Gem City

Chapter 3-3

Courtney tried to let her disappointment go about the hottest lack-of-kiss that ever existed. Ethan looked at her as if for approval. She inhaled. “Well, if there is a promise of s"mores, then I"m not sure what we"re doing still standing here.” Luke looked happy about her unspoken forgiveness, and Ethan squeezed her hand and led her towards the stairs.

Courtney sought out Vanessa while Luke and Ethan went to get his guitar. She needed a minute to fill her in on what had just happened, and perhaps bow at her feet for casually setting things in motion with Ethan.

casually“Hey, V, need some help?” she asked as she came across her friend trying to light the collection of sticks and grasses. She was thankful not many people were outside yet.

“Nah, I"m good,” Vanessa said, turning around to greet her. “Annnnd apparently so are you!” she commented, looking at Courtney"s smile and flushed appearance. “You"ve been upstairs a while, girl, so spill. Now. Please tell me there was heavy breathing involved.”

Courtney flushed even more. “Well, I might have been the only one with a breathing problem, but for the love of all that is holy, he is beautiful. You could have given me a warning!”

“And have you flipping out before he even got here? No way. He is super hot, though, right? I did good,” Vanessa said, literally patting herself on the back. “So tell me what happened already.”

“Well, there"s not a whole lot to tell due to Luke"s most untimely appearance,” Courtney replied with a sour look, “but the flirting was intense.”

“Damn it! I told Luke to leave you guys alone! I will kill him for you if you want.” Vanessa looked positively annoyed, and Courtney almost felt bad for Luke, despite her own disappointment.

“I don"t think the situation calls for murder just yet, but I appreciate your solidarity, sister.” Courtney grinned. “Am I all red and splotchy? I feel red and splotchy. I need to, like, meditate or strike a downward facing dog pose or whatever that yoga thing is that famous people do.”

Vanessa burst out laughing. “Why don"t you just go mention wanting to do a "downward facing dog" to Fisher? I think his eyes might pop out, and I wanna watch.” Courtney realized the implication and cracked up along with her. After the giggles subsided, Vanessa looked at Courtney with her "stern best friend" face. “Courtney Ross, you need to listen to me, seriously. You are freaking adorable, you"re going to be a varsity cheer captain, you"re hella smart, and you have a whole "city girl" thing going for you in this town. Ethan is awesome, but so are you, so go over there and make him work for it,” she said, as she glanced towards the basement door. Luke, Ethan, and several other people were making their way outside for the bonfire.

“Good talk, coach,” Courtney said, feeling grateful for her friend, even if she had no idea how to follow through with her advice. She tried repeating what Vanessa had said in her mind as she walked towards the boys to grab a seat. As she moved past Ethan, she felt him grab her hand and pull her back. “You are sitting next to me, bear claw,” he teased. “You might need to use your strength to protect Luke from me when I realize the full extent of my anger for his shitty timing.” Ethan shot Luke a definite look. Courtney"s pulse quickened at his casual reference to their almost-moment. She also became curious as to what the conversation had sounded like when he and Luke had gone to look for his guitar. She made a mental note to attempt to pump Luke for information later.

“Try me, bro. I could take both of you and not even spill my drink,” Luke bragged, flexing his admittedly impressive biceps. He opened a beer and put one in Courtney"s hand as well. She debated opening it, but decided to "do as the Romans do", and all that. She took a sip and refocused her attention on Ethan. He was tuning his guitar, his hair falling in his eyes, and she smiled inwardly at the thought of running her fingers through it. She must have gotten a little lost in that particular fantasy, because upon coming back to reality, he was done tuning and was staring at her, grinning.

“Whatcha thinkin" about there? Anything I might find of interest?” he teased, running his thumb along his bottom lip, almost making her lose all sense of propriety again.

She willed her face not to blush. “Well, that depends on what you find interesting, I suppose. Maybe I was thinking about the Quadratic Equation, you don"t know,” she responded evenly. “So, let"s hear these rock star skills everyone keeps talking about. Did you consider my myriad of requests?”

“You could say that.” He started strumming a few chords, and before long, she recognized one of her all time favorite songs by Third Eye Blind, “How"s It Going to Be.”

She had never heard it played live before and didn"t know if she could ever listen to it the same way again. Ethan didn"t just play it; he owned it. His voice had exactly the right amount of roughness in it to draw her in. Every so often, he would look up and give her that smirk he had going for him, and Courtney fully understood why some women became groupies. Having him sing something specifically for her was intoxicating. She vaguely noticed other girls staring at him with the same sort of intensity, and immediately felt possessive. She tried not to falter in her newly discovered confidence, and decided to ignore the lustful glances directed towards him. He finished her song and took a few more requests while everyone ate s"mores and enjoyed the cooler temperature now that the sun had been down for a while. Courtney had missed this. This town, this life. The lively crackle of the bonfire mirrored the electricity running through her. The atmosphere here was completely different from that of the Scottsdale parties she had let her friends drag her to. No one seemed to be trying to one-up anyone else here. Most of these people had known each other their whole lives, and those bonds were as clear as the laughter in the air. She inhaled deeply the smell of the smoke and let it out as she looked toward the sky. Sitting on a soft blanket, listening to Ethan play, and having Vanessa there to keep her grounded was exactly what she needed. She silently vowed to not only make the most of the summer, but to somehow find her way back to this place someday.

Ethan had just finished another song, one Courtney didn"t recognize but liked anyway, when she thought she should show him that he wasn"t even close to having her figured out yet, despite what his smirk suggested.

“I really liked that song, what was it?” She was feeling a pretty good buzz, enhanced by her own emotions.

“That one was my own. It"s not perfect yet, but this is a pretty forgiving crowd, so I thought I"d try it out. You liked it?” He looked pleased. It was a good look for him.

“You wrote that? That"s awesome. I would love to hear more of your stuff if you ever want to test it out on anyone. I used to write a lot of song lyrics, but most of them were just angsty teenage drivel. Lots of over-used metaphors, you know the type. But I do appreciate someone who can put the lyrics with the right sound. I"ve always struggled with that,” she admitted. “Can I see your guitar?” She held out her hands. He looked warily at her.

“Sure. Do you want me to teach you some chords or something?”

“Nah, I got it.” She sat back down with the guitar in her lap, and began to play “Everything to Everyone,” by Everclear. She had a momentary worry that she wouldn"t remember the whole song, but once she got going, that faded away. Several people sang along with the chorus, and she felt the high of performing. She didn"t sing often because it was never perfect, never exactly how she wanted to sound, but that night she found she wasn"t afraid at all. Was it because of Ethan, or because of her?

She finished and took a bow as she handed Ethan back his instrument. In finally looking at him, she saw that his knowing smirk had been replaced by one of shock and awe. Maybe even a little admiration. “So… um, you can sing- and play guitar, then?” he questioned, laughing slightly. “That was amazing. Great choice.” He kept looking at her and shaking his head slightly. She felt validated in accomplishing the goal of showing him that there was more to Courtney Ross than simply being a neurotic cheerleader.

“Well, in the interest of full disclosure, I only know about five songs. I took guitar lessons for, like, six months last year and learned how to play some of my favorites, but I wasn"t particularly good. So I quit. I know that sounds bad, but I just really dislike being average at things. So, I"m not like an actual musician or anything.”

“Well, also in the interest of full-disclosure, I"m kind of glad. I had a worry that you might be a better musician than me, and I didn"t know if my manhood could handle that after you called me a "boy" earlier and everything,” he joked. He set his guitar behind him and pulled her onto his lap. She tried to act like this was completely normal and she sat on cute musicians" laps all the time. In actuality, though, it was difficult to know whether or not her butt cheeks should rest to one side or the other or how to maintain any sense of posture. Normal girls don"t have this problem. I am certain they don"t. She found herself a bit dizzy, though unsure if that was from her buzz or his closeness.

Normal girls don"t have this problem. I am certain they don"t.She decided to lean against him for balance, and he noticed her goose bumps. He started rubbing her arms to try to warm her up, but that only made the situation worse. His large hands came to rest on her thighs, making Courtney"s heart jump.

“Do you want to go inside? It is a little chilly out here, especially if you normally live in the desert, I would guess.” He helped her up and interlaced their fingers before heading back into the basement. Courtney let him lead her, taking in the night sky and his hand in hers and the smell of the damp grass. This is sort of beautiful. She was brought out of her trance when she noticed Ethan looking at her. “Did you just tell me I was beautiful? Because if you"re going to start using lines from Twilight to hit on me, I think it"s time for you to go to sleep, bear claw.”

This is sort of beautiful.Twilight“Oh my god, did I say that out loud?” she muttered. “Well, I said, "this is beautiful," Mr. Conceited, but now that you mention it, you"re not hideous,” she recovered.

"this is beautiful,"“Oh, wow, you are well versed in the art of flattery,” he teased. “It is getting late, though. C"mon, walk me upstairs before I head home?” Courtney knew she looked disappointed. She wasn"t ready for him to leave and the night to end but reluctantly took him up on the offer.

They made their way to the front of the house. She turned around to face Ethan, almost wanting to brace herself for the words she was about to let out. “Are you sure you can"t stay for a bit?” In her mind this was the most brazen of acts, and waiting for him to answer was enough time for her to convince herself she"d misread every signal the entire night, and he was trying to figure out how to let her down easy. Why did I ask that? That probably sounded… oh god, why did I ask him that?!

Why did I ask that? That probably sounded… oh god, why did I ask him that?!Ethan ran one hand through his hair and breathed out through a clenched jaw. He shook his head at her and said, “Well, I can, yeah. I just… Well, I don"t want to be that guy.”

that“What guy is that?” Please don"t say the guy who hooks up with the anxiety-ridden slut girl. Just say something else.

Please don"t say the guy who hooks up with the anxiety-ridden slut girl. Just say something else.“The guy you"ll hate in the morning because we just met and, uh, you"re a little drunk.” He hesitated for a long moment. “I think you"re sort of… cool? So I would rather I didn"t mess things up this early in the game.” He finished plainly, looking surprised at his own admission.

Her head was spinning a bit, overcome with relief that he hadn"t just bolted from the room. In actually hearing his words though, she realized perhaps she had been too bold. She blurted out, “I"m not inviting you to sleep with me, just to clarify. I mean, I know my invitation probably sounded kind of, well, suggestive, I just, ummm, well? Now I"ve created an awkward atmosphere, I guess. It"s sort of my specialty.”

He chuckled, appearing slightly amused. “All right, well, Vanessa wasn"t kidding about your SAT vocabulary. Even when you"re drunk and sort of rejecting me,” he joked. “I"m good with honesty, though, no matter the form. I think I like you Courtney Ross; you surprise me.”

“I do?” she asked, not sure if this was a good thing or a bad thing.

“You do. I think I should probably head home to avoid the wrath of my mom, and maybe to heal my wounded pride, but can you do me a favor and check your phone when you get up in the morning?”

“Um, sure? Why?”

“You"ll see. I will talk to you soon, okay?” He stepped forward and leaned in close enough that she could see he needed to shave. He kissed her on the cheek before walking out the front door. Blankly, she turned to head upstairs, not really caring about anyone left at the party.

Courtney found herself in Vanessa"s room and sank into the bed, not bothering with pajamas, enjoying the tingling spot where his lips had touched her. Please don"t let this be a dream tomorrow.

Please don"t let this be a dream tomorrow.