Complicated Relationships (The Southern Devotion Series Book 3) by Amy McClung Page A

and I slipped downstairs to answer it before any else could. “You’re looking studly as ever,” Cameron said as I opened the door and waved him in. “What fabulousness do you need from me?” When I told him my idea of the eighties movies, I thought he’d pass out from the excitement. “Oh, my gosh! I have a million ideas for this, things I dreamed of myself. Like when the Princess gave the Criminal her diamond stud earring in The Breakfast Club or John Cusack holding the boombox up to Ione Skye to win her back.” 
    I stopped him, “That one; that’s from Say Anything , right?”  Cameron nodded with excitement that I knew a movie he referenced because he knows I’m behind on those. “That’s an awesome scene. Now we need a song for me to play for her.”
    Cameron thought for a moment and said, “Wait. No. The thing that every girl loved in the eighties' something that they found most romantic; mix tapes.”  My eyebrow arched with questions that sprang to mind. Before I could ask them, Cameron said, “We’ll find some of the most romantic songs from back then that make you think of her. Then we’ll put them on a cassette tape, and I’ll deliver it to her with a walkman.” 
    Bobbing my head, I asked, “Ok so when are going to rev up the DeLorean and go back in time to get a walkman and a cassette tape?” 
    Cameron’s face lit up at my movie reference again, and he grabbed my face and said, “You are getting so much better Tri-Stud! And haven’t you ever been to a pawn shop or antique store? They have these things. Even if we can’t buy an actual cassette to record on we can buy a cassette of some crappy music, put tape over the square hole at the bottom and tape over it.”  The explanation still confused me until he cried out in frustration. “You poor boy! Were you so privileged as a child that you never had a cassette tape growing up? I mean I know that CD’s have been around since before your birth but come on now! My family was rich of course, but Gracie and I used cassettes all day long! In fact, we used to host our own radio show.” He used his fingers to make quotation marks when he said radio show.
    “This seems like a lot of trouble to go through.”
    Cameron smacked my forehead. “That’s the point. She’ll know you went through a lot of trouble. Sure you can download a mix flash drive to give her but where’s the creativity or the effort in that? Come on, we have some antiquing to do.”
    Surprisingly enough, we found a box of recordable cassette tapes at the second antique store we hit. We grabbed up a couple of them and found a small cassette player that could record and play. Now we had to find music to put on it. We came up with ten songs pretty quickly.
     
    My list of take me back songs:
    Time After Time by Cyndi Lauper
    Can't Fight this Feeling by REO Speedwagon
    When I See You Smile, by Bad English
    I Wanna Know What Love Is by Foreigner
    I'll Be There For You by Bon Jovi
    Is This Love by Whitesnake
    I've Had the Time of my Life by Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes (Cameron insisted on this one)
    Heaven by Bryan Adams
    Alone by Heart
     
    And, of course, the list wouldn't be complete without: In Your Eyes by Peter Gabriel , the song that John Cusack played on a boom box for Ione Skye in Say Anything .
    Cameron helped me record these songs onto a mix tape for Lanie and agreed to deliver them along with a short note that I wrote to her which simply read:
    Lanie,
    I miss you. I’m respecting your request for time to think by not calling. Please, accept this mixtape so that I can let you know how I feel through the words of these songs. I had my friend Cameron deliver it so that I didn’t put you on the spot.
    Tristan.
     
    It’s cheesy which is usually not my style but have you watched an eighties' movie? They’re all cheesy, and the girls love them. So, I’m taking a page out of John Bender’s book and sacrificing a bit of myself to get the girl. Sometimes we don’t