“That’s what dear friends do, care for each other.” I cringed when I said it. She tensed under my hand. My pulse hammered against myribs.
She shook her head. “I don’t even know what I’m doing.”That made two of us.She pushed to her feet and turned to face me. Her expression was unreadable and that scared the shit out of me. What was I doing? “I want more than that with you,” I said. “I alwayshave.”
She pressed her lips together in a hard line. “I don’t know what I want, to be honest. I don’t know what I need right now. Ijust…”
Doubt settled in. She didn’t need the stress of whatever this was between us, and to be honest, I didn’t even know if I could bewhatshe needed in that aspect. I was immature, unsettled, but damn, I loved her. “Don’t think about it then,” I said, placing my arm around her shoulder. When I went to kiss her, she barely kissed meback.
“Don’t do this.” Isighed.
The sound of gravel crunching under tires caught my attention. I glanced toward the road to see Meg’s car pulling down the drive. I couldn’t help but let out a sarcastic laugh. “Wow, you were gonna bounce?” I tossed my hands up. “Just likethat?”
“It’s early, and I needed to gethome.”
“You could have woken meup.”
“I just need to… think about what I’m doing,Noah.”
“Okay. It’sfine.”
“I can’t keep a clear head when I’m aroundyou.”
I nodded. “Yeah, alright, well”—I backed up the steps—“well, you just let me know when your head’s cleared.” Angry and hurt, I yanked the door open and stepped inside before she could say anything else, and I went straight to the fridge to grab abeer.
Maybe I shouldn’t have pulled the dear friend bullshit, but still, she’d already made up her mind.I chugged the beer.She called her fucking friend to come get her.I tossed the empty beer can into the trash and heard my phone ringing in my bedroom. Swearing under my breath at my stupidity, I went to my room and grabbed thephone.
“Yeah?” I said, rubbing over myneck.
“Noah, it’s Brice.Again.”
“Yeah.”
“Like I said when you hung up on me thefirst time, I saw a video of you covering one of my songs and I wasimpressed.”
“Thanks.”
“So much so, I showed it to my agent. I’m always looking for new voices to do collaborations with, I was going to invite you to record a song withme.”
I froze, staring straight ahead at the mirror. He can’t beserious.
“You stillthere?”
“Yeah, I’m still here justkinda…”
He laughed. “Well, it was a last-minute thought. I have this song I need another voice for, no one I’ve tried feels just right. Now, I’m not saying it’s a sure thing, hell, you may get up here and might not sound anything like that video. Maybe you just suck at recording, but there’s only one way to find out forsure.”
“You’re serious?” As soon as the words left my mouth, I felt like anidiot.
“Serious as a heart attack.” He chuckled. “Only problem is. I only have three more days in thestudio.”
“Okay.”
“So, if you’re interested, you’re gonna have to come up here.Today.”
“Today?”
“Today. That’s why I had been trying to get in touch with you for a while, but I’m sure whatever employer you have would understand, and I’ll cover your accommodations, lost wages andsuch.”
He’s fucking serious! My heart banged around so hard I was afraid I might literally keel over right there. I’d never even thought of doing anything with music besides singing at Tipsy’s. “Yeah, yeah. Um, I can be there. I can leave in a little bit, it’s just about a four-hourdrive.”
