Page 82 of Crescendo

I laughed and stood up, holding onto her hand. “Come on. Let’s explore Brixton and you can tell me what it would sound like in a score. Maybe that will help with your inspiration.”

Lydia shook her head but smiled beautifully, following after me even when I dropped her hand and walked a few steps ahead of her.

I turned to look at her. “Oh, and Lydia?”

“Yes?”

“I’d cross the river for you.”

Chapter 19

Lydia

Ella had a bright look in her eyes as we walked down the hall, Crescendo’s classical stylings and ornate bay windows whisking us all back like we should have come across Schubert writing an opera, and I stopped at the door where I could hear, murkily, the sounds of the others inside.

“It’s okay if you need to back out,” I said. “At any point.”

She rolled her eyes, flashing teeth in a smile at me. “I’m not a child, Lydia Howard Fox.”

“Please. Anything but the full name.” But—I knew she was right. The past week since Ella had stripped away her protective lining and let it in, crumbled to pieces, I’d seen her build herself back up to something stronger than ever before. I’d handled her like precious porcelain for a while, but when Clara caught me in the performance hall between classes and told medon’t go too easy on Ella now,well—Clara was always right. This morning before classes, I’d decided not to treat her like thin glass anymore.

Well, that wasn’t true. I certainly hadn’t treated her like thin glass last night when I wore that strap-on and fucked her into the wall so hard that not only would Eliza hear from theother side but probably Eliza’s ancestors would hear it too. But to be fair—she had asked me to go harder. And who was I to say no to those eyes?

“If you’re finally going to show me where you’ve been sneaking off to,” Ella said, standing up taller, “then I’m just glad I won’t have to be so jealous all the time.”

I wrinkled my nose. “The only girl involved in this is Hannah, and she… I’m not interested, to put it lightly.”

Ella went wide-eyed. “Hannah? What are you doing hanging out with her?”

“Mostly yelling at each other. Learning new ways to tell someone to fuck off in Scouse dialect. Listening to her pine over Eliza. Occasionally making a little music. Dodge is here too.”

She smiled thinly, a glassy expression passing over her features. “All the rockers in one place…”

“Ella—”

She shook it off. “I’m all right,” she said quietly.

“If you need—”

“I know. I’ll let you know if I need to back out. But I want to face this.”

Dammit, but I was proud of her, hearing her talk like that. I put a hand on her upper arm, just letting myself smile at her like a fool for a minute, before I nodded. “Well, then let’s rock and roll,” I said, opening the door for her, stepping into the practice room. I’d barely gotten into the room before a balled-up scrap of paper flicked across the room and hit me in the forehead, bouncing off and skittering across the top of the upright piano, and Hannah, the assaulter, shot me a grin.

“I’m notpiningfor no one,” she said. “You gonna get it through your thick skull at any point I can hear you through the door, you numpty?”

“Nice to see you, too, Hannah,” I said, picking up the paper and unfolding it. Scratchings of melody, chord progression—Hannah and Dodge had a few of them between them, clearly working on writing something. “This a love song you wrote and sent my way?”

“Profess love to a bloody Yank? I’d rather kiss Clara.”

Dodge laughed, spinning his stool from us to look at her, electro-acoustic guitar slung over his shoulders. “Careful saying that,” he said. “Clara might. She kisses people who are absolute disasters and menaces to society.”

“Fuck off, all,” Hannah said, slipping her bass off, hanging it up on the wall as she slid off her stool. “So, your girlfriend finally brought you around.”

I didn’t really feel like denying the word. Ella clearly didn’t, either, beaming at her. “She said you’re just so charming and lovable here that it’d be a pleasure.”

“Figures you’re just as bad as she is,” Hannah said with a dry laugh. “Right, so what, then, you wanna jam with us, or are you just here to watch?”

“I’m just here to watch,” Ella said, at the same time I said, “She’s here to play.” Ella shot me a look.

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