Page 30 of The Masks We Wear

She shakes her head, “He has a work thing.”

Selene frowns. “What about your cousins?”

Brody’s brows crease and she seems to grow irritated. “They have school, and my uncle hates our music. Besides, I already gave my VIP tickets away.”

“To who?” Selene raises a brow. I find my curiosity piqued as well.

Brody glances at me and quickly looks away. “Someone you don’t know.”

Aria interrupts, “I gave my VIP tickets to my mom and her girlfriend.”

“My brother is coming with my mom,” Ivory huffs out and I can tell she isn’t very excited.

Selene crosses her arms over her chest, “My family is coming.”

Brody’s eyes widen and a grin forms on her face. “They are?” She basically leans out of her seat in anticipation.

Selene nods. Why would the mention of Selene’s family excite Brody so much? Is she close with Selene’s family? “They’re coming here and then flying to visit Nan on the way home.”

“Nan?” Brody grins. “Why didn’t they bring her?”

Selene scoffs, “Because she’s the most annoying person on the planet and she skimped out on my birthday gift this year,” she complains about who I’m assuming is her grandmother.

Brody laughs, “Typical Nan. Gotta love her.”

Aria chuckles, “Do you guys remember when Nan came to the last concert?”

The girls all start hysterically laughing and Selene groans. “How could I ever forget?”

“She started a fight with a twenty-year-old and then called Selene from the floor to tell her we were too loud and to lower the volume mid-concert,” Brody recalls, a huge, carefree smile on her face.

Aria takes a sip of her water and laughs, “Gotta love that woman.”

“She’s insane. A shame she won’t be here,” Ivory shakes her head.

“A shame indeed,” Brody agrees as her calm state slowly fades and she goes back to worrying.

––––––––

AFTER THE FLIGHT TOVegas, we settled into our hotel rooms, mine across the hall from Brody’s, and made our way to the concert venue. Brody, Ivory, and Aria were swept up quickly by makeup artists and hair stylists and they’ve been gone for hours getting all done up for their performance.

An hour before the show starts, Brody reappears looking ethereal. I can’t take my eyes off her. Her hair is adorned with chains and star charms woven into a few braids and the rest is curled loosely. The black strands in her hair mix into the blond curls and she has dark eye makeup on both of her deep blue eyes. She wears a wine-red bra top that resembles a bikini top with matching lace up pants that reveal plenty of her tanned skin. Her outfit reveals parts of her I haven’t yet seen and I note a tattoo of the tragedy comedy masks on the back of her left shoulder blade. She has another tattoo on her ribs, right below her breasts on the right side of her body but I can’t make out the words from where I’m sitting on the leather couch in her dressing room, but I have a burning desire to get close enough to decipher them.

Brody’s eyes land on me and she strides over to me and plops down on the couch about a foot away from me. “Can you say something rude like you normally would so I can focus on what a dick you are instead of worrying?” She asks, turning her head to face me.

I smirk, unable to help it. “Like what?”

She waves her hands at me, “Anything, you’re good at being a dick so act natural.”

I shake my head and snort a quiet laugh, “Why are you worrying?”

Her smile falls and she cocks her head at me like I’m stupid. “Have you seen the headlines about me? The articles? BecauseI’m sure all the fans out there have and they’ll be looking at me even closer than they were before.”

I frown, “Don’t worry about other people. Do what you do best, get out there, perform, and then be done with it. At least until the next show.”

She takes a deep breath and doesn’t respond. Selene pops her head in the door and looks at Brody, a warm smile on her face, “Brody, your guests are here.”

Brody tenses up, her eyes widening with the news. She leaps out of her seat and rushes towards the door. She looks at me over her shoulder, “Be right back.” A small smile forms on her lips as she rushes out of the room.

---