Kissing the Shy Guy - Stephanie Street Page 0,36

him.

I held my thumb poised over the icon that would start the music. "Do you need to warm up?"

He shook his head again. "No. We just finished rehearsing."

"Oh." Frowning, I studied his face. "Well, then do you need a break? I don't want to strain your voice."

Adam smiled, the first genuine smile I'd seen since the day before. "No. We sing for hours and hours at our gigs sometimes. I can handle it."

I found myself staring at him again. Intellectually, I knew Adam was in a band. Breakout. And, I supposed I assumed they were decent. I'd heard them before, but only at school. They'd been asked to perform at a pep rally last semester, and they'd played one day during all three lunch periods a few weeks ago. But it had never occurred to me that they had actual gigs where they played for hours and hours to people who were willing to listen that long.

One dark eyebrow lifted. "You ready?"

"Oh. Right. Yeah." I nodded. He was forever catching me off guard.

I tapped my phone to start the music and adjusted the volume. Adam's eyes followed along, reading the music. Maria sang first, then Tony. It went back and forth like that before we sang together.

Adam hadn't been exaggerating. He knew the song and only followed the music sheets for timing like he was used to singing both parts while watching the movie. As we sang together, my heart swelled. Without even listening to the recording, I knew we sounded incredible together, our voices blended perfectly like they were made to sing together.

When the final note of the song ended, neither of us moved. We were spellbound. Or I was. I couldn't guess how Adam felt, but the tension I'd been carrying around since Josh bailed lifted just a hair. And it was such a relief!

Beside me, Adam inhaled a deep breath and let it out slowly. Had he felt it too? How could he not? The air crackled between us.

But when I looked in his eyes, it wasn't passion I saw. It was anger.

15

Adam

How had I gotten myself into this mess? I’d been asking myself that question for the last twenty-four hours and was no closer to an answer than before. There was no denying my sister had played a part in Jenna’s predicament. That had been the only reason I’d asked her to go have ice cream with me in the first place. Mostly.

I hadn’t planned on kissing her, although I’d been thinking about it. All I’d wanted was to—I didn’t even know. Rationally, I knew it wasn’t my fault Laura had stolen Jenna’s boyfriend, inadvertently ruining her chances to win that scholarship, but I still felt responsible. Like my family honor was at stake or something stupid.

Now, I was locked into singing a love song with her. We hadn’t gotten that far, but I was sure somewhere along the line, I’d have to pretend to be in love with her while singing it. And who was to say I wasn’t? Not that I’d let her know—ever.

It still stung. Everything that had happened the day before. It had been exciting, riding with Jenna on the back of my bike. I’d liked having her pressed against my back for the short ride to the ice cream shop. We’d had fun talking and when I kissed her? Light exploded behind my eyelids.

How could I have been so wrong? So stupid? And the worst of it? I still wanted her. We’d just sung together, our voices blending in perfect harmony, my throaty tenor with her clear soprano. It had gone straight to my chest.

But she didn’t want anything to do with that. She only wanted my help. And it pissed me off. She’d let me kiss her, let me hope for things she never intended to give me, but I still wanted. Like her time, her attention, and kisses—I wanted it all. Or at least the chance to get to know her better so I’d know for sure if I did want those things. Maybe then she’d know if she wanted them from me. But then she’d shot me down before I ever got the chance to tell her.

I’d never been in a serious relationship before. We had girls that followed the band around—groupies, about twenty of them. It was flattering, but they mostly liked Asher. They hadn’t paid attention to the rest of us until they realized he had a girlfriend, and she wasn’t going anywhere. I’d never date