“Uh—I don’t think so,” I said, thrown by this. “Did you eat any of the shrimp?” Doug shook his head. “Then I think you’re good.”
“But how can youknow—” Alfie said, just as the door flew open again and Niall swanned in.
Like the others, he was now in his full Eton Mess look, a messenger bag slung across his chest. His hair had been tousled, in a way that I was sure was supposed to look accidental, but that I had a feeling had taken a great amount of effort to achieve. “Well, hello,” he said, giving me a wide smile that didn’t come close to meeting his eyes. “I didn’t know we had guests.”
“That’s Cass,” Freddie said. But he wasn’t looking at me—he was looking at Niall, like he was appraising him. And I just silently hoped that he’d believe—as painful as it might be—that this was not someone he should trust. “She’s a friend of mine.”
I saw Niall clock my Grad Nite wristband, and when he looked back at me, it was with his usual dismissiveness. “Well, isn’t that nice,” he said, as he dropped his messenger bag at his feet. “But we actually have to get ready to do our show. It’s an important one, right?” He directed this at Freddie. It was meant to sound excited, but I heard the bite under it—and judging by Freddie’s expression, he did too. “So—Cassie, right? Why don’t you run along and go get a nice spot out front.” He pushed the door open wider and looked at me expectantly.
Alfie cleared his throat. “Well—Cass said I actually can’t play. That I’m going to get food poisoning?”
Niall frowned. “How can she know that?”
“I mean, he did eat shrimp from a strip mall,” Doug said,? with a shrug. “Maybe it’s just logic.”
“Of course you’re going to play,” Niall said, waving this off. “It’ll be fine. Freddie, you’ve got to hurry, mate. You’re not even dressed yet. Chop, chop.”
Freddie met my eyes. And for a moment, I wasn’t sure what he would do—which side he would choose. Would he just want to believe it wasn’t true? After all, he’d known Niall for years—and I was just someone that he’d met an hour ago, showing up with a list and a crazy story.
“You’re right,” Freddie finally said to Niall, and I felt my heart constrict. After all that I’d done to try and fix this, it was going to fall apart, when we were almost to the finish line. “I should get ready.”
I looked between him and Niall, not sure what to say. I’d told Freddie everything—and he just hadn’t believed me. I could know everything that was going to happen—all the events of the night—but I couldn’t know someone’s heart.
“Really?” I asked Freddie, my voice strangled. “That’s—what you want to do?”
“Well, hedoeshave to get ready,” Doug said. “It’s really not that big a deal?”
Freddie turned away from me and looked at Niall. “I wanted to go over the chord change on ‘Summer Term,’” he said. “I think we’re taking it too slowly. Also, mind if I have this water?”
He was reaching into the messenger bag before Niall could stop him, pulling out a plastic bottle. I saw Niall’s face pale. “No—that’s—mine.”
“There’s more on the table,” Freddie said, pointing to it.
“Exactly,” Niall said with a laugh he wasn’t quite pulling off. “So grab one of those. You don’t want to drink too much before we go on, you ?know,” he said, talking faster now. “Maybe just save that bottle and wait until it’s closer to showtime. Drink it then.”
Freddie nodded. “It’s a good call.” Then he met my eye and gave me the tiniest of smiles. “Here you go, Cass,” he said, holding the water bottle out to me.
“What? No—” Niall started, but before he could intervene, I took the bottle from him, opened it up, and took a long drink.
“Mmm,” I said, lowering the bottle, and giving Freddie a smile. “That’s good. Refreshing. Kind of tastes like there’s cucumber in it.”
The drumsticks that Doug was holding clattered to the ground, and I heard Alfie draw in a shocked breath. “What?” Niall said, looking very pale now. “That wasn’t—I don’t know what she’s on about….”
“Cass said that you were going to try and wreck my night,” Freddie said quietly, and I could hear the hurt running through his voice like a seam. “That you were going to put something in my water.”
“How did you know that?” Niall exploded, turning to me. “There’s no way that—” He stopped short, only seeming to realize a second later what he’d just said. “I mean,” he said with a short laugh. “There wasn’t…That wasmywater.”
Alfie shook his head, looking appalled. “I always knew you were a jumped-up bogan. But this is too much, man. What’s wrong with you?”
“Yeah, you’re not playing with us tonight,” Doug said, his eyebrows furrowed. “You were going to poison our bass player? Dude.”
“He was going to leave!” Niall yelled, pointing at Freddie. His hair was falling across his forehead, and his face was turning red. He no longer looked like the cute guy on the posters, pouting at the camera. He looked ugly and small. “There’s a manager coming to see him tonight, did he tell you that? And he’s going to leave this band, and all of us, behind.” Niall looked around at his bandmates, like he’d just thrown down a trump card. But both of them turned to Freddie, smiling.
“You did?” Alfie asked. “That’s dardy, mate, congratulations.”
“How are you gettingmoreAustralian?” Freddie asked, but he was smiling, too.
“Seriously, that’s awesome,” Doug agreed.
