music class.”
She pulled a face. “Young Lily had a big mouth.”
“Young Archer didn’t mind since she was right, but if you feel guilty now, you can make it up for me with a song.”
She shook her head at me, although she was smiling. “Isn’t it bad enough that Blake is so bossy? Is it contagious?”
I pulled a face. I loved Blake, but I didn’t enjoy being compared to him.
“I just love hearing you sing, Lily,” I said. So much so that I would do whatever it took.
She froze, and I didn’t know how to read the look on her face.
Then she nudged me back under the table, the light coming into her face as she smiled. Now she was pink-tinged Lily again. “Dare you. If you sing, I will too.”
I’d do anything for her.
“You’re on.”
Surprise widened her eyes. She hadn’t expected me to call her bluff.
I ruffled her hair as I got up to put my name on the karaoke list. “I’ve changed over the past few years while you’ve been away.”
“Can you sing now?”
“Nope,” I said. “Still tone deaf. But I’m a lot less easily embarrassed than I was as a nerdy kid. I’ve embraced my geekiness.”
And most of all, I was far more determined now when I wanted something, far more willing to go after it…
And I wanted to see Lily happy again, if only for a few minutes.
“I can’t believe you’re doing this,” she whispered when my name was called as I headed up toward the stage. I’d always been shy as a kid and she knew that.
I wasn’t sure if she’d meant for me to hear that or not, so I pretended I hadn’t heard.
Instead, I jumped on stage to claps and shouts from the audience. Silver Springs was a nice crowd—they treated everyone like a rock star.
The music for Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing” began to play. As I started to sing—badly—Lily covered her face with her hands, but I could see she was grinning behind her hands.
And even though I could hear my voice was off-tune, I didn’t care. I found myself grinning back at her as I belted out the words about a small town girl who left town. She peeked out from between her hands, then dropped her hands to the knees of her jeans. I couldn’t stop staring at her, even as I caught glimpses through the lights of the other patrons of Vee, who began to sing along and clap, hoping to save me from myself.
When I finally came off stage, it was her turn. She high-fived me on the way past.
She walked across stage awkwardly, as if she could feel everyone’s eyes on her. She gripped the microphone tightly, and for a second, as she looked out at the crowd, her eyes went wide. I leaned forward, my heart racing just as much as it did when I was the one on the stage. Maybe even more.
As the music started, the look on her face made me worry that she wasn’t going to sing at all. She looked scared for a second, as if she might drop the microphone and run.
Then, just like I’d hoped, she came alive on that stage. She smiled out at the crowd before she sang Taylor Swift’s “Love Story” with the voice of an angel.
No one tried to drown her out. Everyone cheered and clapped and whistled as she stepped off the stage. It was more than I’d even hoped for.
She was grinning when she came off the stage. To my surprise, she didn’t take her seat, but stepped between my legs.
She leaned down and kissed me, a soft tentative tease of her lips against mine.
She started to pull away, as if she’d realized she’d startled me.
I caught her hips, reeled her body against mine, and kissed her back. The soft, tender kiss turned heated as my tongue teased against her lips, nudging them apart, and her mouth opened for me. One of my hands slid through her silky curls, holding her head still as we traded heated kisses.
The crowd around us clapped and roared, and it could’ve been for us or the next singer, but it didn’t matter. I’d always been shy, I hated the spotlight, but tonight…
Tonight I was lost in Lily.
15
Lily
“I don’t know what I was thinking,” I prattled on to Archer as he walked me home. “I get caught up in the music.”
“Then I’m going to play music everywhere we go,” he said.
I stopped dead on the sidewalk.
He turned to me,