I sniffled and nodded. “I know that. But I’ve heard so many miracle stories about my mom fixing hearts. I guess I thought that if I’d stayed with him a little longer, if I’d tried a little harder, I could’ve gotten him out, and someone could’ve fixed his head.”
I could feel his throat bob against the side of my head.
“That’s not fair, Avery. You did everything you could. If you hadn’t left when you did, you’d be dead too.”
My voice of reason knew that was true, but I could never get my heart to listen, no matter how loud I tried to scream it.
“No more deep dives to the bottom of the pool,” he said.
His muscles started to tremble under his soaked clothes, so I wrapped the towel around us both.
“Yeah, okay.”
He lifted my chin up and brushed his lips against mine so gently that I barely felt it. They were cold and soft. I wanted to make them warm and hard.
“We have a show tomorrow in Fresno, and we’re leaving tonight. We’ll be back on Friday. You’ll be okay for two days on your own?”
I grinned. “Careful, Liam. You’re letting your feelings show. It almost sounds like you’re worried about me.”
His forehead fell onto mine. I could tell he wanted to say something, but he shook his head instead. “I’ll see you on Friday then.” He lifted me off of him and started to leave. “You’ll come to The Warfield on Saturday? I know it’s the night before your move, but I was hoping—”
I frowned. “I wouldn’t miss your last show.”
With that, he smiled and left.
I spent the next two days packing my things in between lectures. Most of them were online this week, so I could multitask and do both. Saturday was coming fast, and as excited as I was to move in with Nina, the idea of downsizing from four roommates to one didn’t have me bouncing for joy like I’d thought it would. I was going to miss seeing their faces every day and hearing them rehearse in the basement. It was comforting, being a part of their chaos. I was scared that living with Nina would be too quiet and I’d be able to hear my own thoughts again.
When I got back from the library Saturday afternoon, the house was empty, so the band must have already left for sound check. With the longest sigh, I dropped my book bag onto the floor and fell back onto the mattress. My mother would have an aneurysm if she walked in here and saw the state of my bedroom. Open boxes sat, scattered about in a mess; my hamper was overflowing with laundry I still needed to do; and my notes took up any open, flat surface.
The Step 1 exam was in twenty days, and I felt like everything I’d learned in the last two years of med school had vacated my brain. No matter how much I studied, I couldn’t seem to grasp any of it.
Mentally, I was fried.
Feeling a migraine coming on, I swiftly peeled myself off the bed, took some medicine, and started getting ready for tonight. Even though I knew I should stay home and study, like Nina was doing, I couldn’t pass up on seeing the band perform their last show of their tour. It seemed fitting to end my stay here with them this way.
It took longer to get to the venue this time because Nina wasn’t driving, but I arrived halfway through the opening band’s set and settled in at the front of the crowd, where I belonged.
A Quiet Peril paraded up onto the stage a half hour later, and the fans went more insane than I’d ever seen them before. My cheering was unmatched by the deafening screams coming from every direction. Liam swept his eyes over the massive crowd filling the theater to its maximum capacity, grinning from ear to ear. Danny shook his head in disbelief, and Milton took his place behind the drums with what I swore were misty eyes. Lexie was eating it up, sticking her tongue out and shaking her ass.
Liam’s eyes finally landed on me when he stepped up to the front of the stage, and something came over me. My entire face lit up, and I couldn’t stop smiling. All the bullshit I had been stressed over disappeared in his deep brown irises, and when he winked, I melted.
“You all look so beautiful tonight.” His sexy voice filled the room as he slung his guitar over his shoulder and grabbed the mic. More shrilling screams erupted in approval. “My name is Liam. This is Lexie, Danny, and Tic. And we are…”
He held his arms out like a god, and everyone shouted, “A QUIET PERIL,” as they did at every show.
Liam’s grin widened. “We want to thank you all for coming out to our last show of the tour. It’s been a wild ride, and we’re so grateful for every fucking one of you. You guys are the reason we were able to leave the small bar we used to play at on the other side of town, and now, we get to tour the country. So, as a way to say thank you, we’re playing a little louder and a little longer tonight!”
I was jostled back and forth with the excitement, but I was used to it by now and could hold my own.
The band did exactly what Liam had said they would do; they played louder and longer. Liam sang and screamed every note to perfection. The band matched his energy and rocked the entire theater with their greatest hits. They even played songs that I knew weren’t usually on their set list but were fan favorites from a few years ago.
Over halfway through their set, someone with a headset came onstage and swapped Liam’s electric guitar with his acoustic while the rest of the band left the stage. Liam sat on a stool and adjusted the microphone. He smiled like he was nervous.
“So, uh, we’ve been working on some songs for the new album, and I’m sure Nikko is going to kill me for this,” he said, glancing offstage, “but I just couldn’t wait to share one of them with you all.”
Everyone’s hands shot in the air, and the crowd went crazy.
“You see, there’s this girl…”
