Page 28 of High Note

Lord know she never walked away from a dare, so she just let it rip. The best part was that everyone sang along—good voices,bad, it didn’t matter. This wasn’t a performance; this was a jam session.

People hooted and whistled, and when the other kid with the guitar swung into Garth Brooks’s “Friends in Low Places”, she shouted with everyone else.

“See, you do know a country song,” she teased Kirsten.

“One or two, yeah.” Kirsten chuckled softly. “Look at the snow come down.”

She blinked as she looked out the window. “Holy shit, y’all.”

The snow was like a white sheet, and it seemed bitter out there, but in here? It was warm and cozy, the scents of fire and chocolate and whatever was bubbling in the big common kitchen making it feel amazing.

“We have food and bathrooms, right?”

“We do.” Kirsten chuckled again. “You might text the band and just let them know you’re safe. They’re not any more used to this than you are, right?”

“Mmm. Look how nice you are.” She didn’t want to, but she texted anyway, letting Mich know she’d be gone all day, at least. She was gonna sit here and watch it come down.

“I just know that this is fun.” Kirsten leaned in, lips against her ear. “There might be green later, if that’s a problem.”

“That is so not. I work for myself. No random tests involved.” She winked, because she was feeling amazing. Like she was already flying.

“Cool. You want to take off your boots? I’m going to put on fuzzy socks.” Kirsten pinked, unpainted eyelashes fluttering. “I brought you a pair.”

“Oh, you know how to treat a girl. Hot chocolate. Music. Fuzzy socks.”

“Soon there will be tortillas soup and green chile chicken enchiladas,” someone said.

“But for now there’s those doughnuts.”

“Bring it on. I can run a few miles at the gym tomorrow.” Skyla waved a hand like that would magically erase any calories today.

“Calories don’t count during a blizzard.” Kirsten’s friend sounded so sure. “Nothing but love does.”

“That sounds like a song too.” She played a few chords.

Suddenly Kirsten was playing with her and they had another skeleton of a song, just like breathing. How did that happen? When they stopped, several people were staring at them, and one girl handed her a notebook and a pen.

“Thank you, sweetie. I definitely want to note that down.”

“That was awesome,” the guitar boy said. “I’m Kane, by the way.”

Colorado sure had the corner on K names.

“Nice to meet you, Kane.”

“Same same. Y’all want to play it again? I’ll do the rhythm.”

“Sounds good.” She looked at Kirsten, who nodded. And away they went. She noted shit down, and by the third run through a girl with big braids and a nose ring was singing harmony.

“Oh dude! This is almost as much fun as Yahtzee!” That was a young girl who was sitting with some hot stacked woman who was either her girlfriend or was fixin’ to be.

“She means it. She loves Yahtzee.” The other girl grinned, and yeah. They were so doing it.

“Music gets in your bones,” Kane said.

“That’s it exactly. It’s in all of us. We can’t resist it.” And if someone said they didn’t like music, Skyla didn’t trust them.

“It’s the human condition and the closest we’ll ever get to the gods,” Kirsten agreed.

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