Page 111 of A Duet of Darkness and Dreams

“It’s good. It’s missing something though,” I admit.

He furrows his brows. “What?”

“You.”

It hangs in the air for a moment, neither of us moving, neither of us breathing. Finally he sighs and leans back against the booth. “I know. I’m sorry, I’ve been—well, you know.”

I avert my eyes. “It’s okay.”

“No, it’s not.”

“It’s fine, Dave. When this is over, I’ll keep my distance and—” I swallow hard. “We can just be people who hooked up one time.”

He frowns. “That’s not what I want.”

“I don’t think you know what you want.”

There’s a pause. “It’s just being on tour and everything that’s happened in the last year. I had a plan. But now . . .”

“You don’t think you’re achieving your goals?” I ask, concerned.

He drums his thumbs on the table. “That’s just it. I am. Quicker than I ever imagined.”

“That’s great though.”

He presses his lips together and doesn’t say anything more.The waitress appears with our drinks and after nearly chugging half of my water, I sit up a little straighter.

“I have a few questions, if you don’t mind,” I say, pulling out a pencil and the notebook he gave me. “For the article, I mean.”

“Yeah, of course.”

I nod and open up to a fresh page. “Umm . . . let’s see. Oh, right.” I look back up. “Why do you think you’re able to so accurately sense the emotions of your fellow band members?”

He blinks. “Wow, that was . . . I wasn’t expecting that kind of question.”

I try to stop the smile that pulls at the corners of my mouth. “Have you always been like that? As a kid?”

Shaking his head, he takes a drink. “No. In fact, most of my life, I lived blissfully ignorant to the feelings of others.”

His sad tone surprises me. “But that changed?”

He nods.

“Care to elaborate?”

“There were just a lot of things I should’ve seen but didn’t, and eventually they all blew up in my face. So now? I’ve learned to pay attention.”

“Does it have something to do with your first band?”

I see the way his muscles tense before he clears his throat. “Who said I was in another band?”

Shifting in my seat, I take a sip of my water. “It might have been briefly mentioned by one of the others.”

His mouth twists.

“You don’t have to talk to me about it if you don’t—”

“Iwasin a band,” he interrupts. “And I wanted so badly to make it that I looked past the fact that . . .” He sighs. “The fact that maybe they weren’t as invested as I was. Maybe I wanted it too much—pushed them too far. But I had dreams and I thought the only way I was going to make it was with them. I needed to prove something . . . at the expense ofeveryoneelse.”

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