With only a couple minutes to go until we started playing, I was at the keyboard, messing around while the gym was filling up when Angel sidled over to me. Her fingernails were neon pink, and I grinned. Mine were gold sparkles with black stripes. No jealousy from me today, and it felt awesome.
Angel cocked her head at me as she tuned her guitar. “So, Lily, what’s up with you and Rafe?” Her voice and body language was so casual, but I knew instantly that the question wasn’t. She was digging for info!
Heat flared into my cheeks, and I looked at her in a panic. “What do you mean?” Surely she couldn’t have figured out that I was still crushing on Rafe big time, could she? I mean, I knew we were only friends, but that didn’t mean I’d been able to stop the fantasies about what might have happened if he’d leaned forward at the piano bar and kissed me…
“I mean, what’s up?” Angel asked a little more forcefully.
I cleared my throat and concentrated on wiping some imaginary dust off the keyboard. “Nothing.”
She snorted, leaning over so she was in my space, totally abandoning any attempt to make it seem like it was a casual question. “Girl, you’ve been gawking at Rafe all week in rehearsals, and you two keep having these little secret smiles.”
Really? We had secret smiles? Excitement leapt through me, and I couldn’t keep the silly grin off my face. “Just playing music.”
She grabbed my wrist, and I looked up. She was studying me intently, and her face was way serious. “Rafe’s a great guy. Don’t mess with him.”
“Me?” I glared at her, annoyed that she was blaming me for the energy that had been jumping between me and Rafe this week. It was so a two-way street! “He’s the one with the girlfriend.”
“And you’re the one with the boyfriend.” She let go of my wrist, and some of her hostility faded. “He’s actually fun again, and if it’s because of you...well…” She gave me a speculative look, as if she were trying to figure out exactly what I was all about. “If you make him happy, then I want you guys to be together. But don’t toy with him. If you aren’t serious about him, then don’t get in his head.”
Giddiness leapt through me. I’d made Rafe happy again? Seriously? I had no idea what to say. I wasn’t sure if I could say anything. All I knew was that he made me happy, too, and he’d showed me how to enjoy music this week. Why did he have a stupid girlfriend? Argh!
“Lily?” Angel peered at me. “Do you like him?”
I bit my lip. “He has a girlfriend.”
She studied me carefully. “What if he didn’t?”
I felt my heart thud and I lifted my chin. “He does, so there’s no point, right? It doesn’t matter what I think.”
She immediately grinned and clapped her hand on her guitar. “You like him!”
Ack! This could not be getting out! I grabbed her arm. “No, I don’t! That would be completely stupid and—”
“Hi, Rafe,” she interrupted, looking over my shoulder, her eyes still twinkling.
I smacked my lips shut and felt my face heat up. I was not going to turn around.
But I did, of course. How could I not?
Rafe smiled at me, his eyes going all dark and sweeping over my outfit. “You look hot tonight. Not like a boring pianist.”
I couldn’t help but beam at him. I had spent all day working on my outfit. I was wearing these awesome dangly earrings and a fake diamond in my belly button ring. And yeah, I’d bought another new bra from Victoria Secret. This one was red with lace, and you could see it through my tank just a little bit.
Would Rafe notice that I was dressed for fire, not for being boring? Would he finally realize I was the girl of his dreams?
Argh! Not that I cared. He had a girlfriend. I. Didn’t. Care.
Angel snickered at him. “If you’d stop gawking at her, maybe we could start to play?”
Rafe immediately turned pink and he turned away from me, toward the rest of the band. “You guys ready?”
I shot a look at Angel. “He was gawking at me?” I whispered.
She grinned, and nodded. “Totally. He was checking you out big time.”
I smiled to myself as she took her place on the stage. Everyone shouted they were ready to rock, so Rafe went to his drums and started a beat. Nash and Angel came in, then I started playing, closing my eyes and wiggling my hips the way some of the piano players had at the bar.
Then Chris started singing and the place went nuts.
I snapped my eyes open, shocked to suddenly see tons of middle schoolers screaming and dancing and going crazy. All because of us.