Page 91 of The Heartbreakers
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Since she was a special guest, Cara didn’t just have regular tickets; she had three VIP passes. While I knew that watching the concert would bring back memories, I wasn’t ready for the surge of emotions that slammed into me as soon as we stepped backstage. Maybe it was just JJ.
“Bear!” he yelled and barreled into me so hard that I almost fell to the floor.
“JJ, you’re crushing me,” I said, barely able to breathe.
“Sorry,” he said and quickly let go. “I couldn’t help it. It’s not the same without you around.”
“You better watch out,” warned a familiar voice, and I turned to see Xander smiling at me. “I’m fairly positive that JJ’s planning to kidnap you.”
“Oh my God, Xander,” I exclaimed when I noticed the change in his appearance. His usual thick-framed glasses were gone. “You look great!”
“You think?” he asked. “I’m trying out contacts because I figured they’d be harder for JJ to break.”
“Hey, this time was purely accidental,” JJ said. “It’s not like I meant to sit on them.”
“What about the time you tried using them as a slingshot and flung them off our balcony?” Xander asked. JJ attempted to hold a straight face, but he quickly gave in to his snicker and Xander shook his head. “Yeah, that’s what I thought.”
“Where’s Alec?” I said as I looked around. “I’d like you all to meet my sister.”
“Right here,” he said, appearing out of the shadows like a silent night creature. Like always, his face was expressionless, but from the force of his hug I knew he was glad to see me.
Oliver had yet to show his face, but since he’d already met Cara, I spent the next minute doing introductions without him. Afterward, Drew took his turn shaking the guys’ hands and getting reacquainted, and I stood back and took everything in. Being at one of the Heartbreakers’ concerts again gave me a strange feeling, like I’d suddenly been yanked back into summer. Seeing Courtney, Paul, and the usual crew going about their usual business made me feel like nothing had changed, even though that was far from the truth.
“I’ve always had a bit of a crush on your sister,” I heard JJ joke, so I turned back toward the group to listen. He was smiling down at Cara, and the look on his face—rosy cheeks and wide eyes—made me pause. “But I really have a thing for blonds.”
For someone who was normally sensitive about her hair loss, Cara blushed and laughed. Since the end of her chemo, about an inch had grown back, so tonight she’d worn what she liked to call her Scarlett Johansson wig.
“Remember what happened the last time you tried hitting on one of my sisters?” Drew said in a warning tone, but I could tell from the glint in his eyes that he was only teasing. I never heard JJ’s response because someone tapped me on the shoulder.
I knew who it was without looking, and even though I’d known I’d have to face Oliver at some point during the night, my heart lurched when I finally turned to him. His hands were shoved in the front pockets of his jeans. On his head was a beanie that reminded me of the first time we met, and a few of his brown locks curled out around his ears. Normally he stuck to plain black or white shirts, but tonight he wore a navy one that made his eyes pop like an explosion of aqua.
“Hey, Stella,” he said, looking almost shy.
“Hey, Oliver.”
Then we both just stood there and stared at each other. As the silence mounted between us, I tried to think of what I could possibly say. Thankfully, Oliver reached up, rubbed the back of his neck, and spoke first.
“How are you?” he asked, and the tension in my stomach eased a bit.
“Good, good,” I said, nodding my head quickly. “What about you? How are things going with the band?”
“Better,” he said. “We told Alec’s dad that if he didn’t give us some freedom to do our own thing, then we were done.”
“And he agreed to that?”
“Yeah, I guess he didn’t want to chance losing his biggest dollar sign. I’ve already started writing some different songs for our new album.”
“That’s great news, Oliver. I can’t wait to hear them when it’s released.”
“You won’t have to wait that long,” he said, flashing me a small smile. It wasn’t like the one I’d come to love, full faced and crooked. This was only a shadow, a cast-off of the real thing. “We’ll be playing one tonight.”
Smiley, the Heartbreakers’ stage manager, came up behind Oliver and clamped him on the shoulder before I could answer. “Come on, O-man,” he said, and pulled him toward JJ, Xander, and Alec who’d already assembled in their preshow places. “All right, gentlemen,” Smiley said once they were all in position. “It’s time to make some girls’ panties drop.”
Courtney shot Smiley a cross look. “That’s so inappropriate, Fred,” she scolded him. “And nobody says ‘panties’ anymore.”
Everybody laughed, and the back-line crew rushed up to the Heartbreakers. Someone helped Oliver with his earpiece, another passed Xander and Alec their instruments, and a third handed JJ a pair of drumsticks that he instantly tucked into the back pocket of his jeans. Then the lights dimmed, and the hair on the back of my neck rose in anticipation. It was time for the concert.
