Page 18 of Introvert

"I don't even know Santino," I said.

"But you know me." Felix shot me an indecipherable look. "So, you're okay with the kiss and everything?"

"Yeah." I tried to keep it breezy and light. "It was wonderful—especially for my first. But it was only a kiss. Right?"

"Yeah. Right."

Again, I caught a hint of something in his tone but didn't know what to make of it.

We walked in silence for several minutes until the stagecame into view. I stopped, frozen in the middle of the aisle, taking everything in.The band was already warming up. Hayden, Elliot, Ryker, and Santino looked totally at ease.Taylorstood in the wings, directing the crew.The lights were low, the seats empty, but even like this, I could imagine what it would be like later. My fingers started tapping on my thigh.So many seats. That meant people, lots of them. A crowd full of strangers.It would be warm with all those bodies, I thought. And the bright lights.The pressure…

A throat cleared, and I looked to my left to find Felix watching me.Immediately, I forced my fingers to still.

"What?" I asked.

He shrugged. "Nothing."

But I could tell by the concern in his eyes that it wasn't. Also, he didn't move to join the rest of the band onstage. He'd obviously seen me about to spiral. For some reason, I felt the need to release him.

"You can go if you want," I said.

"I know" was his response.

"I don't need a babysitter."

A soft sound escaped his lips. It may have been a laugh;I wasn't sure because by the time I looked at him, Felix's face was blank. His eyes scanned me from head to toe, and I couldn't hold back a blush if I tried.

"Clearly," he said.

To give myself a break from those eyes, I glanced around the space."Have you ever played a venue this big?"

"A few. You?"

"Once," I replied.

But that was with my cousins when we opened for HERS.

None of them were here now.

Felix nodded. "This should be easy then."

A quiet scoff.

"You were opening, right? But now, you're just back-up." His lips twitched. "Like me."

I swallowed, realizing there was some truth in what he was saying.

"We'll be background, just here to make the other guys look good."

Studying him, Ishook my head. With a face like that, I bet he'd never been background in his life.

Felix's brow furrowed. "What?"

"Nothing," I echoed him from earlier."You ready to go?"

"If you are."

We walked the rest of the way together, and when I got to the stage, I didn't pause, acting like it was nothing. Background, I thought. I could do that.

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