Alli put an arm on his shoulder. He forced himself not to flinch. “You didn’t want to do this audition?”
“No, did you?”
She laughed. “Of course, I was flattered he asked me to submit!”
Matt grinned, leaning back in his chair, all charm and confidence. "Gideon has always loved performing.”
"Music," Gideon interjected. “I’m not an actor.”
“You performed?” Megs looked up at him curiously.
Gideon hesitated, then explained as fast as possible. "We started our band during senior year of high school. Oscar wrote most of the lyrics, I was on guitar, and Randall on keys. But eventually, Oscar discovered creative writing, and the band sort of fell apart when we all went our separate ways."
"Wow," Megs breathed out, flicking a glance at Alli. "So what did you do after that?"
"I pursued audio engineering.”
“And toured,” Alli added, lifting her sparkling water from the table and swirling it in her glass.
Gideon’s neck heated. It wasn’t that he didn’t like talking about his college days, but itcarried more weight talking about it here. He’d blamed Matt for their band falling apart, and Alli blamed their relationship ending on his leaving. “I toured with a couple of bands, The Vagrant Souls and Celestial Echo, as their sound engineer.”
“What?” Megs dropped her fork and stared at him open-mouthed, as if to say,I told you what you do is sexy.
Gideon swallowed hard. “It was a fantastic experience, but it wasn't paying the bills, so I got my master's degree and started teaching."
Alli brushed her hair behind her ear and looked down at her plate. What was she thinking about all this? What was Megs thinking about him? Thinking about Alli? She’d asked about her at Sammy’s, and Gideon didn’t want to do or say anything else that made her question his intentions there.
“Interesting,” Emile commented, as if it was anything but. He picked up the jar and reached for another question. He pulled out the slip, read it, and turned to Megs with a salacious look in his eyes. "What wasor isyour most romantic relationship?"
Megs blinked.That was quite the change of topic. This had to be the strangest coaching session she’d encountered, and that was saying something considering her twisted past relationship.
She had two choices. She could make up an answer and sell it, or she could tell the truth. Why would she tell the truth? Megs barely knew Calloway and Alli, and didn’t relish the thought of baring her soul to Emile who’d been texting for half of their past few minutes of conversation.
She was about to answer with a quip about Jace Sorensen passing her aDo you want to date me? Yes or no?note in fourth grade, but then looked up at Gideon. He was watching her, his eyes dark as he adjusted his glasses.
Her throat went dry. "Well, this is going to be a bit of a letdown, but I've never had one." Gideon’s eyes didn’t move. Megs’ heart started to sprint, and she felt like a tube of toothpaste being slowly squeezed until more words tumbled out of her mouth. “My longest relationship was actually with my first acting coach in Chicago, and unless you find controlling and manipulative romantic, I would say that doesn’t count.”
Oscar shook his head and leaned over the table, fixing his blue eyes on her. “Definitely doesn’t.”
Alli sighed. “But what is romance anyway? No offense, Matt, but these things you write in your books, they don’t happen in real life.”
Oscar looked amused. “What doesn’t happen in real life?”
“The grand gestures, the emotional availability, the perfect love making,” Alli said with dramatic flair.Exactly.Megs took a bite of her cracker stack. That was why she didn’t read romance novels. It was hard enough to find a decent guy, the last things she needed were hopes and expectations.
“Is that what we’re supposed to be looking for?” Alli asked.
“Why not?” Oscar’s face was serious now. “Why wouldn’t we look for that? And I don’t mean sit around and wait for it to happen to us, but why wouldn’t we try to be that person and look for it in return?”
Megs’ smile faltered.Because it’s too disappointing. Because I’ll never be the heroine of a romance novel. Because, because, because.
“Because it’s in the wrong order,” Gideon stated. Megs looked up. All eyes turned to him.
“What do you mean?” Oscar asked.
Gideon cleared his throat. “Romance doesn’t come first. It comes second.”
“To what?” Oscar leaned over the table, and Megs pulled her arms back so they wouldn’t brush his.
