Page 5 of Lyric & the Heartbeats

“The ‘too good to be true so I’m suspicious until you get more information’ pile.”

Andi smiled, glancing back to the talented musician before typing away at her computer again.

Lyric picked up her pizza and tapped her foot against the chair as she ate, listening to Adra play. His audition ended, and he wiped his hands on his jeans.

“That was great,” Lyric said, reaching forward to tap the microphone button before she could help herself. “Thanks so much. We’ll be in touch.”

“Wait—really? No, wait. You probably say that to all the applicants. Uh, thanks. Have a great day,” he mumbled, fumbling over his words. He packed away his equipment quickly, as if eager to get out of there as fast as possible.

It made her smile, and somehow, the day didn’t seem so intimidating anymore.

By the time they wrapped up on the second day, Lyric was rolling her eyes. Their last applicant of the day was a no-show, and it rubbed her the wrong way.

“Well, if they can’t show up on time, that just proves it wasn’t meant to be. Besides, it’s not like we don’t have a hundred more musicians to go through,” Andi grumbled and packed her laptop away.

The try outs were individually scheduled, and if they didn’t show, they didn’t get to try again.

Too bad, so sad.

“It’s fine. Today was kind of a bust, but there’s always tomo—”

Just as they were pushing their chairs in, a commotion sounded from the door in the other room. Lyric turned as her heart dropped, and the door burst open.

“Wait, hold on! I’m so sorry. I’m late, I know, I’m sorry. Please let me audition!”

Lyric frowned at Nohen—she had memorized it from his application. He was drenched from the rain outside and glanced around the room, pushing a lock of wet, dark hair from his eyes. Blinking away the water, he shrugged the guard’s hold off and glanced around the room.

“Are they even here?” he asked. He didn’t even give the guard a chance to answer when he turned to the window, toward Lyric. But she knew he’d only be staring down his own reflection. “I know I’m late, but I promise this won’t be a waste of your time. I’m that good,” he promised.

Lyric snorted and crossed her arms. Cocking her head to the side, she studied the lean, dark-haired man. He was wearing dark pants, ankle boots, and had a short sleeve button-up shirt tucked into the waistband. Belt. Bow tie. With sparkles.

Narrowing her gaze, she pulled her chair back out and sat her tote in the seat, pulling her folder of applications from its depths. She slapped it on the table and pulled it out.

Nohen. Beta. Twenty-five years old. The words ‘musical genius’ were used in his application.

“Wanna listen?” she asked Andi and turned her gaze to the window.

“Well, he certainly has the holier than thou personality to go with the whole lead guitarist vibe,” Andi remarked.

Lyric snorted. “He does. But… he’s here. We’re here…”

And they hadn’t heard a single hopeful audition that day. Maybe this would be the one?

“Hey, this is your band, chick. It’s your call,” Andi said.

Lyric dumped her tote back to the floor and took its place in the chair before slapping the microphone button.

“Can we get him a towel?” Lyric questioned. “He can’t play dripping wet like that.”

Andi nodded, lips twitching, and murmured into her earpiece. The guard left the room, a puzzled Nohen staring after him and glancing from the door to the two-way glass. He returned and tossed a towel at the guitarist.

“You have three minutes. Impress me,” Lyric instructed.

His eyes widened as she spoke, but he quickly schooled his expression before turning to the guard. “Thank you. Some space would be nice,” he said before running the towel over his hair and face. He shook his hair out after, his curls bouncing on the top of his head haphazardly. Lyric wanted to run her fingers through them.

The guard turned toward the window with a puzzled expression. As Andi took her seat, she murmured something through her earpiece and the guard shrugged before leaving the room.

But Lyric was focused on Nohen. He touched the guitar reverently, gently, as he lifted the strap over his head.