It wasn’t going to happen, and I had to get over it.
Rafe squeezed my shoulder to get my attention, then winked at me. “You’re about to see how piano can be fun,” he whispered.
“Impossible,” I whispered back, but I couldn’t keep from glancing at his tattoo. Longing washed over me. I wanted to feel like that. I really did.
I heard a furious burst of music from my left and I spun around. A guy in a black leather vest and a mohawk was at the piano, playing the most amazing music I’d ever heard. It was fast and frenzied and crazy. I listened in shocked awe while he pounded away. Then he slammed the final cord, and before it had faded, music jumped at me from my other side.
The whole crowd turned back to the right, where a woman in a navy suit was crushing the keys. “Wow! She’s amazing.” I leaned past Rafe, trying to get closer to her.
He grinned and rested his arm across my back as I leaned over him. “Just wait. It gets better.”
“No way.” And then just like that, she stopped playing, and piano music burst from my left. I whipped around again, and the spotlight was on the second piano. There was an old guy with gray hair making the keys come alive with fire and passion. He was standing up, dancing and swaying as he charged through his song, power bursting from his body and from the music.
Then he stopped and the second piano on the right burst into light. I nearly fell on top of Rafe in my effort to see who was playing, to catch a glimpse of whoever it was who was pounding out music that made my insides explode. “That’s your mom!”
He was playing the piano on my back, tapping his left foot in beat with the music. “Yeah. She’s good, huh?”
“Unbelievable!”
Then the music burst from the other side and I spun around again. “I’ve never heard piano like this! It’s like they’re talking to each other!”
“That’s why it’s called the Battle of the Ivories.” He nudged me and pointed to the sandy-haired man pouring out the music. “That’s my dad.”
I bounced on the edge of my seat. “No wonder you’re such an amazing musician! You’re descended from greatness.”
He glanced at me. “You think I’m amazing?”
“God, yes! So much better than anyone else at Mueller-Fordham!” I spun around as the third piano on the right started playing. I gripped Rafe’s shoulder, letting the music wash over me. It was fast and energetic and raging with power. Nothing boring about this! It was alive! All of it! People were shouting and clapping and cheering and some were even on their feet. Because of piano! Out of the corner of my eye, I saw even Crusty jumping up and down and shouting. “This is so amazing. Incredible. I can’t believe it!”
The instant Rafe’s dad finished, I jumped to my feet with half a dozen other people and started applauding like mad, even as the next pianist leapt into the fray. Rafe stood up, cheering loudly as well. He grinned at me. “Having fun?”
“This rocks!” I threw my arms around his neck and hugged him, my body positively vibrating with excitement. Energy churned through the room as more people leapt to their feet with a roar when the next pianist began to play. “This is the best night of my life!”
His arms went around my waist and suddenly I realized I was hanging onto him. I pulled back, but he didn’t let go. And then we were staring at each other, his arms holding me against him, my fingers in the hair at the back of his neck. The music vibrated through our bodies, and all I could do was stare at him, my heart thumping.
For the longest time, we just stood there, in the midst of all these people. The music was pounding through us. The lights were flashing. The floor was thudding from all the stomping. Music raged through the air. I felt like my body was sizzling with electricity, and I could barely breathe as I stood there with Rafe’s gaze locked to mine. All I could think was that I wanted him to kiss me more than I’d ever wanted anything else in my whole life.
His gaze dropped to my mouth, and my stomach did a triple flip. Was he really going to kiss me? Right there? In front of all those people?
Then he cleared his throat, dropped his hands from my waist and stepped back.
I immediately yanked my hands out of his hair and clenched my fists at my sides.
We stared at each other for another long moment, and then we both shook it off and turned at the same time to face the pianist who was currently playing.
There wasn’t even a single accidental touch between us the rest of the night. But it was still the best night I’d ever had.
Because, for the first time in my life, music came alive for me exactly the way Rafe’s tattoo had painted it, exactly the way he’d said it would. And because something had happened between us that was as amazing as the music itself.