Grinning, I hit Talk. “Hey, you. What’s up?”
“Happy Thanksgiving!” he exclaimed. “Right now, my mom and grandma are going through my baby photo albums, and I’m slowly dying of embarrassment. What about you?”
“I’m contemplating whether it’s physically possible to eat another piece of tres leches,” I replied. “My heart says yes, but my stomach says no.”
“There’s always room for more tres leches,” Sofia said.
“Was that Sofia?” Xander asked, his voice laden with confusion.
“Yeah,” I said, switching my phone to my other ear. “Things got a little heated at my place, so I crashed her family gathering.”
“What happened?” he asked.
Sofia pointed to the patio where her siblings and cousins were sitting, indicating that she was going to join them, and I nodded my head in understanding.
“Violet and I got in another fight,” I said, easing back into the middle of the hammock as she got up.
There was such a long pause that, for a second, I thought our call had disconnected.
“Oh,” Xander finally said.
Oh? That was it?
“You okay?” I asked him.
“Yeah, totally fine,” he replied, but something about his voice was off. Before I could press further, he changed the subject. “Are you still meeting me at the recording studio on Tuesday?”
“There’s nothing I’m looking forward to more.”
We spoke for another twenty minutes, but then I heard someone calling Xander’s name on his end of the line, and he had to go.
After hanging up, I eased myself into a sitting position and looked around for Sofia. She was sitting with Ronnie, Jake, and Javier, laughing at whatever story her cousin was telling. Watching them all together made my heart twinge. I loved Sofia, but sometimes it was hard to see her with her family. They reminded me so much of how mine used to be—together, happy—and how we’d never be like that again.
Chapter 15
“You have reached your destination,” my phone announced as I drove up to a small brick building in West Hollywood. A vine with stunning magenta flowers extended up the front facade, like a column of vibrant coral or pink clouds, only interrupted by a fashionably rusted metal sign that read NEW EDGE RECORDING STUDIO.
It was late Tuesday afternoon, and despite the mountain of homework I’d been assigned today at school, I was feeling on top of the world. Not only was I about to see Xander after a month of getting by on phone calls and texts, but I would also get to watch him bring his song to life.
In addition, I had my own surprise to share with him. I had spent the weekend recording and rerecording the videos for my prescreening until they were flawless. Violet and Dad had been AWOL, which meant I got the whole house to myself with no one to interrupt me. My application was due today, but before I sent it off, I wanted Xander to listen to each piece. Not because I was still searching for flaws but because even though our music was different, it was something we shared.
After the past two months of worrying about my prescreening, I finally felt content. With the repertoire I’d chosen and how well I’d played, there was no way I wouldn’t get a live audition.
Juilliard, here I come.
The studio’s parking lot was surrounded by a large fence, which was covered in the same blooming flower as the building. The gate was open, so I pulled in and parked near the black Range Rover I recognized as Xander’s car. After shouldering my bag and fishing my phone out of the cupholder, I hopped out and started up the sidewalk. I was halfway to the building when the glass door at the front entrance swung open and Xander stepped out, almost as if he’d been waiting for me to arrive.
He smiled—the goofy, lopsided one that first endeared me to him at Comic Con—and covered the remaining distance between us in four long strides. Without any words of greeting, he pulled me against his body.
After a few seconds of standing in each other’s arms, he asked, “Eat anything in the past five hours that might kill me?”
“Nope.” In fact, I’d purposely avoided eating anything at lunch that I knew he was allergic to.
“Perfect,” Xander whispered, then pressed his lips to mine.
The kiss was fierce, filled with an entire month’s worth of longing and desire, and for a brief moment, I considered dragging him to my car so we could continue kissing in private. When we finally broke apart, a breathless laugh escaped me.
“Hi,” I said, grinning up at him.
