But I had no such luck.
“What do you mean you’re underage?” He had this California stoner vocal fry that painfully prolonged the question. “You said you’d been playing there for a year.”
“The tour isn’t for another three months. We’ll all be legal by then. It won’t be something to worry about,” I said, attempting to control the tremor in my voice, so I didn’t sound as hopeless as I felt.
Music had been my anchor over the last four years. But it wasn’t just about me anymore. I didn’t want to let the guys down. I dragged them into this band—sure they weren’t exactly forced, Garrett excluded—but it meant I felt responsible for our success.
“Nah, can’t do it. You broke trust not being upfront in the first place.” He sighed, as if it were a true inconvenience. As if we couldn’t just talk and figure something out. “Have a good life, though.” He hung up.
I wanted to yell, to throw my phone, but that would lead to having a teacher come out and reprimand the behavior, reminding us further that we were only kids. Kids.
Helpless. Stupid. Kids.
Bleary eyed students spilled from the classroom, sending a flurry of clacking footsteps across the linoleum. Amongst them was Luca wearing an unrestrained smile, shoving his test in our faces.
“Look at this B! Derivatives can kiss…” he started, but corrected himself when a teacher cleared their throat behind him. “Kiss me very sweetly and respectfully.” It was then he registered the strain on the rest of our faces. “Sorry, I didn’t get an A, but you can at least try to be excited for me.”
“We lost the tour gig.” Each word was a knife plunging deeper into my chest. I failed them.
“It’s whatever. There will be more opportunities,” Luca said, struggling to hold onto a scrap of optimism. “Either way, we still get to play tonight at Dave’s. And I’m not letting you guys get out of celebrating this.” He punctuated the sentiment by shaking the test.
Normally, going to Dave’s meant seeing Avery and being around her was exactly what I needed. She’d tell me to knock it off and keep going. But that night she was going to Caper High’s winter formal with Jasper Willis. She’d mentioned it casually a month prior, and when she asked me what I thought, of course, I told her to go to the dance. She’d spent so much time with us that she rarely did anything with her classmates. Honestly, I was generous giving this guy a shot.
If I was Avery’s date I’d get one of those wrist things with the flowers to match her dress, despite her insisting she thought it was silly, ’cause she’d secretly love it. Hell, I would have rented a suit even if she didn’t ask. We’d dance and she’d complain about the DJ, saying she should have been in charge of the music, and she’d be right. Not that I thought about it much.
She called me just as we were about to go on at Dave’s. After some grumbling, Dave let me into his office for some privacy.I leaned a hip against the ancient desk, doing my best not to disturb the stack of papers under one leg that stopped it from tilting.
“Aren’t you supposed to be on the dance floor with a football player?” I could hear the faint traces of upbeat pop music coming through her phone.Take that, Jasper, she might be there with you but she’s on the phone with me.“Where are you anyway?”
“The girls’ bathroom. It’s the only quiet place where people aren’t dry humping,” Avery said and made a gagging sound. “Have you talked to Luca about the tempo on the bridge of ‘In Case of Emergency’ and remember, Jared came in early—”
“Ave, we’ve got it,” I soothed. She was always taking care of us.
“I know you do. You’ve got a fancy tour lined up after all.”
“Yeah, we’re a hot commodity.” I couldn’t tell her we’d lost the gig, not when she sounded so proud. She wasn’t surprised when we were offered it, saying, “They’d be stupid not to want you.” She had more confidence in me than I ever did, like she saw something I couldn’t. I wanted to be worthy of how she looked at me. A pound sounded, rattling the office door. “I’ve got to go, but I’ll call tomorrow. Try to have fun.”
We said our goodbyes, and I headed back to the bar room. Jared looked out of his depth flirting with a brunette perched on a barstool. I grabbed the collar of his shirt to drag him away, and when he righted himself, he fell into step beside me.
“Hey! I was talking to her,” Jared whined.
“She was taking pity on you,” Garrett said, not bothering to look up from where he was tuning his bass.
Jared flashed a bashful smile. “She said I was cute.”
“And you thought cute was a good thing?” I asked.
“What about you, how was your chat with your girlfriend? Oh wait, I forgot. ‘It’s not like that,’” Jared taunted.
“She’s on a date with someone else tonight,” I reminded them through gritted teeth.
“And how’s that working out for you?” Luca asked.
“I’m playing the long game.”
“And how long are you planning to wait?” Jared asked.
It was their favorite topic. Avery and me. Or, more specifically, how I was too much of a coward to do anything about how I felt about her. They’d caught me looking at her and waiting for her to call one too many times, mimicking me with overexaggerated dreamy gazes.
