Out of Tune

Chapter Fourteen

Music is the shorthand of emotion – Leo Tolstoy

Lennon woke up feeling warm, safe, and like she'd had one of the best sleeps of her life.

Miles had been right. This couch was the perfect thing to sleep on. It was comfier than her own bed.

Lennon opened her eyes, yawning as she stretched. A quick survey of the room told her what she needed to know. Zeke, Charlie, and Miles were still snoring soundly. The latter was stretched out on an air mattress next to Spencer who was awake and fiddling on his phone.

Noting her stretched, Spencer looked over at Lennon. Slowly, he lifted himself off of the bed, careful not to wake Miles. Lennon didn't think it would have mattered if he'd driven a semi-truck through the basement. Miles was out that deeply.

Spencer crept over to her and whispered, "I'm going to go upstairs and start making some pancakes. Want to come?"

Wordlessly, Lennon nodded. She threw back the blanket and rose to her feet. Spencer retrieved his glasses off of the coffee table and then made for the stairs. Lennon trailed behind, careful to follow his footsteps and stride over the stair that creaked midway up.

"Sleep okay?" Spencer asked as he closed the door to the basement. He led her into the kitchen. As she slid onto one of the stools at the kitchen island, Spencer started pulling bowls and pancake mix out of the cupboard.

"That's the most comfortable couch in the world."

He laughed. "Everyone says that."

"What about you? Sleep well?"

"When Miles wasn't trying to hog the blanket, sure. He's notoriously bad for that. It's why he usually gets stuck on a couch."

With three couches and an air mattress, the boys usually were able to spread thin and each have space to themselves. Lennon's arrival had interrupted that. "Sorry for messing up your evening."

Spencer shook his head and dumped a large amount of pancake mix into a bowl. "You didn't. It was more fun with you here."

"Well, you might see me around even more from now on if that's okay."

"Come over all you want." He added milk and a few eggs into the bowl before he started mixing it all up. "Seriously. My parents won't care."

"I might just take you up on that. And I'm sitting with you at lunch when we go back to school."

Because there was not a chance in hell that she was going to sit with Bryce ever again. Lennon didn't want to leave behind Taylor and Danielle – all of the others she could live without if need be – but she was not going to sacrifice her dignity by returning to that table in the cafeteria.

Spencer set the pancake batter aside and stared at her intently, his blue eyes burning behind the frames of glass. "Do you want to talk about what really happened last night?"

"What would you do if I say that I never wanted to talk about last night to anyone ever?"

He didn't even pause to think about his answer. "Then I'd never ask you about it ever again."

Lennon knew that he meant it. That he would back off and never breathe a word of it – not to her or to the other guys. No one would know. Maybe that was why she told him.