Page 12 of Serenade Me

Chapter Four

Marius

“Wait. You’re really Anca?” I repeat, trying to make sense of what’s going on.

She rolls her eyes and turns to Jez. “Did his mother drop him on his head when he was a baby?” she asks him.

Jez finds it hilarious, of course. “Oh, you heard about that?” he says to her but grinning at me. Then he frowns. “Dude, you’ve met Anca before, surely.”

It takes me a moment to rifle through my memory. It finally comes to me, “Yeah, like 8 years ago, at Guildhall. She was a freshman when we were seniors.”

“Yeah.” He nods, rummaging around his memory as well.

“Well, anyway, you, er… she, er. You look. Um. Different.” I stammer, trying to find the right word. Fuckable doesn’t seem like it would be appropriate, nor appreciated by either of the brother or sister staring me down.

She scowls, her expression of choice all night, and mumbles something that sounds like “Ugh, different. Asshole.”

“What?” Jez asks.

“Um, nothing.” She waves her hand. He frowns at her and she stares him down, daring him to ask her again. She wins.

“Er, yeah, anyway, come on, everyone’s waiting. You too, manwhore,” he emphasizes the word, obviously overhearing the end of my conversation with his sister.

They walk ahead of me, and I’m trying to reconcile the feisty, mouthy woman with the shy 13-year-old I met almost a decade ago. I can’t say that I recognized her at all.

Jez’s sister.

Damn.

Shit on a hotdog stick.

Well, whatever I was considering, which is nothing, is going to have to be forgotten. Not that I was considering anything, I tell myself. Just that talking to her was infuriating. But interesting. In its infuriatingness, that’s all. Nothing else.

Jez is introducing her or re-introducing her to everyone when I catch up with them at the bar.

“Guys, this is Anca. Anca, this is Cadence and Hailey. You remember the band, of course.”

“Of course! Hi Sebastian, Brad.” She smiles at each of them as she says their name.

Then she turns around and stares me in the eyes, definitely not smiling. “And Marius.”

Fuck. She’s known who I am this whole time? Why didn’t she say anything? There’s something, like a challenge in her eyes and I can’t help but want to aggravate her.

I hold out my hand, “Yeah, hi, Anca. We’ve met before. But you probably don’t remember. It’s ok.”

“Wha? I...” she splutters. “I know we’ve met, you’re the one who didn’t remember!”

“Now, does that really seem true to you? A pretty girl like yourself, not likely I would forget you.”

“Yeah, that really doesn’t sound like Marius at all,” Brad chimes in, not realizing what he’s getting in the middle of. “He might forget to shower or the right end of a toothbrush, but he wouldn’t forget a woman.”

I grin at her. “See?”

The look she gives me is pure venom.

“Who you calling a pretty girl?” Jez cuts in, ruining the fun. And he gives me a look that will keep me up in the coming weeks. Loaded. Warning.

“Sorry.” I say backing away from her. “Just being nice. I didn’t mean it.” Her head whips around and she searches my face for meaning. “I mean, I didn’t mean anything by it.” I say, my voice lowered, but loud enough for her to hear. A hardness in her eyes softens and feel a sense of relief that she hasn’t misunderstood me. Not that it matters to me, of course.