Chapter twenty-five
Tad is sitting on the front lawn, twirling a basket ball around in his hands and sneaking peaks at Jessie who is sitting opposite him, reading through her history book. Tad rolls the ball over to her and she looks up in shock.
"We're meant to be reading," she frowns at him.
Tad smirks as she throws the ball back at him and he catches it, pretending to be in pain.
"You sure do throw a hard ball, Sammler."
Jessie blushes a little and bites her finger.
Tad laughs and goes back to twirling the ball. Jessie lowers down her head and goes back to reading her book. Tad casually stretches out one of his legs and lets it brush against Jessie's thigh. She pretends to be engrossed in the book but she finds her leg impulsively reach out towards his.
"We can study later, Sammler," he murmurs as he throws the ball away.
Jessie puts down her book and inches herself towards Tad. He raises his hand and places it on hers. She looks down and smiles softly. He raises his other hand and places it just below one of her breasts and he leans in to kiss her. Jessie quickly backs away and bites her lip.
B/W Tad: I can't screw this up.
"Sorry," he murmurs and removes the hand from below her breast but leaves the other one on her hand.
"I'm just…I'm not ready yet," she whispers.
Tad picks her hand up and kisses it.
"Sammler, I'll wait for as long as you want me to," he reassures her.
B/W Tad: No way am I gonna screw this up.
Jessie smiles slightly and picks her book up from the grass. Tad sighs to himself and goes back to playing with the ball.
(next section)
Eli is sitting on his bed, leaning against the wall, and Grace is sitting in between his legs. She is flicking through a fashion magazine and Eli is rubbing her shoulders. Cooper is sitting on the desk chair, typing up an email to Julie and munching on potato chips. Jules is lying on a beanbag, strumming his guitar. Cooper is about to hit the send button when suddenly he hears "you've got mail". He throws his hands up in shock and looks at Eli.
"Hey man, some chick wants you," he smirks and Grace throws a pillow at him.
Eli stops rubbing Grace's shoulders and rolls off the bed. When he sees who sent the email, he quickly stores it away and avoids Coopers stare.
"Don't tell me, my girl and you have been swapping dirty emails."
Eli laughs and slaps his arm.
"Well, who was it, man?" Cooper asks and Jules looks up with suspicion.
Grace glances at Eli and bites her lip. Eli sighs and sits down on the bed.
"Guys, there's, uh, something I gotta, um, tell ya," Eli stalls.
Jules puts down the guitar and looks at Eli. Cooper sits back down on the desk chair and swivels it towards Eli's direction. Grace nods her head in encouragement and Eli sighs again.
"They want me to, erm, make an album…"
"You?" Cooper asks casually.
Eli nods and Jules sighs.
"That sucks, dude," Jules shrugs as he picks up his guitar.
Cooper jumps off the chair and leans over Eli.
"And you didn't refuse?"
Eli looks away.
"Geez, man. What a great, strong guy you are," Cooper sneers.
"Come on, Coop. It wasn't his fault…" Jules lamely says.
"Listen, maybe I can talk to them and we can work together," Eli suggests.
"Whatever, man. I'm outta here," Cooper mutters and slams the door on his way out.
Eli puts his head into his hands and sighs again. Grace places her hand on his back and strokes it. Cooper, noticing this intimate moment, gets up from the beanbag.
"See ya guys later," he says as he leaves the room.
"You were going to have to tell them eventually, bub."
Eli looks at Grace.
"I know…it's just Cooper. He's always gotta be the centre of attention," he mutters, "and everything has to go his way."
Eli slams his hand on the desk and Grace kisses his forehead.
"Talk to the managers. Maybe they can work something out."
Eli shrugs.
"I'll try…but…argh, forget it," he mutters and gets up from the bed.
Grace looks at him with a curious glance and he coughs.
"It's just, you know…I kinda like the idea of goin' solo…" he mutters with a guilty look in his eye.
Grace gets up from the bed and walks over to him and takes hold of his hand.
"And that's fine, bub. You just have to think about your friends. They depend on you."
Eli nods his head and kisses Grace on the forehead. She wraps her arms around his waist and he strokes her hair.
"Whatever you decide, I'll be here for you," she whispers as Eli sadly smiles while looking into the distance.