Free Phone Calls From a Rock Star by J. L. Paul

box, forcing my eyes to the package. I carefully
ripped the paper off and lifted the lid. My heart stopped as I
fingered the shimmering gold bracelet. I smiled at the round charm
with ‘IZ’ engraved elegantly on the front. I flipped it over and
read ‘Love, Jake’. I couldn’t stop the emotions as my eyes misted.
I stood on shaky legs and hugged him. He rubbed my back and
chuckled lightly.
    “ I take it you like it,
then?”
    I nodded in his chest, ashamed to show him
my moist eyes. He squeezed me as he dropped a kiss on the top of my
head. He held me for a few minutes more before reluctantly
loosening his grip. “I wrote a new song, and I want you to hear
it.”
    I nodded again and stepped back, wiping the
tears from my cheeks. “Help me put this on, first,” I asked, taking
the bracelet out of the box. His fingers brushed my wrist as he
fastened the hook and made my skin tingle in an eerie sort of
way.
    “ It looks good on you,” he
said, a twinkle in his eyes. I blushed and ducked my head but the
wide smile on his face clued me in that he’d noticed. He picked up
a guitar out of a case and strummed on the strings. Plopping on the
bed, I scooted up to the headboard.
    “ That night with you
inspired this song. And be warned, this is the closest you’ll ever
get to me singing about butterflies and rainbows.” He gave me a
stern look that he totally ruined when an impish grin cracked his
lips.
    Laughing, I pulled my legs to my chest. I
rested my chin on my knees and listened as he strummed a short
introduction and began singing, sending my heart to outer space. He
sang about a night free from responsibility and hanging out with a
friend. He sang about lying under the stars and watching fireflies
play in the fields. It wasn’t the least bit corny. It was more
about realizing how insignificant you really were and how so many
out there had more on their plate than you. I felt the tears build
behind my eyes as he finished. He just looked at me, waiting for my
reaction.
    “ Wow,” I managed to say, my
frozen body still absorbing the notes that seemed to waft in the
air.
    “ Thanks,” he grinned,
setting his guitar back in the case. “That song is on the CD I gave
you.” He paused to stare at me a moment. “What do you want to do
now?”
    “ Listen to you sing some
more,” I blurted. My cheeks heated again.
    It was his turn to blush as his grin
softened into a deep smile. I gasped.
    “ What?” he
asked.
    “ You have a
dimple!”
    Rolling his eyes, he stood and held out a
hand to help me to my feet. “Let’s go for a ride on my bike.”
    “ Your bike?” Surely he
didn’t ride a ten-speed all the way here from Chicago.
    “ Motorcycle,” he laughed.
“You’re not afraid, are you?”
    “ How did you manage to haul
all these gifts and your guitar on a motorcycle?” Was he a
magician, too?
    He laughed again and tugged on the sleeve of
the sweatshirt I still hadn’t returned. “It wasn’t hard. Give me
the sweatshirt back. You can wear my jacket—it’ll be warmer.”
    I removed his sweatshirt and took the heavy
leather jacket he handed me. The sleeves fell way past my hands and
Jake smirked. He rolled them back a little and zipped the jacket up
before removing his hat to pull the hoodie over his head. He put
the hat on backwards, stuffed the keycard in his back pocket and
took my hand.
    The motorcycle was big and intimidating.
Jake grabbed a helmet hanging from the handlebars and forced it in
my hands. “Put that on, Iz and get on back.”
    “ Shouldn’t you wear the
jacket?” I asked. Maybe I was stalling, though I wasn’t sure if it
was fear of the bike or fear of wrapping my arms around him so
intimately. “You’ll be in front, you know.”
    “ No, I’ll be fine. Just do
as I say and put the helmet on, huh?”
    I huffed. “Don’t order me around.” I wasn’t
mad, really. It was the principle of the thing.
    He rolled his eyes again—a quirk of his I
was beginning to recognize—as