Page 5 of Waves of Time

Just like always, Thaddeus appeared in the restaurant around ten and seated himself at the bar, grinning at Aria.

“Hey, Thaddeus,” Violet said.

Thaddeus hardly glanced her way. “Hey, Violet! Hey, Aria! How was the night?”

Aria’s voice wavered. “It was really good. Busy. We’re zonked.”

“But it’s Aria’s last night for a while,” Violet added.

Thaddeus slumped his shoulders slightly, clearly disappointed. “Where you off to now, world traveler?”

“San Francisco,” Aria said.

Thaddeus’ eyes opened wider. “I always wanted to go out there and see that beautiful city. Have you ever been?”

“A few times,” Aria said, remembering the disastrous trip at age eight. It had been bizarre yet exhilarating to spend so much time with her father— one-on-one time. She’d cried with excitement and then just kept on crying until her mother had taken a flight out to be there, too.

“Lucky,” Thaddeus said, which made her blush. Aria knew Thaddeus wasn’t exactly from a “good” family. The Mitchells had always struggled with money, and their father was in prison somewhere. Thaddeus was the oldest, so he had to watch out for all his brothers and sisters and contribute to the household funds. Aria wasn’t sure if his mother worked or not. There were younger children at home, and she’d struggled to hold down jobs before.

“Listen,” Thaddeus said, leaning over the bar, “I don’t know if you know about the party tonight?”

Aria and Violet glanced at one another.

“We’re listening,” Violet said.

“It’s at a house near the beach,” Thaddeus said. “My band is playing, and it would be really cool if you both came out.” He invited both of them, although he remained focused on Aria— as though she was the only other person in the room.

“I don’t know,” Aria stuttered. “My mom says we have to head to the airport around eleven.”

“That’s nothing,” Thaddeus said. “Even if you go to bed at three, you can get close to seven hours of sleep.”

“Dangerous,” Aria said with a laugh.

“I told you last time,” Thaddeus began, lowering his voice, “you don’t need to drink anything at all. Nobody cares. My band has some new material, and it would be cool to get your feedback on some of our songs.”

Aria struggled not to smile. A part of her wanted to ask him just what on earth he thought she could say about his music. It wasn’t like she was a musician. Another part knew it was all a ruse just to talk to her— a fact that thrilled her.

“Aria can definitely stop by,” Violet interrupted her chaotic thoughts and placed her arm over Aria’s shoulders. “I mean, he needs your feedback on his music! You can’t leave him hanging.”

Not long afterward, Thaddeus headed out to set up the drum set and guitars at the house party, leaving Aria and Violet to put up the chairs and mop the floor of the restaurant. Robby had gone, and they played their favorite songs over the speakers, laughing and chatting.

“He’s so in love with you,” Violet said of Thaddeus, wagging her eyebrows.

Aria blushed as she scrubbed a beer stain from the ground.

“And you like him, too,” Violet said with authority. “I can tell.”

“You can not,” Aria returned.

“Aria, I’ve known you for years,” Violet said. “You’ve never crushed on a boy like you crush on Thaddeus.”

“We’re just friends,” Aria returned. “It’s always been that way. I mean, we used to hang out a little bit in high school.”

“When he was a senior, and you were a freshman?”

“We had study hall together,” Aria explained. “We used to draw caricatures of people in the class. He’s really talented.”

Violet tilted her head thoughtfully.