We’re short on songs, since there were a few I wasn’t sure I could play, so with only three songs to go, Chase grabs an acoustic guitar from the corner of the stage and tells the rest of us to take five. I walk over to the bar with Grant and Joe. Auden gives us fresh bottles of water while Chase starts strumming the chords to a dance song that was popular last year, only he’s doing it all slow and with a different cadence and it’s really freaking great.
Grant leans into me as he twists the cap off his water. His brown eyes are kind so I know he means no harm when he says, “He’s showing off now.”
Autumn wanders over to stand beside me and clutches my arm. “It is so awesome seeing you play again.”
I look down at her and try to deflect the words and the relief in her eyes. “Beats the hell out of a beer shower.”
Everyone claps when Chase is done, and I give him an impressed smile as I get back on stage. He winks at me. If I didn’t know better, I would think it was flirting. The rest of the gig flies by and ends in a roaring round of applause. As I step behind the bar again, Tanner gives me the first real smile I think I’ve seen since my first shift. “You did great!”
“He did,” Chase adds. I turn and see he followed me back to the bar. “I honestly can’t think of a way to thank you for saving our asses.”
“Don’t worry about it. I had a great time,” I reply, and his smile is making me smile and it feels a little like flirting again. But then a woman with short, dirty blonde hair and high cheek bones appears behind him and latches onto his arm.
“Chase! You were fantastic,” she coos.
“Thanks again,” Chase tells me and then he nods at Tanner and disappears into the crowd with the pretty blonde lady who is likely his girlfriend. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t just a wee bit disappointed.
“Can you clear some empty glasses off the tables, Bowen?” Tanner asks, looking nervous. I nod, and he hands me a tray.
I make my way through the crowd, being extra careful with the tray as I load it with empty wine and pint glasses. Suddenly, as I think I’ve forged a clear path to the bar, Autumn appears in front of me and I have to come to an abrupt stop. The glasses teeter and I panic, but luckily, I don’t drop anything. “Autumn! For crying out loud, do not ruin what is turning into the best shift I’ve had so far.”
“Did you see who your hot band buddy just walked away with?” she asks, a frown turning down her mouth. It looks incredibly unnatural on her. She inherited our mom’s bright sunshine-y attitude and rarely finds reason to frown. I picture the woman who curled herself into Chase in my head again. She does seem vaguely familiar and the way Autumn is glaring impatiently at me, I should definitely know who she is.
“Umm… she run a rival Etsy store?” I ask, thinking this has to do with her side hustle selling hemp jewelry online. But her frown only deepens. “Someone from high school who used to tease you about your weight?”
Kids were brutal to her in high school.
“Ugh.” Autumn rolls her eyes. “It was Lacey Baldwin. How did you not recognize her? Her face is plastered everywhere!”
Yep. Now that she’s said the name out loud, I see it. “She looked different. She wasn’t in a pantsuit and she looked like a normal person.”
I scoot around my sister, eyes glued to the tray, and continue to the bar. Autumn follows along behind me. I slip behind the bar and Tanner takes the tray of dirty dishes from me. “Not one casualty,” he says in awe and my ego takes another kick to the nuts. “I’ll get these washed. Auden says you’re good with the condiments. Can you refill the olives and cut some limes?”
I nod and get to work. “Autumn, you should go home. You have finals soon.”
“Yeah. I know,” Autumn says tersely. She hates when I parent her. The only thing that makes her angrier is our older brother Woody doing it. To be fair, she kind of is the most grown-up person of the three of us. “You know, if your boy band singer is related to our arch nemesis, you can’t play with them again.”
“First of all, I haven’t been asked to play with them again,” I reply as I open a jar of olives and begin transferring them into the condiment container we keep on the bar. “Second of all, they look nothing alike, so I doubt they’re related. He might be dating her though.”
Autumn snorts at that. She does that a lot when she thinks people are idiots. It’s somehow more adorable than offensive. “Okay well, that’s even worse.” The freckles that pepper her ski jump nose form one giant freckle for a second as she wrinkles it. Then she almost jumps as a thought slams into her brain. “Oh wait! Maybe he knows campaign secrets. You should play with them again so you can pump him for information that could help Woody.”
Our brother is running for mayor and Lacey Baldwin is also running for mayor. This is why Autumn is talking like this. And also because she recently marathonedHouse of Cardsas research when my brother decided to run in the emergency election. “Woody needs a miracle, not a double agent,” I mutter.
Autumn sighs in defeat and gives up on the silly idea. “Anyway, you sounded great up there. It’s good to hear you play again.”
“No big deal,” I reply casually, but it kind of is a big deal to her because she thinks I haven’t played since I quit school. I have, just not often and never when she’s around. “See you in the morning.”
“Okay.” Autumn smiles and makes her way to the door, like so many others are doing. Now that the band is done, the evening is winding down for everyone. I glance over at the stage. Chase is there packing up the equipment, but Lacey, our brother’s main opponent for mayor, is nowhere to be seen now.
I’m so busy concentrating on not screwing anything up, the next time I glance at the stage it’s bare. Chase is gone and I’m bummed I didn’t get to say good-bye. Molly walks over and asks Auden for two Shipley ciders for her table then she passes me a napkin. I’m about to ask her why when I see something scrawled on it.
Bowen
Band likes to unwind at my place after shows. Stop by after work.
187 Church Buzz 3.
Chase.
