The room echoed with a loud “Yo.”
Sarah and her friends each held up a hand in a motionless wave, and the room returned to its previous chatter volume.
“Hi, I’m Sarah,” she said to Nick, then introduced her friends.
Jeff whispered in Sarah’s ear. “Unreal!”
“I know,” she mouthed back.
“Hold on a sec. I need to grab something before I forget.” Nick reached for a piece of folded fabric on the arm of the couch. “You’re Jeff, right? Will says you are a fan of the band?”
“Yeah, huge,” Jeff admitted.
“Here,” Nick said as he handed Jeff a folded EXpireD T-shirt. “All the guys signed the back—thought you might fancy a souvenir.”
“Thanks, man,” boomed Jeff with a smile. He held up the shirt and gawked at the signatures in silver ink, pointing out Nick’s to Jessica before refolding it in a quick roll.
Nick studied the group of friends. “Let me see if I can get this straight.” He eyed the leggy girl with blonde hair and, winking his eye, said, “Megan?”
She smiled and nodded at him.
“And you’re Alli?” he said, raising his eyebrows as he made eye contact with the bright blue eyes of the girl with wavy red hair pulled back in a loose ponytail.
“Yes,” Alli admitted with a smile.
Nick turned to the last girl, with her pecan-colored hair to her shoulders and her deep-chocolate eyes. Staring at her ample chest, he said, “And lovely Jessica.”
Jessica had been blessed with her double D eye magnets since the seventh grade and had dealt with many guys like Nick. “Up here.” Jessica chuckled and pointed to her eyes. She turned with a look of Can you believe this guy?
“You’re pretty good,” said Megan.
“That’s what they say,” Nick confessed, unaffected by Jessica’s correction.
“And not at all modest,” added Megan, smiling and locking eyes with Nick. She loved bad boys, and he definitely qualified.
Alli spoke up. “I love your accent. Is it British?”
“It’s hard to tell what it is these days. Originally, it was English—been here since I was thirteen. Our mate Will was one of the first blokes I met after I crossed the pond.”
Just then, a guy with a two-day-old beard and spiked sandy-blond hair joined the chatting group. The tips of his hair were blonder than the dark roots. “Beer…soda…water,” he offered, pointing to the food table. He twisted open a bottle of lemon mojito and handed it to Sarah. “It’s your twenty-first birthday. You have to have something to drink.” He smiled at her and continued. “I saw y’all eyein’ the food table. Help yourselves—there’s plenty.”
“Thanks, we’re starved. We were going to grab something once we got in the theater, but we ran out of time,” admitted Megan as the group beelined for the food table.
Sarah stayed, talking with Nick and the guy Sarah thought had been introduced as Hayden. She was too nervous to eat.
“So, you and Will, huh?” Hayden asked, raising one eyebrow and looking down at Sarah’s petite frame.
Sarah took a long draw on her mojito and smiled nervously.
“Did you really meet on the Internet?” questioned Nick.
She brought her free hand up to cover her eyes and peeked out between her fingers, embarrassed. She still couldn’t believe it herself, and it sounded even worse coming from someone she didn’t know.
“Yes.” She grimaced.
Hayden chimed in. “And you’ve never met him in person, right?”
Sarah twisted the bottle in her hands and took a deep breath. Feeling a bit anxious about where the questions were leading, she gathered her courage and looked him in the eyes. “Your point?”
Nick cupped his hand on Hayden’s shoulder. They looked at each other, and Nick confessed, “Oh, our little Will is in so much trouble.”
Sarah lowered just a little as she considered their comment.
“So what do you really know about this bloke you met on the Net?” asked Nick. “You’ve never even seen a photo?”
“Isn’t it too late to worry about th—why?” She stopped midsentence. She wondered why they kept asking whether she knew what he looked like. “Is he paper bag ugly or something?”
Nick smiled at Hayden with a knowing look, lifted an eyebrow, and then shouted across the room. “Hey, Amanda, is Will paper bag ugly?”
The blonde on the couch laughed and yelled back, “No, I’d do him—no bag!”
Seated next to her, Marc shouted, “Hell, I’d do him, and I’m straight!”
Laughter erupted throughout the room.
“I’ll make sure to let him know you’re pining for him!” declared Hayden.
“Oh, he knows,” said Marc with a devious expression before slowly, purposefully wetting Amanda’s entire left cheek with his tongue.
The room filled with hoots, shrieks, and moans. Sarah blushed. Her gaze caught Jessica’s eyes, and they both chuckled.
“So, spill. What do you know about Will?” Hayden looked at Sarah with true curiosity on his face.
“Well,” she began, taking another drink of her liquid courage, “I know Will is smart, hilariously funny, selfless—”
“I don’t know about that,” Hayden whispered to Nick.
“Honest—”
“She might change her mind on that one too,” said Nick as he smacked Hayden in the gut.
Sarah studied them with surprise, hoping they would elaborate. They didn’t. She was starting to feel that she was missing half the conversation. “I know his friends mean more to him than all else in the world. And I know I could tell him anything and he wouldn’t condemn me.” She could tell her face glowed with her feelings for Will. “He doesn’t like gossip, and he doesn’t blab secrets.”
“Yeah, that’s true,” admitted Hayden.
“She might have him pegged, after all, Hayden,” Nick said with a smirk. Seemingly satisfied with her answers, he moved on. “So, Birthday Girl, which one of your friends is single?” They glanced over to her friends as the girls and Jeff approached with food plates in hand.
“Oh my gosh, you’re Nick,” she said with a sudden epiphany.
“That’s me,” he said, looking around the room as if she had a mental flaw.
Sarah took another drink. “Well, Will told me to keep them away from you. Apparently, you’re a womanizer.”
He brought his right hand to his heart like she had wounded him and, with a chuckle, said, “Me? I thought he didn’t gossip?”
“He doesn’t,” stated Hayden. He looked over at Sarah’s friends and back to Nick, shaking his head.
Nick faux glowered at Hayden. Then he turned to the group and, in his thickest, sexiest accent, asked, “Any of you ladies want to go out after the show?”
Hayden burst out laughing. Megan and Alli looked at each other and smiled. Jessica rolled her eyes. While Sarah’s friends ate, they all discussed the must-see clubs in Minneapolis with Nick and Hayden.
“Prohibition is pretty hot right now. Parts of it are in the tunnels under the city,” proclaimed Megan. “They say that one of the dance floors is in an area that used to be an old speakeasy and it’s haunted. They have great live music—but not as good as EXpireD,” she said, touching Nick’s forearm, coaxing a bigger smile from him.
“Or Imposters is popular. I’ve never been there, but it got great reviews in City Pages,” added Alli. “We were going to take Sarah there tonight, until this fell into our laps. We could all go out dancing to either club after the concert. They’re both close. We could walk from here. They’re closer than the car.”
They all continued to discuss the evening’s clubbing options until Sarah spoke up. “Will doesn’t really like clubbing, and I’d rather go somewhere quiet where we can talk.”
Her friends scowled at her, disappointed. But it was her birthday, and they would do whatever she wanted.
Hayden’s eyes met Nick’s, and he nodded. Then he announced that the band would
n’t be able to go with the group anyway, because they had to load onto a bus right after the concert and head to Chicago.
“You could come with us on the road. We can always find room on the buses,” offered Nick. “I bet I could fit all of you in my sleeping quarters. We’d have to…stack up, you know, but I’ve done it before. It’s quite cozy.” He smiled a huge toothy smile, and everyone laughed. From what Will had told her about Nick, Sarah doubted that Nick was really joking. Will’s friends had even admitted that Will didn’t spread gossip.
Nick entertained them as he flirted with all the girls, making them laugh over and over. Even Jeff was charmed. As they interacted, Sarah noticed Hayden watching her. It wasn’t in a creepy lurker sort of way, but more like he was subtly gathering information that he would be reporting back to Will. Sarah quickly became self-conscious.
“When is Will going to get here? Has anyone heard from him?” she finally asked.
“He’ll be here soon. I’m sure he’s just waiting to make a big entrance,” Nick admitted, meeting Hayden’s eyes again, and they both poorly concealed their smirks.
Just then, Nick’s phone vibrated. He pulled it out to check it and quickly typed a response.
Then he leaned closer to Sarah, placing his arm around her shoulders and raising his eyebrows. “Hmm…You smell divine.” He smiled as he checked his vibrating phone one more time, then let out a single devious laugh. Acting like he had coughed, he continued. “That was Will. He’ll be here soon. You and your friends should probably take your seats, though. It’s too bad, but it’s time for us to get to work.”
They said their good-byes to the band, and soon Jeff and the girls were led out into the dimmed theater. The opening act was just wrapping up as the group sat down. Their seats were in a roped-off section on the far right of the stage, in the front row, and the view was perfect.
Seated directly behind them was a local radio announcing team from KSWB. The two were easily recognizable from the billboards around town and were local celebrities of sorts. Megan pointed them out to the girls as the theater lights brightened and the opening band exited the stage.
“Your Will must have some pull if we’re in front of them.”
“I guess it pays to know the band. They were really interesting guys,” stated Sarah.
“And hot,” added Megan.
Sarah noticed there were two empty chairs next to them and wondered if Will was bringing a friend. He hadn’t said he was bringing anyone. But who wants to travel alone? she thought. After about ten minutes, the lights over the stage brightened, and the theater lights dimmed again. The band entered the stage, picked up their instruments, and started to jam a song everyone knew from their first album. The theater went wild. Jeff knew all the words and was leaning across Jessica to sing them into Sarah’s ear, just to annoy her.
Alli gazed at Sarah questioningly, giving her a look that asked, Are you OK?
Sarah glanced over at the empty chairs next to her and back to her friend.
Alli mouthed, “He’ll be here. You look gorgeous.”
Sarah smiled and ran her fingers through her hair nervously with a sigh.
The next song was from the band’s new album, and it had a more hard-core sound to it. Sarah looked around the theater, scanning the dark spaces for anyone who could be Will. She was getting more anxious for him to arrive and was starting to worry that he wasn’t going to show up at all. Maybe the band was checking her out for him and they warned him not to come.
When the song ended, Hayden continued a soft drum cadence in the background, and Nick began to speak.
“It’s great to be here again, Minneapolis!” The crowd cheered, and Nick waited for the noise to die out. “Let me introduce the band.” He introduced everyone else onstage and then continued. “And I’m Nick Reyes on bass. We have something very special for you tonight. Our next song is a ballad of sorts that my mate Will and I wrote, and he has graciously agreed to come out here and sing it with me. Let’s all give it up for…Jonathan Williams, everyone!”
At first, there was silence as the audience tried to figure out what had just been announced. Then a tall man with a perfect angular, masculine silhouette and tousled brown hair joined the band on the stage. He scanned the crowd as he strapped on the bright blue Gibson guitar.
There was a shout from the back. “Holy shit! It’s Jonathan Williams!” and the crowd went wild. The screaming grew and grew, until no one in the theater could hear anything, not even the band starting up.
The noise slowly began to level off, and Sarah just barely caught what the gorgeous man said into the microphone. “This one goes out to the Birthday Girl—you know who you are.” And he smiled, showing his perfect white teeth.
Sarah looked at her brother and friends. They gawked at her. In unison, the girls mouthed, “Oh my god,” with dropped jaws. Jeff just shook his head in disbelief.
Sarah couldn’t make sense of it. Her head was spinning. She looked up at the stage, trying to concentrate on the song that was dedicated to her. The melody was gentle and sweet. The words flowed beautifully. Sarah was having a hard time catching all of them, but the lyrics were something about being lost and empty, searching the world and never finding what he was looking for, then stumbling upon her by accident and everything changing. Wow. Her head was really spinning now. She stared up at the stage, at the man she had never met, yet she knew so well. Then it all started to click—how he had been so vague when talking about his family and his job, why he hated the paparazzi so much. How could she have not seen all the signs? How could she have been so stupid? It doesn’t matter, she told herself. After all, she had promised to be flexible and open to surprises, but she never expected this.
The song ended, and the crowd screamed wildly again as Will bowed, waved, and exited the stage. The band started up again, and Sarah noticed it was an upbeat song this time. That was about all she noticed until the song started to wind down and two people approached her group of friends.
Sarah watched as the gorgeous man from the stage scanned her friends. When his eyes met hers, she felt a zing of electricity buzz through her body. Their eyes remained locked in a silent conversation. When the men reached their seats, Will glanced down with a look of embarrassment, as if he just realized he had been staring.
He leaned over and spoke loud enough in her ear for her to hear. “Hi, Birthday Girl.”
She looked up at him, shaking her head in disbelief. She was still in shock when Will leaned in again.
“We finally meet.” He smiled. “See, I was right—you are beautiful.”
Sarah felt a ting of relief from his words. He sounded the same as he did on the phone. Could he really be the same person?
“This is Sam. He’s my personal security—our security.” He paused. “Don’t let him scare you, though. He’s a decent guy.”
Sarah waved at Sam, and he nodded back.
Will and Sarah’s eyes locked again. They sat studying each other’s faces. Sarah dissolved in Will’s large ice-blue eyes. They were almost colorless in this light and were lined with thick lashes—the envy of every girl. She noted his dazzling crooked smile that gave way to a single dimple on his right cheek, and his hair, tousled chocolate brown, was just the right length to run her fingers through. She restrained herself, though. Time passed without them noticing anything but each other.
The band played on, and the crowd reacted to their favorite songs, but the two never noticed until Max, the short blond man who had led Sarah and her friends to the band’s greenroom, came out and whispered in Sam’s ear.
Will announced to Sarah and her friends, “We have to leave now, or we’ll never get out of here.”
The group promptly rose. The girls grabbed their purses, and they all followed Max back to the greenroom.
They stopped in the hallway outside the room, and Will declared, “Let me just grab my guitar and bag. I’ve got a car waiting out back for us.”
“Uh, what about my car?�
� Jeff stammered.
“Sam, could you come back for Jeff’s car after we get to the hotel?” Will asked as he reached for the handle on the greenroom door. He looked over his shoulder for Sam’s reply.
“Yeah, no problem,” answered Sam. Will came back out a minute later with his gear. “I’m all set.” He smiled at Sarah. “We’ve got to go. We can talk in the car, OK?”
Sarah nodded, and they headed toward the back alley.
They all swiftly exited the back of the theater and started loading into the black SUV. Just as Sarah was climbing into the car, two teenage girls ran around the corner of the building with cameras raised. They startled Sarah, and her heel slipped, causing her to fall backward slightly. Will caught her with his hand at the small of her back, and from where his fingers touched her, she felt warmth radiate through her. Her heartbeat quickened, and she closed her eyes, letting the heat linger. She scooted across the leather seat, still feeling the warmth fill her as Will squished in next to her. Sam closed the door behind Will and climbed into the front passenger seat next to the driver just as the fan-girls were approaching the SUV.
When they were close enough, the girls began pounding on the tinted windows, yelling, “Jonathan! Jonathan! Please!”
Will made eye contact with Sam in the mirror hanging on the car’s visor above Sam’s head, and Sam handed him a black Sharpie. Sarah realized that it must have been a security arrangement the two had worked out, because Will pushed the toggle button and the window slowly lowered, putting the girls within touching distance.
“I hate to neglect my fans.” He smiled his perfect smile. “Hi, ladies. I’ll sign an autograph for each of you, but no pictures, OK?”
Sarah noted how enticing his voice sounded—sweet, yet playful and confident. It drew her in. She had heard it on the phone too. She knew he couldn’t help it. That was just how he sounded when he spoke. The fan-girls screamed with excitement and frantically agreed. Will hurriedly signed the autographs and wished the girls a good night as the driver pulled away.
Between the Raindrops Page 4