“How did you know I was going to say yes?”
“You don’t get to where I am without being able to read people,” Jan says with a quick shrug, and then she’s off.I watch as she does the same thing with Levi as she did with me, pulling the paper from her pocket.
?He closes his eyes as his fingers start to work the strings.
“Nuh, nuh, nuh,” he sings, chasing the melody.When his eyes open again, he’s renewed and focused.He starts, hitting every note.I’m swallowed into his orbit, swaying from the sidelines.He rises from the stool, pushing it back with a foot in one quick movement as he slides through the chorus.
He turns, taking slow waltzing steps in my direction.His blue eyes are made even bluer by the lights above.“Closer to youuuu.”
“Tate, you’re up,” Jan hisses from the front, and Levi winds it back.I look down at my verse in yellow, choking on my own spit in the process.I step further onto the stage, closer to him.He gives me a little nod of encouragement.I start, and it’s a little bumpy, but I push forward anyways.Clearing my mind from everything but the song and this moment.By the time he jumps in, we’re sliding and gliding together so seamlessly it’s hard to tell where he begins, and I end.We’re mimicking each other’s steps, each line bringing us physically closer and closer.His shoulders brushing mine.My knees bumping his.Our faces mirroring each other as we belt the last couple choruses in unison.His fingers stop playing but neither of us back away and I feel all the air leave my lungs as the intensity of the moment settles between us.Levi’s eyes seem to dig for something in the depths of mine.Something worth finding.
“YESSSS!That’s it!That’s exactly what I’m talking about,” Jan cheers, leaping into the air shamelessly, and Levi finally pulls back, face blank.“Tate, I’m assuming you were nervous, so just tighten up the lyrics and we’ll end the show with you two.”Jan’s phone vibrates in her hand, and she holds up a finger to us.“Hello, this is Jan,” she answers, before covering up the mouthpiece and shooing us away, whisper-yelling, “Practice!”before walking off.
We both watch her until she’s out of sight.Levi moves first, finding his stool.
“You want to go from the top again?”I ask him, one hand draped over his broad shoulders.
***
“Did you have anythingto do with this?”Levi looks up and in its place is repressed anger.Harsh lights cast shadows across his face, and his brows are slammed together as he scowls.His eyes are completely frosted over.I know this look.It’s like the one from when we first met all over again.
“Did I have anything to do with what?”I hate how small I sound.
“This.”He lassos an invisible rope between us with his index fingers a couple times.“The duet.”His voice is salty, but it’s his words that stir something in me.
“You know, Levi, you really need to get over yourself,” I say, straightening, but it does nothing to get me closer to his eye level.
“I need to get over myself?What’s that supposed to mean?”He’s leaning in again, the same amount of distance between our faces as during the duet, but the mood’s changed.
“It means the world won’t stop spinning if you’re not controlling the outcome.”I watch as he takes the hit.He doesn’t blink, but I see the wound of my words as his jaw tightens and the long column of his neck contracts in a swallow.But I’m not done yet.“And for the record, I am just as surprised as you, but unlike you, I’m here because I love to sing.Winning is just extra.”My voice softens with every word until it eventually comes out as a whisper.Levi’s studying me now, his face a little less hard than it was a second ago.The strong angle of his jaw has softened under the dust of his facial hair, and his eyes have lost their sting.He inhales before sliding his hand up the same path my eyes just grazed.Up his jaw, strong fingers cut through golden brown stubble.I force myself to look away.To look over to where Jan is walking circles, slicing air while she talks with her hands.
Levi’s voice calls me back.“Do you mean that?”he mumbles.
“Mean what?That I didn’t have anything to do with the duet?Levi, I already told you, I’m just as surp—”
“Not that,” he cuts me off, looking down at the floor.“About winning.”
I wish the floor would open and swallow me up.I know one thing...it would be far less painful than this conversation.I laugh but it’s empty.
“That’s how you see me, huh?”I tip my head to the side and back, and for the first time, I can see right through him.“I’m just an obstacle in the way of what you want.”
He shakes his head, taken aback.“No...”
“You’re threatened by me.By everyone.That’s why you’ve been so cold.”My words come in a rush of power.
“Tate.”He puts a hand on my shoulder, but I bump it off.
“We’re not friends, so don’t touch me.”Something flickers across his eyes, but I don’t stop to try and interpret it.I’m done doing that with him.And then I say something that I know will seal the deal.That there will be no coming back from.“I’m going to win this competition.”
