Higher Octave (Heavy Influence #2.5) by Ann Marie Frohoff

eye, and
flowing hair, with blue musical notes floating through it. A
picture of it had been published more times than I could count
– The Musical Medusa . Grace didn’t take notice to the extra attention, except when
we ascended the stairs. A skinny dude wearing a wetsuit stopped us.
He asked to take his picture with me.
    Slowly, we walked up the hill to the pizza
joint watching Ethan stick pennies into each and every meter. Grace
just shrugged her shoulders, saying, “It’s easier to just let him
do it than to argue with him. I pick my battles these days.”
    Then we cruised over to the ice-cream store
on the corner. The line inside was long, and Grace piled her chair,
bag, and towels onto the wooden bench out front.
    “My treat,” she chirped. “What’s your
vice?”
    “Mint and chip.”
    She clucked her tongue, giving me a gunshot
gesture. “You got it. Watch my stuff?”
    “Sure.” She grabbed Ethan’s hand, and they
disappeared into the store. I turned, sitting, and pulled the hat
down cover my face as much as I could and waited. Then I thought I
heard her voice, Aly’s voice, and my hair stood up. Nah, it was
just someone who sounded like her. She was at school, I told
myself. I looked around, only seeing people I didn’t know, and
focused back on reading emails on my phone.
    “Hey.” The voice sent me zinging, and there
she was. Aly stood in front of me. I blinked hard, not really
believing it. In an instant, chills ran over me and my palms were
soaking wet.
    Fuck . My heart raced up my throat, and I swallowed it down.
“Hey.”
    “I didn’t want to walk by and not say
hello.” Her little lopsided grin tugged at me.
    “What are you doing? Isn’t it a school
day?”
    “Yeah, but I’m done, graduation is in a few
days…finally.” The way she looked at me ripped my heart out. We
both let that last word hang in the air for a moment, but neither
of us acknowledged it. “And I had a doctor’s appointment,” she
finished with a shrug. She looked radiant, as always, wearing
signature denim cut-offs and a tank top.
    I stood up. “You’re okay, yeah?”
    She nodded. “Yeah, just girl stuff.”
    “Ahh.” I felt awkward. Looking directly at
her ring finger. She wasn’t wearing Nathan’s ring. I wanted to hug
her and say things to her that I knew she probably didn’t want to
hear, but I did anyway. “You look beautiful.”
    She sighed, her eyes penetrating me to my
core. A tiny smiled twitched at the corners of her mouth. She was
just about to say something when Ethan’s little voice shouted my
name.
    “Jake, look!” He came running out of the
storefront like a rocket, with his ice cream cone in hand, and
totally ate the pavement just feet from me. His ice cream rolled
off the cone, and he instantly wailed. I stepped quickly, pulling
him off the ground, crouching in front of him for inspection.
    “You’ll be okay, buddy, take a breath,” I
said, trying to comfort him, but he had big red raspberries on both
of his elbows and his knee. I picked him up, and he wrapped his
legs and arms around me tightly, sobbing.
    “My ice cream! It was my favorite,” he cried
into my neck.
    “Shh, hey, we’ll get you another one.” I
said to him tenderly, rubbing his back, trying to calm him down. I
turned to face Aly and she was in shock. Then Nathan, of all
people, came out from another storefront just adjacent to the ice
cream store.
    Awkward.
    Fire in my stomach instantly ignited. I
really hated that guy, and I had no reason to anymore, other than
for the jealously he invoked in me.
    “Um, uh,” Aly stammered. She was breathless
from the spectacle, her chest heaving. I was certain seeing me, and
having Nathan there, was part of it too. “Is he okay?” she
croaked.
    “Yeah.” I chuckled it off. “He needs to slow
down. He only has one speed, and it’s fast. This is Ethan.” I
turned to show his face, but he buried it in my chest, covering it
with his hand.
    Nathan’s face was stern as he