Sometimes

Chapter twenty

   I still felt awful about the whole Brandon thing at work the next day.  It didn’t help that I kept catching Lance giving me strange looks.  When I’d questioned him about it, he’d said that Brandon had told him about me turning him down.  That had made me feel worse, knowing that he’d told his friends.  The last thing I wanted was word getting around College that I was a callous bitch who’d lead Brandon on before ripping the carpet from beneath his feet.  Because that so wasn’t true.  I’d given him hints but, like Aiden had pointed out to me, they obviously didn’t work. 

    That got me thinking about Sonny, too.  In my head, I’d been giving him loads of signals that I liked him.  The smiles.  The haircut.  The violet t-shirt.  In reality though, I was probably no nearer to letting him know that I liked him than Cassie was to getting a date with Mike.  It turns out she’d just stared wordlessly at him while I’d given Brandon the bad news.  So we were both in the same boat.  Single and no closer to getting the guy than we were the day before.  There was good news though; Cassie promised never to wear the push up bra again.  She even said we could burn it.

    “Harriet!”

I peered up from where I’d been cleaning tables to see Leanne waving me over to the staff door.  I picked up the spray bottle and made my way over to her, the chatter and laughter of the customers just background noise in my ears.  I felt depressed.

    “What?” I asked, setting my cleaning stuff down on the counter before following Leanne into the staff room.  She had a burnt orange skirt on today and the colour reminded me of my French text book.  My stomach lurched as Brandon’s face flashed in my mind.

    “He did it.”

I cocked an eyebrow.  “Who did what?”

She patted the seat next to her and I slumped down into it.

    “Sonny got the editor of LZ magazine to agree to come to our gig next Thursday!”  She clapped her hands in excitement.  “It’s so awesome!”

I managed a smile. “That’s great.”

    “I know,” she replied, her face bright.  “Oh, and Sonny said to give you this.”  My attention spiked at the mention of Sonny giving me something just as Leanne leaned across to give me a giant hug.  “Though he said he’d give you a hug himself when he sees you next.”

My smile grew and I tried not to sound as excited as I felt.  “Oh, cool.”

    “Yeah, he’s well pleased that you had the idea to contact them.  He reckons it could be our big break, being in a national music magazine.  You know, next stop record company scouts at our gigs and then before we know it, we’ll be famous.”  She sighed and her eyes grew wider as she started daydreaming about The Dead Atlantic going global.

    “Is that all you wanted?” I asked.  The thought of Sonny giving me a hug had cheered me up for a bit, but the underlying guilt that I felt was still there.  I just needed someone to tell me that I’d done the right thing. 

    “Oh, yeah. You can go if you want.”

I nodded and got up.  I was halfway to the door when I paused.  “Leanne?”

She looked up from her phone.

    “I told Brandon that I wasn’t interested yesterday and it made me feel horrible.  Like I was the worst person in the world.”

Leanne dropped her phone into her lap and beckoned me back to her.  I moved slowly and when I was near enough, she pulled me back in for another hug.

    “Sometimes life sucks,” she said into my ear.  “But it’s not your fault.  You did the right thing by him.”

I smiled meekly.  “Thanks.”