell. “Uh, yeah. Sorry to call so suddenly.”
“Oh, that’s alright,” she said, her voice a normal tone now. “Are you calling about lessons?”
“No. Actually, I’m calling about . . .”
His friends all leaned forward, wide-eyed and eager, gesturing for him to continue.
Damn. If they wanted to have her there so goddamn much, they should have called her themselves. He’d rather that than them sitting there watching him stumble over himself.
“We’re playing tonight. By we, I mean me and my band. You met them. But, I mean, we’re playing tonight at The Pour House. We do every Tuesday, but I wanted to . . . I mean, they wanted to see if you’d like to come see us. Tonight.” God, what happened to his speech? Had he forgotten how to create a coherent sentence? He sounded like a bumbling idiot.
“Sounds like fun.”
Barrett blinked, looked at his friends who were waiting expectantly, and then blinked again. “It does?”
She laughed, and it was light and soft. “I’ve been wondering how good you are at guitar. I’d like to see for myself.”
“Right,” Barrett said. He had a hard time ever stopping his brain from working, and yet for some reason, he couldn’t think of anything right now. “Right. Great. It’s at 7:30. Do you want a ride?”
“I’ll just take my bike.”
“Okay then. Well . . . I guess I’ll see you there then.”
“Okay, see you tonight.Scott.” He could hear her smiling.
Barrett chuckled nervously, then hung up.
“Oooh, I’ll see you there, sweetheart,” Paulie mocked him.
“Do you want a ride? We could make out,”Toni added, fluttering his hands around daintily. “You’re so hot, and I think about you at night when I—”
“Shut up,” Barrett gritted through clenched teeth. “Or I swear to god . . .”
