Page 92 of Before We're More Than Friends
“If you do decide, good luck,” Sienna said. “I wouldn’t know how to respond.”
“Thatmakes me feel better.”
“Sorry.” She reached for my hand and squeezed it.
“It’s fine,” I said, though my tone sounded anything but. For the rest of the lunch period, I couldn’t even finish my bubble tea because of the sourness in my stomach.
CHAPTER 23
Dallas
“You have to be out of your mind,” Hayden said, shooting Caleb a dirty look. “There’s no way we’re naming our band that.”
“Come on.” Caleb shoved potato chips into his mouth. “If we ever become famous, people will wonder where the name came from. It’ll be a conversation starter.”
“I don’t think anyone would want to listen to a band called ‘Fresh Chips,’” Oliver said, opening his container of pasta. “Not only is it lame, but it also sounds like a terrible innuendo. ‘Hey, girl, I have some fresh chips for you. Want to try them?’”
Caleb swatted him. “You think everything sounds like an innuendo.”
“I donot.”
“Seriously, guys,” Hayden said, tapping his pen on his notebook. “You’ve been coming up with crappy names for at least ten minutes. We need something unique that actually sounds like a pop rock band name.”
“I don’t have anything,” I said, staring at my blank notebook page.
“Maybe we should ask the girls,” Caleb suggested. “Don’t they name a lot of stuff? Their cars, their phones, their boobs?—”
Oliver rolled his eyes. “Gosh, and you say I’m the dirty one.”
“Well, that’s what Sienna told me. I think it’s cool, actually.”
“The naming everything or just their?—”
“Guys, I’m this close to slapping both of you,” Hayden grumbled. “If you guys don’t take this seriously, I’m kicking you both out of the band.”
“And where would you find a better keyboardist than me?” Caleb asked, shaking both his real hand and prosthetic hand. “You don’t find guys with hands like these every day.”
“That sounds dirty,” Oliver muttered.
Caleb smacked him. “Hayden is about to blow a fuse.”
“I am.” Hayden put his head in his hands. “No one is going to take us seriously if we go by Oliver’s Garage Band forever.”
I rubbed his back, not used to this stressed side of him. “We’re going to come up with something.” I looked at Oliver and Caleb. “We need to stop joking around.”
“We’re trying to lighten the mood,” Caleb said. “Hayden always gets wound up and needs us to help balance things out.”
“No, Caleb is just being immature,” Oliver said. “But seriously, we do want to help. It’s just a lot to take in.”
“That’s why I’m stressed.” Hayden rubbed his temples. “We can’t even work through simple things like picking a band name. Even if it isn’t the best one, as long as it’s something we can use and have people take us seriously.” His gaze traveled to the sky. “Like Somewhere in the Sky. It won’t make sense to everyone, but it doesn’t sound random and stupid. It fits the atmosphere of their songs.”
I also looked up. There were only a few clouds in the sky and one airplane that glided among them. There had to be a band name out there for us. Flying out there like an airplane, waiting for us to notice.
Flying out there.
Like an airplane.
I clicked my green pen and wrote down the terms that flew around in my mind.Great ideas fly around like airplanes.Flying like an airplane. Flying Like Airplanes. Like Airplanes.
