Page 60 of Before We’re More Than Friends (When We Faced the Music #1)

Dallas

G oing back to school on Wednesday was the last thing I wanted to do. Yeah, Raina wouldn’t be there, but my now ex-friends would be. I couldn’t stand the thought of facing them after the hell that had been this week.

“What are you doing here?” I muttered, the pressure of my backpack increasing against my spine. “You know, because I don’t know anything.”

He sighed, crossing his arms over his chest. “Look, I know I didn’t say the right things yesterday?—”

“What’s the catch?”

“So you do know at least some things,” he grumbled, looking away from me.

I groaned. “Are you serious, Hayden? What do you want to use me for this time?”

“Okay, hear me out?—”

“Forget it.” I shoved him out of the way to open my locker.

“Just let me talk for a second,” he pleaded, leaning against the locker next to mine. “If you want to keep hating my guts, then you’ll never have to hear me talk ever again after this. I promise.”

I sighed, hating that I’d given in too easily. “The last time.”

“First of all, I’m sorry for what I said yesterday.

But if there’s one thing I can promise, it’s that I didn’t become friends with you just to get you in the band.

Yeah, the band was one of my first thoughts when I met you, but I would’ve begged you earlier on to join if that was my sole motivation for being around you.

” He scratched the back of his neck. “I’m not very strategic with persuading people anyway. ”

“I don’t know,” I said, a small smile curving at the corner of my lips.

He returned the smile. “But regardless of Battle of the Bands, you mean so much to me, Dallas. I . . . The past few years have been rough, but you’ve made me—and all our friends—so freaking happy.

You’re the best friend to be around, whether we’re eating behind a dumpster or singing Somewhere in the Sky songs at What Do You Bean. I hope you’ll believe that.”

I bit my lip, not sure if I could. Everything about his body language made it feel like he was telling the truth, but what was the catch?

He must’ve picked up on my suspicion because he said, “I tried to withdraw from Battle of the Bands yesterday, but they moved the drop-out date from today to Monday. But I’m not asking you to come back because I know everyone else is done with me.”

I stared at the floor, trying to collect my thoughts. As much as my fight with Hayden hurt, it crushed me that our band had ended so soon. “ I’m sorry your dream fell apart.”

“I shouldn’t be surprised—I’ve been kicked out of four bands.” He sighed. “Are you and Raina still good?”

I frowned. “Not anymore.”

“Really?” His eyebrows arched. “What happened?”

“She says I don’t know anything, either.” My chest ached as her words rebounded in my head. “Guess I don’t.”

“It was wrong for us to say that,” Hayden said. “But why did she?”

“She had an awful day and took it out on me because I didn’t agree with how she treated others.” I sucked in a breath. “So yeah, we’re not talking.” Not broken up, but definitely not talking.

“I’m sorry. I know things were going well before.” His gaze traveled to my lips, and the corner of his tilted. “ Super well.”

Warmth rose to my cheeks. “Life is cruel.”

He nodded. “So where do we stand?”

I put my textbooks into my backpack. “I don’t know,” I said. “But I’m sorry I was also a jerk and assumed you only wanted to be my friend to put me in your band.”

“No, I understand.” He waved a hand. “So . . .”

“I forgive you.” I sighed. “But do not turn into Haywire Hayden again.”

“Haywire Hayden?” He snorted. “That’s a new one.”

I smiled. “You can’t deny that it’s fitting.”

The bell rang, and Hayden gave me a short hug. “Thank you.”

“For saying you’re haywire?”

He rolled his eyes. “For still wanting to be friends. And for listening to me.”

My smile grew as I closed my locker. “You’re strategic with persuading people, even if you don’t see it.”

Oliver and Caleb beat us to our spot at lunch, but it didn’t discourage Hayden from approaching them. On the other hand, my knees were knocking together as I walked behind him. I wasn’t ready to see how this would go down.

“He returns so soon,” Caleb said flatly as Hayden slid against the wall to sit down.

“We’re not joining the band again,” Oliver said, holding up his sandwich. “Save your persuading.”

“I wasn’t going to persuade,” Hayden said.

“Dallas can save it, too.”

“Hey.” I held up my hands. “I have nothing to do with his persuading habits.”

“I already decided that even though I can’t drop out of Battle of the Bands, we’re not showing up anyway,” Hayden said.

“Caleb, I’m sorry I didn’t support you like I should’ve when you applied for Apple of the Arts.

I shouldn’t have made it about me. Our band may be over, but I don’t want to lose you as a friend over this.

” He looked at Oliver. “And I don’t want to lose you, either. ”

Caleb and Oliver exchanged wary looks before Caleb said, “No catch?”

Hayden groaned. “Does everything have to have a catch? How?—”

“There isn’t a catch,” I said before Hayden could dig himself into a deeper hole. “Hayden genuinely doesn’t want to lose you guys. Even if he has a bit of a temper.”

“I mean, that’s never going to change.” Caleb laughed.

“I never said we weren’t friends anymore.

But I’m still hurt that your first reaction was to get upset about the future of the band when we haven’t even won Battle of the Bands yet.

And I’m not saying that because I don’t believe in us—it just isn’t guaranteed.

Just like getting accepted into the school isn’t guaranteed.

But I still want your support when I’ve been supporting you. ”

“I know,” Hayden said. “I was in my head about the whole thing.”

Caleb looked down at his bag of chips. “I don’t know, Hayden. You apologize a lot but make the same mistakes again. What you did—and this goes for Oliver and Sienna, too—wasn’t cool. All I wanted was support.” He looked at Oliver.

“I never discouraged it,” Oliver said, fiddling with his lip ring. “But I’d still miss you. That isn’t selfish.”

“I was being selfish,” Hayden said. “And I’m sorry.”

Caleb sighed. “I’m sorry, too. I shouldn’t have blown it out of proportion.”

“It’s okay. I just want my best friend back.” Hayden sniffled, his eyes filling with tears. “Oh gosh, don’t tell me I’m going to cry. That’s going to throw away my man card.”

“Since when did you have a man card?” Oliver asked, a small smile crinkling at the corner of his mouth.

“Look who’s talking. You and Caleb play with dolls. And enjoy it.”

“That’s because our sisters make us!”

“They aren’t making you enjoy it.”

Caleb snorted. “I have no shame in enjoying it. Alice has a wild imagination when it comes to dolls.”

“I-I didn’t mean I enjoyed it.” Oliver’s cheeks flushed. “I totally don’t.”

“Sure.” Caleb rolled his eyes. “Anyways, I’m sorry for everything I said during the fight, too. I think we were all being jerks a bit.” He looked at me. “Except for Dallas. Dallas is never a jerk.”

“I wouldn’t say that,” I said, scratching the back of my neck. “But what matters is that we all realize what we did wrong.”

“Yes.” Hayden looked at Oliver. “Do you forgive me? ”

Oliver sighed. “I can’t stay mad at you for long. I already forgave Caleb, after all.”

Caleb winked at him. “Because you’re such a softy and I’m so awesome.”

“I am not a softy!”

“You are,” Hayden said. “And that’s nothing to be ashamed of. We’re musicians. I mean, we were . . .” He shook his head. “That doesn’t matter right now.”

Caleb and Oliver locked eyes, unreadable expressions on their faces.

“So are we all good now?” I asked after a few moments of silence. “Or do I need to keep you guys from punching each other?”

“I can’t be punching people if I want to keep my hands good for the keyboard,” Caleb said, waving his real and prosthetic hands. “We’re good.”

“Group hug?” Oliver asked.

“I thought you weren’t a softy.”

“I thought it wasn’t a bad thing.”

I snorted. “Group hug.”

The four of us hugged each other. Hayden slipped and fell onto our laps, and we all laughed, knocking down our food. I’d thought I’d lost something I hadn’t expected to find, but I knew I was at home with these boys.

I was at home.

Stepping into the shelter made me realize how much I’d missed it. Sure, it’d only been a day, but I’d gotten used to coming here six days a week. My anxious mind needed to be in this environment again.

Before starting my tasks, I stopped by Mom’s office to see how she was doing. It was something I used to do all the time in Dallas, but for some reason, I hadn’t considered doing it here.

I opened the door to her office. “Hey, Mom?—”

Mom, who’d been bent over her desk with her head in her hands, looked up at me and gasped. “Oh, Dallas.” She wiped off her smudged makeup. “I-I’m sorry. I didn’t expect?—”

“I should’ve knocked,” I said, my chest tightening. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m just . . . struggling.” She drew in a breath as she studied the room. “I’m supposed to be happy here. But our problems at home keep bleeding into everything. I can’t be happy when my family isn’t.”

“I’m sorry.” I sat across from her. “Are you and Dad still fighting?”

She nodded, dabbing her eyes with her tissue. “Even when we’re not fighting, the tension never goes away.”

“I don’t want you to keep fighting.” I rubbed her hand. “And I don’t want you and Dad to separate because of the move. Or at all.”

“Oh, Dallas.” Mom squeezed my hand. “We’re not separating.

I still love him as much as I did during our wedding.

” She looked up at her wedding picture with Dad, one of the few remaining pictures of him up.

My stomach dipped as I realized she’d taken most of them down.

“Couples go through rough patches. This one is just hitting me harder than the others.”

Someone knocked on the door, and Mom put her glasses back on and straightened herself in the seat.

Mrs. Landers opened the door. “Hey, Leanne. I want you to check on Moonlight and Sunshine later. They just came back in.”

“Okay,” Mom said, sounding like she hadn’t just been crying her eyes out .

“Wait, the same Moonlight and Sunshine from February?” I asked, my pulse spiking. “What are they doing back here?”

“Their owners found a new apartment, but the complex doesn’t allow pets,” Mrs. Landers said. They decided to bring the cats back early before they got too attached.”

My heart crumbled for the sweet cats. They had finally been put in a loving home and had to get taken out of it. “That’s devastating. I hope they’ll find a new home soon.”

“Me too,” Mom said. “I’ll check up on them when they’re ready.”

“Thank you.” Mrs. Landers nodded. “Are you feeling better?”

“A little bit.”

I frowned. Even Mrs. Landers knew what was going on?

Mrs. Landers sighed. “Families, huh?” The look in her golden-brown eyes said more than words ever could. I thought about what Hayden had said about Oliver’s parents on Monday.

“Yeah,” Mom said flatly.

Yeah, just pretend I’m not in here.

Mrs. Landers nodded again and closed the door.

“Anyway,” Mom told me, “I need to get back to work. Thanks for checking on me, Dallas.”

“I love you, Mom.” I got up and kissed her on the cheek.

“I love you, too.” She kissed my cheek back. “I just don’t want you worrying about me too much, okay? There’s already enough worry going around from how much I stress about you and Kami.”

“I think we’re all bundles of worry.” I let out an awkward laugh. “But I just want you to be okay.”

“I will be soon,” she promised, giving me a genuine smile that melted some of my worries. “It’ll just take some growth.”