Rocked (The Everyday Heroes World) - Julia Wolf Page 0,89
gripped her shoulders. “Look at me, Ellie.” She did, her eyes wide. “You are really talented. You know me, I’d tell you if you sucked. You don’t. Not at all.”
She heaved a sigh. “Promise?”
“Absolutely. You’ve got the pipes, kid. You just need the confidence. You know where you’ll get that confidence?” She shook her head. “By getting up there and rocking it. I swear to you, each time you perform, it’ll get easier. You’ll still get nervous—hell, I’m nervous right now—but it’ll be less each time.”
Ellie gripped Devon’s shoulders the same way he was gripping hers. “All right. I believe you. And you, Devon Chambers, are going to do great too. You’ve practiced a lot. Really put your heart into it. My mom says if you put your heart into something, it shows.”
Devon’s eyes flicked to mine, then back to Ellie’s. His voice came out thicker and more gravelly than normal. “As always, your mom is right. My heart is in it.”
Ellie nodded. “Okay. Let’s go. I’m ready to make headlines.”
She led the way outside, Devon and me trailing behind. He kissed the corner of my mouth and squeezed my hand. “You look pretty,” he murmured.
“You too. Gorgeous, I mean,” I said back.
His smile was equal parts warm and devastating. “Yeah?”
“You know you are.”
“All I care about is what you think.”
I brought our joined hands to my mouth and kissed his. “I think you’re pretty wonderful for doing this with Ellie. Thank you for being so great with her...and with me.”
I’ll miss you. This sucks. Don’t go. My heart is already broken.
“You don’t need to thank me for that. Never.”
Brave, bright smile in place, I gave him a light shove. “Too late, I already did. No take-backs.”
The three of us walked toward the commercial part of Main Street, which had been blocked off from cars for the festival. Vendors lined the road, serving wine from nearby vineyards and snacks produced from local vendors and farms. At the far end of the street was a stage where performances would be going on all day. Currently, there were two middle-school-aged kids dancing a pas de deux.
Ellie gasped and subtly pointed to the boy dancer. “That’s Simon!”
Devon frowned. “Simon? I don’t like the looks of that kid.”
Ellie apparently did like the looks of Simon, who was a talented and elegant dancer. I’d been hearing his name a lot lately, and from the stars in her eyes, she’d been thinking about him just as much.
I squeezed Ellie’s shoulder. “You need to get backstage. Maybe you can tell Simon what a great job he did when you go back there.”
She gasped again. “I can’t speak to him. He’s...he’s...Simon.”
Devon rounded on her. “You had no trouble speaking to me when we first met, and I’m kind of famous.”
She rolled her eyes. “But you’re old. He’s…”
He nodded roughly. “Simon. I get it.” He curved his arm around her. “Let’s go, little sister. Time for us to blow our audience right out of the water.”
I blew them both a kiss. “Break a leg, you two.”
They disappeared into the crowd, but I wasn’t alone for long. Veego and Casey found me, holding hands and being adorably in love. When they first started dating a couple years ago, I hadn’t been the least bit jealous, but this time around, I felt a pang in my chest whenever I saw them. Not because I wanted Veego, but because I was starting to want what they had.
Veego kissed my cheek. “Can’t wait to hear this super-secret performance.”
“She wouldn’t tell us anything,” Casey added.
I held up my hands. “I only know half of what they’re planning to do. They locked me out for the rest of it.”
Veego nodded toward the stage. “It’s really cool he’s doing this with her. She likes him a lot, Kat.”
I met his eyes. “I like him too.”
He must’ve heard the melancholy behind those simple words because he wrapped his arm around my shoulders and kept whatever smartass remark he’d normally make to himself. Thank goodness. With the way I was feeling, I would have either broken down in tears or punched him in the nose. It was about a fifty-fifty shot.
As Ellie and Devon took the stage, Rose appeared on my other side. She smiled at me even though I did not return it.
“Ellie asked me to come,” she said.
“Of course. She was afraid she wouldn’t have an audience.” I kept my eyes on the stage, watching the two of them adjust their mics to the right height.