He takes forever to answer. In the meantime, I search “April” ... the search bar fills in “April Rain dating.” My phone knows me too well. This is, of course, a totally meaningless search, considering the tabloids never got a whiff of the two of us, and we were actually engaged.
She never made an official announcement because her father and manager pressured her to end things with me. I was a nobody, a lifeguard going to law school, apparently marrying her only for her money and fame. I didn’t mind what April’s manager or even what her father thought. I understood how they could misconstrue my intentions. I totally got why they were wary of our crazy plan. And to beclear, it wasourplan. I certainly wasn’t the one who dreamed of a fairytale wedding. That was all Rainy. What really hurt, still hurts, is that she listened to everyone else and believed them. That she could have thought for one moment that I was dating her for the fame and the money. I wanted to marry her despite all of that.
I’m tormenting myself, scrolling through the photos of all the various guys April’s name has been linked to. I stop at a picture of her with a very familiar face. Carlos Musgrove. My best friend. Carlos and April. I’ve seen this before. Not long before I met Carlos in real life, I had seen photos of him and April together at various events. They were next-door neighbors, so it made sense that he would ask her out. Carlos is currently dating April’s younger sister, September. Neither Carlos nor September know of my history with April. September was backpacking the world at the time, and Carlos was... I have no idea what he was up to. Hustling to start his own business as a music manager, I’d guess.
My phone buzzes. Speak of the devil.
carlos
BIG NEWS!!!!
carlos
Can we come over?
freddy
You and September?
carlos
Who else?
I don’t feel like seeing anyone right now. But I find it hard to say no to Carlos; I owe him so much.
freddy
Absolutely
I climb out of bed and pull on some joggers. I’m currently staying in the bungalow behind Carlos’s parents’ house. And since his girlfriend lives right next door, Carlos spends more weekends at his parents. So, when he says he’s coming over in a minute, he means a minute. All he has to do is walk out his back door.
My phone buzzes with another text.
mouse
She might have been with this guy
I hold my breath and stare at the phone, waiting for the photo to come through.
When the picture appears, I drop my phone like it’s something poisonous. I pick it up and look closer at the smarmy handsome face of Johnny Love. Johnny Effing Love. He’s like 40, and I do not likehow he is ogling April in this photo.
“Dude, why are you growling?”
I drop my phone on my bed and turn around. Carlos stands in my doorway with his arm wrapped around September.
I snatch up my phone, close my messages, and turn it off. I can’t have September see me obsessing over her sister.
Carlos tosses me a shirt off the floor. “Dude! Put on a shirt! How’s a guy to compete with all that.” He waves a hand toward my chest. September giggles. But I don’t take Carlos’s comment seriously. We lift together when I’m not on tour, and the guy is ripped. Also, September, for all her flaws, is absolutely smitten with him. Sheesh, look at her right now. She keeps batting her impossibly long lashes at him.
Nearly every time I see September, I find myself looking for traces of her sister. They both have pale skin, which tends to freckle in the summer. September’s nut-brown hair hangs straight, while Rainy’s hair is black and unruly. September is several inches shorter than April and is a smaller person in general. But her mouth is similar to April’s, as is her smile. They definitely have the same eyes. Ocean eyes—that’s what I thought when I first met April, pulling her out of the water onto my surfboard. Her hazel eyes sparkled like water in sunlight.
Most people think of the ocean as blue; but that is only how it looks from a distance when it reflects the sky on a clear day. Most days, the ocean is a soft hazel–blueish, grayish, green. In my songTsunami, a lyric refers to April’s “ocean eyes.” Fans hypothesized that the girl who broke my heart had blue eyes. Like most of my fans’ theories, I’ve never bothered to correct them. I like keeping Rainy’s eye color to myself. Right now, September is gazing up at Carlos with those same greenish-blue eyes. He gives her a sappy smile. Carlos is the smiliest person I know. But this is extreme, even for him.
“So...” September begins in a sing-songy voice.
Carlos takes her hand that he is already holding and laces his fingers between hers.
“We have big news,” he says, bouncing on his heels.
