The Way He Looks at Me

By Juliana Mae

Annie and her family left everything behind and moved over 3,000 miles away to California for her mother to become a musician. When Annie is reunited with an old family friend who is also an up-and-coming musician, she's far from complaining. Especially when he takes her to her first movie premiere where she meets two of her favorite bands.
Hayden from Vas Happenin' shows an immediate interest in Annie, and wastes no time in getting Annie's number. A coincidental run-in at Starbucks leaves Annie with a kiss from Colt from Sons of Jannone.
How will Annie be able to choose between the two? Or will someone else stand in her way?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Juliana Mae
• Release date: Feb 14, 2015
• ISBN: 9781311480927

Juliana Mae

Juliana Mae is a dreamer who loves music, words, and adventure. She has written for school newspapers, been featured in J-14 Magazine, reviewed books for Miss Literati, and published three books, In the Heart of an Unsocial Butterfly, The Way He Looks at Me, and Patton Pending.

Book preview

The Way He Looks at Me

Juliana Mae

Copyright © 2014 Juliana Mae

All rights reserved.

ISBN: 1502898292

ISBN-13: 978-1502898296

To my mom and Kathy Jung, thank you for reading all my works, and being my biggest supporters.

To Michael and Autti, my beautiful cover models, thank you for agreeing so immediately and enthusiastically to this. I can't tell you how much it means. You're an extremely lovely couple.

Prologue

Standing in front of my apartment later that night, we looked into each other’s eyes for a moment before he kissed me. All of his kisses so far had been perfect. I wondered what the odds of that were-how many couples always have perfect, magical kisses. Unless, maybe, you just had to find that one perfect person and everything would automatically be perfect, too...

I had to admit, that thought scared me a bit.

Chapter 1

Hello, Annie.

Hey Uncle Lorenzo. You remember my boyfriend Jesse? I asked, taking one hand off Jesse’s arm to gesture at him.

I do, Uncle Lorenzo agreed. Nice to see you again. He shook Jesse’s hand, leveling an intimidating look at him. Lorenzo always reminds me of Big Daddy, Wanda’s dad from the Fairly Odd Parents, with his rough, Italian accent and manners. You’re taking care of my girl Annie here, right?

Of course, sir, Jesse answered. It’s nice to see you again, too.

Are you excited about the big move, Annie? Uncle Lorenzo asked.

Very, I said.

Hey, you should get in touch with Giuseppe’s friend’s kid. You remember him? What’s his name? Uncle Lorenzo pondered.

You mean Dathan? I offered.

Right. That’s it. Dathan. We should get you in touch with him. He moved there a few years back, remember? Doing that music thing like your mom. He’d take care of you out there. That’s a good kid. We outta get you in touch with him, he repeated. That way you’ll have a friend when you get out there. You see Giuseppe, you ask him about it.

Thanks Uncle Lorenzo, I said.

Sure thing, Anneliese. Give me a hug, Bambina, he commanded. He pulled me tightly to his chest, messing up my hair before letting me go.

Look, there’s Aunt Vicky, I said, pointing her out to Jesse. See you later, Uncle Lorenzo.

Are you actually going to try to get with that Dathan guy? Jesse asked me as I tugged him away.

Why do you care? I questioned playfully. Probably not though. I love Dathan, but I don’t want it to feel like I’m forcing myself on him, or make him feel like he has to hang out with me because our families know each other. If we became friends, that would be great, but I think I’ll just wait and see if we bump into him there.

California’s a really big place, Annie. I doubt you’ll just run into him.

Well, we’ll see what happens. Aunt Vicky! I exclaimed, wrapping my arms around her neck.

♡♡♡♡♡♡♡

We're here, I texted Jesse. Of all the goodbyes I had to say, I knew this was going to be one of the harder ones.

Give me two minutes so I can go on break

He said to give him two minutes, I told my mom. We were sitting in our car, in the Target parking lot. I was thinking maybe I should stick around here until he gets off and we could hang out a little bit longer. Maybe have one last late night coffee together. But wait for a text or something just in case.

Okay, she agreed. But don't forget we have to get up early tomorrow.

"I know. I'd only hang out for an hour or so. Maybe we'll get a bite to eat or something. I'll definitely be home before midnight. I just want to kind of make the most out of tonight, you know? Really feel like I'm done here."

Yeah, I get it, she said.

I'm going to head in, I told her. I opened the car door and headed for Target's entrance.

Jesse, my boyfriend, worked at Target. It was actually where we met. As I walked, I remembered the first time I'd seen him.

☁☁☁☁☁☁☁

I had hopped out of my mom’s van, tugged my shorts down a bit-they had ridden up from sitting down-and leaned against the trunk of the car, waiting for my mom to get out as well. She had gotten her favorite spot, the one right next to the shopping cart return in the middle aisle of the lot.

My gaze had immediately snapped to Jesse, who appeared in between two cars, pushing a line of shopping carts in my direction. I had watched as he pushed the carts across the aisle, drumming his fingers on the cart he held onto to a tune I couldn't hear, a beat in his head.

My mom's car door had slammed and he looked up into my eyes. As I stared back at him, my first thought had been: I wonder if he's a drummer.

Are you ready? my mom had asked me.

What? Yeah, I said, realizing what she had said. Let's go. I ripped my eyes off of Jesse and pushed myself off the car. We had to cut off Jesse and the carts to get inside and I had felt his eyes on me as we walked by.

☁☁☁☁☁☁☁

I felt myself smile at the memory and then remembered the first time he'd talked to me.

☁☁☁☁☁☁☁

It had been about a month after the first time I'd seen him. My mom had gone to the bathroom and I was wandering through the sale items that they had at the front of the store.

Hey there, he'd said.

Hi, I replied, spinning around to face him.

Come here often? he joked.

Considering I see you noticing me here all the time, I'm going to have to go with yes, I said, hoping I sounded witty.

"Ah. So you have noticed, he said. I nodded. He shrugged. Caught me."

Hey, just curious, shouldn't you be, you know, working? I asked.

I'm on break, he explained lightly.

Ah.

☁☁☁☁☁☁☁

I snapped back out of my memories as I walked past the giant red concrete balls in front of the entrance. I locked onto Jesse's dark brown eyes through the automatic doors as he walked towards me.

Jesse's eyes were so dark, they were practically black. He was tall, and skinny, but he had a little muscle to him. He had medium length, brown hair that reminded me of Zac Efron's in the movie 17 Again. He had just graduated and wasn't sure what he was going to do with his life. He didn't want to go to college, so he was taking a year off from school to think about what he wanted to do.

We reached each other and he pulled me off to the side, away from the entrance.

Hey there, he said.

Hi.

So, last night in Pennsylvania, huh? How does it feel?

Weird, I told him.

Yeah, I'll bet. He embraced me and kissed me quickly, nothing special. It was friendlier than anything. Things had felt like they were heading in the friends direction just before I had told him we were moving, but I still felt an attachment to him. The fun, exciting part seemed to be over though. We had two options now:

We would get serious-start saying I love you, imagine we were in the relationship for the long haul, I’d day dream about us getting married, we’d start throwing around the words forever and always, etc., which I couldn’t really see happening and had decided I didn’t really want.

Or we’d just decide to be friends.

At least that’s how it felt on my end. When I told him about the move, we had decided neither of us wanted to do the long distance thing, but I thought we were still kind of exclusive just until I left.

So I'd better get back, he said, leaning away from me, but keeping his arms around me. I only get a short break. Not quite finished working yet.

I was thinking- I started.

Hey Jesse, a dark-haired girl interrupted me. Are you getting off soon?

Yeah, beautiful, he replied. My mouth automatically dropped open in surprise. In a half an hour. Could you leave us alone for a sec though? I'm almost done here. Why don't you head in and shop around until the store closes?

Sure, she said. I continued to stare after her with my mouth open as she walked inside.

Was he kidding with this? I hadn't even left the state of Pennsylvania yet! I hadn't left his arms yet! He wasn't supposed to have moved on from me this quickly!

What were you saying, babe? he asked me.

Nothing, I said, shaking out of his grip, incredulous and angry. I just wanted to stop by and say see ya.

Okay. Don't be a stranger.

That was it? I'd spent three months with him-a fairly long relationship for two teenagers, and for some adults even-and all he had to say was don't be a stranger?

I stalked back to the car.

How did it go? my mom asked as I hopped in.

Fine, I told her, slamming the door.

You're not going to hang out with Jesse? she asked.

"Definitely not. I am so done here."

♡♡♡♡♡♡♡

The next morning, I was still bitter about Jesse and his new girl. I would pity her if I didn't think she looked like a slut. I felt if she got her heart broken, that was her own fault.

But that day, I had an even harder goodbye than Jesse. In fact, after the way things ended with Jesse, I realized I was being dramatic in thinking that saying goodbye to him would be one of the harder goodbyes. I was better off without him. Today I would be saying my final goodbyes to my Aunt Vicky and my grandma. Well, not final, final. That sounds like death. Nobody's dying. We're just moving. So it's a final see ya later.

Four years before I was born, my dad's father died in a car accident. My grandma was so lonely after he died. A piece of her was missing, and she needed to try and fill it, or at least add another piece to the puzzle that was her heart. So, she adopted baby Vicky.

Everyone swears that the day I was born, Aunt Vicky fell in love. They say her eyes sparkled like never before the second she saw me. Luckily, they got that beautiful moment on tape-that was the equivalent of a DVD or a Blu-ray a few years ago, for those who don't know. Aunt Vicky was immediately my mom/older-sister/best-friend/aunt combo.

I was very close to my grandma and Aunt Vicky. Aunt Vicky and I had multiple sleepovers and spent a ton of time together since we found out I was moving, but no amount of time we spent together would feel like enough, and we knew that. My grandma and Aunt Vicky were the only two members of my dad's family that I really knew. I'd miss them greatly.

I'd miss my mom's family, too, of course. She had a huge, loud, Italian family. They had a big party for us-and invited Aunt Vicky and my grandma, as always-and sent us out with a bang. Literally-there were fireworks that they'd found on sale after the 4th of July.

We'd just gotten the last of our things in the car, when my grandma and Aunt Vicky pulled up. My Aunt Vicky and I were embracing in a second.

I'm going to miss you so much, Aunt Vicky said as Grandma got out and hugged the rest of my family.

I'm going to miss you, too, I told her.

You're going to call me all the time though, right? she asked as she drew away from me.

Of course!

You better.

Goodbye Grandma, I said as she made her way back to us.

Don't forget your grandma, either, she insisted as she wrapped her arms around me. I want to hear from you, too. I love you so much.

Of course, Grandma. She was crying when she let me go. So was Aunt Vicky. I smiled back at them through teary eyes, too.

I love you, Aunt Vicky said, giving me another hug.

I love you, too.

You doing all right? my mom asked me a few minutes later after we'd finished our goodbyes and driven away. I assumed she was talking about what happened with me and Jesse last night, not about leaving my grandma and Aunt Vicky.

I smiled. Doing great. It was pretty true. I mean, I was breathing right? I was only a little sad about Jesse and mostly internally fuming.

I stuck my hand out of the window, letting my fingers slowly move in the breeze. It was pretty warm in Pennsylvania right now, at the end of September, but it would soon be getting chilly. It didn't really matter to me, though. Not anymore.

It was hard to believe I'd soon be living across the United States. The plan was I'd sleep some during the day and when-ever my mom got tired at night, I'd start driving. My dad had much more energy so he didn't need someone to switch out for him. It was a good thing, too, because my brothers, Aaron and Axl, couldn't drive yet.

At about eleven, we'd stop at a hotel for the night, get the free continental breakfast the next morning, and hope to make very few stops. If we were successful, it would take a little less than a week.

My mom and I had tunes blasting, the windows down, a

U-Haul attached to the van, and Axl in the back. I sang along with the music and watched Pennsylvania go by in the rear-view mirror. I was happy to be leaving it behind and starting this new adventure. I couldn't wait to get to California.

Chapter 2

Four days later, I woke up in the second hotel. At first the drive had been exciting, I was on my way somewhere new! Now I was so ready to be there already.

Good morning! my mom said when she noticed my eyes were open. My dad and the boys were already awake, too. One of my brothers, Aaron, the older of the two, was sitting up in bed next to me. My dad and Axl were in the bed next to mine and Aaron's. The three of them were watching TV and my mom rushed back and forth between the bathroom and the bag she had sitting on the dresser.

Good morning, I mumbled. I felt around the bed for my phone and then squinted at its screen. It was seven a.m.

We've been waiting for you to get up so we can go get some breakfast, my mom told me. So are you ready to go?

Sure, I mumbled sleepily. It probably sounded a little like I was grumpy, too. Oh well. Let me just brush my teeth quickly.

I got ready for the day and walked down with my family to the hotel's dining room with bare feet, shorts, and a t-shirt, looking forward to wearing wardrobes similar to this all year round.

♡♡♡♡♡♡♡

Hours later, keeping my grip on the steering wheel, I bounced in my seat a little, excited, and breathed in. We had just driven past the Welcome to California sign. I looked at the