“Hey, do you have plans this weekend?” he asks. “Because I was thinking we could go out.”
Elijah lifts his head from his desk, because he’s close enough to hear our conversation. Our eyes meet for half a second before he goes back to what he was doing.
I turn to face Lorenzo who’s watching me with a grin. “Go out where? When?” I ask.
“Saturday? We can go grab something to eat, maybe watch a movie. What do you think?”
Oh, a date. Not a group thing. Not a party. He wants to take me out. I fight the urge to look in Elijah’s direction.
“I actually do have plans on Saturday,” I say with a slight tilt of my head as I give him a frown. “Sorry.”
He smiles. “It’s okay. Put me in for next weekend, yeah?”
I grin, because you can’t help but do that when you look at Lorenzo. But I feel awful because I think he wants to be more than friends, and honestly, if it weren’t for how I feel about Elijah, I’d probably give him a chance.
I skate out of giving him a verbal response when Elijah dismisses us.
“Bye, Professor Kingston,” I say as I walk past his desk, staring into his piercing gaze.
He furrows his brow slightly, his lips lifting on one side in not so much a grin, but in non-amusement. I swallow my laugh.
“Bye, Miss Rivera,” he replies.
I shoot him a look over my shoulder, because I much prefer hearing Nova come out of his mouth than Miss Rivera, but I suspect he knows that.
I can’t wipe the smile off my face for the rest of the day.
25
At five o’clock on Friday, right as I’m leaving the school, my phone rings.
“Hello?”
“Hey,” Merrick’s voice says from the other end.
“Hey, man. What’s going on?”
“Not much.” He laughs. “Well, that’s a lie. Everything is going on.”
“Yeah? You guys start recording your next album?”
I unlock my car and climb into the driver’s seat, throwing my briefcase onto the passenger seat, then start it up.
“Yeah, we’re working on it. The label is happy with the progress so far. The tour was successful, and they’re thinking we may be going on an overseas tour for this next album.”
“Wow, that’s great.”
“Yeah, I can’t wait. It’s a lot of work, a lot of long nights, but you know, we love it.”
“Good, good. Do you get a break anytime soon?”
“Thanksgiving, actually. So, I’ll fly in next month.”
“That’ll be great.”
“Yeah, I can’t wait. Anyway, what’re you up to?”
“Just about to leave work. I have to find some sort of Halloween costume because Royce demands that I go to his bar in costume tonight.”
Merrick laughs. “It’s Halloween and you still don’t have a costume? Damn, I wish I could go.”
“I don’t know what the hell to dress up as.”
“What about Pennywise?”
I groan. “Way too much work.”
“So a zombie or the joker is out.”
“Not big on face paint. I can’t do that shit.”
Merrick laughs. “Oh wait! Go to my room and find my Superman T-shirt. Put that on under one of your suits, leave it unbuttoned and wear your glasses. Bam! Superman/Clark Kent.”
“Hey, that’s not bad.”
“You’re welcome.”
“Royce will still hate it.”
“Oh well. Don’t tell him it was my idea,” he says with a laugh. “I’ll let you go. Talk to you later.”
“All right, man. Love you.”
“Love you, too.”
* * *
I stroll into King’s Tavern around nine-thirty, not expecting a huge crowd this early in the night, except it’s already packed. Royce has a band playing tonight, when they’re usually reserved for Saturdays. Right now they’re covering Michael Jackson’s Thriller, a song I’m sure will be played a few more times before the night is over.
I spot a couple of Disney princesses, a pirate, a couple that came dressed as bacon and eggs, and what looks like people wearing animal onesies.
Since I don’t know what my brothers are dressing up as, I don’t know what to look for, but I assume Royce will be behind the bar, so I start there.
I find an empty stool and look down the length of the bar and spot a Joaquin Phoenix style joker making drinks. Royce’s hair has been sprayed green, because I know he wouldn’t dye it permanently. His red suit, green shirt, and orange vest look pretty spot on compared to the outfit worn in the movie, and the white face, red garish mouth, and blue arrow type shapes above and below his eyes look professionally done.
Yep, he’s gonna hate that I didn’t do more with my costume.
“Really?” he asks, sauntering over to me. “A Superman shirt and glasses? That’s your costume?”
“What? Superman is a popular costume.”
“Yeah, like the whole outfit with the cape and everything. You suck.”
“Your makeup looks good.”
He grins. “Cillian did it. You know I couldn’t do this shit.”
“Where is Cill?”
He points a few seats over. “That would be Beetlejuice over there.”
Just then, Cillian turns around, showcasing his own white face with black circles around his eyes, and what has to be a wig to match Beetlejuice’s style. The iconic black and white striped outfit completes the look.
A woman in all black, wearing a large black hat smiles and waves at me. Midge came dressed as Lydia from the same movie.
I walk over and greet them. “Well, aren’t y’all cute with your themed costumes.”
Midge looks up at me with a huge grin. Cill scoffs. “And look at you with the lamest attempt at dressing up.”
“Hey, I’m Superman. What’s the big deal?”
“You didn’t want to wear the tights?” he asks.
“No, no tights,” I reply with a chuckle. “Where’s London? What’s she dressed as?”
Cillian nods over Midge’s head and I turn to find London making her way over to us.
London came dressed to kill in a form fitting red dress with a high slit, purple gloves, and a long, red wig.
“Jessica Rabbit.”
She eyes my shirt. “Superman.”
Royce stops by and knocks on the bar. “Keep the guys away from her. I’ll be back,” he says
