Page 43 of Sounds Like Love
I tried to see between the throngs of people, bobbing left and right, until finally the crowd parted, and I got a good look at him. Dressed in a black T-shirt and dark-wash jeans, he bent in to take another photo with a young woman. His brown hair brushed against his shoulders, half pulled up into a messy bun behind his head, showing off a collection of ear piercings and a tattoo behind his right ear in the shape of a constellation. His smile was easy, hands in his pockets as he moved to another fan and took another photo.
Somehow, no matter which way he turned, no one ever caught Sebastian Fell at a bad angle.
No fucking way.
I’ll come find you in a minute. I have to deal with something real quick, I said, a little dejected. Someone, really.
The last person I really wanted to deal with in the lobby of my family’s music venue. Just behind him on the wall, Roman Fell peered out from the photograph like a broody rock god. Sebastian and his father looked so similar—from their noses to their easy smiles to their dark hair. The only difference, really, was that Sebastian had longer eyelashes, dark and thick and lovely, framing bright cerulean eyes.
He really was gorgeous, even though I already knew it. Even though I’d seen him much closer before. Even though I still remembered what it was like to be so close, how he smelled, how soft his lips were, how gentle his fingers as they cupped my face …
Sebastian Fell’s eyes flicked to me and held my gaze.
The rest of the world fell away, until there was only me, and him—
And that song without a name, playing so loudly in my head I could no longer hear myself think.
He recognized me from Willa Grey’s concert, because a knowing sort of grin curled across his mouth. It was the kind of grin you didn’t give strangers.
“I hope it’s no one too difficult,”Sasha said in my head.
I snapped back to myself, remembering that Sebastian Fell and I hadnotleft on good terms. I didn’t know why he was here, but I needed to deal with him before I found Sasha. It was just rotten luck that they’d shown up at the same damn time.
“Excuse me,” I said to the crowd as I gently pushed my way to the front,telling them they couldn’t loiter, that this was a fire hazard. Obviously, no one listened. Sebastian signed someone’s arm and handed a Sharpie to someone else, and then turned his attention back to me as I came up to meet him.
“Hi,” I greeted.
“Hi,” he echoed, his voice rumbly and soft, laced with a sort of familiarity we didn’t have. It gave me pause because his voice sounded like … No, he couldn’t be, and I quickly pushed the thought out of my head. My ears were playing tricks on me because Sexy Beaches were so loud. “I’m here—”
“To see the show, sure,” I said over the music, being jostled by the crowd. “We have a private balcony if you’d like. Fewer people. More privacy.”
“That would be nice,” he agreed, and after he posed for another selfie, I led him out of the lobby and up a narrow set of stairs just before the doors to the theater, to a dark and secluded balcony that overlooked the stage and the crowd. It was tiny, with only two rows of four fold-down seats, and it hadn’t been used in a very long time. My parents used to tell me that in the heyday of the Revelry, famous rock stars would sit up here and drink whiskey on the rocks and smoke a blunt or two, but only burn marks on the seat cushions remained.
Sebastian Fell made himself right at home in one of the seats and put his feet up on the balcony railing. Of course he did—he probably went through life like he owned it all.
“Can I get you anything?” I asked, keeping my voice neutral, and tapped his feet to get him to lower them. He did without question.
It was hard to forget the last time we were in a balcony alone—and I definitely was not going to makethatmistake again.
He propped his head on his hand and looked up at me from under long, dark eyelashes. Like he was waiting on me to do something. Or say something.Expectingsomething. Finally, he said, “You still don’t recognize me, do you.”
I squared my shoulders. “It was one subpar kiss.”
“Ouch.”
I rocked back and forth in my heels. I just wanted to go find Sasha. Sebastian would be fine up here alone, right? “Right, well, if you need anything, I’ll send my brother up.”
“No, wait,” he began, but I was already turning to go. I had too many things to deal with, and one of them couldn’t be Sebastian Fell.
“I’m sorry,” I said, “there’s someone here I need to meet.” “Well, as it turns out—”
“And I’m not sure what he looks like—”
“I’m here.”
My feet slowed to a stop.
“I’m here,”Sasha repeated.
