She frowned, once again displeased with Chris’s response.
“Name.”
“Zachary, but I think he told me he goes by Zach.”
She waved her hand dismissively. “There are way too many of them for me to remember.”
“Jesse, Aaron, Ross, and Zach,” I said, more loudly than I thought.
“Cute,” she commented, her face impassive.
I had no idea what to take from that. “Thanks?”
The door flew open, Connor coming into the rehearsal room.
“Whose idea was it for all-leather?” Connor asked, his hands immediately going to cover his crotch. “My dick is way too exposed.”
“Wear a cup,” Chris said. “You’ll survive.” He stood back to survey him. “And where’s your jacket?”
“Still waiting,” Connor said, with a slight frown. “From my meeting with Dad yesterday, I guess they ordered it in red instead of black. The right one should be in ASAP.”
Connor took a seat in one of the folding chairs, next to Mackenzie.
“Did I miss anything?”
“Other than me complaining about the leather monkey suits too?” Mackenzie asked. “Not much.”
As Chris and Connor took to chatting, another ten minutes clicked by.
“They’re always late,” Mackenzie said, her gaze still focused on her phone. “How do they expect to go on a national tour if they can’t even show up to rehearsals on time?”
“Relax,” Chris said, with a slight laugh. “Everyone has their flaws.
I can deal with them being late.”
“We’re lucky if you show up on time, so no shocker there,”
Mackenzie scoffed.
“I am surprised, actually, that you were here before all of us today,”
Connor said, leaning over to Chris.
Chris pointed to his head. “Beanie, sweats, and a T-shirt—I was out the door in less than five.”
The door clicked open again. Two members of Skyline walked in. My eyes widened to see Ross and Aaron Matthews also dressed in leather.
“Look who finally decided to show up,” Mackenzie snapped.
“I’d say this is record time for us,” Aaron said, taking one of the seats.
Ross immediately glanced toward me. “Who’s the newbie?”
As soon as his eyes landed on me, my cheeks immediately burned.
It was all I could do to stare at him, trying to process the fact that Ross. Matthews. was actually talking to me.
“That’s my sister,” Connor said, answering for me. “Katelyn.”
“Cool,” Aaron said, flashing me a smile. “Are you coming on tour?”
I nodded. Not like I was really given a choice.
“Had to hunt down Zach’s leather suit,” Ross said. “He and Jess should be here momentarily.”
“Do we need a lesson in how to tell time?” Mackenzie asked, sarcasm dripping from her voice.
“The first two numbers are the seconds, right?” Ross asked, flashing her a pearly white smile.
Mackenzie flipped him off in return as the door clicked open again. My heart felt like it was doing somersaults in my chest as Jesse walked in, followed closely by Zach. I stared at Zach in his white T-shirt, black leather jacket, and pants. His brown hair was swept off to the side in the messy style he usually wore. And his brown eyes looked unusually dark. His jacket was tight against his biceps, and I could see the ripple of muscles underneath the thin, white T-shirt.
I couldn’t take my eyes off the perfection that was Zach Matthews.
“Found your leather gear?” Chris asked.
Zach tugged on the jacket. “Is it supposed to be this tight?”
“Unfortunately,” Connor said.
“This is Katelyn,” Chris said, gesturing toward me. “She’s going to be watching today, because Connor doesn’t trust my opinion.”
Heat pooled in my cheeks as all eyes turned toward me.
“Not true,” Connor said. “I’d like a second pair of eyes before we actually go live in our skin-tight leather.”
Ross flashed me a smile, and my heart pounded even harder in my chest. “If you want to suggest a costume change, I’d be all ears,”
he said.
“Music in five!” Chris called out. “Positions now.”
Everyone shifted around the room, moving chairs and taking their places for the start of the song. My eyes immediately focused on Zach, although I tried to convince myself it was solely for research purposes and not because he’s Zach. Matthews.
Mackenzie opened the song. Her voice was smooth, but her music wasn’t for me. I enjoyed songs with a deeper meaning behind the lyrics. And she was nothing more than bubblegum pop music.
The choreography was intricate, and involved a lot of balancing on chairs, which, by the looks of it, was really hard for Connor. And as predicted, Connor fell off the chair during his solo, which had Chris cackling.
Ross was the only one from Skyline who seemed to have any sort of rhythm. I could see Aaron glancing at Ross, trying to follow along. Jesse didn’t even bother trying. And Zach gave up about a quarter of the way through the song, taking to tipping his chair back and forth as he sang. The ending was perfect though, with everybody hitting their marks.
“So?” Chris asked.
“I thought the ending was really good,” I said.
The room busted out laughing, even Mackenzie.
“I think Mackenzie has the choreography down really well,” I said. The look she gave me said she clearly agreed.
“Connor has no balance.” I ignored the look he gave me. “Overall, I didn’t think it was bad. It’s just obviously not show-ready.”
Ross raised his hand from where he was seated in one of the plastic folding chairs. “We don’t get a rating?”
The heat rose in my cheeks again. “Ross has enough rhythm to follow along in the choreography.”
Ross fist-pumped. “Let the record show that I’m the best dancer in Skyline.”
“As if he didn’t have a big enough head already,” Aaron muttered.
“I don’t need a rating,” Zach said. “I know I sucked.”
“Zach doesn’t have dance skills,” Ross said, reaching over to ruffle his hair.
His brother ducked away from him, “Leave me alone.”
“Should we scrap it?” Chris asked.
“No,” I said.
“Katelyn, I thought you were on our side,” Ross whined.
I was trying really hard not to let my inner fangirl out, but I could feel the heat spread down the back of my neck as Ross said my name.
Ross Matthews knows my name. It was hard not to be starstruck.
“Can we at least scrap the chairs?” Jesse asked.
“I like the chairs,” Mackenzie argued.
“We have a little over a week to nail down the choreography,”
Chris said. “If we scrap the chairs, we have to reblock. And if we don’t, then we have to learn to balance in that time.”
Jesse let out a short laugh. “Both sound impossible.”
Clearly choreography wasn’t Skyline’s thing.
Mackenzie groaned. “God, Negative Nancy, can you cool it?”
I could tell Jesse wanted to snap back, but Aaron gave him a quick shake of the head. They seemed to have a silent conversation.
“Let’s run it again then?” Chris questioned.
“Great,” Zach said, in a listless voice. “Can’t wait.”
The words slipped out before I could stop them. “I can tell.”
His eyes slid toward mine, his lips pressed together and turned up into a smile. And now I was sure I was the color of an actual tomato.
“Okay, Katelyn, game plan,” Chris said. “I’ll be watching Connor, Aaron, and Ross. You’ve got eyes on Zach and Jesse.”
Oh God. Connor looked up at the ceiling, clearly concealing his laughter from the rest of the group.
“Do I have to run the choreo again?” Mackenzie asked.
“Practice makes perfect,” Chris quipped.
“Perfect?” Mackenzie panned. “I’ll settle for mediocre.”
My eyes zeroed in on Zach as he took his place. I’m not concentrating on how Zach’s shirt rides up when he reaches up. I’m not concentrating on the blush in his cheeks whenever he missteps. I’m not concentrating on how his head turns to look at Jesse whenever he forgets the choreography. I’m only watching him under Chris’s instruction.
And maybe if I keep telling myself that, I’ll eventually believe it.
After the second run-through, it was determined that a choreography refresher was needed.
“I’m going to run through the choreography, top to bottom, just with Skyline, since dancing isn’t really their thing,” Chris said to Connor. “You don’t need to stay for this. And, yes, Mack, I was getting to you next—you don’t need to make that face. You definitely don’t need to stay for this. But you’re essential to this number, and I do need you both back here in two hours.”
She flashed a peace sign in the air as she walked out of the room.
I followed Connor out, glancing over my shoulder one last time at the Skyline boys. What I wouldn’t give to be a fly on the wall in that room.
“Want to grab dinner?” Connor asked, causing my attention to snap back to him.
“Sure, where?”
“Olive Garden?”
Olive Garden breadsticks were the surefire way to my heart.
“Deal. Let me just peel off this leather number first.”
As I waited for Connor, I quickly refreshed my email to see if I’d heard anything from Limitless. No email. No text from Jenica. No text from Coach Jefferson.
We met Eddie out by the entrance, where he was standing with his back to the door, arms folded across his chest.
“Paps,” Eddie said, with a nod toward the door. “We’ll have to wait.”
Paparazzi. Great. Connor let out a groan. “I’m starving.”
“You’ll survive.”
Connor glanced toward me, raising an eyebrow in question.
“What?” I asked.
“Do you care about the paps?” Connor asked.
I’d never had to deal with a group of people shoving cameras and microphones into my face. “I don’t know.”
“Good enough for me. Come on, Eddie. We’re going to Olive Garden.”
“You don’t want to wait and go out the back?” Eddie said.
“Nope.”
“Of course not,” he muttered.
“Keep your head low and don’t make eye contact. Stick behind Eddie and you’ll be fine.” Connor said to me.
We followed Eddie out to the car, the paparazzi snapping pictures and shouting things left and right. I kept my head ducked low.
Next time, I was definitely voting to go out the back. I hated the flashing of cameras coming at me from what felt like every angle, although, in reality, there were probably only four cameras in total.
Connor opened the door to Richard’s car for me, letting me slide in first before plopping down next to me. Eddie wedged his giant body into the front seat.
“Why didn’t you use the stage today?” I asked, as Richard began to back out of the parking space, trying not to hit any of the paparazzi.
“Scheduling conflicts. Getting Skyline, Mack, and myself there all with the sound and light crew was a scheduling disaster.”
That didn’t bode well for the upcoming tour.
“But we’ll be rehearsing on stage for the next three days,” Connor continued. “Clear schedules.”
Richard came to a stop at a red light, and Connor rolled down his window for the teenagers in the car next to us trying to peek inside. He waved and flashed a smile for them.
“How long is the show expected to be?” I asked.
The light turned green and he rolled his window back up, before turning his attention back to me.
“Roughly about three hours—three and a half if need be.”
We pulled into the Olive Garden, as it was less than a mile from the rehearsal studio.
“Dad texted and said we have a private area inside,” he said, checking his work phone as he stepped out of the car.
The table was ready, and the hostess tried not to stare as she grabbed the menus. We were led to a back room, usually used for birthday parties, with a door that closed for extra privacy.
“Does that ever get old?” I asked, once she left.
“What?” he said, without looking up from the menu. It was no surprise that Connor didn’t notice the fumbling hostess. He’d always been humble about his rising fame, stopping to take a picture with a fan, or to make a video with them, or whatever he could do to say thank you.
“The hostess obviously knew who you were.”
Connor leaned back in his seat. “I know. I come here often.”
The smell of pasta and breadsticks wafted through the air as we opened our menus.
“Did I mention I’m starving?” Connor asked after the waitress took our orders.
“Once or twice.”
“All I had for lunch was McDonald’s, if you count that as food.”
“I don’t.”
The waiter brought over the first basket of breadsticks, which I immediately dug into.
Connor reached over, taking a sip of his water. “I’m impressed.”
“With what?”
“That you didn’t outwardly fangirl over Skyline.”
“Told you I’d be cool as a cucumber.”
“I saw you checking out Zach Matthews for the entirety of the rehearsal.”
“That’s not true! Chris asked me to keep an eye on him.”
“And you did just that.”
“You’re the worst,” I said.
Back before Connor had blown up on the Billboard charts, we spent a lot of time together. We didn’t have a close extended family, and it’d always been the two of us growing up. We’d spend late nights gossiping about the one day. One day when Connor was famous. One day when I played soccer professionally. One day when we would get to do all of these things together.
Between our busy schedules, we hadn’t had much time to sit down and talk like we used to. And being here in this secluded corner of Olive Garden felt like old times.
“I have to get back to choreography,” Connor said as we finished eating. “Richard will drop me off and take you home, if that’s okay?”
Exhaustion had started to creep through me, and I could feel my eyes growing heavy.
“Sure.” A yawn escaped. “I don’t know how you keep all this up.”
“You get used to it. Not that there’s much of a choice.”
That answer didn’t sound happy. “Are you okay, Connor?”
“Of course. Let’s get out of here.”
If you say so.
LOS ANGELES, CA
CHAPTER 3
A morning run was a staple of my morning routine. What wasn’t a staple was coming home to Connor’s voice reverberating off the walls.
“I read the script that your management wrote verbatim!”
Connor’s voice shouted. “You signed the fucking NDA, just like I did. If you want to sue for slander or defamation, that’s on you. But don’t come at me with the rest of your bullshit. I’m in the middle of rehearsals for a nationwide tour, and I don’t have time to drop everything for this.”
I could attest to Connor’s packed schedule. There’s no way he was going to have time to deal with a media storm if Lana opened up a lawsuit against him. Lana’s voice carried through the hallway as she shouted through the phone, but I couldn’t make out what she was saying.
“Then set up a conference call to have your manager call mine.”
I heard her voice again, which was cut off by some colorful language by Connor.
A few seconds later, his phone collided with the wall. He stormed into the hallway where I was taking off my shoes, his eyes blazing.
“How did I ever think I was
in love with her?” Connor blazed past me and shouted at top volume for our dad. This wasn’t going to end well, and I didn’t want to be around for it. Instead, I headed upstairs to take a long, hot shower to wash off the grime from the run.
“Good morning, honey,” Mom said, coming into my room.
“Morning,” I said, turning to face her.
She took a seat on the edge of my bed. “I talked to Coach Jefferson this morning to iron out some of the details of the tour.”
I sat down next to her. “What do you mean?”
“To make sure that we have some teams you can guest-play on, to see the status of the Limitless Showcase—”
The Limitless Showcase! Nobody had received their emails yesterday, and I’d tossed and turned all night in anticipation.
“What did he say?” I asked.
“He’s still waiting to hear too.”
I tried to ignore the clenching of my chest. “Understood.”
“I’ll keep checking my email today, in case it comes through to me,” she said. “You’re important, too, Katelyn. And I’m sorry if we ever make it seem otherwise. With the tour and the album release, and everything happening with your brother, it doesn’t make your accomplishments any less.”
She wrapped her arms around me, and I leaned into her, resting my head on her shoulder. Quality time with my mom was easily one of the things that I missed the most in this new transition with Connor’s career. And while I’d been trying to adjust to taking advantage of the moments we did get to spend together, it hadn’t been easy.
“What did he say about the guest teams?” I asked.
Playing on guest teams for exhibition games took a lot of coordination. There were teams around the country that were willing to take on players from other competitive teams to play as a one-off guest. My coach had been working with my mom to schedule games where I could play while we were in different cities.
“We have a couple of games lined up,” Mom said. “And then if the Limitless Showcase works out, that should be plenty to keep your soccer juices flowing.”
“Never say those words again.”
“I love you, Katie,” Mom said.
She was the only person I’d tolerate calling me Katie.
“I love you, too, Mom.”
She kissed the top of my head before standing up. “Now how about you deal with the piles of clothes all over the floor? That’s not exactly packing, Katie.”
Along for the Ride Page 3