Page 183 of Shy Girls Can't Date Rockstars
Madison giggles. “I won’t make you. Although, I’m thinking after tonight, there will be new kisses you can tell me all about.”
“You need a boyfriend,” I half-joke. “But, as for me and Ryder, I still don’t fully know what it means. I feel lost if I don’t have his connection.”
Madison mutters under her breath, “Sounds like love.”
“Heard that.”
She laughs. “Good.”
The band on stage finishes their act to genuine applause. They’re good. Across the aisle, men in suits are nodding and talking over each other.
The auditorium has a different buzz about it while crew members work on stage to make changes between sets.
When the next band takes the stage, I see Miranda making her way up the aisle with determination.
When she reaches our seats, she doesn’t waste words. “He needs you.”
I stare at her. “What?”
“Ryder,” Miranda’s voice is low, keeping it from being overheard. “He’s not in a good place.”
“Are his parents with him?”
Miranda nods.
“His mom usually talks him down from his stage fright.”
“This is something else,” Miranda whispers. “Whatever his parents are trying, it isn’t working.”
The lanyard is warm from where I’ve been holding it. “Miranda, I don’t know what you think I can do.”
“I don’t know either,” she admits. “But I know the change in him when he has you in his corner. Will you come with me?”
I glance back at Madison.
“Go,” Madison says, gesturing to the aisle. “I’ll hold your seat.”
Backstage is a different world. Garage Fever’s sound bleeds through the walls as I follow Miranda. The narrow corridors are crowded with flight cases and crew members with headsets. I pass a whiteboard near the stage manager’s station and feel a zing of nerves reading:‘Sky Chaos, 9:45 slot.’
Garage Fever’s chorus hits so hard I feel it in my sternum, and somewhere in this building the girl in the red jacket is posting about it.
And Ryder is supposed to walk out next and play like a pro.
I find him standing against the wall outside the main dressing room, and he is completely, unnervingly still. His parents are close. Mrs. Hamilton with her hand on his arm, Mr. Hamiltonbeside her. Chase and Brooks are hovering with uncertain and anxious energy.
A crew member catches Miranda’s eye, and she moves to redirect the room. She manages the band members and murmurs something to Mr. Hamilton that makes him nod and step back.
Which leaves Ryder.
And me.
He sees me before I reach him. Relief moves through his face, then immediately something that looks like shame. He straightens off the wall as if he were caught doing something wrong.
“You didn’t have to come back here,” he says.
“I know.”
“I’m fine.”
