Page 61 of Kind of Famous
“You’re always so levelheaded, Layla. I should have known you wouldn’t panic.”
The music in the other room came to an abrupt halt, and I felt a stab of disappointment and regret for choosing to take care of business rather than enjoy the last few minutes of my fly-on-the-wall experience.
“Thanks for helping out, Ash.”
“No problem. Traffic’s down anyway. People are getting restless though. It will be good when the guys are on the road and we can get back to discussions about setlists and sharing vids.”
“For sure.”
The door cracked open, and I closed the lid on my laptop before anyone could catch a glimpse of my dirty little secret.
Shane said, “Rehearsal’s over,” a little too loud, like he’d suffered temporary hearing loss.
“Rehearsal?” came out of the speaker, and I shook my head at Shane.
His eyes widened. “Oh, sorry. Didn’t know you were on the phone. I’ll be outside.” He shut the door behind him, leaving me to clean up another toxic spill.
I tried dodging yet again. “Sounds like we’ve got a plan then. Let me know if our friend comes back.”
“Layla, where—”
“I’ve got to go. Talk to you later.”
“Okay. Thanks again.”
It was becoming painfully obvious I was going to have to confess to Ash and then pass the torch to her entirely. She could run the forum easily without me. She just needed more confidence. Surely someone would agree to take over the blog for me. I couldn’t keep it up if for no other reason than I’d just wasted twenty minutes investigating a trivial issue instead of watching a rock band rehearse.
The blog troll would have to stew a little longer. Shane waited for me.
Shane.
That one thought pushed all others out of my head, and I packed up, curious if lunch would be with all of the band or only him, finding myself not caring either way as long as I could enjoy the swoops in my belly whenever he looked my way or touched me. My hands trembled as my imagination took those small gestures to their logical conclusion and I pictured him on his back under me again.
Rock n’ Roll. Literally.
Chapter Sixteen
Shane leaned against the wall with one leg bent, looking so hot in the setting sun, it was a wonder he hadn’t scorched the earth. The orange light made his hair look like he’d caught fire. Did these guys really just wander around here at all hours of the day and nobody accosted them?
Right now, there were probably a couple of fans online arguing about their favorite Theater of the Absurd song lyric, and I’d just lived the dream. It was giving me a serious sense of cognitive dissonance to compare the reality of these guys against years of my own imagination.
When Shane saw me, he pushed off the wall. “Freedom at last.”
I couldn’t help but chastise him a little. “You know the rest of the world has lunch breaks that last about as long as you work.”
He grabbed my hand, twining our fingers, like it was no big deal, like we’d been a couple for longer than, oh God, less than twenty-four hours. Barely more than twelve. My head spun with how quickly things were changing.
“Speaking of food, the guys went on ahead. I told them we’d catch up.”
“Pity,” I joked and squeezed his hand.
“We don’t have to.” He slowed. “I don’t need to spend another minute with Noah.”
“He obviously thinks I’m in the way, anyway.” I stopped altogether and faced him. “He’s so—”
“It isn’t you.” He hooked his arms around my back and pulled me into him so my face was inches from his. “I swear. He’s got something going on. He’s also a total prick. But not usually quite so deserving of a swift kick to the nuts.”
“You sure?”
