“You’re Nadia’s brother, right?”
“Yeah, nice to meet you.”
Krista smiled. “Definitely. You were kind of a big deal when I was in junior high.”
“He still is,” I said, before he could reply.
“Oh, so it’s like that? I thought you were dating Avery Jacobs.”
I felt a pang of guilt over not updating her on our status. Between a full-time job, keeping in touch with the roomies and talking to Rob on the phone at night, plus video games and extracurricular coding projects, I wasn’t holding up my end of our friendship. Silently promising to do better, I kept quiet and let him answer.
“Not anymore,” he said. “Though we’re picking her up next.”
“Really? It’s so cool you stayed friends. I don’t think I could do that if I ever broke up with Kenji.”
“Her fiancé’s in Afghanistan,” I explained.
Rob had questions, fortunately, so that carried us to Avery’s house. I half expected I’d need to drag her out of the house, but she answered as soon as I rang the bell, wearing a cute leather jacket and designer jeans. Her house gave off a fairly foreboding vibe, with so many windows; it was a brick historical place with tons of character, but I also sensed dark history. But maybe that was just because I’d watched Flowers in the Attic recently.
“Ready to sing your hearts out?” I asked.
“I intend to watch and make fun of everyone,” Avery answered.
“No way. I’m getting you drunk, then you’re singing the Spice Girls with my mom and me. Or maybe TLC. We could rock ‘Unpretty.’”
“Agreed,” Krista said. “Since I’m not allowed to drink, I’ll be taking the blackmail pics.”
Avery offered a lip curl. “Your mom’s going to be there. How much fun could this possibly be?”
As it turned out, the answer was—OMG, a lot. Stuart was on stage when we walked in, and my mother was right. I actually stopped moving, so Rob bumped into me. Perched on a stool with the spotlight on him, he was singing his heart out to my mom, an absolutely soul-melting cover of “It Had to Be You.” I’d thought she must be biased, but nope. The guy had an absolutely amazing voice; there was no chatter whatsoever, and there had to be forty people in the bar. Everyone was completely focused on Stuart.
How unexpectedly awesome.
The pause gave me a minute to take a breath, resign myself to being around people. In settings like this, it wasn’t so bad. I did best one-on-one or in small groups. At an event where I was expected to mingle and schmooze, the only way I could cope was to become Party Lauren and bury the real me under five shots of something strong. We waited until Stuart finished the song, then the wild applause commenced, led by me. He took a bashful bow, then jogged down the stairs to the table where my mom was waiting. Bending, he kissed her gently, then sat down beside her. If he kept treating my mom so sweet, I’d soon be Stuart Lee’s biggest fan.
“We’re here,” I called, following Rob through the maze of other tables.
“Oh, great, you made it.” My mom stood up and took care of introductions.
For the first few minutes, we were busy ordering drinks and appetizers while a few more people sang, none of whom were nearly as good as Stuart. Then the DJ called out, “Dee, your turn,” and a statuesque African-American woman took the stage, dressed in baggy jeans and a gray sweatshirt. Stuart perked up, so I took this to mean she was worth hearing, and by the time she finished, I was in tears from her version of “Fancy.” I’d never heard the song before, but the story it told was absolutely heartbreaking, and in her husky, gorgeous voice, wow. I had no idea anybody so talented even lived in Nebraska. Which was probably horrible of me.
“Excuse me,” I said.
My admiration was such that it outweighed my fear of strangers and making an ass of myself. Mustering my nerve, I got up and went over to the bar, where the woman was rejoining her friends. “Not to be weird, but you have the most beautiful voice I’ve ever heard. If you had a CD, I’d buy it.”
She ducked her head, pleased and shy. “Thanks.”
I hurried back to my table before I said something stupid. My heart was pounding like crazy, my hands trembling, so I clenched them. For someone else, that exchange would be nothing at all, but I felt like I’d just run five blocks. All the noise in the room went weird and full of reverb; Rob quietly wrapped his fingers around mine and held on until the tightness in my chest passed. Nobody else seemed to notice, thank God. While the others were looking toward the stage, he opened my fingers like the petals of a flower and pressed a kiss to my palm. I trembled from the heat of his mouth, and his eyes were shockingly dark with desire. Rob didn’t let go of my hand.
I noticed Avery looking at him now and then, but they didn’t talk to each other. She always cut her eyes away before he caught her, and I understood his caution even more. About an hour in, she went to the restroom. Rob waited two minutes and then headed after her. I didn’t want to be like this, but I had to know what he was going to say.
So I tried to be casual as I mumbled, “Bathroom.”
Krista gave me a weird look but since she’d just gone fifteen minutes ago, she didn’t offer to go with me. I skirted the room and moved quietly toward the hall under the unmistakable sign. There was no way I could go all the way down or they’d see me. So I waited just around the corner, straining my ears. I heard the doors open and close and a couple of clicks as if from Avery’s heels.
Rob’s voice was pitched low, barely audible at this distance between the guy crooning on stage and the karaoke track. “Are you okay?”
“I’m not the one who got punched in the mouth.”
“You know what I mean.”
By the sound on the wood floor, she moved a few steps, then stopped. “Jesus. What do you want?”
He won’t let her leave. I pictured his big hand curled around her shoulder, her face tipped toward him. Eavesdropping was stupid and childish; I should go. But my feet were frozen.
“I’m sure you’ve already heard that there’s something between Lauren and me. But I’ll wait as long as you say. I don’t want people talking about you.”
“You want my blessing?” She sounded incredulous.
“Yeah.”
“And you’ll never do anything with her if I say no?”
“Not never,” he said. “But I’ll wait a lot longer than this.”