A wolf whistle erupted from Chelly, and I couldn’t help but get caught up in the excitement around me. I couldn’t wait to see Wiretap as though it was for the first time and through fangirl eyes, fronted by Will Davidson.
Will Davidson who was even more dreamy and swoon-worthy in person than he was up on stage.
Which, I learned that night, is really saying something.
Fangirls, Including Me
“That was...” Emmie seemed to be at a loss for words as the curtain came down on the final encore. “I can’t even...Wow.”
Even though I’d seen plenty of performances over the years: of Wiretap during rehearsals and from the wings, and by other bands, I had to agree. What we’d just watched was above and beyond what made for a normal concert.
And to say that Will had crushed it was an understatement. Back when I’d first seen him perform and had known he was something special, I assumed he’d get more polished. But never could I have predicted just how much he would grow as a musician and a performer. How amazing he would become.
But while my heart was filled near to bursting with pride, that he’d done such an amazing job also meant there was exactly zero chance Legion Thunder would not want him.
While I stood there, applauding until my hands burned, my heart had never felt so conflicted about anything. I wanted to laugh and cry. Hug him and push him away. Confess my love for him, while telling him I hated what he’d done to me. What he was going to do to me because complete and utter heartbreak was imminent.
My eyes filled with tears, but I quickly swiped them away. If anyone asked, I’d just say they were tears of pride. Or PMS. Or something.
But as I glanced over at Emmie and she smiled at me, she had tears in her eyes, too, and didn’t seem at all surprised at mine. If she even noticed.
Once the house lights came on, the rest of our group gathered into a loose circle in the space between the front row and barriers that ran parallel to the stage.
I cleared my throat and managed to say, “Pretty good, huh?”
Emmie frowned at me for a second, maybe because my words made sense, but my tone was less than enthusiastic. Or maybe she could read my conflicted expression. I wasn’t about to get into it with her. Especially not then, so I pasted a smile on my face.
“Pretty good is not the right way to describe what we just watched,” she said, shaking her head. “Stellar? Superb? Amazing? Epic?”
“You might be biased,” I said, adding a casual shrug. “Since you know him, I mean.”
“I’m not biased,” Danny said before Emmie had a chance to respond. “And as her current boyfriend, I want to not be impressed with how good Emmie’s ex was up there, but I am. Very impressed. Feeling a little inadequate, actually.”
Okay, so that answered the question of how much Danny knew about Emmie and Will’s history.
“Same,” Coach Fleming said. “Exactly. Davidson killed it. The whole band is good, but he...” He ran fingers through his sable hair as his words seemed to fizzle out.
“Ugh,” Chelly said with an exaggerated grimace, drawing our attention to her. “We need some fresh blood in our circle. This all feels so...very...I don’t know...incestuous?”
She turned to me. “Want to join us? You haven’t dated any of these guys, have you?” she swept her hand around the circle, indicating their respective boyfriends.
I let out a gurgle because while I hadn’t been with any of these guys, how was I honestly supposed to respond to that?
“Uh, Seychelles,” Emmie said in a scolding tone, her hand planted firmly on her hip “She’s dating Dave.”
Chelly turned back toward me and gave me a sheepish look. “Oops!”
I didn’t dare look at anyone else. It was already too weird. “Maybe it’s time to head back to the hotel,” I said after I cleared my throat and focused my gaze on a wall sconce. “We can grab some food, but later we need to pick up Graeme and get on the road.”
“Oh right, the Brit,” Chelly said, turning toward Brooklyn. “Even more connections. Too bad we couldn’t see him, right, Brooklyn Girl?”
Emmie laughed, but Jared and Danny exchanged a confused look, telling me it wasn’t common knowledge that Brooklyn had inspired the band’s first hit.
“We just shared a flight, Chelly,” Brooklyn muttered.
I glanced at Coach Fleming, who seemed amused and not put out as he put an arm around Brooklyn’s shoulders, so I assumed at least he’d heard the story. Whatever. I was having trouble keeping track with who knew each other, from where, and who had dated whom.
Chelly waved Brooklyn off. “Anyway, I could eat. Let’s head back.”
“First I want to go check out the band stuff,” Emmie suggested. “I want to get a t-shirt for the guys to sign later.”
“Emmie,” I said. “After all you’ve done, I’ll get you some shirts—you don’t have to buy them.”
She did a very slow shake of her head as she went on. “And I want to buy some for those kids who got the tickets because I’m sure they loved that as much as I did. I’ll get the driver to drop them off tomorrow after we head back east.” Her pointed look told me everything. That she knew what she was doing, that her wanting to purchase merch was just one more way she was offering her support of Will, me, and the band.
I wasn’t about to argue with her, especially as I got a little emotional. “Thank you,” I said, being the one to initiate the hug this time. “It means a lot, you know. You are amazing.”
“Please, it’s just t-shirts,” she said sheepishly, pulling back from the hug as we began to follow the crowd moving out to the lobby.
It wasn’t just t-shirts. But it was obvious she was modest, and the attention made her uncomfortable, so I let it go, falling back to let Danny come up beside her and put his arm around her. What an incongruent-looking couple they were, I thought, wondering how they ever got together.
“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Sandy said from beside me as she looped her arm through mine.
I glanced over. “I guess that depends on what you’re thinking.”
She jutted her chin toward the couples (and Rob) in front of us. “How they all got together. I mean, seriously,” she dropped her voice and leaned close. “I still can’t believe Coach Fleming and Brooklyn, you know?”
I turned and nodded as I looked forward at Brooklyn and the Coach walking slowly with the crowd. They were holding hands, and he had his head bent as he spoke in her ear. “Me neither. There’s a story there.”
“I bet,” Sandy said with a sigh. “A really romantic one with him in riding pants.”
I lifted an eyebrow at her, making her laugh. She was not wrong about those riding pants, but she had no reason to be jealous if that’s what the sigh had been about.
“You’re not doing so badly, groupie girl. You only ever wanted a rock star, remember?”
“I’m hardly a groupie,” she said with mock indignation. “I work for the band. I am a valued member of the publicity team.
“True story,” I said, not joking even a little.
She grinned back at me. “You’re right, though. This is all going even better than I’d expected.”
I nodded, still not sure what to do about that beach house that was still calling me.
“Still,” she said, her voice low. “The whole thing with Max... I don’t have him yet.”
“Just a matter of time.”
She shrugged. “Anything can happen. He may decide he doesn’t like me by the time he’s ready to date again.”
“Not possible,” I said.
She pulled her arm from mine, distancing herself from me and maybe the subject of Max “There’s a lot of tour left. You never know.”
Another true story, but I had faith that those two would figure it out and make it work. The way she’d thawed Max out was not something any of us took lightly. She’d made a huge
and positive impact and had unlocked something in him when no one else had found the key. Maybe she’d been the only one to know where to look.
“Let’s hang back a bit,” I said as the crowd ahead began to bottleneck by the door. I did not feel up to being jostled and pushed around. “No rush, anyway.” As it was, even though I’d thoroughly enjoyed the concert, my ears were ringing, and I wanted nothing more than a quiet room. Even my bunk on the bus with my white noise app would do.
Though I had many hours to go before that happened.
“Good plan,” Sandy said. “Emmie’s going to be a few minutes, buying everything up from the merch tables, so yeah, no need to hurry.” She looked over her shoulder back toward the stage.
“Go,” I said.
She looked at me, her eyebrows coming down into a frown. “What?”
“You know you want to go see him. Go. I’ll see you at the hotel.”
She grinned at me. “Should I bother arguing with you?”
I snorted. “I don’t see why. If you win, you’re stuck in a packed lobby with a zillion fangirls, and if you lose, you get what you want.”
Her face got serious. “You sure, Nessa? Really?”
I nodded. “You’re hardly abandoning me to be alone. Brooklyn and I can catch up. She can tell me all the riding she’s been doing since school ended. I’ll tell her all about my bunk in the morgue, and she’ll pretend to be jealous. It’ll be great.”
My best friend laughed and gave me a quick hug before saying, “Sorry, Emmie’s a terrible influence.” Because we’d never really been big huggers. But strangely, I didn’t mind.
“Go on,” I said. “See you in a bit.”
She took off, and I turned back toward the doors, catching up with the group. I came up beside Jared. “Was he as good as you expected?” I asked.
He snorted as he smiled down at me. “Are you kidding? Like, a thousand times better. I...” He stopped talking, and for a second I was sure I saw the sheen of tears in his eyes. “I knew he was good, but I don’t think I knew just how good. How could I not know?”
Emmie, who was right in front of us looked back over her shoulder. “None of us knew. He hid from us how good he was. Just like he hid everything about his grandfather.”
“He had his reasons,” I said, sounding a lot more defensive than I’d intended.
Emmie’s eyes widened. “Oh I know, and I’m not blaming him, just...I don’t know, I wish we’d known.”
“It wouldn’t have made any difference,” Brooklyn said and then looked at me. “He had to figure it out himself. Maybe it wasn’t until after his grandfather passed away that he even considered pursuing it.”
“Actually,” I said. “It wasn’t until he filled in at the schools’ year-end party that he considered it. And even then he only signed on because it was time-limited. I think...” I stopped, realizing I didn’t feel right talking about Will this way without him there. It felt like I was betraying a confidence.
I shrugged as though there was no more to say.
“Well,” Jared said. “Whatever got him on that stage, I’m thankful for. He’s meant to be there.”
The murmurs around me said everyone agreed.
And then Jared leaned toward me and added, so softly that only I heard, “I’m pretty sure you’re what got in on that stage, Vanessa.”
I looked up at him, and he winked at me, but in a friendly, we have a secret way, not a creeper way. I swallowed as I nodded up at him. It was true, in a sense, but it was weird hearing it from Will’s friend. Or maybe it was just really intense, the way he was looking at me just then. Like he knew everything. Except probably the part where Will was getting ready to leave me.
I let the subject drop, and as the conversation turned from Will to the band’s music in general, Chelly and Emmie got into a heated debate over which was the best Wiretap song (after Brooklyn Girl, of course).
I was thankful to have a few moments when I didn’t have to be a part of the conversation so I could figure out exactly what I was going to say to Will when I saw him again. Because, no matter how much I might want to make a clean break and never talk to him again to make that happen, my rational side reminded me we lived in very close quarters and worked together. I couldn’t avoid him forever.
Not to mention that rational side didn’t want to, anyway.
Teddy Bears and Future Dudes
After Emmie bought up nearly all the merchandise from the table in the lobby, we piled into the limo and headed back to the hotel. Though everyone had been happy to see Will earlier at the reception before the concert, now that they’d seen him perform, they were all pumped and couldn’t wait to congratulate him. The whole vibe in the car was electric, and I have to admit, though part of me was dreading seeing him, most of me was just as excited for him as his school friends were.
I’d texted my dad from the bathroom while Emmie was busy putting a big dent in her credit card and asked, as vaguely as I could, when they expected to be back at the hotel because Will’s new/old fans wanted to see him. He’d said ‘soon’ which told me precisely nothing about where things were at with Legion Thunder (and not even if Will knew yet) so I had no choice but to wait it out, getting more and more anxious as we got closer to the hotel.
When we arrived, we met Graeme in the reception room. I noted he was smiling and looking well fed, but I didn’t say anything. I did introductions all around (except for Brooklyn, of course, who needed no introduction as she gave him a friendly hug). Then everyone settled in, and I told them to go ahead and eat. When Emmie expressed concern about the Westwood boys cleaning out the buffet, I told her not worry because catering would bring more of whatever if we ran low—the band would not starve.
That was all the incentive the guys needed to beeline over to the food tables and fill up their plates.
I was hungry myself, but also fraught with nerves, so I took a seat on the couch to at least wait until the guys were done loading up.
With a big sigh, Emmie dropped into the spot beside me.
“Long day, huh?” I asked because travel was tiring enough without the added elements of a concert and a three hour time change.
“Yeah. But so worth it,” she said. “Anyway, thanks for this,” she added, nodding toward the tables filled with platters. “Those guys seem to be always hungry. Especially Danny. I swear, he’s never full.”
I laughed. “He is a big guy,” I said, though it felt like an understatement. We both watched him reach for more food to add to his already filled plate.
She nodded and then looked over at me. “He’s huge. But in the best, most snugglable way. He’s like my own big teddy bear.” She leaned into me and dropped her voice. “He’s got killer abs, but I wouldn’t mind if he got a little squishy in the middle.”
I couldn’t help but grin back at her adorableness. But then, just as I was lulled into thinking we’d just chat about hungry boys, their abs, and maybe her charity, she said, “So, you and Dave, huh?”
Not only were we in a room filled with people—including her boyfriend and another one of Will’s exes, but she was Will’s ex. And no matter how much she said she was cool with it, it still felt weird.
I must have given her a look to that effect because she laughed and put an arm across my shoulders before pulling me into a side-hug. “It’s fine, Vanessa, I promise we’re just friends, and that’s never going to change.”
“It’s...complicated,” I said, not for the first time that night.
“It doesn’t have to be. Just go with it. That poster says it all...”
I leaned back to look at her straight on. “What?”
She shrugged. “The second I saw you two on that poster, I knew. There’s magic between you.”
“What are you two on about over here, looking so serious,” Graeme said suddenly as he dropped to the couch beside me, putting me between him and Emmie. I had never been so
grateful for an interruption in all my life.
“Oh you know,” Emmie said cheerfully. “Just Vanessa’s love life.”
I nearly swallowed my tongue. So much for being grateful.
“Ah,” Graeme said knowingly, and I was sure if I could take my eyes off the floor, he’d be looking at me with a smirk and a lifted eyebrow. “Of course.”
“Please,” I begged, hoping the one word was enough to end the topic.
It wasn’t.
Emmie said my name and seemed to be about to launch into what would surely be a long treatise on why Will and I belonged together, but then her phone went off, keeping her from saying more. Could this be the opportunity I’d been waiting for?
Not willing to miss it, I was about to launch myself off the couch when Graeme put a steadying hand on my arm.
“Stay,” he said. “I need you to keep me away from the food.”
“Didn’t you already eat?”
He lifted an eyebrow, making me laugh.
“Oh hey,” Emmie said loudly, so her friends at the buffet table would hear. “Kaylee just sent me pictures.”
She turned to me. “She’s on a boat with her duuuuu...” her eyes darted to Graeme and the back to me as she drew out the word, “Dude. She’s with her dude and his family, cruising the Med for the summer. Check this out.” She showed me her phone where a smiling Kaylee Bennett and a very cute-looking tall guy who I vaguely remembered seeing at school dances, sat on the deck of a yacht in their bathing suits. They had their arms around each other, looking happy and tanned and enjoying the kind of summer I’d planned for myself.
Do not go down a self-pity spiral, I told myself.
Graeme leaned into me, craning his neck to get a closer look at the tiny screen. “Wait a minute. Is that...”
“It’s Kaylee,” Emmie assured him, looking straight into his eyes very pointedly. “And her boyfriend, Declan. A humble farmer from Ireland.”
Graeme’s eyes darted from the phone to Emmie and back again before he shook his head. “No, it isn’t. That’s Ed—”
The Rosewoods Rock & Roll Box Set Page 81