Page 92 of The Heartbreakers
I had to squint to find my siblings in the dark. They were standing close to the side of the stage where they could actually watch the show, and when I joined them, Cara greeted me with a thumbs-up. Drew had his hands pressed over his ears as the audience started to scream, and I smiled and shook my head. From experience, I knew that the Heartbreakers’ fans were loud enough to command an entire arena. Not even a pair of soundproof headphones would help my brother now.
But today, I hardly noticed the noise. During those few quick seconds before the show began, all I could hear was a dull roar as the crowd suddenly became background music in my mind. It was like I’d been listening to my iPod and then my headphones were ripped from my ears. What was once loud and focused became a whisper of a song, one I could only make out because I’d heard it hundreds of times before.
Maybe it was because at that exact moment, my vision tunneled as I focused on one thing—Oliver. I watched as he shook out his arms to get rid of his jitters, and he must have felt my gaze because he glanced over his shoulder. When he saw me watching him, he nodded as if that was some sort of signal I was supposed to understand. I didn’t, but I also didn’t have any time to figure out what he meant.
Fred-Smiley shouted something I couldn’t hear, and Oliver swung back around to listen. Just like that, our moment ended, and all my senses flooded back to me. First was the sound of the crowd—so deafening that I could feel it thumping against my chest, like bass tones blasting from a speaker. Next came my smell as I caught a whiff of Drew’s cologne. Last, I felt Cara laughing next to me.
“What?”
“Remember that time in the hospital when I said you’d never go to a Heartbreakers concert?”
Her statement made me pause. Neither of us had ever imagined this moment, the two of us standing here together, but here we were. Cara had beaten her definites. My sister was right about so many things in our life, but she’d been wrong about never seeing the boys perform. If there was such a thing as fate, she’d changed it.
“Remember when you thought you’d never go to one either?” I asked, eyebrows raised.
Somehow my question was timed perfectly with the beginning of the show. A slow-growing smile stretched across Cara’s face, and I couldn’t tell if it was the result of my comment or because Oliver’s voice was suddenly echoing through the entire arena.
Cara answered by squeezing my hand, and then she turned back toward the stage and, for the first time, watched her favorite band perform.
• • •
The concert set list was the same as the one used during the boys’ tour, so by the time they reached the last song of the night, I’d completely forgotten about Oliver’s promise of something new.
“I hope everyone enjoyed themselves tonight! I want to thank you all for supporting a cause that’s very near to our hearts,” Oliver said, gesturing back at Xander, Alec, and JJ. “By purchasing a ticket tonight, you’ve helped in the fight against cancer. To show our gratitude, we’d like to share a track that will be on our new album. How does that sound?”
“Oooh, exciting,” Cara said, tugging on my arm.
Oliver waited for the cheers to die down before continuing. “This song is called ‘Astrophil,’” he said, and then he started to sing:
Sometimes the things left unsaid
Are deadly like bullets and knives.
Mine cut you deep, girl.
We had no chance to survive.
And there’s an unspoken truth in my eyes,
But the heart whispers words
That can’t be denied.
Mine’s telling you that I’m falling,
Falling apart ’cause I fell in love.
You settled into my lungs
And crawled into my heart.
You’re in every word I sing
And my star in the dark.
Early-morning coffee
The first time that we met:
