Page 1 of Next to Everything We Wanted

CHAPTER 1

Gavin

Years ago, the idea of performing for thousands of people had sounded like a dream come true. It would’ve been out of this world to have people shouting my name, holding up posters, or trying to touch my shoes like they’d give them superpowers. I’d wanted to make millions doing something I had an undying love for.

And as soon as I’d gotten that, I realized how badly I needed to escape it.

People tell you what they think you want to hear. They’ll tell you that the secret ingredient to happiness is fame, fortune, and whatever self-help books promise. If you get everything you want the way you want it, you’ll finally be happy. It’ll finally fill the hole in your soul.

Well, I’d gotten all the above, but my soul only had more holes afterward.

My cup of water nearly spilled all over the table as I set it down. Sheesh, we had half an hour until our weekly performance, and my sweaty palms were already getting the best of me.

“Butter fingers?” Phoenix, the best bandmate and friend that existed, asked as I sat next to him.

“Tell me about it.” I sighed as I took a sip of my drink. “I’m more nervous than usual.” My jitters generally only came right before we went on stage. Before then, I didn’t break a sweat. Maybe today was just an odd day.

Not that I hadn’t been having a bunch of them lately.

This month had been a roller-coaster so far, and it was only the fourteenth.

“It’s normal,” Phoenix said as he shuffled the deck of UNO cards. Even though he was horrible at the game—he’d never won a single game—he was better at shuffling than the rest of us.

Our band, Somewhere in the Sky, consisted of five members—me, Gavin Hanville, the lead singer; Phoenix Max, the drummer; Forrest Tansel, the lead guitarist; Celeste Villa, the bass guitarist; and Ellis Moody, the keyboardist. However, because of our pasts in the music industry, we went by stage names. To our fans, we were Ivan Hicks, Nick Michaelson, Everett Tate, Celia Vega, and Eli Mason.

We’d started last summer when we were no longer tied to the label that had made the career of our dreams a living hell. We ended up working well together and wanted to start releasing our own music. Ellis’s aunt and uncle, Mr. and Mrs. Mason, owned a trendy café in April Springs, a Las Vegas suburb full of middle-class and upper-class families. They needed a replacement band to play on Friday nights after the last one broke up, and it didn’t take long for us to charm What Do You Bean’s visitors.

So far, no one had suspected a thing about our real identities.

Even if we still worried to no end.

“Will Phoenix finally win this time?” Forrest asked as he sat across from Phoenix.

“And break my winning streak?” I scoffed. “Never.”

“I’ll win one day,” Phoenix said, placing the cards in three separate piles. “Maybe not soon, but it’ll happen.”

Forrest rolled his eyes. “You soundsohopeful.”

“Hope is an important thing to have.” Phoenix shrugged. “Okay, ready to play?”

We nodded before starting our game. It didn’t take me long to be down to three cards.

“Hey, boys.”

I looked up to see Celeste standing a few feet away from us. My breath caught in my lungs as I took her in. Today, her highlighted dark hair flew down her back, her tank top and shorts displaying her tan skin. When her honey-brown, almost golden, eyes met mine, I spilled my water all over the table.

Dang it.

“Rest in peace to another glass,” Phoenix said as I hurried to clean my mess.

Forrest sighed. “At least he didn’t break it again.”

I rolled my eyes. “That was one time.”

“Four.”

“Only four times.” I shrugged like my cheeks weren’t flushing. “No big deal until it gets to ten.” If I got to that point, the paycheck Mr. and Mrs. Mason gave me wouldn’t help much.