Page 11 of More To Us

I hold up my phone. "Will you at least take my number? That way you can call me if you have any questions."

"What questions would I have?" She still has a smile on her face. She has this whole time, so does that mean she's interested? But she turned me down, and she doesn't seem to want my number.

"Austin!" some girl yells. I don't know her but she's got her eye on me as she stumbles through the crowd. She's drunk, and I try to avoid drunk fans before a concert.

"I need to go," I say to Kira. "It was nice meeting you." I offer her my hand.

"You too." She shakes my hand. Her hands are soft and small but she has a good, firm handshake.

"Enjoy the show," I tell her, then quickly get up from the table before the drunk girl reaches me.

I hurry off to the back room. Van is leaned back in his chair, twirling his drumsticks around while Dylan paces the floor.

"Where you been?" Van asks.

"Out talking to some girl."

He chuckles. "I told you not to go out there. Let them attack you after the show, not before."

"This girl didn't attack me. She had no interest in me. She didn't even know who I was."

Dylan stops pacing. "Did you tell her you're a Wheeler?"

"No, but it wouldn't matter if I did. She's not from Chicago. She's never heard of me or the band."

"Why were you talking to her?"

"Because she's cute. And hot. Really hot. You should see this girl's body. She's tight, like she works out a lot."

"Well, there's something you have in common," Van says with a hint of annoyance. He thinks I work out too much, but that's because he's someone who hates working out. He only does it to keep his body in good enough shape to attract girls.

"There was something else about her," I say. "I don't know how to describe it. She was different. Different than what I'm used to."

Dylan starts pacing again. "Are you going out with her?"

"I asked her, but she turned me down."

Dylan stops in his tracks, and Van sits completely still for what might be the first time ever.

"Yeah, I know," I say addressing the shock on their faces. "And she didn't say she had a boyfriend. So I guess she's just not interested."

"No freaking way," Van says, and then he laughs. "Austin Wheeler got turned down? Wait—maybe she's blind. Did she have a seeing eye dog with her?"

"Shut up. She's not blind. Not every girl likes me. Just like I don't like every girl."

"Yeah, but you like this one," Dylan says. "I can tell by the way you seem all nervous and shit."

"I'm not nervous. What the hell are you talking about?"

Van points to me. "You're fidgety. You keep rubbing your hand over your jaw. You never do that."

I drop my hand back by my side. "There. Is that better? You two are just giving me shit." I go over to my guitar. "You ready to do this?"

"Dylan's not," Van says. "He's freaking out."

I go over to him. "Seriously, dude, you gotta relax. It's one song. Big deal. And stop worrying that people won't like it. They're gonna love it."

He nods. "Let's go." He picks up his guitar and we head to the stage.

Girls yell out our names when they see us. We have mostly female fans. At least twenty of them have gathered right in front of the stage, making me unable to see the table where Kira is sitting.

When we take our break, I'm going to go find her and see if she'll reconsider going out with me. It doesn't even have to be a date. We could just go have coffee. I just need to see her again.

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