Page 16 of The Sound of Us

“His show is on right now.” Haley turned up her speaker and I leaned in to listen. ZZ Top’s rock classic “La Grange” had us immediately bouncing up and down.

“Let’s make a booty call for Skye,” Isla said, brightening.

“Don’t you dare.”

“He missed out big time with you.” Isla swayed to the side. “Big. Time.”

“Yeah, he did,” Haley agreed, nodding. “You would have banged the beast… I mean best.”

“She would have banged the beast best.” Isla fell back, laughing. “Oh God. My stomach hurts. Do it, Haley. Call him at the station. Tell him he made the wrong choice.”

I opened my mouth to protest, and then closed it again. It wasn’t fair that I’d met someone I could connect with and now I had to leave. It wasn’t fair that I’d been in a stupid accident that had ended my basketball career. It wasn’t fair that the medical bills had sucked up the last of our family savings. I’d lost everything. Why not talk to him one last time? Why not tell him what he’d missed? I had nothing left to lose.

“I’ll do it.” I pulled out my phone and called the station. Too late, I realized he might recognize the number from the time I’d texted to give him the word “fear.”

“WJPK. DJ Dante. Do you have a request?”

My heart pounded in my chest, the adrenaline rush cutting through the alcohol-induced haze that had made me think this was a good idea. “You missed out,” I said. “Big time.”

“Who is this?”

“You’ll never get a chance to connect with someone who really gets what you’re about.” I grinned at my girls, who were nodding encouragingly. “Enjoy your life of pre-show groupies and seducing women with lemon squares when you could have had something great.”

Before he could speak, I ended the call and dropped my phone on the grass. Bile rose in my throat and I slapped a hand over my mouth. “Oh, God. What did I just do? Why didn’t you stop me?”

“It was fun,” Isla said. “And now you’ve got him out of your system. Who should we drunk-dial next?”

Dante’s show was still playing over Haley’s tinny speaker. The last notes of “La Grange” transitioned into Pitbull’s “I Know You Want Me.”

“He knows it’s me,” I groaned. “I shouldn’t have mentioned the lemon squares.”

A few seconds later my phone vibrated in the grass. I stared at it in horror. I was such an idiot. Hand trembling, I pushed it toward Haley. “Take it. I shouldn’t be trusted with a weapon of that magnitude ever again.”

Haley lifted the phone to her ear. “What do you want me to say?”

“Don’t answer it!” I shrieked. “Just… text in a request. ‘Shame’ by Elle King.”

Haley lifted an eyebrow as she typed. “Is this you telling him you’re embarrassed by your drunk dial?”

“No.” My lips quivered with a smile. Excessive alcohol was making me brave. “It’s an invitation to come and party with the bad kids.”

Haley barked a laugh and sent the text. “Look at you embracing your wild side. I have to say I never imagined our straitlaced Skyegetting totally shitfaced, drunk-dialing her crush, and inviting him to party with us tonight.”

“Who Are You” faded into “Shame.” My phone vibrated again.

“If he already knows it’s you,” Isla said, lying languid in the grass, “why don’t you just talk to him?”

“We are talking. This is our language. I could send him tracks all night.” I took another drink of vodka as I scrolled through my playlists looking for another song to request.

“You’re hiding.” Isla pushed to her elbows and took the bottle to finish it off.

“What am I going to say? He literally ran away from me at the athletic center to share the lemon squares I told him to buy with two other women. This kind of conversation is better.”

“I thought you were all about taking risks and embracing life tonight,” Haley pointed out. “If you do have to leave, this might be your last chance to talk to him in person.”

“A good friend would tell me not to drunk-dial him again.”

“I never said I was a good friend.” She snatched my phone and pressed the screen. “I’ll call him for you.”

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