Page 19 of Take Her On

The light changed, and they followed the stream of cars through the town. Old men cradled their cigarettes outside the pub doors, already well into their third or fourth beer of the early evening. The rest of the streets were quiet. A few dog walkers marched about in raincoats and hats, wellies splashing as they paraded through the growing puddles.

A new song started playing, the opening beats only just audible. Without thinking, Jamie squealed. “Oooh! I love this song.” She shot Maya a cheeky smile, her fingers hovering over the volume dial. Surely the grump couldn’t hate eighties music? “Do you mind if I…?”

“Go ahead.”

Jamie grinned, immediately cranking the song up six notches and bobbing her head. It was one of her favourites. She murmured the lyrics under her breath, but her dancing was not as confined. Her head whipped side to side in time with the beat, letting the music do its thing. She caught Maya watching her, and the smile creeping onto her face. Something squeezed in Jamie’s chest. “What?”

“You like this song?” Maya asked, lifting an eyebrow.

“Yeah. It’s Depeche Mode,” she said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “‘Just Can’t Get Enough.’”

“That’s unexpected from you.”

“Maybe you don’t know me as well as you think.” The line slipped out. Jamie couldn’t help it.

Maya narrowed her eyes but didn’t bite. “Why do you like it?”

“This song? Because it’s great.”

“But it’s so old.”

She turned to her again. “So what?”

“My mum likes this music.”

“Then I’d say your mum has good taste.”

The heater hissed as it bombarded them with hot air, and Maya reached to turn it down a notch.

Jamie inched the volume a little higher as the chorus crept in, and the sound reverberated from the speakers. She sang loud and out-of-tune, unbothered by Maya hearing her. Who cared if she didn’t like it? She would already put Jamie’s head on a spit if she got half a chance.

Jamie peeked at Maya out of the corner of her eye. “You can’t shake your head at me. You’re tapping your foot to it too.”

“I’m not.” Maya immediately stopped bouncing her leg, and Jamie cackled.

“It’s the power of the eighties, Maya. Even a stubborn mule like you can’t listen to this music without wanting to have a good time. Here.” She skipped a couple of songs on the screen, exclaiming when she found the one she wanted. “Pet Shop Boys.”

Maya scrunched her eyebrows. “What kind of a name is that?”

Jamie laughed. “That’s not the strangest one. What about A Flock of Seagulls?”

“That’s so weird.”

“Exactly. It’s all part of the fun. Now, listen.”

Maya snorted, but she seemed to have unfrozen. “And I’m the one who’s stubborn?”

Jamie silenced her with a smile as she inched the volume up again to belt the chorus to “Always on my Mind”. She caught Maya smiling again.

“I know this song,” Maya shouted above the noise. “Wasn’t this originally an Elvis song?”

Jamie nodded, bouncing hard in her seat as the rain continued to pour outside.

“My grandpa loves Elvis.”

“I’d say he also has good taste, then.” They shared a smile, and warmth spread into Jamie’s sternum like hot lava. She turned left onto their estate, a little abruptly, but didn’t miss how Maya’s face fell.

Jamie wanted to ask her about it, but she didn’t want to dampen the progress they’d made tonight. Making Maya smile had temporarily short-circuited her brain, the heat in her chest fogging her other senses.