Page 50 of Before We’re More Than Friends (When We Faced the Music #1)

“Yeah, I can tell.” He gazed at my purple-and-silver chandelier. A way better sight than something that had been underneath my shirt dozens of times.

When we were done, we went downstairs, where Dallas and Houston said goodbye before they headed out the door.

Once I watched Dallas walk down the porch, a thought hit me. My spirits plummeted as I faced Arielle. “Um, where’s Mom? Is she sleeping in the bedroom?”

Arielle sighed, twirling a lock of hair around her finger. “I don’t know. She said she went out for a late-night walk right before you and Dallas came, but she’s not back.”

Anxiety rose in my chest. “We should call her.”

Arielle pulled her phone out of her pocket and called Mom. The call picked up on the fourth ring.

“Hey, sweetie,” Mom said on the speaker, her voice soft and quiet. “What’s wrong?”

“Where are you?” Arielle sat on the couch. “It’s getting late. ”

“I’m on my way home. Just needed some fresh air.”

“Then why have you been out for so long?”

“Do not talk to me that way, Arielle.”

“You’re sounding like Dad and ignoring my question.”

“Mom,” I said into the phone. “Are you really taking a walk?”

“Yes, I am. I promise I’m almost home.” Mom sighed. “I love you.”

“I love you, too,” Arielle said. “I just wanted to make sure you’re safe.”

“I am,” Mom said, and she hung up before we could say anything else.

Arielle let out a breath. “I don’t believe her.”

“Me neither,” I agreed, remembering how Mom slipped back into her drinking addiction by “just taking a walk.” What she was really doing was finding somewhere to drink other than the gazebo, where we could see her in plain sight.

“But I also feel bad that we don’t believe her because she’s really been trying to be better. ”

“I know,” Arielle said. “But she’s seemed sad since visiting Dad.

I thought it would make her happier since she was looking forward to it.

I was the one dreading it, but I feel . .

.” She bit her lip. “Is it bad to say that it made me feel a little more at peace? That what happened has happened and there’s nothing we can do to change it? ”

I shook my head. “Having peace is a good thing.”

“I don’t know.” Arielle fiddled with her necklace. “I’ve been trying to distract myself from the whole thing. But now I’m worried about Mom and?—”

The front door opened, and Mom came in. She looked how she usually did in the evening, wearing her cozy crewneck and leggings, with her dark hair in a ponytail. She smiled at us. “Good evening, girls. How have you been? ”

“Good,” Arielle said. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

Mom gave a convincing nod. Her skin was flushed, but she looked steady. “I promise I’m good. Just a little cold.”

“Okay.” Arielle watched her stroll into the kitchen before getting off the couch and going upstairs.

I stayed on the couch, wondering if I should follow Mom into the kitchen and try to smell her breath. Gosh, that sounded so gross. But maybe she had been drinking but covered it well. Maybe she hadn’t been flushed from the cold.

But I wanted to trust her. I wanted to hope that everything was getting better and not give in to the fear and the worries for once. So I went upstairs to take a shower instead, basking in the smell of lavender as I daydreamed about Dallas’s lips on mine.

With our Battle of the Bands audition coming up on Saturday, we needed to kick things into high gear. Hayden texted us to come into the break room in the shelter after school to discuss our plans for the audition.

I hadn’t told anyone about what happened between Dallas and me yet, just to keep something good to myself for a while. However, it seemed like Dallas had told Hayden from the way he grinned at us as we walked in holding hands.

“There are our stars,” Hayden sang, giving Dallas a wink.

Dallas smiled. “I hope we’re not too late.” He may or may not have stopped me when I’d walked in and pulled me into the corner of the hallway to kiss. And I may or may not still have the urge to kiss him again.

Gosh, what had I been missing out on the past six years?

“Okay, what did I miss this time?” Oliver asked as he stole a chip from Caleb, who frowned at him. “What happened to being just friends ? ”

“I don’t touch my friends that way,” Caleb said with a mouth full of chips. “Sienna would slap me if I did that.”

“I would,” Sienna agreed, sipping on her coffee. “Is this why you guys were giggly all day?”

“Maybe.” I looked at Dallas, whose eyes were shining. My cheeks warmed. “Yes.”

“I freaking knew it,” Caleb said, shaking his head. “And you tried BSing us that you weren’t more than friends.”

“I mean, we haven’t started dating yet.” I faced Dallas again.

“Are we dating? We never made that clear.” I’d clearly never gotten to the stage where I dated someone, which had always made me feel a bit out of place compared to my friends.

Then again, they were all single now while I was holding the hand of the guy I loved.

“I don’t know,” Dallas said, scratching the back of his neck. “I’m not sure how this works.”

“Well, what are you waiting for?” Arielle asked, excitement in her voice. “You haven’t been smooching his face off in the past twenty-four hours for no reason.”

I gasped, my cheeks flaming in embarrassment. “His face did not come off!”

“Yeah, I missed a lot ,” Oliver said, though he was smiling.

“I promise we’re done hiding things,” Dallas said as we sat beside each other at a table. “Now can we start the meeting before my cheeks burn off?”

“Okay, Rudolph the Red-Faced Reindeer,” Hayden said before standing up. “We already decided on the regular version of ‘She Looks So Perfect’ as our audition song. I’m thinking of adding little riffs to the end. Something to make it feel like a concert?—”

“Actually,” Arielle piped up. “Is it too late for me to join in?”

Hayden’s thin lashes fluttered. “What? ”

“N-never mind.” Arielle looked away from him. “Sorry I interrupted you.”

“No, no,” Hayden said. “Keep going.”

“I-I just thought that maybe you guys would like an extra backup singer or something.” She twisted her long hair around her finger.

“Not that Dallas and Raina aren’t good singers.

But maybe I can use my tambourine.” She sighed.

“Never mind, it’s a stupid idea. I’ll just be in the crowd for moral support. ”

“You can join us for the competition,” Hayden said. “Maybe be our backup singer for when we’re doing live performances.” He looked at us. “What do you think?”

It was a big stretch. I’d remembered Hayden saying Arielle was more than someone who stayed in the background to look pretty. But hope glistened in Arielle’s eyes. I hadn’t realized she might’ve been feeling left out.

“I think it’s a nice idea,” I said.

Everyone else murmured in agreement.

“All right then,” Hayden said. “Welcome to the band, Arielle.”

“Thank you,” she said, her cheeks flushing.

We bounced around ideas and discussed times we wanted to meet during the week.

Thankfully, there wasn’t much happening at school, which meant we could all meet up after dinner at Oliver’s house to practice.

It was a lot to do in only a few days, and since Saturday’s practice had been a disaster, we needed to play catch-up.

Once we agreed to meet at Oliver’s after dinner tomorrow, Arielle and I did our first task together, which was bathing the dogs.

“So was that an impulsive decision?” I asked Arielle as we prepared the supplies for the bath. “I didn’t know you wanted to join the band. ”

She shrugged. “It’s just temporary. I thought it would be fun to take part, you know?”

I raised an eyebrow. “Did something happen with you and Hayden?”

“No!” She let out a defensive grunt. “Why does something always have to happen for me to make decisions? I’m not Mom.”

I blinked, her words stinging. “I never said that.”

“Sorry, I just hate how stressed he is. And even though we had problems . . .” She tugged her golden necklace. “I just want to calm his nerves.”

“Wouldn’t performing with your ex make you more nervous?” I didn’t understand her dynamic with Hayden after the breakup. Yeah, she’d forgiven him, but it was obvious they both still liked each other.

“I’m not just his ex,” Arielle said as she started the water. “And it doesn’t matter that we used to date. It’s all left in last year. Okay?” She sighed. “I just wanted to make things better for him. For everyone.”

“Okay.” I stopped prying and focused on our task instead. “I hope you enjoy yourself.”

She gave me the smallest hint of a smile. “I will.”

When Arielle and I arrived at Oliver’s house the next day, Dallas was sitting on the couch with his rhythm guitar. When he saw us, he smiled.

“Hey,” I said before kissing his cheek. “What’s going on?”

“They’re having a talk in there.” Dallas nodded over to the garage door. “Hayden, Oliver, Caleb, and Sienna.”

“Is everything okay?” Arielle asked, her face pinching.

Dallas shrugged, though his face stiffened. “I don’t know. It sounded like they were arguing, but it died down. ”

Something twisted in my stomach. From what I knew, Sienna rarely argued with the boys.

The door alarm chimed, and Caleb came out of the laundry room a few seconds later with his blond brows furrowed and jaw clenched. When he saw us, his blue eyes widened. “Oh, hey, guys.” He put on a tight smile.

“What’s happening in there?” Arielle asked.

“It’s nothing.” He waved a hand, though I knew better. He looked this way a lot after his breakup with Gracelynn, about to snap any second. “Come in. I’m just getting some water.”

“I thought there’s water in the fridge in there,” Arielle said.

“I want water from the freezer filter from the kitchen,” Caleb half-barked before he rushed off into the kitchen.

Dallas and I exchanged worried looks before we went into the garage.

Mollie and Bella were in there, playing with Oliver’s dogs, Niall and Harriet, and they seemed to be the only people in the room who were happy.

Sienna was focused on scraping something off her shoe while Oliver and Hayden exchanged annoyed looks.

“Okay, what the heck happened?” I said, crossing my arms. “Are we already cracking?”

“Just a little disagreement,” Hayden said, but his chest rose and fell heavily.

Arielle’s lips curved into a frown. “Was it about me? I can leave. You don’t have to?—”

“It’s not that,” Hayden said. “We’re just a bit shaky. Change and all. But we’ll get through it like we always do.”

I had no idea what that meant, but I knew in the pit of my stomach that it wasn’t something to just shrug off.

“Let’s start the practice once Caleb gets his water.”

I sat beside Sienna on the beanbags and whispered, “Will you tell me what’s really going on? ”

Sienna smiled, the corners of her lips barely moving. “Hayden’s telling the truth. We just kind of got shaky for a bit.”

Great, even she was lying to me. But I wasn’t going to push. Fine if they didn’t want to tell the truth. We’d work on that after we passed our audition.

Caleb came back with a big glass of water and chugged it down before we got to work.

It only took a few minutes of us planning out how we wanted to perform “She Looks So Perfect” before everyone seemed to be in a better mood.

Caleb was back to cracking jokes that made Sienna roll her eyes and Oliver playfully argue with him.

Hayden seemed to be having fun and kept sharing grins with Arielle.

And then there was Dallas, who couldn’t take his eyes off me, even as we sang. He belted out the lyrics like he’d been singing for a lifetime, looking into my soul with his deep eyes. Sweat ran down his forehead, his fair skin shining, and I had to compose myself so I wouldn’t mess up the lyrics.

How could someone look so freaking sexy while performing in a hot garage? I probably looked like a drowned rat with my dripping makeup and pit stains.

But Dallas didn’t seem to mind because I knew he meant it when he said he thought I looked so perfect standing there—though not in his underwear .

. . we weren’t ready for that stage, yet.

Images of kissing him came to mind, and I couldn’t wait for the future of our relationship.

He was only my first boyfriend, but I hoped he’d be my forever.

I’d been far from lucky lately, but he made me feel like I’d struck gold in the love department.