The Sound of Us

Chapter Sixteen. “Jealous （I Ain’t with It）” by Chromeo

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

“Jealous (I Ain’t with It)” by Chromeo

SKYE

Chad was in his element at the WJPK hot dog stand. He smiled, shook hands, handed out flyers, and kissed babies like he was on the campaign trail, leaving me, Haley, and Nick to do the grunt work. But I had to hand it to him, we’d had a steady stream of customers since we’d set up the tables and the barbeque in the middle of the quad.

“Who would have thought hot dogs would be such a huge hit?” Haley sliced open buns beside me. “We’ll make a fortune.”

“I hope so.” I wiped my hands on the apron I’d thrown over my Dante’s Inferno hoodie. I don’t know why I’d put on the hoodie. Dante had made it clear our kiss had been a mistake, but it was soft and warm and part of me wasn’t ready to let go of our connection. It was a sunny, crisp fall day with the barest hint of the cold that would be coming for us soon. “Isla helped me put up dozens of posters across campus and I stood at the door to the gym every morning this week to hand out flyers after training.”

“Training?” Haley frowned. “I thought you were done with basketball. How long have you—”

“I’m not doing it as seriously as I did before.” I turned away to flip over a row of hot dogs. I didn’t know why I felt guilty, but I hadn’t even told Isla my plan. “I’m eating badly. Drinking alcohol. Not getting enough sleep. But I am going to the gym every day to keep up my fitness and skills. I enjoy basketball and if things don’t work out with journalism, I could try to get on a lower-level team, or even become a coach. It’s a safety net.”

“It’s a net alright,” Haley said. “But it’s not keeping you safe; it’s keeping you trapped. The university picked you for the journalism program because you are an amazing writer. You just need to believe in yourself.”

“It’s still hard to let go of the dream,” I said. “It’s all I’ve got left of my dad.” Haley knew all about my family and the pressure I’d been under to make it to the WNBA. “I was a disappointment from day one, and it was the last thing he said to me before he died.”

“It was your dad’s dream,” she pointed out. “Not yours. And he’s the disappointment for never seeing you for who you really are. My parents are the same. They think singing is a phase for me, and after I get a nice shiny college degree, I’ll forget all about it.”

“Four bad boys. One plate,” Nick called out from the grill. “This isn’t the time for chitchat.”

“One plate?” I grabbed a paper plate. “Who can eat four hot dogs at once?”

“That would be me.”

I almost dropped the plate when Ethan Williams walked down to my end of the table. I’d had a serious crush on Ethan in my freshman year. He was the captain of the men’s basketball team, a legacy from a wealthy family, and sheer perfection when it came to physical specimens of the male form. We’d never exchanged words and I’d thought he was oblivious to my existence, so it had been a total shock when he came up to me after my first game of the season and asked me out. Even more of a shock when he made it clear after he’d taken me out for dinner that he expected me to sleep with him in return.

From his sudden switch in temperament—he went from social to sulky in a heartbeat—I suspected my refusal was a shock for him, too. But he was so far out of my league I didn’t feel comfortable around him. He’d been more interested in talking about himself than getting to know me, and I didn’t like the way he pressured me for sex. He expected things simply because of who he was, and I couldn’t relate. Nothing had ever been handed to me on a silver platter.

Of course, Ethan hadn’t given up. He asked me out over and over again, and the day before Christmas break, he showed up drunk at our dorm begging me to let him in until he passed out on the front step. I had to call my coach, who called his coach to come and pick him up. Haley said people like Ethan didn’t like to lose, as if I were some kind of conquest. But I wasn’t so sure. He’d sent me a message after my accident telling me how sorry he was and that he hoped I got better soon. I appreciated the gesture. Broken and bruised inside and out, I was nobody’s prize.

“I heard you were back.” Ethan flashed a row of perfectly white teeth as his deep-blue eyes made a slow sweep of my body. “You look great… really great.”

Ethan also looked great. At six foot five, with the body of a Greek god, curly blond hair, and jaw that looked like it had just been freshly chiseled, he stood out among the mere mortals around us.

My body grew warmer from the heat in his eyes, and I managed to stutter out something that I hoped sounded like “thanks.”

“I saw you a couple of times at the gym, but it was always during practice, and I couldn’t stop and say hello.” He ran a hand raggedly through his hair. “I asked around about you and heard you were cut from the team. I’m really sorry. It must have been hard, especially after what you went through.”

Ethan remembered me. He’d seen me. He thought I looked great. He’d asked about me at the gym. Up close, he was even better looking than I remembered.

“I’m Haley.” Haley stuck out her hand. “Skye and I are friends. I’ve seen you play. Ball. At a game. Here. It was good. You were good.”

Haley’s unnaturally stilted voice made my lips quiver, and I had to look down at the grass and think about midterms and the music column I was writing for the school paper, and whether the paper plates and napkins people had dutifully been putting in the recycling bin would just wind up in the trash, just so I didn’t laugh.

“Nice to meet you, Haley.” Ethan’s dazzling smile almost outshone the sun.

Haley shot me a sideways glance that screamed “I think I’m gonna die” before leaving us to help plate the hot dogs. Ethan and I chatted briefly about his plans for the upcoming year. He was hopeful he would get drafted by his first-choice team, but he was struggling to keep up his GPA because he didn’t have time to study.

“I never got a chance to apologize for being such a dick after we went out,” he said, keeping his voice low. “I’d just had some bad news from home, and I didn’t handle it well. I started drinking and doing crazy shit. I got myself in a bad place. It took almost losing my entire career to sober me up.”

“Thanks,” I said. “I appreciate the apology.”

“Friends?”

I nodded. “Definitely. Friends.”

“Hey, guys! We’ve got some hungry customers waiting,” Nick called out. “I need a hand.”

I gave Ethan an apologetic smile. “I’d better get back to work.”

“My frat is having a big party tonight,” he said. “You should come. Bring some friends.”

I sensed someone watching me only seconds before Dante appeared out of nowhere and dropped his arm over my shoulders. “Sounds fun. What time should we be there?”

Ethan’s smile faded. “I didn’t know you were with someone…”

“I’m not.” I pushed Dante’s arm away. I still hadn’t gotten over what happened in the storage room, and the feeling that the whole thing had just been a game to him. “We work together at the radio station. He does the late night show as DJ Dante.” I introduced them and Ethan held out a hand that Dante shook after a moment of hesitation.

“Skye and I know each other from basketball.” Ethan gave me a dazzling smile. “And we went out before her accident.”

Dante sucked in a sharp breath. I could almost hear the tension sizzle in the air.

“If you’re interested in checking out my show and you forget my name, it’s written on the front and back of Skye’s hoodie.” Dante spun me around to show the band name embroidered on my back and then spun me back to face Ethan.

“It’s the name of your band,” I said gritting my teeth. “Don’t you have somewhere to be? A show to prepare for? Homework to finish? A date to seduce in a dark basement?”

“Skye’s a natural on radio.” Dante flicked my ponytail back and forth. “You should have heard her do the news. She had a lot to say about the city’s relaxed stance on drunk driving.”

“I messed up,” I said to Ethan. “He’s just being nice.”

“That’s me.” Dante leaned an arm on my shoulder. “Nice. I’m a nice guy. That’s why I’m here. Selling hot dogs. Being part of the team.”

“What’s gotten into you?” I pushed his arm away. “If you’re really here to help then go and give Nick a hand.”

Dante reached behind me and pulled on the strap of my apron. “Your apron is untied. I’ll fix that for you first.”

“Four hot dogs.” Haley gave Ethan his plate. “I saved the biggest ones for you.”

Dante mumbled something behind me that sounded suspiciously like “cocktail size.”

“I’ll let you get back to work,” Ethan said. “Will I see you tonight?”

I opened my mouth and Dante yanked on my apron strings, pulling me back toward him.

“What are you doing?” I snapped. “Any tighter and I won’t be able to talk.”

“Good.”

“We’ll be there.” Haley shot me a worried look, waiting for my confirmation. I had a sudden flashback to the day Dante had brought two women to the station. Something wicked flared inside me and I gave Ethan a nod.

“Yes, definitely.”

“Oh. My. God,” Haley said as Dante muttered something unintelligible under his breath. “Why didn’t you tell me about him? Did he just fly here from Olympus? Did you see that body? And that jaw? I just looked him up on my phone, and he’s for sure going to the NBA…”

I tried to focus on what she was saying, but Dante was right behind me, his hands still holding my apron strings. I could feel the heat of his body and the delicious whisper of his breath against my neck.

“What’s got into you?” I looked back over my shoulder at his scowling face. “Let me go.”

He released me right away and I put my hands behind me to untie the straps. “What was that?” I demanded.

“What was what?” His scowl turned to a look of pure innocence. “Your apron needed to be tied.”

“Not like this.” I could feel multiple knots. “It’s going to take forever to untie.”

“You don’t want your apron falling off when you’re cooking hot dogs or making dates with Ethan.” There was an edge to his voice I hadn’t heard before. “It’s not safe.”

“I didn’t make a date with Ethan,” I said, acutely aware that Haley and Nick were listening to our conversation with interest. “I had one date with him a long time ago and things didn’t work out. I was honestly surprised he remembered me.”

“I’m honestly surprised he didn’t order more hot dogs so he could spend even more time talking to you.”

“I’m just happy he came out to support the station.”

Dante’s forehead creased in a frown. “I’ll tell you what’s coming out…”

“Dante,” Nick called out. “I need a hand. I can’t keep up.”

“Well, that was the most interesting thing that has happened all week.” Haley picked at the knots on my apron. “Which one of the two hottest guys on campus do you want? And I’m asking for the simple, selfish reason that I’ll be happy to take your leftovers.”

“I don’t want either of them. I’m not looking to get involved with anyone right now,” I said. “I’ve got training, the internship, work at the coffee shop, and my classes to juggle. I’m also writing for the school newspaper, the Havencrest Express . Dante and Ethan are just friends.”

“Dante was right that Ethan bought the hot dogs just to talk to you. Look across the quad. He’s giving them away.”

I didn’t want to look so I focused on opening another package of hot dog buns. When I first came to Havencrest, I would have literally died if Ethan had bought four hot dogs just to speak to me, but now, even after his apology and kind words, he didn’t make my heart or my knees weak. Too bad the man who made me melt had no interest in anything more than kisses in the dark.

“And Dante…” Haley continued. “He wasn’t giving off ‘friend’ vibes. Do you want my psychological analysis of the situation?”

“No.”

“Too bad, because you’re getting it. Dante has never come to a single fundraiser in all the time I’ve been at the station. Even after Noah said it was going to be all-hands-on-deck, he somehow got Nick to agree to take all his hot dog stand shifts. And yet, here he is doing something he hates to do. Why do you think that is?”

I looked over to see him watching me. He pointed to his chest and then his eyes and then at me—the mafia gesture for “I see you.” I couldn’t fight my laughter, and his face lit up with a smile.

“Maybe he’s changed,” I said. “Maybe he just wants to help save the station.”

“Or…” Haley countered. “Maybe he’s here for you.”

The fundraiser was a huge success. We sold out of hot dogs just as the sun began to set. Although the local media didn’t show up, I took a picture of Chad in his WJPK apron with a hot dog in one hand and a professor’s baby under his other arm and promised him it would appear alongside the article I was writing for the Havencrest Express, about the importance of indie radio. After we had packed everything away, I messaged Isla and invited her to meet us at the station for celebratory drinks. She and Nick had been messaging each other since last Saturday’s basketball game and I had a feeling she would want to see him.

“Anyone interested in a Friday-night game of pick-up?” Chad asked after Haley had passed out vodka shots in paper cups.

“I think we should plan for less-volatile team-building activities,” Nick said, sliding a glance in Dante’s direction. Dante had stayed for the rest of the event and helped us clean up when it was done. I’d been expecting him to leave, but he’d come with us and was now sitting in the corner, strumming on a guitar.

“If you want to get people here excited about an event,” Haley said, “organize a Dungeons & Dragons campaign, trivia night, cosplay party, or take them on an adventure to see an undiscovered local indie band at a dive bar.”

“Haley and I told Ethan we’d be going to his frat party,” I offered. “He said we could bring friends.”

Dante gave an annoyed grunt. “Maybe you should reconsider. You don’t have a good track record at frat parties.”

“Excuse me?” My voice rose in pitch. “I went to one frat party, and it was my first time drinking that much. I get a pass.” What the hell was going on with Dante? He’d told me last Saturday that what had happened wasn’t meant to happen. But then he’d told me he hadn’t been with anyone since he met me, and I had no idea how to respond. And then he’d shown up and gotten into a pissing contest with Ethan that apparently wasn’t over.

Dante angrily strummed the first few bars of The Jeff Healey Band’s “Stuck In The Middle With You,” and all my confusion coalesced into a ball of irritation.

“You’re not stuck anywhere,” I snapped. “No one is forcing you to come to the party.”

“What about breaking into an empty building?” Isla suggested. “I’m taking an anthropology elective and my prof sent a couple of us over to the old social science building to look for a skull that had gone missing when they moved the department at the beginning of the term. It was cool being in there with no one around, and I thought it would be the perfect place to play hide-and-seek.”

Isla’s idea was met with enthusiasm from everyone but me. “How would we even get in?” I reached for another paper cup. This evening was going to require a lot of vodka, whether I went to the frat party or not.

“I can pick the lock,” Dante said.

“Why do you know how to pick locks?”

“It’s one of the many skills I developed as a child. I binged lock picking shows on YouTube and then asked my grandmother for a set of lock picking tools for Christmas to perfect my craft.”

I opened my mouth to ask more about this juicy tidbit he had bestowed about his life, but something in his face made me think twice.

“What if the building has structural problems and the roof falls on us? What if they catch us. I don’t want to get kicked out of school.”

Dante started to play Kenny Rogers’s “Coward of the County” and I shot to my feet. “Are you kidding me? I’m no coward. Someone take away his guitar before I smash it over his head. Are you guys listening to this?”

“Babe…” Isla shook her head. “We don’t speak music the way you do, but whatever he’s saying, I don’t think you need to worry. I was in there and it all looked structurally fine. If someone sees us, at worst they’ll tell us to get out. Lighten up.”

“Every time you tell me to lighten up, bad things happen,” I reminded her, thinking of our visit to the frat house.

“Every time you choose the straight path, you miss out on all the fun,” she retorted. “Can’t you feel your heart pumping already? We’ll have an entire building to ourselves.”

“I’ve been in there recently, too,” Dante said. “The university is planning to renovate all the empty buildings as student residences and Noah got permission for me to check them out. He’s planning to argue that they’ll have more than enough additional space without including this building in the mix. I wouldn’t let us all in if it was dangerous.”

“Are you sure?” I looked over, only to find Dante’s steady gaze on me.

“I would never let anything happen to you,” he said. “Trust me.”