Page 160 of Verses

“Well—”

“Yeah, I know the rest of you have, but Wolf fit in perfectly.”

“Thanks,” I said, taking a moment as I thought of how to word my next question. “Would you pay to watch our band if you knew we were playing somewhere? Hypothetically, of course.”

“Oh, hell, yeah. You guys are awesome.”

“That’s a relief. Thank you. We’re working toward playing shows again.”

“Thankyoufor letting me watch you guys before the day comes that Iwillhave to pay a cover charge.”

“Marv’ll never charge you here. He’ll just frown at you if you don’t buy a drink.”

“I don’t think that’ll be a problem.”

I laughed. “Beer and concerts just seem to go together.” Now it was time to ask the hard questions. “Do you have any feedback for me? Like…what I’m sucking at. What I could do better, either vocally or as a performer. No feedback is too harsh.”

“You’re kidding, right?”

“No. I’m totally serious.”

I couldn’t quite read Claire’s face, so I had to focus on her words. “A bunch of us at Metamorphosis were talking about you guys last summer…you know, when… Anyway, we were taking bets on how long it would be before you guys left Charlotte for good with a record deal. And that was before. You guys are even better now. So I don’t know what kind of constructive criticism I could give you. It’d be like you telling me how your tattoo could look better.”

Wow. I’d never quite heard anything like what Claire was telling me—and I could barely squeak out, “Holy shit. Thank you.”

“I’m not saying anything that’s not true.”

I nodded, letting her words fill me. I’d known people loved my singing voice, but I’d never had someone tell me they thought the band was destined for greatness. I could let Claire’s words lift my wings when my heart felt leaden.

For a few seconds, we were quiet, and I glanced back to the bar to see if there was an opening for me to get some water—but there wasn’t, partly because quite a few people were huddled around the rest of the band, talking to them.

Except me. And I found that didn’t bother me. I’d already shared all my thoughts and feelings with the crowd. I didn’t want to talk about that stuff anymore.

Unfortunately, while I was looking that way, Wolf glanced at me, shifting his focus from the two women he was talking to—and I immediately looked back at Claire.

She hadn’t noticed. “Tell me about your drummer. He looks so familiar to me.”

“That’s Adrian Ramirez. He graduated the year after we did.”

“Why don’t I remember him?”

“Maybe because he’s quiet and kind of shy till you get to know him.”

Grinning, Claire took a long draw off her beer, probably polishing it off but I couldn’t tell through the dark brown glass. “It wouldn’t be because I was always stoned in high school.”

That made me laugh, because Claire might have enjoyed a toke or two, but she wasn’t the kind of person who was always high. “Why? Do you want me to introduce you?”

“Maybe. He’s fucking hot and an amazing drummer. Does he have a girlfriend?”

“No. Actually, I’ve never known him to have a girlfriend.”

Claire’s face grew serious. “Is he gay?”

“I don’t think so.” But I had no evidence either way. For all I knew, hewas. “Honestly, I don’t know. He keeps to himself a lot and doesn’t talk about that kind of thing.”

“Hmm.”

“Not to sound weird, but heseemsstraight. He’s just quiet. But the longer we’ve been in the band together, the more I get to know him. It’s really strange, because he and Pedro are roommates, and they couldn’t be more different. Pedro puts it all out there for everybody to see, and he doesn’t even care—”

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