A Loser's Guide to be Noticeable

19: Practice Makes Perfect

There was only one message on my phone when I woke up. It was from Jaeden, sent at 3:47:

i finished it

Below was an audio. And I knew it was the music he composed.

I sat and plugged my earphones. I didn't even care if my eyes still felt crusty or I was slightly shaking or my cheeks hurt a little from smiling.

Jaeden wasn't offended. He sent me the final output. He wanted me to listen to it.

My stomach was fluttering. Maybe it was because I was hungry, but the audio that Jaeden sent to me made me not care at all.

I hit the play button. My window showed how beautiful the day was. It was still the same, but the middle part was now slow and relaxed until it built up higher and higher.

After I listened, I sent Jaeden a message:

It's perfect.

I waited for his reply while listening to his music again. It didn't come. So I texted another one:

Are you going to school?

Maybe he was asleep. Instead of obsessing for his reply, I stood and prepared for school.

I was still helping the art club. Yesterday was a blast and we had a lot of customers. I wanted to be part of it again. Besides, I would not say no to free pizza and cola after the day ends.

"Hey, Christian and I planned to go strolling at another club's booth this afternoon. Wanna come?" Lawrence said as we were checking and arranging the props.

"What about the photo booth?"

"Cynthia and Ricky will replace us in the meantime and Christian will let his friend, Donald, take his camera."

Smirking at him, I nodded. "Uh-huh, so this is a date?"

Lawrence bumped my shoulder. "Shut up!" Then he looked away. "Well, kind of."

"What?! So you two are officially dating. Why didn't you tell me?" That made others glance at us. Christian was blushing, he knew that our conversation was between him and Lawrence.

"Shhh." Lawrence put his finger on his lips as he looked around. "We had a long video call yesterday and then he confessed and I said 'I like you too' and then we planned to go out later."

"That's it? Can you please give me some details? Did he blush when he confessed?" Christian was still staring at us, but when our gaze was at him, he looked away and blushed deeper. "Is there an awkwardness? Or do you immediately say you like him back? What was your reaction when he confessed? Surprise? Is it really like in the books? Do you feel the fluttery in your stomach?" Speaking of "fluttery in your stomach," I remembered the music Jaeden sent me earlier.

Lawrence chuckled. "Well, I'm not going to tell you everything."

That made Jaeden's music halt in my brain. "Wait. Did you and Christian...? On the video call...?"

His ears turned bright. "What, no! Pervert."

"I didn't say anything." And we giggled. When we calmed down, I said, "I'm really happy for you, Law."

"Well, it's too early to be 'happy for me.' We're still in the 'getting to know each other further' part. We might find something in each other that we hate and end this thing."

I bumped his shoulder. "I doubt that."

When Hannah opened the photo booth, customers started to come in. Lawrence and I stood at his backdrop, waiting for someone who needed any assistance.