Free Echoes of Us by Teegan Loy

fools rush in and fall in love.
    Several songs later, Jade quieted the strings. I almost leaped to my feet to beg him for one more song.
    “Sing one more,” Mrs. Morgan pleaded. I wanted to kiss her.
    He sang a song called “Stars . ” I think I swooned.
    When it was over, I felt like I was floating across the sky.
    “Thank you, Mrs. Morgan, for letting me hang out with you,” Jade said.
    I’m pretty sure I could hear her smiling. “Thank you for letting me listen. And please, call me Beth. You have a very lovely voice.”
    The piano bench scraped against the floor, and I knew Jade had stood up. I jumped from my hiding space and raced for my door, then quickly got inside.
    “What are you doing?” Maggie asked.
    “Holy shit!” I shouted, clutching my chest. “Are you trying to scare me to death?”
    Maggie had the fridge door open and was looking at me over her shoulder. “I’m not the one creeping around in the middle of the night.”
    “I wasn’t creeping.”
    “Mmmhmm,” Maggie said. “So, where’s Jade, then?”
    The sound of his footsteps walking up the steps to the deck set off my panic alarm. “He’s coming,” I said, then grabbed her arm and yanked her down the hall and into my bedroom.
    “Rylan, let go of me,” she said. She tried to wrench her arm free, but I wrapped her in my arms to quiet her. “Were you spying on Jade?”
    “No,” I said. She gave me a strange look, and I caved. “Okay, yes. Shhhhhh.”
    We both stilled when we heard noise in the hallway. His bedroom door closed, and I let her go and sank down to the floor.
    “Are you certifiably crazy?” she asked.
    I buried my face in my hands. “Yes.”
    “What’s going on?”
    “Can I plead the Fifth this time? It’s a new semester, so it’s a clean slate.”
    Maggie and I had this thing where every semester, we had three plead the Fifth cards we could use when we didn’t want to tell the other something. I always seemed to use mine before the second week was over. She stockpiled hers. But that was only because she told me everything, even things I didn’t want to know.
    She pursed her lips, thinking about it for a few moments before she decided to let me off the hook.
    “Okay, but you’re down to only one plead the Fifth card left for this semester.”
    “Why?” I protested.
    “You pled the Fifth with the Jeff thing and the Jesse thing.”
    “I did not,” I whined. How did she remember all this shit?
    “Rylan,” she said, putting her hands on her hips. “You’re lucky I’m combining them. I could tell you that you’re out of Fifth cards for the semester, and I have a feeling you’re going to need them.”
    I huffed and folded my arms over my chest, scowling at her.
    “And you’re cooking dinner again tomorrow night,” she added.
    “Fine,” I answered. She could have asked me for a week of dinners, and I would have agreed. I wasn’t ready to spill my stalking secrets yet.

Chapter 4

     
    N O ONE was around when I rolled out of bed the next day. It was a little disappointing to run without Jade, but after my stalking incident last night, I needed a little alone time to clear my head.
    They still weren’t home when I got back from my run. The house remained empty after my shower and after breakfast. I frowned and checked my phone for the millionth time, but there was no message from either Maggie or Jade. It was a bit silly to think that Jade would check in with me. He’d never asked me for my phone number.
    I finally decided it was stupid to worry about those two. If I really wanted to know where Maggie was, I could call her. I did peek into Maggie’s room just to make sure she wasn’t hiding, but her room was empty and neat as a fucking magazine layout.
    Jade’s door was closed, and I stood in the hall, arguing with myself. I had no right to snoop, even though I was dying to look. To ease my nosiness, I locked myself in my room and turned on some music.
    I was lying on my bed twiddling my thumbs