Rewind It Back (Windy City, #5)(22)

“Already wrote it down for you, Steph.” Mrs. DeLuca gestures to the kitchen and the two of them disappear out of view.

Not only are Luke and Rio best friends, but so are our moms. They do everything together. Plan birthdays, arrange carpools, and more times than I can count, I’ve caught them up late on the back porch sharing a bottle of wine. It works out well that we live ten feet away.

I guess you could say our dads are best friends too, but I’m not sure if dads have best friends. They’ve never called each other that, but they spend every Sunday either watching football together or working on Mr. DeLuca’s old car in his garage.

Our parents even planned a family vacation for all of us this summer to Florida. It’s the best, living so close to the DeLucas, but sometimes it feels like I’m the odd one out. Sometimes I feel like I’m trying to tag along with my older brother and his friend, and Luke usually gives me a hard time for it. Then our moms invite me to join them, but it’s not as fun.

“Happy birthday, baby girl.” My dad smacks a kiss to the top of my head. “I cannot believe how much you’re growing up. You’re the spitting image of your mom.”

“Happy birthday, Miss Hallie,” Mr. DeLuca adds.

“Thank you.”

They finish their slices of cake before slowly making their way to the garage, leaving me with only the boys in the dining room.

“I got the new Mario Kart game,” Luke says to Rio. “Want to go play it?”

“Definitely.”

They stand to leave, and Luke is already at the front door when Rio pauses halfway there, turning back to me. “Want to come play, Hallie?”

“No,” Luke whines. “She doesn’t know how to.”

I give Rio a smile. “That’s okay. Thanks though.”

His attention goes from me to my brother, then back to me, before he returns to the table, taking his seat once again. “It’s your birthday. What do you want to do?”

“You should go play.”

“Rio, let’s go,” my brother begs from the front door.

“You go ahead. I’m going to stay here.”

“That’s so dumb. She’s fine.”

“I’ll catch up with you later.”

Rio turns back to me and doesn’t even flinch when Luke closes the front door a little too hard and a little too loudly.

“What do you want to do?” he asks again.

I shrug, looking for something interesting enough that he’ll want to stay here and not go with my brother instead.

“Luke got you a friendship bracelet kit,” he says. “Do you want to make those?”

I chuckle. “You don’t want to do that.”

He smiles at my laughter. “I do! But you need to teach me how.”

“Really?”

“Absolutely. I’ll make you one for your birthday.”

“Okay.” My cheeks hurt from the splitting grin on my face as I grab the kit from the other side of the table where my opened presents are. As I do, my eye snags on the new boombox the DeLucas got me. “Can we listen to music while we make them?”

“We better,” Rio says. “Do you want to listen to the new cassette I got you?”

I’m not sure I can light up more than I am now. “Yeah, that sounds good.”

The new boombox plays CDs too, and as cassettes are becoming harder to find, I’m sure that’ll come in handy when I’m forced to switch. But for now, I click my new tape into place.

“Which song are you playing first?” he asks.

I take my time choosing a song from the track list because I know this is a moment I’ll want to remember, and whichever song I choose is going to be one I put on next year’s mixtape because I’ll want to rewind it back and play it on repeat for a long time to come.



I write the number thirteen on my finished mixtape, signing it with an “H” and a heart. You know, for Hallie Hart. Heart like Hart. Anyway, it’s my new signature and I love it.

I’ve been working on finishing this mixtape for hours so when I finally look up from my desk, I find that the sky is pitch black, with only the glow of the moon for light.

Outside my window, there’s a person sitting on the roof that connects the DeLucas’ house to ours. The same roof that connects Rio’s room to mine.

I’d maybe be scared if I didn’t already know it was him. I’ve woken up in the middle of the night a couple of times and spotted him out there, lying on his back and staring up at the moon. I’ve never asked what he’s doing out there, never asked why he was still awake. I think maybe because I didn’t want him to know that I can see him. Which, I guess, doesn’t really make sense. We wave to each other from our rooms all the time, so of course he knows I can see him. I guess I didn’t want him to feel like I caught him doing something he’s not supposed to. I didn’t want him to stop sitting out there on the roof between our rooms.

It’s late, and checking the clock on my nightstand, I see there’s only twenty minutes left of my birthday. If it were a school night, my mom would’ve already checked to make sure I was asleep, but it’s Saturday and after Rio volunteered to hang out with me all day, maybe he’d be okay if I caught him.

I crack my window open and the cold spring air hits me in an instant. I whisper, but I’m loud enough for him to hear me. “What are you doing?”