11
"How did you score this interview again?" Nathan asked Gael.
"I know a guy who knows a guy," my brother replied.
Nathan smacked him in the chest. Gael made an oomph sound.
"No, seriously," Gael said. "Cerise's friend Morris? His bandmate is dating some girl who writes for a magazine. She's offered to interview us before, so I figured now would be a great time to reach out."
The group of us were hanging out in the music studio, waiting for the journalist. We'd tried to rehearse while we waited, but most of us had been too nervous to concentrate.
Well, that wasn't quite true. The others didn't seem fazed at all. I was the one full of nervous energy, jiggling my crossed legs as I sat on the sofa and tapping my nails against the cushions in a staccato rhythm.
This wasn't our first interview, but it was the first since we'd signed on to our label. Small-time music blogs doing a Q and A with some local band after a show was one thing. This was another. This was legit. We were going to talk to an actual journalist who wrote for a real magazine.
"What if she brings up that trash talk?" I spoke up. "That stuff about—" I grimaced, "—about me sleeping my way to the top?"
"I'm sure she won't," Gael reassured me. "She's a professional."
I hoped my brother was right.
It was only a few minutes later when a young woman rapped her knuckles on the door and poked her head in. I instantly recognized her. I’d met Emily once before, earlier in her journalism career. She was smartly dressed in a blouse and knee-length pencil skirt. She held a notebook in one hand and what looked to be a small digital recorder in the other.
Emily scanned the room. When her eyes landed on me she gave me a bright smile.
"Cerise," she said, cheerfully. "It's great to see you again."
I returned her smile, although the corners of my lips twitched nervously. Just because she looked friendly didn't mean she wouldn't ask hard-hitting questions.
Emily did the rounds, shaking hands with the other guys and introducing herself. When she got to Nathan, he flashed her his most winning smile, and opened his mouth, ready to spout some clichéd come on, but she easily side-stepped him to greet Seth and Julian.
When she got to Liam, she blinked in surprise.
"Are you a new member of the band?" she asked. "I thought there were only five of you."
She must have done her homework on Cherry Lips. We hadn't made a formal announcement to the public about Liam’s addition to the band for the tour.
"I'm Liam Knight," he said, shaking her hand firmly. "I'm going to be helping out the band as a session guitarist for their upcoming tour."
Emily immediately took out her notebook and scribbled something down.
"Do you want this interview to only be about the original five or will Liam be joining us as well?" she asked.
I looked to my brother. We hadn't discussed whether or not Liam would take part in the interview. It hadn't occurred to me that he wouldn't. Although he'd only just been brought onboard, it somehow felt like he'd been with us forever. Liam fit in so well even after such a short amount of time.
The more I thought about it, the more disconcerting the thought became.
Liam had already wormed himself into my every thought. I didn't know if I was comfortable with him also inserting himself into the band like this, too.
My brother shot me a look and shrugged.
"I'm okay with it," Gael said. "Our fans are going to notice there’s a new guy onstage when we start touring. We might as well introduce them to Liam beforehand."
"It’ll help us, too," Nathan said. "Liam has his own flock of fans from his old days withForever Night.If we can poach a few of them over to our side, I say we go for it."
"So you're using me for my fame and not my talent, is that it?" Liam asked.
Nathan and Liam grinned at each other — another sign of the easy camaraderie that had developed between him and the guys. I was the only one who acted out of sorts whenever Liam was around.
