“Hey, partner, we did it!”Clay holds out a hand to pull me up to a stand.Reluctantly, I grab it and give a soft smile in response.
“What’s wrong?”His honey-colored eyes do a quick evaluation of my expression.I look away, choking off the emotion as best as I can, then I notice Levi.He has his arms wrapped around Sabrina in a hug while she cries into his shoulder.Her tears stain the sleeve of his shirt.It feels so out of character for him and I can’t look away.
“I knew he was soft under all that yeehaw!And sarcasm,” Clay says, following my gaze before throwing an arm over my shoulders.
“We did it!One elimination down!”Gabriella says, running towards us.She throws her arms around both of our necks and squeezes.If Clay weren’t stabilizing me, I would just about topple over.
“We have to go celebrate!”she insists.I look down at the time on my phone: 8:20 p.m.We get one day off tomorrow and then we’re back to practicing.Next week are our first solos.Jan said she would email over a curated list of songs for us to choose from sometime tomorrow.
“What do you have in mind?”Clay asks before I get the chance to decline.
“Nothing crazy...let’s go to a club or something.”
“Nothing crazy, let’s go to a club?”I repeat exhaustedly.
Levi appears on the other side of us and Clay releases my shoulder to clap him on the back.
“All good over there, man?”
“As good as it oughta be.I’m going to a diner.I don’t want to be at the house while the others pack up and leave.”Another thing I didn’t think about.I guess I’m not going home.
“I’ll go with you.”The words fly from my mouth before the thought finishes.Tate-ism.Levi’s glaze flicks over to me, expression pinched.
Clay saves me.“Yeah, sorry, Gabriella.I think a diner is more my speed right now too.”Levi’s face screws up further and I get the feeling he wasn’t planning on having company.
“You guys are such squares.I guess I’ll come too.”
A small, but very much audible groan comes from Levi.
“Come on, buddy,” Clay says.“It will be fun.”
***
The ride over to thediner is quiet.Somehow, I get seated between Levi and Clay because, as they put it, “I’m the smallest and it only makes sense.”Well, what “makes sense” has me pinned between the biceps of two men who take their physical health very seriously.Very.Gabriella, to no surprise, is riding shotgun and talking and talking and talking.Poor Amsted didn’t know what he was getting himself into when he picked us up, but judging by his body language, he wants out of this traffic more than we do.I pull at the collar of my lace turtleneck.It’s getting hot.
Clay turns, looking down on me and smiling, his teeth illuminated in the dark cab.“You sounded great tonight, Tate.”
“Oh, that’s so nice!Thank you.You did too,” I say shouldering my way out from between them a bit.“Amsted, would it be possible to turn the air up?It’s hot back here.”A sheepish smile plays across my face.He mutters something under his breath, but his fingers twist the knobs on the infotainment center.Gabriella takes a big breath before continuing the long story of how she fell in love with music.A question no one actually asked.I turn the vents towards me, but the cool air seems to get absorbed by two large pairs of legs before making it to my face.I twist, unbuckling myself from the center and pushing my way out from between them.
“What are you doing?”Levi spits.Gone is the sensitive guy who lent his shoulder as a tissue and in his place is the usual irritable giant.
“I want to put my hair up and I can’t do it between you guys without elbowing you in the face, so you’re welcome.”I start to rake my hair to the top of my crown, admittedly taking my time because he’s not my dad.He’s not even my friend, so he needs to get off his high hor— The speed of the car suddenly goes from cruising in a cul-de-sac to that of a high-speed chase.I plant my feet on the floorboard while Amsted steers us between the cars, murmuring something that sounds a lot like “Got to get out of this car.”Nice to know I’m not the only one.
I pick up my pace, throwing the rest of my hair up and twisting it into my best ballerina bun when the car makes a sharp turn before Amsted swiftly slams on the brakes.I feel my soul leaving my body as it jets forward in a slow but also fast fall.Right before my face meets the center console, I’m ricocheted back by my waist.I must be ghostly white because Levi’s face is etched in concern.I look down to see a human seat belt of tan arms wrapped around my center and then back up at him.My breath is shuddering out of me.My brain kicks in, telling me to thank him, but before I can try, he says, “Now put your dang seat belt on.And Amsted, what were you thinking?You drive recklessly like that again and you and I are going to have some words, you hear me?”
“My apologies, sir.”
“Yeah, well tell Tate that.She was almost roadkill,” he grumbles before directing his eyes back at me.The me who is somehow now paralyzed with shock and embarrassment.Levi bites his lower lip, reaching across my chest and pulling down the seat belt and buckling it.I feel like a dog that peed on the rug.I braid my fingers together in my lap only to undo them and start again.My nerves are shot.Too many ups and downs for one night.
When the harsh neon lights from the diner appear, I consider just having Amsted take me to the house so I can disappear under my princess canopy, but from the looks of it, he’s had enough of us.Plus, Levi still looks like he’s considering killing him, so we all pile out while Gabriella settles the bill.
“Clay, you’re getting the next one,” she says, strutting towards us, her high heels clicking against the pavement.Someone hollers some salacious remark from the window of a passing car, and she just laughs before giving a pageant-like wave.Levi looks like he wants to shoot himself in the foot.
“Inside,” he says, holding open the glass door, and we all oblige.Just as I’m about to pass through the threshold, I stop.
“You know, for someone who spends a lot of time not caring, you sure do care a lot.”I watch as the hard lines of his jaw tick.
“Who said I cared?”he drawls, and I laugh.
