Out of Tune

Chapter Twenty-Six

I haven't understood a bar of music in my life, but I have felt it – Igor Stravinsky

They went to dinner at a burger joint on the beach. Lennon wore a cute purple top and leggings while Spencer opted for a band t-shirt and jeans. It was their standard attire, nothing fancy or constricting. Neither of them was pretending to be something that they weren't.

Outwardly, it didn't appear as if much had changed between them. This was the sort of thing that they did all of the time – grabbing dinner and talking about whatever came to mind. But inwardly, it felt different.

A date, Lennon had reminded herself earlier when they'd hopped into his mother's car to drive towards the beach. They were on a date.

Spencer had driven them to the restaurant and she'd known that he was nervous, if only because his fingers drummed restlessly on the steering wheel and he kept shooting her furtive glances out the corner of his eye.

Lennon was nervous too because this already felt so much more real than the dates she'd been on in the past. She hadn't been this nervous when Bryce had asked her out. But, then again, Lennon hadn't had as much to lose then either. With Spencer, things were more complicated because it wasn't just the two of them involved.

It was something she was trying not to fret about. She didn't want to ruin this before they had even figured it out what it was. It was easier to pretend as if it were just any other night, the two of them hanging out with no pressure involved.

That was how she decided to face the situation anyways.

In the restaurant, things settled a bit. They had intentionally chosen to go somewhere that wasn't fancy. No candlelight or roses. Just them, a couple of burgers, and an extra-large order of french-fries.

"Do you want to talk about what happened with your mom today?" Spencer asked as they sat down. He carried the tray and placed it on the middle of the table – a high-top near the window that overlooked the ocean.

"No, that is something I definitely don't want to talk about. It would be a major buzzkill."

Spencer smiled grimly, as if he knew the exact sort of conversation she'd had with her mom just from those words. "Okay. What do you want to talk about?"

Lennon popped a fry into her mouth and thought while she chewed. They had decided that the band would be an off-limit conversation topic for the evening so that they could actually go on a date without it being a work meeting.

Necessary because so many of their conversations now revolved around the band. In just two weeks, Imagine Reality was to be playing at the senior prom. Though they had decided, in conjunction with the organizing committee, that there would be a playlist ready to go over the speakers when the band wasn't on stage, they were slated to do two sets and since it was prom, they needed to make sure that they had a good mix of slow songs and party-all-night with your friends' songs.

The rehearsals for the prom, coupled with their regular gig at Quincy's, and trying to create content to regularly upload to their YouTube and social media networks meant that they had little time for much else. Lennon was picking up shifts at Spin City a few times a week and spent almost every other spare minute she had on her schoolwork.

She was relieved that there were only two months of the school year left. Lennon was anxious for summer to begin. Not just because it would give her more time but because she would be turning eighteen. And though she wasn't living at her mother's house, her mom was still her legal guardian. At eighteen, it wouldn't matter.