Crescendo

Chapter Four

I don't tell Sam or Claire about the mystery guy, even though he's literally all I can think about. It's been over seven hours since he walked out of the shop, and he's somehow still affecting me. My fingers are still tingling, and I'm beginning to wonder if they're going to tingle forever. My heart feels like a hummingbird in my chest. I think about him throughout the entire movie, too. Honestly, if I was given a test on it I probably would fail. Hardcore. Like, big red F stamped on the paper kind of fail. But I bet I could tell you every tiny detail about the guy, from his sweaty hair to his long eyelashes. Everything about him is tattooed across my brain. Except his name. Ugh, I can't stop kicking myself for that. Why had I not thought to ask him his name? Am I really that dense of a human being?

"You're so quiet tonight, Lor," Sam says, and I jump at being addressed directly. We're walking out of the movie theater. I'm still carrying the half empty large tub of popcorn we were all sharing. And I have no idea what happened to my empty pop cup. "Are you okay?" she asks, a small frown forming in the lines of her mocha-colored skin. "Did you not like the movie?"

"Of course she didn't," Claire replies before I can even open my mouth. "You know she's not big into these superhero movies."

I shake my head. "No. It's not that." They both look at me expectantly, and I take a deep breath. "Sorry. I guess I just have a lot on my mind tonight."

Sam smiles and nods. "Oh, I know. You're excited about Juilliard, right?" The knot, which has been lying dormant in my stomach since this afternoon, reawakens. I just nod my head. "I still can't get over the fact you're moving to New York. It's weird to think next year we're all going to be apart." They intertwine their arms with mine and put their heads on my shoulders. Sam sighs and says, "I'm going to miss these nights with the three of us together."

"Yeah, me too," I say. The knot moves up into my throat, and I'm not sure if I want to cry or be sick. "But I'll be back, and so will you. I'm planning on coming back whenever I get a break."

"You better," Claire says, and I can hear how thick her voice sounds. Oh my God, she's about to cry. No, no, no! If she starts, then I'll start. But she just takes a breath, and in an instant the shakiness is gone, and its replaced by Claire's snarkiness. "And I don't want to hear we're going to stay in touch and then never talk to each other. I want daily messages from you bitches."

Sam and I laugh, and Claire does, too. Ahh, that's so much better. The knot is starting to loosen now. Laughter is the best medicine for fear. "I will, at least. I promise I will. And we'll video chat every night, right? Three-way."

"So nothing will change?" Sam says with an eye roll. More laughter. They both lift their heads off my shoulders, but their arms stay intertwined with mine. Sam pulls her phone out of her pocket and checks the time. "It's getting late. My parents will skin me alive if I don't get home soon."

I check the time on my own phone. It's only ten o'clock. I suppress an eye roll. Sam's parents are so strict. They always have been. She's eighteen and still has a bedtime. So dumb. My parents haven't given me a bedtime since I was ten, and Claire has never had a bedtime. And she's so passive that she won't fight them about it. That's one of the things we love about Sam. She almost never fights with us. It's hard to upset her, too, although Claire can be pretty good at pushing her buttons sometimes.

"It's only ten o'clock," Claire says, jutting out her bottom lip in a typical Claire-pout. "Sam, you should really protest for a later curfew. I mean, you're an adult now. It's time they started treating you like one, right?"

Sam shrugs her shoulders, but she doesn't say anything. For all intents and purposes, Claire and Sam are polar opposites. Where Sam is passive and kind of quiet, Claire is feisty and loud. She doesn't take anyone's crap, and she will dominate any argument. She can be kind of bitchy sometimes, especially when she doesn't like something we're doing. Claire is gifted in the art of pushing, something that drives me crazy at times. I don't like to argue. Usually, I just go with whatever they want to do. But Claire can bring out the worst in Sam sometimes. Sam may be passive, but that only goes so far. If you push her hard enough, well... things can get ugly. And since they're polar opposites, sometimes they clash in a way that can be totally disastrous.