I wanted nothing to do with it. I hated drama, and I had no long-term dreams of playing in a band. Tonight was wonderful, but that’s all it was. A special one-timedeal.
“Hey,Rainier.”
I looked up to see Jenny standing on the stage next to me. She was wearing the same dress she wore the last time she came on stage, so it wasn’t nearly as shocking. Regardless, I was hit with a sense ofdéjàvu.
We spent the next couple of minutes talking about the show. How bad Owen looked, how brave I was to do what I did. Jenny even mentioned the new band name briefly, but I was distracted by the face trained on me from the bar. I had a hard time concentrating on our conversation, which meant I gave short responses to her never endingquestions.
“By the way, I had the best time the other day. Your family is great, and I’d love to go outagain.”
“Yeah, it was fun.” I could hear how my voice fell flat as I purposely didn’t offer upanotherdate.
“Well…I can’t stay, curfew and all. But I wanted to come up here and be the first to congratulate you on a great show. They’re going to be talking about this forweeks.”
“Ihopenot.”
“Oh, you’re going to be famous. Just wait.” She reached over and hugged me. “I’ll see you later,Rainier.”
“Seeya.”
I watched as she rushed off the stage, which meant I also saw how she almost bumped into Michelle on thewayout.
ChapterFifteen
Michelle
Whatwasthat?
Just because I didn’t see Rainier as the geeky homeschool kid anymore didn’t mean that I thought he was sexy. Hewasn’t.
When Owen ran off toward the bathrooms looking twenty different shades of green, I felt embarrassed for the guys left onstage.
Then Rainier surprised everyone and took charge of the entire situation. He commanded the other guys like it was nothing and reached for the microphone as if he’d been doing it all his life. I could hear a small shake in his voice but doubted most peoplenoticed.
Wait, why did Inotice?
As soon as the show was over, I wanted to rush the stage to congratulate Rainier. Unfortunately, Jenny beat me to it. Jenny in her short dress that didn’t suit her. Jenny with her hair curled in cute little ringlets and makeup that looked like it was applied by a middleschooler.
Something deep down in me didn’t like seeing the two of them together on stage. I felt weirdly possessive of Rainier, but I forced myself to drink my soda at the bar as I watched their exchange. As soon as it looked like they were saying their goodbyes, I made mywayover.
Jenny caught my eye as she walked past me. Her eyes widened for the briefest moment before they narrowed. I knew that look. I was the queen of that look. It was thedon’t you dare go near what’s minelook. Which of course made me want to get to Rainier evenfaster.
I did not like being told what I could orcouldn'tdo.
Notever.
“Hey, Rainier,” I said, as I got close to him. He was kneeling on the ground putting his guitar in its case. I continued to stand even when he didn’t get up off theground.
“Michelle.” He started on his next task barely giving me aglance.
“That wasamazing.”
He closed his eyes and chuckled. “That’s what I keephearing.”
“Oh?”
“My ego doesn’t know how to handle all thispraise.”
“You gonna be able to get that inflated head out of the bartonight?”
