Sighing, I turn away from him. “I have to go now.”
“Will I see you later?”
“Sure. I’ll come by tonight.” I stand on tiptoes and kiss him lightly on the lips.
“Okay.”
I start to walk away, but he pulls me back to him and kisses me, a little more intensely, a little more like we’re alone and the studio isn’t gradually filling up with the next class.
But we can’t pretend we don’t have places to be anymore. Sighing, Easton lets me go. I grab my bag and head for the door. But I barely make it there when Easton calls me back.
“Rayne, wait! Shit, what’s happening?” His voice sounds different than it did a second ago, a mixture of excitement, panic, and disbelief in it. I whirl around, and there he is, phone in hand, staring at the screen. He’s pale as a ghost.
I take a few quick steps back to him, and for a split second I forget that today is not a good day, that I feel strange, and that everything is off. Easton looks like he’s seen a ghost. “What’s going on?”
A stunned laugh escapes his lips, and he holds out his phone to me. My eyes fly over the display. I read the message. Once, twice, three times.
“It’s real, isn’t it?” he asks, his voice trembling. “I’m not just imagining it?”
“No, you’re not just imagining it,” I say, a chill running down my spine as I read the email from Redrock Music Group for the fourth time. “They want you. They want you to come to LA for an interview.”
Chapter 45
Easton
Bad Liar—Imagine Dragons
When I get home later, I can’t remember how the rest of the day went. All I know is that we got the email from Redrock. The hours that followed are just a blur. I somehow managed to get through the two classes I had left that day, but I really don’t know how. I canceled my shift at the record store, even though I felt incredibly guilty about it, but I had no other choice. I would have loved to skip my classes at the New England School of Ballet too, but since I was already there, I couldn’t really do that, even though I was so excited I could have died. Every minute my fingers weren’t on the piano keys, I was texting the guys.
Beck, Jax, and Colin are sitting in the living room when I enter the house. Their voices sound loud and excited; they’re talking so fast that I can barely understand what they’re saying.
“Hey,” I greet them, and all three fall silent at once. But the next moment, they leap up and we fall into each other’s arms because our biggest dream is coming true.
“We did it!”
“LA, here we come!”
“Fuck!”
“Oh God, can you believe it?”
“Dude, this is crazy!”
“I have to call Emma! Just think, if we move to LA, then... we could finally see each other more often again.”
We’re all talking at once and it’s almost impossible to understand a word, but we all know what the others are talking about.
“Did you guys answer yet?” I ask at some point.
“We waited for you,” Colin replies solemnly. I’ve never seen him grin as broadly as he does right now.
“Let’s get started, then.” Jax rubs his hands together, throws himself onto the sofa, and opens the laptop on the coffee table. “I think the answer is obvious, right?”
“No, we’ll write back and tell them we’re not interested and would rather stay in Boston.” Laughing, Beck steps behind him and messes up his hair. It’s usually cropped short, but it’s gotten longer over the winter.
“Good idea,” says Jax with a grin, typing a short email to Redrock Music. Then we sit silently, staring at our inbox and waiting for a reply.
My heart is beating so fast I can feel it in every cell of my body. There’s a rushing sound in my ears. Redrock wants us.Redrock.Holy shit. This is one of the biggest music labels in the country. One of the best. They want us to come to Los Angeles and play more of our songs for them. They want to get to know us. They wantus.
