"No, she'snot.Why?"
"No reason. Justcurious."
Kat opened the double doors leading to the crowded lobby. Suddenly the crowd erupted into applause, startling Lucky and stopping her in her tracks. Kat put her arm around her and led her to the table where there was a long line of people waitingforthem.
Lucky hugged each person in that line as they approached. In such awe of the crowd's reaction, she couldn't help but feel appreciative. She signed every CD they sold, every poster or piece of paper someone put in frontofher.
Towards the end of the line was a small group of five guys in their early twenties. Lucky thought they had college frat boy written all over them. As they approached, Kat leaned down to whisper intoLucky'sear.
"Here they come. This is how you know you'vemadeit."
"What are you talkingabout?"
"Shh.You'llsee."
A cute guy with short dark brown hair and brown eyes wearing jeans and a dark green polo shirt moved up to the front of the group and smiled at Lucky. She felt herself blush as she methisgaze.
"You were awesome up there. My friends and I are going to a cool party tonight, would you like to come? You can bring yourband,too."
"Yes, we'd love to," Kat interrupted. "We'll meet you out front when we'redonehere."
As the guys walked away, Lucky grabbed Kat's arm. "We can't go to a party with them. We don't evenknowthem."
"Oh please! We'll get toknowthem."
"But anything canhappen."
"That's right, anything can happen. It'll be great." She grinned at Lucky. "Come on Lucky, it'll be fun. You need to get out more, meetthefans."
"Okay, okay, fine. I'll text Jordan and let her know we won't be backuntillate."
It took over an hour to get through every person waiting in line for an autograph. Some people asked to take pictures with Lucky too and she obliged all of them. Her head was spinning by the time they were done but she felt like she was on top of the world. Even though the show was cut short, she was happy with what they performed and the line of people boosted her confidenceevenmore.
Once everything was packed and back on the bus, she and Kat went outside and saw the guys who invited them to the party. The cool night air snapped Lucky back to reality and she felt like her old self again. She hoped Paul would be able to get it together by their next show. As they approached the group, the cute one from before turned around andsmiled.
"Cool! You're here. We were taking bets as to whether you'd showornot."
"We wouldn't miss it,"Katsaid.
"Let's go. It's a good thing we brought two cars. Lucky can come in my car and everyone else can just figureitout."
"Kat has to come with me," said Lucky, grabbing Kat's arm as she followed him to his car. "What'syourname?"
"Man, what was I thinking? It's Ross." He unlocked the doors to an old tan Jeep and opened the passenger door for her. "Obviously I know your name. I'm so psyched you're coming to theparty!"
Lucky exchanged a look with Kat. She thought it was odd how excited this guy was for them to go to a party, but he was really cute so she was willing to ignore it. She watched him walk around to the driver's side of the car. His jeans hugged his butt perfectly and with the way his polo shirt hung off his broad shoulders, she could tell he had anicebody.
They drove to a quiet residential neighborhood and Ross pulled into the driveway of a split-level house. Cars lined the street and several people sat on the front steps despite having to regularly move whenever the storm doorswungopen.
With her heart pounding excitedly in her chest, Lucky got out of the car and pulled Kataside.
"I don't know what to do,"shesaid.
"What are you talking about?" Kat said. "You mix and mingle or people watch. Just relax and have fun. I'm sure you've been to parties before." Kat's eyes roamed over Lucky's face and then her browwrinkled. "No?"
Lucky shook her head. "My parents were strict. I wasn't allowed to go to parties and eventually I stopped getting invited," she said with a shrug, trying to pretend it didn't bother her. "I dove into music instead. By the time I was in college, I was so obsessed with getting into the rehearsal room that I didn't care aboutparties."
"Then just relax and have fun," Kat said. "Let's goinside."
