Page 135 of Before We're More Than Friends
Arielle’s lips curved into a frown. “Was it about me? I can leave. You don’t have to?—”
“It’s not that,” Hayden said. “We’re just a bit shaky. Change and all. But we’ll get through it like we always do.”
I had no idea what that meant, but I knew in the pit of my stomach that it wasn’t something to just shrug off.
“Let’s start the practice once Caleb gets his water.”
I sat beside Sienna on the beanbags and whispered, “Will you tell me what’s really going on?”
Sienna smiled, the corners of her lips barely moving. “Hayden’s telling the truth. We just kind of got shaky for a bit.”
Great, evenshewas lying to me. But I wasn’t going to push. Fine if they didn’t want to tell the truth. We’d work on that after we passed our audition.
Caleb came back with a big glass of water and chugged it down before we got to work. It only took a few minutes of us planning out how we wanted to perform “She Looks So Perfect” before everyone seemed to be in a better mood. Caleb was back to cracking jokes that made Sienna roll her eyes and Oliver playfully argue with him. Hayden seemed to be having fun and kept sharing grins with Arielle.
And then there was Dallas, who couldn’t take his eyes off me, even as we sang. He belted out the lyrics like he’d been singing for a lifetime, looking into my soul with his deep eyes. Sweat ran down his forehead, his fair skin shining, and I had to compose myself so I wouldn’t mess up the lyrics.
How could someone look so freaking sexy while performing in a hot garage? I probably looked like a drowned rat with my dripping makeup and pit stains.
But Dallas didn’t seem to mind because I knew he meant it when he said he thought I looked so perfect standing there—though not in his underwear . . . we weren’t ready for that stage, yet. Images of kissing him came to mind, and I couldn’t wait for the future of our relationship. He was only my first boyfriend, but I hoped he’d be my forever.
I’d been far from lucky lately, but he made me feel like I’d struck gold in the love department.
CHAPTER 33
Dallas
We worked our butts off the entire week. Hayden stressed more than he usually did, wanting everything to be perfect for our audition. The pressure was getting to all of us, but we managed to pull through to Saturday afternoon.
But what I hadn’t expected was for so many bands to audition as well.
When I arrived at What Do You Bean, I nearly tripped over my own feet when I saw how many bands were here. Sure, with ten spots open, I hadn’t expected the place to be empty. But it was pretty crowded in here for a café that had a maximum capacity of two hundred and fifty people.
No wonder Hayden had been so stressed.
“Our first lead singer arrives,” Caleb sang when I approached our usual booth.
“Hey.” I smiled at everyone before sliding next to Hayden. “I didn’t expect this many people to be here.”
“There are eighteen bands auditioning,” Oliver said. “Not as many as I expected.”
Okay, nottoobad. “That’s still quite a bit.”
“They have nothing on us,” Hayden said, more anxiety than confidence in his voice. “There’s no way we’re at the bottom eight. Especially with you and Raina as the lead singers.”
“Come on, we all know where the real magic is,” Caleb said, pointing his thumbs at himself.
“You’re pointing at the wrong person,” Oliver said as he brushed through his shaggy hair he’d grown out. “It was my idea to turn my garage into our band room. And I keep all of you accountable. Especially Caleb.”
“I was the one who came up with the band in the first place,” Sienna said. “Before I came along, you three were just crying in your garage with instruments.”
“We weren’tcrying,” Oliver protested. “We were brooding.”
“Which is the masculine version of sulking.”
Hayden groaned. “It doesn’t matter.”
“Sheesh,” Sienna muttered. “Panties in a twist?”
