Page 70 of Change My Mind
“Do you reckon they’ve got mics we can use?” I asked. Rachel took her eyes off the dance floor and glared at me.
“Why, you gonna break that up by making us all endurespeeches?” She spat the words ‘speeches’ like it was a dirty word.
“Not quite. But think of something else we could do. Together.”
Rachel looked confused for a moment, and then it dawned on her.
She stood up and held out her hand. I took it.
Forcingpeople to watch you sing ‘Defying Gravity’in the middle of a party is probably the wankiest thing a person could do. Birthday or not.
But the thing about the five of us was that we went to bat for one another, no questions asked. So when Rachel sang the first line into one of the microphones that Xander found, it didn’t take very long for Clo, Lucy, and Becky to decide they were going to join in. As Clara came next to me to share my microphone, I saw her clock Tabitha’s proximity to her almostbrother-in-law, and it dawned on her why Rachel had started this impromptu performance.
I felt an inordinate amount of relief that I just looked like a supportive person and wouldn’t have to explain anything else about this whole song and dance. Like how I was the one to orchestrate it.
Which was working because Tabitha had been abandoned.
And so had Steffy by the time Clo and I reached the final note of the song.
We all took exaggerated bows when it was over, and I felt an overwhelming rush of emotion as the five of us bundled into a group hug. Something inside me felt like it had clicked back into place. I felt like I was part of the fold again with my sisters. They’d all rallied to support Rachel (and, unknowingly, me), and I had been apart of it.
Plus, it took a lot to be able to do a perfect five-part harmony immediately, and we only knew how to do it because that was how we spent our teen years.
As we left the stage, Xander resumed the music. Although it was more of a jump up and down vibe than an up close and personal swaying one.
“That was fun. But very random. You couldn’t think of a more inconspicuous way to break it up, macaroon?” Clara asked, her arm looping around my shoulders.
I shrugged and glanced over at Rachel, keeping the charade up. “Not one that got her out of her head as well.”
She nodded slowly. “I’m gonna get a drink, you want one?”
“Nah, I’m good, macaron,” I answered. Clara squeezed me against her side quickly, and then she let me go.
As her arm slipped off me, I felt a hand settle on my lower back. I sank into the touch.
“I’m finally going to ask, what is up with the macaroon, macaron thing?” Eli’s voice was soft in my ear.
I smiled and turned my head. “We got into an argument about which one was right when we were kids. Embarrassingly, for someone whose first language is French, I was convinced it was macaroon and was proven wrong. The nicknames have stuck ever since.”
“It’s cute.” He paused, then gestured at the spot we were just on. “I didn’t know you could sing like that.”
“I do all my best singing when you’re not home,” I teased.
Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Steffy starting to make her way over to where we were standing. I turned my head away from Eli and did a sweep of the room. Firstly, to see where key family members were. Most of them were by the bar, lost in their own conversations. Secondly, to see if there was somewhere Eli and I could sneak off to, struck by an overwhelming desire to claim him as mine.
I was about to decide that we might have to find another bathroom when I saw a curtained-off area.
I removed Eli’s hand from my back and laced his fingers with mine. With one final look at where my family were, I started for it. Eli paused for a moment, but he followed, matching my hurried pace.
I pulled back the curtain to reveal a decent-sized alcove. I tugged us into it and pulled the curtain closed.
Forty-Four
ELI
With the curtain of the alcove closed, Addie was lit by the dying embers of the day through the window. The golden glow made her eyes look like limes. It hit the highlight on her cheekbone perfectly. She looked, impossibly, more stunning than I had ever seen her.
“I should have checked you were okay with me dragging you away before I did it,” Addie said, doubt clouding her eyes.
