Things I Know About Love by Kate Le Vann Page A

there were drinks sticking out of it—mostly beers, some sodas. We ran into Kyle by the Coke machine; he was rocking it from side to side and laughing, and it wasn’t clear whether he was trying to claim a legal bottle of Sprite or thought he’d worked out a way of stealing from it. I was actually pleased to see someone I knew because there were a lot of older people I didn’t know wandering around and I’d felt out of place since I got there and knew I didn’t want to stay. We would have gone earlier, but it became clear pretty soon on that Jeff might be bit stranded if we did.
    The first thing that happened was that Krystina started dancing, and Jeff has never been much of a dancer, so he stayed with me and Adam—we stood in a line talking about the music and watching her. At the beginning she pulled me over with her by my wrists, but no one else was really dancing, although a couple of girls in groups were standing around sort of moving to the music. I felt very stupid—I was one of the youngest people here, and dancing seemed to draw attention to that. I retreated to Adam and Jeff, and Krystina came to pull me back again, but I smiled and shook my head, knotting my arm with Adam’s. She went back to dancing, losing herself in the music, her hands winding imaginary ribbons above her head, her eyes half-closed. We stayed with Jeff, but there was something about this that seemed wrong and made me feel bad for him. A boy I’d never seen before, indie-kid looks—dyed black hair, a silver spike piercing just under his lower lip, and a few heavy silver chains around his wrist—but very attractive, started dancing with her.
    I could hear Krystina shouting to him over the music, “Trey! Have you got some of your music? Can they put on some of your music, Trey?”
    The boy felt in his pockets and shook his head.
    “Oh, yeah, that’s got to be Trey,” Jeff said, nodding. “He’s the singer in a band she likes—the Psycho Rats.”
    “Are they any good?” Adam asked, kind of just for something to say. Jeff shrugged.
    Trey was holding Krystina loosely around the waist. I glanced anxiously at Jeff. I also couldn’t think of anything to say.
    “So, Jeff,” I said, before I’d decided what would come next, then I just said the first thing that came into my head: “Do you think there’s somewhere I could sit down for a bit?” It was totally the wrong thing to say, because Jeff is always completely over the top with worrying about me if I so much as cough or admit that I’m even slightly tired.
    “Let’s find a quiet spot,” he said.
    Adam and I followed him to a grassy square behind the apartments where the music was muted. It had been so loud a minute before that I had a steady rough hiss in my ears now that it had stopped. We sat on the grass and Jeff gave me a bottle of water. “Are you okay?” he asked.
    I nodded. I was thinking, Stop, Jeff! Don’t say something crazy and concerned, something that will make Adam ask questions. Stop looking so worried about me.
    “I think we might head off soon,” Adam said. He looked at me. “You think?”
    “Yeah,” I said. I really wanted to go, but I didn’t want to leave my brother behind.
    Adam and I looked at each other, then he turned to Jeff. “Do you wanna come with us?” I felt so embarrassed, not really understanding what everyone was feeling right now.
    “No, I’m sticking around,” Jeff said, with a forced breeziness. “But yeah, you two go, that’s smart. I’ll let Krys know. I’ve got my phone, Liv. Call me if you need me—it doesn’t matter what time it is.”
    I felt for my phone and took it out of my bag to show Jeff, even though he hadn’t asked to see it. “Yep, I will,” I said brightly.
    “Are you okay?” Jeff asked again.
    “I’m great!”
    “Okay, you want to keep going through there, that’ll get you back on the road,” Jeff said, pointing the way home. We all stood up untidily, and I brushed a little dried mud off