Love to Hate You

Chapter Seventeen

“The song choices,” I grumble, “They’re songs I know but at the same time I can’t seem to get the lyrics right.”

“Nonsense,” she tells me, waving her hand as if batting away a fly, “you’ll be perfectly fine. If you forget the lyrics just start making stuff up. Nobody will notice, it’s not like we know the lyrics,” she laughs.

Frowning, I bite my lip. I’m getting more nervous by the second.

“Here,” Laney begins, scooting backward and looking at me with anticipation, “sing right now. Refresh your memory and humor me with a sneak peek,” she beams while clapping her hands her hands together. I eye her warily but she just stares back at me with wide blue eyes and straight smiling teeth.

“Don’t laugh,” I order, forcing myself not to smile back at her child-like interest, “Catching Walleye from the dock, watching the waves roll off the rocks, she'll forever hold a spot inside my soul. We'd blister in the sun, we couldn't wait for night to come, to hit that sand and play some rock and roll.”

She watches intently while I sing and then bursts into applause when I’ve finished. “Didn’t sound like you messed up to me,” she points out.

“I didn’t, I just got lucky. Usually I stumble on the second line.” I tell her and then begin mumbling “Watching the waves roll of the rocks,” over and over.

“You’ll be fine. You sounded really good,” she says encouragingly and rubs my shoulder when she sees me grimace at the statement, “Confidence,” she nudges me playfully and then glances at the alarm clock sitting on the window sill beside her bed, “better get there before the guys start to worry.”

So, we climb off her bed, shove our feet back in our shoes, and head off to The Lunch Box carrying on meaningless conversation the entire walk there.

We arrive just as the café begins filling with rowdy teenagers who’ve come to celebrate the beginning of summer. As we walk through the café I see Alex giving Stephanie a quick kiss on the cheek but turn away as soon as he sees I’ve noticed him. He leaves her and jogs up to us, waving at Laney.

“Sean’s in the back,” he tells her, “but girlfriends aren’t allowed back there. That’s where the magic happens,” he winks.

“That’s complete BS,” I tell Laney and poke my tongue out at Alex, “The magic happens on stage.”

Alex shrugs, “Either way, no girlfriends backstage.”

Laney stops then and clasps her hands behind her back. “Geez, I know when I’m not wanted,” she says teasingly, “I’ll see you guys later. Tell Sean to come and see me really quick though, okay?”

Alex nods and we leave Laney behind to meet the other guys in the back. The other boys are lazing around when Alex and I step in. Sean scurries off to see what Laney wants after Alex informs him she wants to see him. Austin, Kris, and Justin seem to be playing an enthusiastic game of “see who can chug bottles of water the fastest”. All of them are going to have to pee when they’re on stage, and I’m going to have no sympathy.

When Sean returns he also brings one of The Lunch Box employees with him. The girl tells us we can go out whenever we’re ready and leaves just as suddenly as she came.

“What did Laney want?” I ask Sean while wiggling my eyebrows.

“To wish us luck,” he tells me, wiggling his eyebrows back at me mockingly. Well, that just proves they have a lame relationship. I haven’t seen Sean kiss her once. Rolling my eyes, I open the door and motion them out. Justin pecks my cheek quickly on his way out and Kris makes a kissy face at me. I slap the back of his head as we follow the rest of the boys out onto stage. He just looks back at me smugly.