“A lot of bands do that.” She had a point. “And we’d get to hangoutmore.”
“We get to hang out a lot at work. It’s not like it’severbusy.”
“Yeah, well you know how my parents are. They don’t like me going out unless I have a specific purpose. Practising with the band could be thatpurpose.”
My mom started asking her questions about her playing, which took the pressure to respond off of me. She wanted to know how long she took lessons, what her favorite pieces were to play. While they were talking, Sarah kicked me under the table and gave an almost imperceptible shake ofherhead.
I wanted to ask her what she meant by it, but the conversation was alreadyshifting.
“Oh, Rainier,” my mom said excitedly. “It sounds like it would be perfect to have Jenny play with you guys. It would also help with the glaring lack of representation of women inyourband.”
“It’s hard to be diverse with four members in RiverValley.”
“Which is why Jenny is just whatyouneed.”
“I’m a stand-in, but I’ll see what Icando.”
I had no intention of followingthrough.
ChapterThirteen
Michelle
“How’s work going, Princess?”my dad asked, interrupting my lazy day off. I was sitting on the couch watching reruns of reality TV. I had no plans for the day. No work, no friends, no responsibilities. Just a date with me and a bunch of crazy people competing for whatever useless title the currentshowhad.
I’d worked quite a few shifts at the bookstore this past week. More than the twenty hours my dad had originally promised. It was all right though. I’d worked a couple of days with Jenny and a couple withRainier.
Jenny and I had worked out a system. We were friendly to each other during our shifts together. She was much more patient with me while I still learned my way around the store. The biggest difficulty was learning what genre each book belonged in. She’d been working there long enough, she just knew. Working with herwaseasy.
Working with Rainier was slightly more unsettling. We’d stopped fighting with one another after our weird heart-to-heart. He’d started telling me more about growing up in a family so vastly different from most of the people around us. I, on the other hand, hadn't opened up about my family beyond what I told him thatnight.
I did stop bringing cherries to work though. And making rainjokes.
“Princess?” my dad pulled my attention back to his unansweredquestion.
“Good, work’s good." I turned the volume down on the television and turned tofacehim.
“How are Jenny and Rainier? I’ve tried to be careful to schedule you with people your age. Make it a little lesspainful.”
“You didn’t have to doallthat.”
“I think your exact words were ‘You’re ruining my life.’ It’s the least Icoulddo.”
“Well, it’s not beensobad.”
“You don't know how happy I am to hear that. I know it must seem like a punishment to have to work all summer, but I still think it’s good for you to learn someresponsibility.”
“Iknow.”
“Huh,” he said, leaning back in his chair. “This is going a lot better than I imagined. So any big plans fortheday?”
“Well, as you can see, I’m swamped with bettering myself thismorning.”
“Oh, yes. What’s this one about? Cake-making? Hair-styling? Designingclothing?”
“Picking the perfect wedding dress,” I said quietly. I knew a wedding wasn’t something that appealed to either of us, but there was something so addicting about watching a bunch of women try on gorgeousdresses.
“And for the rest of the day?” he asked, refusing to comment on my choiceofshow.
