She snorts. “Understatement of the year.”
I glance down. “It’s complicated with them, Liv. I knew them when we were kids. They’re kind of part of my life whether I like it or not..”
Liv’s shoulders relax a little. “I don’t want you to get sucked into their little circle of clones, that’s all.”
“Just because I’m hanging out with them doesn’t mean I have to become one of them.” But the words taste like a lie, because of course I am one of them.
Fifteen minutes later we’re walking into Domion, a rundown looking restaurant heaving with people. At least half the crowd inside is our age, and I tag along after Liv as people come up to her to say hi. A few of them I recognize from the crawfish boil, but most are unfamiliar and don’t pay any attention to me.
Liv seems completely in her element. Dressed in a denim miniskirt, faded leather cowboy boots, and a sheer blouse with a cami underneath, she also appears more relaxed than she does at Pointe Laveau.
“You see why I don’t exactly fit in with your new friends?” she asks as we settle into seats at a high-top table to the right of the stage. “Unlike them, I realize there’s more to life than looking hot and messing with guys’ heads.”
Liv’s smile is bright, but her eyes are hard. I wish I could explain that their snubbing her has nothing to do with money and everything to do with birthright. But of course I can’t, so I settle for changing the subject. I ask Liv about her family, and she tells me she has a little brother named Davy, a freshman at Carrefour Secondary, and that they live with their dad; their mom left when Liv was three.
“My dad disappeared before I was born,” I tell her. “So I get it.”
She looks up at me with an expression of surprise. “I didn’t know that,” she says. “Where did he go?”
“No idea. I only know that he’s from somewhere back east and that my aunt hates him.” I hesitate and add, “I’ve been thinking about him a lot since we got here, actually. My aunt swears I’ve never met him, but I have a weird, hazy memory of talking to him at my mom’s funeral.”
“So you’ve never heard from him other than that?” she asks.
I shake my head.
Liv studies me for a moment. “Maybe Peregrine and Chloe know something about what happened to him, since their moms knew your mom.”
“Maybe,” I agree. Truthfully, I hadn’t thought to ask.
Liv is looking at me differently now. “I guess I can see why you’d want to hang with them sometimes,” she says grudgingly. “Even though I still think they’re pretty worthless human beings.”
I open my mouth to answer, but I’m interrupted by a mash-up of guitar strings behind the small stage. A moment later, Teddy, the guy who threw the crawfish boil, bounds out and hurls himself into the seat behind an impressive drum set. He begins banging the cymbal with a drumstick, and a moment later Drew runs out with an electric guitar, and two other guys I don’t recognize come out playing a banjo and a bass guitar. Teddy whales on the drums while the guy with the banjo leans toward one of the microphones and begins to sing in a low voice that reminds me of John Mayer.
Drew looks up and grins at us after the first verse is over.
“They’re good, aren’t they?” Liv says once he looks away. “Good chord structure. Good hooks. They’ve got a good look too.” She pauses and adds, “Especially Drew.”
I realize she’s staring at Drew raptly as he launches into a solo to begin the second song. I see a blush creep up Liv’s neck, and I wonder for the first time if she likes him as more than a friend.
We both clap along as the band rocks out to the next song, which reminds me a bit of an Irish drinking anthem with a hard rock rhythm and a smattering of banjo strings.
“I’m Tallon Duchovny!” announces the banjo-playing singer after Drew has strummed his last chord. “And we’re Little Brother, from right out here in the Périphérie!”
The room explodes into applause, and Drew grins at us again as he strums a few chords to lead off the third song. Tallon is singing lead again; the lyrics are about a girl who goes around breaking hearts. After the chorus, Drew and Tallon lean toward each other and engage in a few minutes of dueling licks; Tallon plucks out complicated melodies on the banjo, which Drew mimics while Teddy and the bass player keep time.
“I’ve never heard anything like this before,” I shout to Liv over the music as Little Brother launches into a fourth tune.
“They’re something special!” she shouts back.