And he'd shared that with me. Not his sister, not his family, but me.

  🎵 🎵 🎵

  🎶CHAPTER 3

  I HAD GONE STRAIGHT to the piano when I got home. Well first I had taken off Damon's t-shirt and folded it under my pillow and pulled on one of my own. Then I got to work. I was dying to see what I could do with his chords. I played a few scales, warming up my fingers, doing my usual routine up and down the piano, letting my fingers get quicker and loosening them up. I finished with a flourish and smiled. It felt good. Maybe I had missed playing. Maybe I was out of my funk.

  I had never written my own music before. I had learnt to read music and had gone through the grades of learning compositions, performing them and being examined. Sometimes I'd muck around and try to create melodies but I'd never been encouraged to. It was all about learning Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Mozart and then practicing each piece.

  I heard Mom and the girls coming in through the garage and quickly jumped up, opening the piano stool and retrieving some sheet music, opening at a random page.

  Mom beamed as she came in, holding a shopping bag. "I thought I heard some beautiful music," she said. "Some time on your own was just what you needed." It was better to let her think that was the real reason.

  "Do you need help with the groceries?" I asked.

  "No, no," she said, looking over my shoulder, "the girls are doing it. You keep playing." I had no choice but to play The Blue Danube which I had randomly pulled open, the irony of it all, a piece by Strauss. "And how's Domi doing?"

  "She wasn't home," I said. "I left the brownies with Damon." I wished I hadn't said his name out loud, because it made my heart start beating double time.

  "Ooh, Damon will be off to college soon, won't he?"

  "Um, I'm not sure," I said, "maybe."

  "College usually starts around the 20th of next month. Dominique's going to miss having him around."

  "Mmmm," I said. My heartbeat was now manic. Damon would be leaving in six weeks. Why did that news seem to be so devastating? I cleared my throat, indicating that I was ready to play and that she could leave me now. I started off well, my fingers floating over the keys but as soon as Mom left the room my concentration dipped.

  Damon had always been around. Whenever I'd visited Dominique he was always there, maybe in the pool or the kitchen, or gaming in the living room, or hiding out in his bedroom. But he was always there. With a hello and a wave and a smile. And suddenly it seemed like everything really was changing. Damon was going away to college and next year it would be our turn.

  One more year of high school and our lives were going to divert to paths unknown.

  My fingers stumbled on the keys and I heard Mom call from the kitchen, "Oops, that doesn't sound right." I stopped playing and took in a deep shaky breath. Reality was setting in. Next week was the start of my senior year, my last year at high school.

  I hadn't had a boyfriend, a date, or even my first kiss.

  Because no one had ever caught my eye, given me butterflies or sent my heart racing.

  Or maybe that was a lie, an unrevealed truth.

  Because one boy did all of those things. Only I thought he was taken, off limits, out of bounds, forbidden.

  But now he wasn't. Damon Strauss was no longer taken.

  And I thought I was in love with him.

  I started from the top again, getting through two minutes before making a mistake. Then I tried again. On the fifth attempt I was interrupted by my phone, a text from Dominique: Sorry I missed you! Thanks for the brownies xx

  I typed a reply: You're welcome! Glad Damon left you some. Then I backspaced the last sentence and typed: Glad Damon didn't eat them all! Then I deleted that too. I didn't need to mention Damon. I sent: You're welcome! xx

  She replied: I'm home tomorrow morning. Can you come over?

  My heart started thumping. What if Damon was there? Would we pretend that we weren't working on a song together? Another text came from Dominique: Please!

  Obviously I was over thinking the whole situation. I quickly texted back: Yes of course, do you want more brownies?

  She replied: I know Damon definitely would lol

  I felt a surge of panic, as if Dominique knew something was up, that she knew I was crushing hard on Damon, but that wasn't possible.

  I texted back: Can't wait to see you :)

  When I saw that it was only Dominique's car parked in the driveway I felt two conflicting emotions simultaneously. A disappointment that I wouldn't see Damon and a relief that I wouldn't have to act weird around him.

  "It looks like your knee has really improved," I told Dominique as she hobbled around the kitchen. She didn't have it strapped up but was using one crutch to walk. She said she'd been in the pool and doing all the prescribed rehab. I could see her determination to get back to full health as soon as possible. Her dedication to her gymnastics was inspiring and I wished I had that same passion for my music. But sometimes music seemed like such hard work. And for what? I was never going to be a concert pianist. Or violinist.

  "It's getting better," she said, but quickly changed the subject, "but you look fabulous."

  I tried to act nonchalant, but I had washed my hair, spent longer than usual styling it, put on some natural looking makeup and was wearing a cute pair of denim shorts with a strappy tank. I had rubbed a bronzer on my legs and sprayed myself liberally with perfume.

  "Oh you know, Ainsley had sent me a link to a makeup tutorial, so I thought I'd try it," I said, "and this is one of the perfumes she was raving about." I held my wrist up for her to sniff.

  "It's so nice," Dominique said, "I like it."

  "Hey, look what I brought for you," I made a big display of reaching into my bag to produce the brownies.

  "I was only joking," she said, "you didn't have to bring more. Though Damon is going to love you for it. He was quite the fan."

  I hoped she didn't see my face go red. "Piper wanted to do some baking," I said, "They're white chocolate and raspberry."

  "You're going to make me fat, but thank you,” Dominique laughed. "White chocolate is Damon's favorite."

  "You can give him the calories then," I said, and trying to sound casual, "Um, where is Damon?"

  "He's at the tennis club."

  "Oh." My heart was doing that palpitating thing, it felt like a woodpecker was in my chest.

  I told Dominique to rest her leg and I'd get us some drinks, and I put two brownies on a plate. We had a lot to catch up on, my camping holiday, her trip to DC, Ainsley and Selina's vacations, the planned get together at Ainsley's before school started. But Dominique's enthusiasm was subdued, so either I was boring her to death or her knee was worse than she was letting on. I hoped for the latter.

  After awhile Dominique hinted that her Dad should be coming at any minute to take her for physical therapy treatment, so I took that as my cue to leave, even though I would have liked to get a glimpse of Damon. I finished up my (plain) water quickly and Dominique transferred the brownies to their own cookie jar so I could take my container home. She also gave me the one I'd brought yesterday, which disappointed me. I had been thinking I could use it as an excuse to visit again.

  Luckily Mom went out after lunch so I worked on Damon's music. I couldn't really do it with Mom around because she would always ask what piece I was playing. My sisters took no notice of what I did on the piano. Piper had just started to learn how to play, but Ferne had no interest whatsoever. She, like Ainsley and Trieste, was always glued to her phone.

  I was enjoying trying to compose a melody and before I knew it Piper was by my side telling me it was time to drive her to her dance class. I was to drop her off and Mom would pick her up later. I grabbed my keys and went to my bedroom to get my phone which was charging.

  My eyes popped. There were two texts and a missed call - from Damon.

  The first text was over an hour ago: White chocolate and raspberries, 2 of my favorite things :)

  Three minutes later: I'm playing tennis so it's ok to eat three pieces isn't it?

  The call had been a minute later.

  Piper peeked her head in, "Are you ready Ellie?"

  "Yep," I said, promptly putting my phone in my back pocket. I followed her out, closing my door, feeling all sorts of jittery and trying to suppress the grin on my face. But I couldn't.

  "Why are you smiling?" Piper asked.

  I shrugged. "Am I?"

  "Yes, you look like you have a secret," she said knowingly. Kid sisters could be so perceptive.

  "No, I'm just happy," I said. "I went to see Domi and her knee is getting better and I'm going to Ainsley's for lunch on Friday."

  "Dominique is helping with Chelsey's gymnastics class," she said.

  "Yeah, it's good isn't it," I said. Chelsey was one of Piper's best friends. "Domi can't wait to train again."

  "Her brother is coaching her tennis," Piper said and for a moment I thought she was talking about Chelsey's brother, but Chelsey's brother was eight years old. "Domi's brother," she said, as if she knew I was confused.

  "Damon?" I was almost afraid to say his name out loud. It felt like my cheeks were burning.

  "Yep," Piper nodded.

  "Chelsey plays tennis?"

  "Yep. All the girls like him," Piper said, "he has the biggest group. He is way cute." I realized I didn't know that Damon coached tennis. He was often at the tennis club, but I thought it was to play.

  "When did Chelsey start playing tennis?" I asked.

  "This summer."

  "Does she like it?"

  "She likes having Damon for a coach," she giggled. "She said that once she hit the ball so high that it went over the fence to another court and the old ladies got grumpy."

  I laughed, trying to picture Damon with a group of ten year old girls. I would never have thought it was his thing - but until yesterday there were a lot of things I didn't know about him.

  "Hey," I said, because I was about to burst with joy, "I took Domi the brownies we made and apparently Damon thought they were delicious. He loves white chocolate and raspberries."

  "Well I was the one who picked that flavor," Piper said proudly. "I should tell Chelsey, she'll probably want to make him some."

  I waved to Piper, making sure she was safely inside the dance studio, but I didn't drive off. I pulled out my phone and read his texts again. I smiled, I chuckled. I thought about what I could reply. Something funny, witty, smart. My mind was blank.

  Glad you liked them. Too boring.

  Three pieces? Do you know how many calories in a piece? Not very funny.

  You'll have to play more than one game to burn off the calories! Nah, not funny either.

  And what are your other favorite things? Too flirty.

  Who knew you were a white chocolate and raspberry fan? Trying to be witty but failing.

  In the end I wrote: I hope you left some for Domi!

  I cringed as I sent it, but more likely than not he would be playing tennis anyway.

  I was about to start the car when my phone started ringing. I almost had a heart attack when I saw his name flashing on my screen. I panicked, answering with a squeaky, "Hello?"

  "Ella?"

  "Yep it's Ella," I said breathlessly even though I was sitting stationary, not expending any energy at all.

  "It's Damon," he said, "I must've just missed you when you went to see Dom." It was funny how he called her Dom when all of us called her Domi or Dominique.

  "She said you were at tennis," I said. "I hear that you coach one of Piper's friends, Chelsey." I was talking like a maniac, an insane maniac. "She's been coming to your group all summer. I didn't know you coached."

  "Oh lord," he said, "there are about a thousand Chelsey's and a thousand Ashley's. It gets pretty confusing." He laughed, and then we both started to say something, then both stopped. I bit my lower lip, hoping it would make me think before I spoke. There were a few seconds of silence and then he said, "I swear I didn't eat all the brownies."

  "I'm glad you liked them," I said, "and hey, I've been working on your song."

  "I was going to ask," he said, "but I don't want to put pressure on you. Like if you have other stuff to do."

  "Oh no, I was working on it today and I think I'm finally getting somewhere, but I need to see what you think." Again the talking maniac was back. "Like I don't want to just put in a melody that you don't even like. But I was thinking it was sounding good. And I probably should get the lyrics from you. I could remember some of them but -"

  "Should we meet up then?" he said, "when would be a good time?"

  He had me stunned and I gabbled again, "Oh anytime really. I don't have much planned for the rest of the day."

  "Um, I'm busy for the rest of the day," he said and I winced. As if he would just meet me on a whim. "I've got a match organized and then more coaching."

  "Oh yeah of course," I said, embarrassed, "um, just whenever suits you I guess."

  "I'm coaching for the rest of the week," he said, "but sometimes I get a couple hours break in between groups. Maybe if you keep your phone on you we might have an impromptu rendez vous." He laughed and I could visualize him flicking his hair across his eye.

  "Okay, I'll keep it on me. At. All. Times."

  "Sounds good," he chuckled, "I'll see you soon."

  I sat there for a minute trying to process what had happened. That Damon had called me. That he liked my brownies. That he wanted to get together again.

  "It's for the song," I said aloud as I drove off, "Ella, Ella, Ella," I sang my own name, "it's for the song. He wants to see you for the song. And maybe brownies. That's it. Okay. A thousand ten-year-old girls are crushing on him. Even your little sister's bestie. So just calm down. Okay. Calm down."

  And with that little talking to I brought myself firmly back to reality.

  🎵 🎵 🎵

  🎶CHAPTER 4

  WE WERE AT AINSLEY's, sitting around the pool, nibbling on catered snacks that Ainsley's Mom had ordered in. It was all so civilized as we talked excitedly about school and clothes and boys. Well I talked about school and clothes, Ainsley and Selina were talking about boys.

  And then Trieste said something about Dominique putting on weight. It wasn't rude, but it was an unsubtle statement. To me it didn't look like Dominique had put on any weight, she was pretty thin anyway so I didn't feel the need to defend her. But Ainsley chided Trieste, saying that of course Dominique couldn't exercise after knee surgery.

  I didn't think Dominique was bothered by the comment because she dove into the pool and swam some more lengths. Ainsley showed us some photos of the eye makeup she'd been trying, and then Domi got out, checked her phone and said her sister-in-law needed her to babysit. She quickly got dressed and left, with barely a goodbye.

  And only then I wondered if she was upset, whether she had been affected by Trieste's words. But I said nothing. Just let her go and kept looking at the pictures Ainsley was scrolling through.

  My phone started ringing and I scrambled back over to my lounger to get it, excited to see Damon's name flashing. My heart raced and I suppressed a smile so as to not look suspicious.

  "Hey," he said, and I walked to the far end of the pool so no one could hear, "I've got a break from tennis and wondered if we could meet."

  "Like right now?" I mumbled in a very low voice.

  His voice seemed to deflate. "Only if you're not busy."

  "Um," I glanced at the girls, all three of them poring over Ainsley's phone. "Um, sure. I can meet you," I said, doing my best ventriloquist impersonation.

  "I'm going to grab something to eat at Carlton's. Can I order you something?"

  "No, I'm fine," I said, already thinking of an excuse to tell the girls of my departure. I didn't conveniently have a sister-in-law who would need a babysitter.

  "Okay I'll be there in about ten," he said.

  I took a deep breath and walked back to the girls.

  "Who was that?" Selina asked before I had a chance to speak.

  "Mom," I huffed. "She needs me to pick up Piper." I was already pulling up my shorts. "She's stuck in a meeting." The girls groaned in sympathy. "I'll have to love you and leave you," I said, quite surprised at how effortless lying was. It made me wonder if Dominique had lied too, if her babysitting was just a ruse. I faux kissed everyone and dashed to my car.

  Carlton's was a small cafe close to the tennis club. It would take me more than fifteen minutes to get there and I was a bit reckless in my driving. A car tooted at me when I pulled out in front of it and I was going above the speed limit but the prospect of seeing Damon was thrilling.

  I was so worried that I would be late that I didn't even bother to check my hair and face. My waterproof mascara could have been half way down my cheeks for all I knew and my hair was tied in a messy, damp top knot. I grabbed my notebook from the glove compartment and raced inside.

  Damon was sitting at a little two-person table, wearing a white collared tennis shirt and he wore his cap backwards. He was biting into a panini while scrolling through his phone. He smiled as I opened the door, like he'd been looking out for me.

  "Glad you could make it at such short notice," he said, gesturing for me to sit.

  "I had to come from Ainsley's, that's why it took me a bit longer," I said.

  He rolled his eyes and berated himself. "Oh man, sorry, did I ruin your girls' day? I forgot Dom saying you were having lunch today."

  "It's okay," I said, "and besides Domi left already. She had to babysit."

  Damon raised an eyebrow inquisitively. "Really? I thought Dad had the kids today."

  "That's what she said."

  Damon shrugged and looked a little sheepish, "Sorry I already started eating. I was starving." He pushed a plate with two muffins towards me and said, "Please, have one."

  I was about to refuse but I liked that he'd picked something for me and I hadn't really eaten much at Ainsley's - well no one had after Trieste's weight gain comment.

  "Is that blueberry?" I asked.

  "Or apple cinnamon. Take your pick."

 

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