Page 5 of Guitars and Mistakes
He was definitely going throughsomething. I just didn’t know what the hell it was. He evidently wasn’t interested in having me involved or even seeking me out for a word of advice. Or a laugh. Or some late-night blueberry pie.
He’d cut me out.
And Taylor was noticing.
She’d said things to me several times about his behavior and how it wasn’t what he’d agreed to, and I’d just shrugged and told her I didn’t know anything. I mean what did she expect me to do? I couldn’t force him to talk to me, and I definitely couldn’t force him to let me back in. If I’d ever been ‘in’ in the first place.
At one point, I’d thought I was.
Now I was starting to wonder.
And that was the part that I couldn’t stand. Because I might not have known what we were or where we were going, but I’d thought we were something. The idea that we weren’t—that I was nothing more than another girl he’d seduced and then dropped—had me not eating and barely sleeping. I was jumping every time my phone dinged with a message, and having trouble getting involved in anything. I felt like I’d been pushed to the ground, and I didn’t know if I could get back up again.
That’s right, the sunshine girl had turned all dark and broody.
I missed the version of me that had known how to laugh and flirt. I missed the part of me that had felt like nothing could take us down. Hell, I was on the edge of a music contract! I should be ecstatic! Not broken and damaged and wondering whether any of it was worthwhile.
Even worse was the fact that we had another month of the tour left and I had things to accomplish. I wanted that contract for Anna and me, and I wanted it badly. To do that, I needed to get out there and perform my ass off. Get onstage every time I had the chance to do it. Charm the pants off the audience.
I had to prove that we deserved that contract, and not just because I’d agreed to Taylor’s fake girlfriend scheme.
I mean I also wanted Rivers, but I was thinking he was no longer something I could get.
Which meant I’d go after the things Icouldget.
I’d just finished that thought when Anna appeared at my bedside, all smooth brown hair and big eyes. She hit the lamp next to my bed and grinned—though I could barely see it through my hands, which were now covering my eyes.
“Anna,” I griped. “It’s like 5 in the morning. And it’s dark. Do you really have to come over here and turn the light on like I’m ready for that sort of action?”
“Course I did,” she piped, sounding like she’d somehow been awake for an hour already.
Actually, she probably had. Anna had always been an early riser. Though this level of excitement at 5AM seemed out of line, even for her.
“Why are you so excited?” I asked.
She huffed. “Because it’s time to get up, rock star. It’s time for breakfast. Taylor texted and said she wanted to meet with us.”
That got me up to the sitting position. I might not want to get out of bed—or face the real world, or another day where Rivers ignored me. But if Taylor wanted to meet with us, it meant she had news. Andthatwas worth getting up for.
LILA
Iwalked into the restaurant feeling like I’d already had three cups of coffee.
I hadn’t. But the thought of a meeting with Taylor—which Taylor herself had called for—had me feeling all sorts of excited, the depression of having woken up without anything from Rivers faded into the mists of the early morning. I’d spoken with Taylor quite a bit over the last two weeks—and more over the last week, when Rivers had started making himself scarce—but she’d never actually called a meeting with me.
With us.
I reached down and took Anna’s hand, squeezing as hard as I could. “I can’t believe we’re being called into a meeting with a Real Live Agent,” I whispered. “I think I’m going to be sick.”
Anna snorted in typical Anna fashion. “Lila. This is an agent you’ve seen every day for the past two weeks and talked to at least 103 times. What’s the big deal?”
I yanked her to a stop and turned her so I could stare into her eyes. “What’s the big deal?What’s the big deal?Taylor James called us at 5 in the morning for a meeting. Amee-ting! How could you think that wasn’t a big deal?”
She shrugged and gave me a sly smile. “I don’t know, Liles, you’re the girl who evidently has a direct line straight to God. I’m just surprised you’d get so jittery about a little old agent like Taylor James.”
Okay, well I had to give her that much. I didn’t actually have a direct line to God—at least I didn’t think I did, and if I did I certainly wasn’t using it enough—but I had sent a thought up into the aether asking for a sign about what Anna and I were supposed to do for our music careers. And the DJ on the radio had announced that Olivia Johns and Connor Wheating were essentially taking auditions on the road.
Coincidence?
