Page 11 of The Art of Us

“And this is Cooper, on bass.” Cooper gave a wave-sort-of-salute and flashed a smile before he scrubbed his hands through his red hair. He looked like he’d had to fold himself up to sit on the chair. Ireland imagined that he was ridiculously tall. She tried to remember how tall he was compared to Kal, but when she’d come in, she hadn’t really noticed the others on the stage. She’d only seen Kal.

“And everyone, this is Ireland.”

“Like the country?” Bailey asked.

Ireland smiled. “Yeah. Like that, only with fewer shamrocks.” It was her standard answer when people reacted to her name.

Kal pulled out a chair for her and indicated for her to sit. She did so, her previous euphoria giving way to the awkwardin this social situation that she wasn’t sure how to navigate. She’d only just barely decided to start talking to people. And now here she was talking to four all at the same time. And she was definitely the interloper of the evening. Recognizing these people from school didn’t mean she could call them friends. She shifted uncomfortably, suddenly wishing she could leave, but was compelled by the hunger gnawing at her insides to stay and eat first.

Except they weren’t eating. The food was on the pans with steam rising up, but no one was taking a slice. Would they think she was rude if she helped herself? Why weren’t they eating?

Bailey was on her phone. Asha had a pen and was writing on a napkin. Cooper was smiling at the waitress, who kept tossing little smiles back at him. And Kal was looking at her. Her stomach growled, and Kal smirked. He pulled a slice of pizza off the pan,finally. The cheese stretched from the slice to the pie still on the pan as he moved it to a plate and then pushed that plate in her direction.

“Here,” he said. He watched her momentarily, as if expecting her just to eat even though no one else was. He must have seen her hesitation because only then did he pull a piece off for himself.

When he took a bite, she did as well. Relief flooded her at the knowledge that she would go to sleep on a full stomach.

“Is no one else eating?” she finally asked quietly.

Kal looked at his bandmates. “They always wait a few minutes to cool off after performing.”

It made sense, even if she hated eating without them. But now that she’d taken a bite, she planned to keep going with or without them. “I liked the song you guys played.”

Asha glanced up, beaming. “Thanks. I wrote it.”

“Just you?” Bailey tilted her head and scowled.

With a blush, Asha hurried to clarify. “Well, we all had a hand in writing that one. But the first few lines were mine.”

“It was great.” Ireland took another bite, chewed, and swallowed before realizing the conversation had come to a full stop. Were they expecting her to do all the talking? Or did they expect that they would all eat—or not eat, as the case was—in silence? “Do you guys always write your own songs?”

“Not always,” Kal said. “Half the time, we do covers. People like music they’re familiar with.”

“Hey, guys?” Cooper glanced at the door with a look of longing. “We still have three songs to do before we can wrap. Can we get to it? I really do have to leave.”

“You don’t want to eat first?” Kal asked.

“They’re doing a clambake.” Cooper cast a furtive glance at Bailey, who was rolling her eyes.

Bailey pushed back her chair with a scrape over the stone floor. “Let’s get this done so pretty boy here can stop slumming with us and get back to his bougie friends.”

Cooper looked like he wanted to defend himself to her but said nothing. Kal dropped his pizza to his plate, downed half a glass of water, and wiped his mouth and hands on his napkin before dropping it to the table. “Let’s get you on the road, then.”

They all went back to the stage, took their places, and did three more songs. The first two were the happy, bouncy, good-vibes sort. The last was a soulful number about loss and missing people. As Kal sang, Ireland’s vision blurred with tears.I miss my dad.It was the first time she’d had that thought since he’d left her. She hadn’t been aware she could miss him. She was so mad at him, so ...betrayed, that to consider missing him felt like she was killing any self-respect she might have had.

Kal sang the lyrics:

The way we used to talk to the beat of the pouring rain,

I’m haunted by the echoes, memories I can’t explain.

I’m standing right here, holding out my hand.

Didn’t you know I was a safe place to land?

Ireland suddenly didn’t feel like she was abandoning her dignity to miss the man who had been a constant part of her life since she could remember. And really, she had to give him some credit. Her mom bailed on her when Ireland was a toddler. Her dad stuck it out for a lot longer. That meant something, didn’t it?

And she couldn’t help but miss him. He might have had issues with his addictions and might not have been trustworthy around her cash, but he was quick to see the humor in things and had an arsenal of dad jokes at the ready.

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