Page 42 of Missed Notes (Rixon High 5)

Another text came through and my heart leaped.

Cole: Be ready tomorrow at six. There’s somewhere I want to take you.

Sofia: I am not going on a date with you.

Cole: Who said anything about a date? We’re friends, right? And friends hang out…

Sofia: Friends?

We both knewthe lines between us had blurred past friends.

Cole: Friends. See you tomorrow, Sofe.

It was a bad idea.The worst. But strangely, I found myself texting back one little word that would change everything.

Me: Okay.

CHAPTEREIGHT

Cole

It was a bad idea.

Telling Sofia I’d pick her up and take her on a non-date. Bringing her to the one place that meant more to me than I could ever put into words.

“Uh, Cole… what is this place?” she asked, staring at the run-down bar on the outskirts of Halston, the town over from Rixon.

“It’s not as bad as it looks, I promise. Come on.” I climbed out and went around to open her door.

Sofia had been quiet on the ride over. Part of me had expected her to call me with excuses for not coming out, but when I’d pulled up outside of the Bennets’ house, she’d been waiting for me.

She let me help her out of the car, a zap of electricity going through me the second her hand slid into mine.

“You’re good at this,” she murmured.

“At what?”

“The non-date stuff.” A hint of a grin tugged at her mouth. Those soft plump lips that I was having a real hard time not staring at every five seconds.

I wanted to kiss her.

I’d wanted to kiss her last night at the hotel, and I wanted to kiss her now. But I also wanted to know what had put the shadows under her eyes. And I was hoping bringing her here would help her open up to me.

“You haven’t seen anything yet.”

“Oh really?” Sofia laughed, and fuck, if it wasn’t like music to my ears.

She didn’t do enough of that lately. Smile. Laugh. Get that gorgeous twinkle in her eyes.

“Hang on a second,” I said, closing the door behind her and going around to the trunk to grab my guitar.

“What are you—”

“Come on, or we’ll be late.”

Roadhouse was already crammed but I found us a booth at the back of the room. It had a prime view of the stage, but the curved banquette seating also gave it enough privacy that I hoped we could talk.

“Who are you and what have you done with Cole Kandon?” Sofia chuckled as I ushered her into the booth.

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