Love to Hate You

Chapter Nineteen

“We should talk.” Justin whispers into my ear at the end of practice.

I look over my shoulder into his grey eyes to find that they’re concentrating on mine. My eyebrows furrow together for a moment before my features soften and I shrug.

“Sure.” I answer simply while flicking the mic off and resting it on the stand carefully.

The other boys have left, except for Alex because he was adjusting his cymbals.

“See you later Ginger, oops I mean… I don’t know what to call you anymore.” Alex groans disappointedly while flipping a strand of my red hair up to prove his point.

“Reese sounds good to me.” I smile smartly while crossing my arms.

“Naw, that’s too mainstream.” He sighs, looking down at his feet in thought. I snort and roll my eyes. Suddenly, his face lights up and he looks up to beam at me, “Strawberry Shortcake.”

I suppress a giggle and give him a light shove backward.

“That won’t work either.” Justin announces from the other side of the garage as he looks up from the controls.

“And why not?” Alex shoots back.

“Because she’s not sweet, she’s sour.”

Alex smiles widely at this while I throw Justin a look.  He mimics my face and pokes his tongue out at me.

“It’s still staying.” Alex whispers with a wink, “See you later, Strawberry Shortcake.”

“More like Raggedy Anne.” Justin comments.

“Maybe Kim Possible, because she’s badass.” Alex muses while heading out the door.

“Poison Ivy.”

“Jessica Rabbit.”

“Poison Ivy? Jessica Rabbit?” I ask with a raised eyebrow.

“Poison Ivy is evil.” Justin notes, eying me up in the process, “It fits.”

“Yeah, but Jessica Rabbit is sexy.” Alex assures me, “Then again, so is Poison Ivy…”

“I was referring to the evil part, actually.” Justin says defensively while crossing his arms over his chest.

“That’s ‘cause Justin likes his women sassy!” Alex declares, and with that he salutes us and jogs down the street, skateboard in hand.

Justin stares daggers at the back of Alex’s head while he boards away. I want to say something to push his buttons, to heighten his anger, but let’s face it we just got out of a war and I’m tired.

Hugging my arms to my chest I step closer to Justin and rock on my feet, “So, what did you want to talk about anyway?”

He scratches the back of his head nervously, giving me a side glance before letting out a deep breath.

“I just, um, wanted to ask about the duet thing, again.” He mumbles.

My eyebrows rise at this and I turn toward him slightly.

“Oh…”

“Yeah…”

There’s silence between us for a moment. I really don’t want to do a duet because it would seem kind of…couple-y, and we are not even close to being a couple. Heck, we aren’t even friends, really.

“Sorry, I just thought maybe you changed your mind about that.” He says, breaking the silence.

I exhale deeply while fiddling with the guitar pick hanging from my neck, thinking. Just because we sing a duet doesn’t mean anything really, now that I think about it. Celebrities do that kind of thing all of the time.