I'll Be

Chapter Eleven: Away We Go

I sat with my acoustic guitar, spaced out on Sawyer.

            Whatever it was, he was making me crazy. It had been a few weeks, and he kept sneaking up on me when I wasn’t expecting it.

            He left me a pack of new nylon strings, even though I didn’t need to change them for at least another month. He asked me to text him when I got home, and we’d talk all night, about all kinds of things.

            We spent a lot of time together when neither of us had practice. We’d go for walks, sit and write in the park, or play games in his bedroom.

            At school, we’d smile at each other, but we’d decided that we weren’t going to tell anybody yet. He’d suggested it, and I thought it was a good idea.

            But I couldn’t stop thinking about him.

            My phone rang.

            “Hi.” He said.

            “Hi.”

            “We got another show.” He said, “In Fort Collins.”

            I grinned, “That’s amazing. When?”

            “Saturday night. Can you come?”

            “Of course.” I clicked out of the recording program on my laptop; it could wait until later. I opened up e.p’s music page, seeing their video “Did you know that your video’s got a hundred and twenty thousand hits?”

            He hesitated, “Seriously?”

            “Seriously.”

            “Holy shit.” He gasped, “That’s amazing.”

            I scrolled down, and slowly started to see the numbers tick higher. That was incredible. I smiled, “I’m proud of you.”

            He said, “I’m more proud of you. When do you guys play again?”

            “Um…” I grabbed my planner, “We go back to Longmont next Friday.”

            “Are you sure you’re up for a concert after something like that?”

            I laughed, “Have you met me?”

            “Point taken.” He replied, “Oh! And I need to talk to you about Sunday.”

            “Okay.” I said. We were going to drive to Boulder and go see a concert at U of C; it was a band out of Florida that we’d both really liked, but if he was busy, there was no way for me to get there.

            “I’m going out of town.” He said, his voice sounding tight, “I’m sorry, Teddy. I know you really wanted to go. My brothers and I are headed to Denver for a…I don’t even know what to call it.”

            I tried to sound upbeat, “It’s okay. We’re good. You should spend time with your brothers; I wish I could spend more time with my sister.”

            “Maybe you can call her.” He suggested, tried to cheer me up “I know she’s busy, but maybe you can plan something. See you at school.”

            I agreed, and we hung up.

            Punching in her number, I called Nina.