Page 51 of Kneeling for Them
“Hello,” she says smoothly.“I’m Trina Jack, Bastian’s agent.Please call me Trina.”
“Hi,” I say, holding out a shaking hand.“I’m Ella Marchand.I’m…” I’m what?Would Sebastian want me to introduce myself as his girlfriend?
Before I can make up my mind on what to say, Trina speaks again, addressing Sebastian.“She’s not so random after all, is she?”
He breathes very carefully, as if he’s hiding a sigh.“No.”
“Random?”I ask.
“I didn’t realize you two knew each other,” Trina says, giving me a brittle smile.“I saw footage of you singing together at the karaoke bar.Of course, I asked Bastian all about it, but he never once told me that he knows you.”
My mind is whirling, and I’m trying to make sense of this situation.I thought I was coming over here to listen to Sebastian’s new song.I thought we’d kiss, and possibly enjoy a quickie, depending on how long the music conversation went.I did not expect to be confronted with his very attractive agent who is giving me the strangest look right now.
My brain is still trying to catch up with reality not meeting my expectations.
Sebastian squeezes my hand.
“We’re seeing each other,” Sebastian tells Trina.“I wasn’t ready to talk about it.”
Trina shakes her finger at him.“You could’ve saved me a lot of time.Ella, I’ve spent the past few days trying to track you down.”
The blond hair, the person listening at the door of the practice room on Sunday… “Was that you?”I ask.“Did you come to the university?”
“Yes,” she says.“I apologize if I scared you.”
Ifshe scared me.I was damn near terrified.But she’s anagent.Having an agent could help my dreams come true.“You were looking for me?”
“Yep.”She smiles.“It’s sort of my job to find and nurture talent, and when I heard you singing with Bastian, here, I wanted to track you down.Of course, that would’ve been a lot easier, Bastian, if you’d justtoldme.But, forgive and forget, right?”
He looks up at her then, and if I thought I was terrified at Kanno Hall four days ago, it can’t have been near as bad as whatever’s going through Sebastian’s mind right now.He looks like he’s on the gallows, a dead man walking.
And why didn’t he tell Trina about me?Just now, he said he wasn’t ready to talk about our relationship.Sounds like a pretty weak excuse to me.
Does he not want me working with his agent?That’s the only other reason I can think of that he would look like this.I mean, I know I’m not up to his caliber, but the way we’ve been swapping notes the past few days—lyrics, music, ideas—has been amazing.I’ve learned so much just in this short time, every text a new revelation, every bit of feedback serving as inspiration.
Now, he taps out a rhythm on the counter where he leans, carefully avoiding my eyes.
Trina looks between him and me.“Well, I have an idea that I’ve been sitting on for days, and since you’re both here, I may as well just throw it at you.”
“Read the room, Trina,” Sebastian mutters.
She either doesn’t hear him or ignores him entirely, and maybe I feel totally at odds here, but I have to admire that she just smiles and continues like he didn’t speak.This is a woman who goes after what she wants.
“So, you two went viral singing together.What do you think about collaborating?Releasing an original song together?Or hell, do a cover, I don’t care.You could re-release one of Bastian’s songs, cover someone else’s, or work together on an all-new track.Thoughts?”
My heart leaps in excitement.An agent.An honest-to-god agent is offering me an opportunity the likes of which I had never even dared dream of.
But Sebastian keeps tapping out a rhythm.One, two, three-and-four-and.Over and over.
“I guess we’ll have to think about it,” I say.
Sebastian finally looks over at me, his hazel eyes soft.“Yeah.We’ll think about it.”
He’s already decided…and he’s decided no.
Of course he wouldn’t want to sing with me.I’m an amateur.He’s a rockstar.My one claim to fame is, what, harmonizing with him in some tiny karaoke bar?Yeah, that’s hardly the kind of person he needs riding on his coattails.
“Anyway, I have a shift over at Dorado Terrace,” I say.I’m so desperate to leave, I will go in to work early today.“I should get going.”
