It was unexpected, but it didn’t matter. I’d spent a week preparing for this evening, and I couldn't back out even if I wanted to. My dad had gone out on a limb asking Norm to do this favor for me, and I didn't want to disappoint him. Especially not after all he'd been through thissummer.
I quickly looked around the place for familiar faces. I saw Jenny and Matt sitting close on one end of the bar. Jenny was laughing at something Matt said, and her hand found his knee. She didn't pull it back, and he didn’t flinch away from the touch. That was new. Or, at least, it wastome.
They looked happytogether.
Avery had walked over to Carter as soon as we got inside. She was easy to spot near the stage with her boyfriend. While Avery looked as glowing as ever, her other half looked about as nervous as I felt. I didn't think I'd ever seen him as anything but carefree, which made me even moreanxious.
It was then I realized I hadn’t seen Rainier yet. The thought that he left River Valley already had my heart beating more quickly. It would certainly explain why Carter looked like he was goingtopuke.
No, Rainier needed to be heretonight.
Just one more show. Besides, wouldn’t the rest of the band look upset if something like thathappened?
I couldn't worry about that right now. I had other things that were much morepressing.
I went off in searchofNorm.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Rainier
Iwas hidingout from everyone beforetheshow.
The back of The Imperial wasn’t fancy like the rest of the club. Away from its patrons, this space was dominated by a giant dumpster and two plastic patio chairs reserved for employees who were on break. One chair sat empty, while a pretty, blonde sat in the other. I recognized her as a bartender. She kept taking drags off her lit cigarette and giving me shylooks.
I refused to sit but leaned up against the brick wall of the building. I went through our set list in my mind. We’d start with a cover, and then sneak in an original. Then we’d play a few more well-known songs before going into a stretch of originals again. Matt had even convinced me to play my songagain.
Tap,tap,tap.
I didn’t see the point in arguing considering everyone in River Valley had seen the video of me singing it last week. Hell, half of Boise had probably seen it by now. So since Chasing Sunsets wasn’t playing tonight, I had to assume the massive crowd inside was here to seeuslive.
It should have been exciting to know we were gaining traction, getting popular, but I couldn’t get Michelle’s face out of my mind. The last time I’d seen her was the day she walked out of the bookstore. We hadn’t worked any more shifts together after that, and soon after, the place had shut downpermanently.
The girl out back with me kept trying to strike up a conversation much to my frustration. I'd found out her name was Mila, that she went to BSU, and her major was liberal arts. She had a lot of questions, but I kept all my answers short. There was no way she was so dense to realize I wasn'tinterested.
I looked down at my phone to see how much longer before we went on. I even debated watching theopeningact.
Mila was opening her mouth to say something else when the back door flung open. It startled me as it hit against the outside wall. Matt was standing in the doorway, breathing heavily. “Michelle!Stage.Now.”
“What?”
He grabbed my arm and pulled, but I dug in my heels. “Dude,” Matt said, urgency lacing his every word. “Michelle just walked up on stage. You need to comerightnow.”
“Michelle?”
“That's what I said. Let's go.” Matt yanked my arm again, and this time Ifollowed.
As soon as we got to the central area of the bar, I saw why he was so worked up. Michelle, my Michelle, was on stage. She had a gorgeous Taylor guitar slung across her chest and was standing in front of the microphone. A single spotlight shone down on her figure as she spoke intothemic.
“I know we’re all very excited to see Rainier and the Go-Aways.” The crowd cheered in response, and I wanted to shush them all. I didn’t want to miss a single word that came from her mouth. “I’m a pretty big fan myself. Especially of that hauntingly beautiful one they played last week." More cheers. "In fact, I was so touched by it, I decided I wanted to give it a gotonight.”
Some people continued to cheer for her, but it seemed like most people in the crowd were confused. I was confused. Michelle could barely play the three notes I taught her. How did she expect to playmysong?
Michelle took a deep breath and hit the first note on the guitar. And the next. And then the next. It wasn’t perfect, and she played the chords rather than the individual notes. Even so, it was clear she’d learnedoursong.
A rush of jealousy hit me when I pictured another guy teaching her how to play. She wasn't supposed to be with another guy. We were meant to betogether.
I knewthatnow.
