Page 171 of Before We're More Than Friends
“We were getting worried,” Oliver said, relaxing his muscles. “And Caleb was working his way through all the chips.”
Caleb tossed chips into his mouth. “Nothing like salty Pringles.”
Hayden laughed as he sat down. “I wouldn’t stand you guys up like that.” He gestured to Oliver. “Take the floor, Oliver.”
Oliver stood up from his chair. “So Caleb, Sienna, and I talked about our band yesterday, as you know. We decided it wouldn’t be fair of us to ditch Battle of the Bands when another band could’ve gotten the spot instead. And we also didn’t want to let Hayden down, even though he can be a bit, um . . .”
“Haywire,” I said.
“Haywire.” Oliver laughed. “We shouldn’t give up on our band. On Battle of the Bands, at least. We can focus on the future later, whether we win or not.” His golden-brown gaze went to Hayden. “What do you think?”
“I don’t want to be the one to call the shots this time,”Hayden said, looking around the room. “What do you guys think?”
“We wouldn’t be here if we weren’t down for it,” Raina said, and Arielle nodded.
“I really want to do it,” I said, excitement coursing through my veins. It was wild that months ago, the thought of performing in front of everyone would’ve made me hurl. Now, it would be a dream come true to perform what I’d written with Raina.
Agreements filled the room, and Hayden smiled. “Okay, I believe you now.”
“You came all the way to get your notebook when you didn’t believe us?” Sienna asked, raising an eyebrow.
Hayden bit his lip.
Oliver groaned. “Oh, gosh, don’t tell me you were lying.”
“Fine, I was going to back out,” Hayden confessed. “But I’m glad I motivated myself to come.”
Raina shook her head. “You have so much faith in us.”
“Hey, I have my reasons.” Hayden cleared his throat. “So where’s the song you two made out to while writing?”
I gasped. “We didn’t make out to itorwhile writing it.”
“It came after the songwriting,” Raina said.
I rolled my eyes. “I originally wrote it, but we changed it,” I said as Raina opened her notebook to where we’d left off. “For the instrumentals, we want to start off with the keyboard since the beginning is sad, and then upping the instruments as the song goes on.”
Caleb grinned. “I definitely like the sound of that.”
“Of course you would,” Hayden murmured as he studied Raina’s notebook.
I held my breath as his eyes skittered across the page, his lips pursing. After he flipped a page, he asked, “Can you give the rest of us a moment to look over it?”
“Okay.” I got up from my seat, and Raina did the same.
“And don’t eavesdrop like how you did in the laundry room,” Oliver said.
“No promises,” I said with a smile before closing the door. I sighed and faced Raina. “I feel like I’m being judged on a talent show.”
“Me too,” she said as we sat on a bench in the waiting room.
Centuries seemed to pass before Oliver came into the waiting room. “Hey, we’re ready.” From the look on his face, I couldn’t tell whether it was good news or not.
“What do you think?” I asked, the eagerness obvious in my voice.
Oliver ignored my question as we followed him back into the break room. Hayden stood up with my notebook in his hands while Caleb, Sienna, and Arielle were sitting where they were before.
“Did you like it?” Raina asked, tugging the bracelets on her wrist.
