"Cause you can't let her into your heart…" Conner sang. He paused and
ran his fingers through his hair. How come everything he tried to write
sounded so pathetic? And he was playing at the House of Java tonight
and he really didn't want to be booed off stage. He glanced out the
window that faced the Wakefield's back yard. He saw the pool that Jessica
had mentioned and he could feel the cool water washing away his
tension. He also saw one of the twins sitting in a green lounge chair reading
a book on the deck. Elizabeth Conner thought. He felt his heart skip
and he immediately hated himself for it. He had never felt like this
over a girl before and he shouldn't be feeling like this over Elizabeth
of all people. She was the one girl he could never get involved with.
Girls had that stupid rule: Never date a guy your best friend dated. Not
only was Jessica her best friend she was her twin sister for crying out
loud! But then why did Conner feel this way?
Seeing her gave Conner a new burst of energy. He repositioned himself
on the large bed and closed his eyes. He tried to find a beat that he
liked and then he scribbled one down on a scrap of paper.
"You catch a look…" Conner stopped.
"You catch a glimpse of her blond hair…" he stopped again and erased.
"You catch a glimpse of her sun streaked hair…"
And hour later Conner played through the whole song and when he
finished he broke into a grin. It was one of the best songs that he had
written. It was perfect for tonight. He got up and unplugged his guitar
feeling optimistic about tonight. Suddenly he realized something. He gave
his amp a good hard kick. He swore under his breath and fell onto the
bed. What had he been thinking? He couldn't play this song in public.
True, Jessica would probably think that it was about her and go all doe
eyed on him and fall even more in love with him. After all, writing a
song about a girl was right up there with buying her diamonds and telling
her that you loved her in front of a huge crowd of people after you had
embarrassed yourself for her sake. Something that Conner would never
do. But Elizabeth had inspired the song. Her sweetness, her smile, her
passion. It was like song cheating on Jessica. Something Conner knew
would get him into trouble.
Conner didn't even know if Elizabeth liked him. They hadn't spoken much
since the bathroom incident. But sometimes at dinner Conner would catch
her looking at him with an odd expression filled with longing when she
thought that he wasn't looking. Conner had never been that attracted to
another human being and his feelings scared him.
He grabbed his bathing suit and changed quickly. He went downstairs and
opened the deck door and stopped out onto the hot wooden surface.
He threw himself onto the lounge chair next to Liz.
Liz glanced up, startled.
"Hey," he said lazily. "Catching some rays?"
"Rye," Elizabeth said settling back into her chair and turned her
attention back to the paperback in her hand.
"Excuse me?"
"Catcher in the Rye," Elizabeth said, gesturing towards the title.
"It's for Mr. Collins' class."
Conner gave a short laugh. "Good one, Liz."
"I heard you practicing, you sounded good."
"What?" he barked. He prayed she hadn't heard too much.
"Yeah, your window was open. I could hear the guitar but I wasn't close
enough to hear the actual lyrics."
"Oh, I was just practicing for-"
"Tonight?" Elizabeth finished, raising and eyebrow.
"Yeah, how did you know?" Conner asked, narrowing his eyes.
"Don't go all Bruce Banner on me," Elizabeth said rolling her eyes. "I
work at the House of Java. I've known about your performance-"
"Gig," Conner corrected.
"Gig for a while," she finished. She flashed him a smile and rolled
over onto her stomach.
Conner tried not to stare at her but her white bikini was…adorable.
"So how long are you planning on staying with us?" Elizabeth asked
after a stretch of silence.
Conner growled, "Trying to get rid of me?"
"No…I mean…uh…won't your parents miss you?"
Conner loved seeing her flustered but hated it when people pried.
Conner liked to keep his personal life, well, personal. "Not likely," he
said bitingly. "My dad deserted us years ago and my mother's an
alcoholic and she's staying with my half sister and her ex-husband in Oregon."
Elizabeth was quiet for a moment and she turned to look at him. She
pulled her sunglasses down on her nose and Conner lost himself in her
eyes. He told her more than he had ever told anyone. Even Tia didn't know
about his mom's problem and Jessica didn't know any of it.
Elizabeth looked at him and chose her words carefully. "Wow, I had no
idea. I-"
"Don't say you feel sorry for me," Conner said coldly, not wanting her
pity.
"I wasn't," Elizabeth said. "I admire you. You're so strong. If all
that had happened to me…" Elizabeth trailed off.
Conner was stunned. Elizabeth just kept on surprising him. He felt his
heart tug and for once he didn't try to shake the feeling away. He just
wanted to pretend that he wasn't dating Jessica and that Elizabeth was
his girlfriend. Conner's brain came back to reality and he got up and
dived into the pool. He cringed as the cold water engulfed him. He swam
a few laps until he noticed that Elizabeth was climbing in and he swam
into the shallower water to join her.
"What did I say, Conner? You seem so angry."
Conner almost melted. But in a way she was right. He was angry but at
himself. Conner responded by taking his hands and running them up and
down her arms. Conner relished the feeling of her soft arms and the way
the cool water was splashing around their waists. Elizabeth's eyes
fluttered closed.
Do it Conner's body screamed. This is your chance!
"Hey guys! Watcha doing?" Jessica voice chirped, bringing Conner back
to the present. Thankfully Jessica's back was to them so Conner quickly
swam away from Liz, away from the temptation that was tearing him
apart.
This ended now.

He was going to kiss me. He was going to kiss ME. That was the
thought that screamed through Elizabeth's mind as she prepared her millionth
latte that evening. Apparently Conner was really popular, or as
Elizabeth suspected, had a girlfriend with a large mouth because the small
café was packed.
"Elizabeth, be careful," her co-worker, Jeremy Aames, warned her as he
grabbed the overflowing cup from her hands.
"Sorry," Elizabeth said smiling weakly.
"It's okay," Jeremy said giving her shoulder a squeeze. "I've never
seen this place so crowded and I've even worked on by one get one free
cappuccino night."
"All I can say is if I have to make one more latte I'll scream."
"Isn't this exciting, Liz?" Jessica called over to Elizabeth. She was
almost completely draped on Conner. She disentangled herself. "I can't
believe so many people came!" she gushed. "I guess those flyers Tia and
I passed out worked. I'll have a latte and Conner will have…what do you
want sweetie?" she said turning towards him.
"Water," he said pulling himself away from Jessica's neck where he had
been nuzzling her.
Elizabeth fought back the urge to scream.
She turned to plead with Jeremy to fill the order but Jeremy was
standing there dumbstruck. So Elizabeth quickly filled it.
"Jeremy, earth to Jeremy!" Elizabeth teased.
"That's your sister," He said under his breath.
"Yeah, Jessica."
"Wow...she's incredible."
"The guy she's with is her boyfriend, though."
Jeremy was silent and went back to placing orders.
Elizabeth was a bit surprised. Jeremy didn't seem like Jessica's type.
He did play football but he was quieter. Nicer. But maybe that was what
Jessica needed.
The line slowly tapered down and Elizabeth was watching Jessica and
Conner kissing and poking at each other. She thought Conner had liked
her but maybe she was just a distraction. She wanted to march right over
there and ump a pot of hot coffee on them.
"You need to get over it," a voice said.
"What?" Elizabeth said startled.
"Conner," Maria said giving Elizabeth a look of pity.
"Are you joking? Me and Conner?" Elizabeth scoffed.
"I'm not kidding," Maria said simply. "Him and Jessica seem really
happy and you need to stay out of it. And he's a total player, he'd just
hurt you."
"It's just a crush," Elizabeth assured her, and herself.
Suddenly Conner climbed on stage and the show began.
Elizabeth was enthralled. She had no idea that he was so talented. The
fifty minutes seemed to fly by.
"For my last song I want to sing an original. It's called 'Stone
Heart.'"
"You catch a glimpse of her sun streaked hair…" Conner locked eyes with
Elizabeth and she couldn't turn away even if she wanted to. His eyes
were filled with desire and longing and Elizabeth knew this song was
about her.
When the last chords were played Elizabeth let go of her breath that
she hadn't even known that she was holding. She saw Jessica fly to stage
with her friends amidst thunderous applause. She pulled him down and
dragged him into the crowd. A few minutes later they appeared at the
counter.
"Wasn't he incredible?" Jessica breathed.
Conner stared at Elizabeth questionably. Elizabeth knew that anything
she said would be horrible wrong. "Moving…surprisingly moving," she
choked out.
"And he wrote you that song, Jessica," Amy squealed. "That is so
romantic!"
"Come on guys," Jessica said. "Let's go celebrate!"
They all left and Elizabeth threw herself into wiping off the counter.
"Just a crush," Maria said raising an eyebrow.