Page 25 of Before We’re More Than Friends (When We Faced the Music #1)
Dallas
T he knots in my stomach hadn’t loosened since my conversation with Raina at the skating rink. For a few minutes, we were vulnerable, the way we were in our letters and messages. She was the Chloe I’d admired. Raw, beautiful, hilarious. She gave up her stubbornness and let me in.
And as much as I shouldn’t want more of that, I did. I wanted more vulnerable conversations with her without a screen in between us.
These butterflies had to go.
I wasn’t supposed to volunteer at the shelter on Valentine’s Day, but I didn’t want to sit on my bed listening to a bunch of complicated love songs. I needed a distraction, and if scooping poop was my only option, I’d take it.
“Happy Dallastine’s Day,” Hayden sang as he strolled into the break room, where I washed my hands after cleaning the cat cages.
“What?” I snorted. “Please tell me you’re kidding.”
“I thought the reason you celebrate your birthday a day earlier is because your real one is on Valentine’s Day.” He sat in the chair across from me. “Being born on the Fourth of July myself, I understand your pain, though you did get the worse holiday.”
“You’re a holiday baby too?” I turned off the sink. “At least it’s not Christmas.”
“Please, the people who are born on Christmas deserve better. Then again, they should’ve waited another day to come out.”
“I don’t think birth works that way. If it did, I would’ve never left my mom.” I dried my hands with a paper towel. “I was not ready for this world.”
“None of us were.” He sighed. “Actually, I wanted to talk to you about the party. I should’ve respected that you didn’t want to celebrate your birthday.
It’s just that . . .” He put his hands in his pockets.
“I know we haven’t known each other for long, but I wanted to do something special for you because you’re a great friend. You like me for who I am.”
“Of course I do.” A smile broke out on my face. “You’re caring, funny, and have great hair.”
“Now, that last one is the best compliment someone could ever give me.” He tossed his braids. “But seriously, you’re already one of us.”
“Thank you.” I sat at the nearest table.
“When I first moved here, I didn’t think I’d make friends who make me feel at .
. .” Home . The word was at the tip of my tongue, but I didn’t want to say it.
I didn’t want to let go of my old life so quickly, but I also couldn’t hold onto the past. “At a better place,” I said instead.
Hayden nodded as he sat across from me. “Is there something I can do to make up for yesterday? Something the two of us could do?”
I sighed. “Maybe. But nothing too overstimulating, please.”
“Thank you.” He grinned. “Have you ever heard of What Do You Bean? ”
“Is that supposed to be a trendy café or an awful band name?”
He laughed. “The most amazing café I’ve been to. Great live music, great atmosphere, great food. A great place for inspiration.” He drummed his fingers on the table. “Have you written anything since you moved here?”
I shook my head.
“If you’re free at seven, my favorite band is performing there. I can drive us.” He leaned back in his chair. “All up to you, birthday boy.”
“I’ll check with my parents to make sure we’re not having dinner at that time, but if we’re not, I’ll be there.”
Hayden flashed me a smile. “It’s a date.”
“Hey, now, I didn’t promise any favors,” I teased.
He chuckled. “That’s too bad because I think I’ve finally found the love of my life.”
Hayden wasn’t wrong about the café having an amazing atmosphere.
I’d expected it to be just another brick-walled building with good lighting and the sweet aroma of coffee and pastries, but this was so much more than that.
What Do You Bean was more like a restaurant than a café.
It was bigger than a typical café, with booths and tables of different sizes.
There was a moderately sized stage in the back where a band of four guys and a girl were playing. The guy with reddish-brown hair sang into the microphone with a grin, fully absorbed in the love song he sang. His voice was warm but compelling, reminding me of something I’d hear on the radio.
“This is where I usually sit.” Hayden sat down in a big booth, and I sat across from him. “The perfect view of the best band in the world. ”
As the lead singer lulled the crowd with his voice, the two guitarists, a guy with brown curls and a brunette with blonde highlights, backed him with their harmonious vocals.
The keyboardist, a lanky strawberry-blond guy, and the drummer, a guy with tight black curls, both bobbed their heads as they mouthed the lyrics.
“They sound great,” I told Hayden. “Who are they?”
“Somewhere in the Sky. They started performing here last fall.” Hayden drummed his fingers against the table.
“The lead singer is Ivan, the guitarists are Everett and Celia, the drummer is Nick, and the keyboardist is Eli. They perform here every Friday night, sometimes on the weekends. Eli’s aunt and uncle own the café. ”
I smiled. “I like them already.”
“Of course you do. They’re the most underrated band in Nevada, if not the whole world.” Hayden sighed. “Can you believe that they’ve never performed anywhere else?”
“Really?” From the way the band performed, I knew they were professionals, not just some band that got gigs because they had connections.
“Yeah, it’s disgusting. Every song of theirs is a banger, even the bad ones.” Hayden closed his eyes as he belted the words to the song, and I remembered how much I liked his voice. It was higher than I’d expected it to be, but he was able to carry each word.
“You’re a good singer,” I said.
“Thanks, but you’re better.” Hayden pulled out a notebook with stickers on the cover, a few pieces of paper, and a few pens. “I thought we’d brainstorm lyrics and talk about some things.”
I lifted an eyebrow. “What things?”
“You’ll see.” He smiled before handing me the sheets of paper and a blue pen.
“I don’t have a spare notebook for you, but just write for a few minutes.
About anything.” He flipped his notebook—full of doodles and song lyrics—to an empty page.
“I always dump whatever is in my mind before forming a song. It’s much more helpful than trying to write the verses from scratch. ”
“But I don’t know what to write.”
“Use my most recent brainstorm as an example.” He pushed his notebook toward me. “Just don’t flip too far back. Your invitation into my mind has its limits.”
“I’m fine with that.” I read his notes, taking in his neat handwriting.
Some of his notes were in different colors.
He’d crossed things out a few times, but the page still looked like artwork.
The notes consisted of his thoughts about not fitting in, though I couldn’t pinpoint what parts of his life he was referring to.
I flipped a page back to where almost everything was crossed out. “You definitely have a lot going on.”
“The process is messy, but the end product is everything.” He pulled his notebook back toward him. “That’s how I came up with ‘Don’t Pass Me By.’”
“I love it,” I said, genuinely meaning it. “You poured a lot of yourself into it.”
“That’s what songwriting is for.” He tossed his braids back. “I’ll get some drinks and food. What do you want?” He nodded to the menu that sat on our table.
“Just some chocolate chip cookies and a strawberry milkshake.”
“Okay.” He glanced at my pen and paper. “Pour your entire soul onto those pages.”
I gave him a small smile. “I’m either going to need more pages or a smaller soul.”
He rolled his eyes before walking off to get our order.
I sighed and started writing whatever came to mind.
I wrote about how pushy Hayden was for making me do this, but then my mind wandered to my birthday party yesterday.
Gosh, but I didn’t want Hayden to know about my whole situation with Raina.
Even Raina didn’t know my whole situation with Raina. No one did. Not even Toby.
Toby . My chest ached. We’d barely talked since I moved here. We texted for a bit this morning when he wished me happy birthday, but it didn’t last long.
After about fifteen minutes and two filled college-ruled pieces of paper, my left wrist ached. I dropped my pen. “I think I ran out of soul,” I told Hayden as he sat back down with our shakes and food.
Hayden grinned and rubbed his hands together. “Awesome.” He pulled the pages toward himself and read through my writing.
“How bad is it?” I asked while he read.
“This is a brain dump, all right.” He gasped and frowned at me. “Okay, you did not have to call me pushy.”
“Well, I have bad news for you.”
He rolled his eyes. “Besides that, there’s a lot you can work with here. Especially the part about missing your best friend.” His dark eyes met mine, my reflection sitting in them. “You’re going through a lot.”
You have no idea . “It’s just muddled thoughts.”
“There’s a song in these muddled thoughts.” He smiled before his eyes drifted off to the audience around us. “Hey, the girls are here.”
“Huh?” My gaze skittered across the café, looking for said girls, and my gaze locked with Raina’s at a booth adjacent to ours.
Raina’s glittery lips curved into a smile. Unlike yesterday, she was perfectly made up. Not a single crack in her concealer.
My heart skipped a beat. Get a freaking grip. I smiled back, an unfamiliar feeling tugging at my chest.
“Someone’s happy to see her,” Hayden mused .
I snapped my attention toward him, my cheeks warming on schedule. How long had I been smiling at her? “Just glad she’s doing better.”
His full lips formed a smirk. “You and Raina, huh?”
I groaned. “It’s not like that.” It was completely like that, but only from my point of view. There was no way Raina looked at me and saw what I saw when I looked at her.
“Uh-huh,” Hayden said. “I’m not stupid.”
“You sure about that, Mr. Bad Party Planner?”
“Hey.” He laughed. “But seriously, you have the hots for her.”