Page 148 of Next to Everything We Wanted

Even as the crowd bounced, Sienna was the only person I focused on. Her head swayed back and forth, a dazed expression in her starry eyes as if she was hypnotized. A pool of warmth traveled to my stomach, stunned that I could make her look so starstruck.

In the sea of people, she was the only person there. The only person who mattered.

The beat of the music vibrated through my chest as I belted the lyrics, remembering how that night at the concertwith Sienna made my cells buzz to life. I’d been so terrified of pursuing something with her, worried about how she would react to the truth. How it would tear us apart.

And it did tear us apart.

Until we put everything back together.

The three hours blew by in a breeze. I sang until my lungs burst, my blood humming to the rhythm of the music. The club stayed jumping, matching our energy as they sang and danced along. Sienna’s voice stood above the rest.

Gosh, I couldn’t wait to get her in that back room and kiss her like there was no tomorrow.

But there would be so many tomorrows. This was the first opportunity of many. Somewhere in the Sky was finally soaring like a jumbo jet, and I knew from the grin on my bandmates’ faces that they didn’t want to stop.

“Oh my gosh,” Celeste said, the first one of us to say something as we left the stage, taking our instruments with us. “Did that really just happen?”

“That was the highlight of my year,” I said, smiling at my bandmates.

“I can’t believe we’ve never done this before,” Forrest said, his face covered with excited shock. I hadn’t seen him look this happy since our first performance at What Do You Bean. “We need to do this again as soon as possible.”

We exchanged murmurs of excitement as we packed our instruments. Energy buzzed all over my skin. This was insane. We had really just performed as Somewhere in the Sky to a big crowd.

We’d finally put ourselves out there, and we didn’t regret it.

A few minutes later, the door opened, and Like Airplanes poured into the room.

As soon as Sienna saw me, she collapsed in my arms, crushing her lips to mine. I held her upright, pressing my handsto her waist. She cupped my chin into her hands as she closed the space between us, leaving no room for air. Her shallow breathing and roaring heartbeat rivaled my own as energy pulsated through my chest.

“Whoa, if you’re hungry, there’s food in the mini fridge,” I heard Phoenix say, but I didn’t even have the energy to roll my eyes.

Sienna didn’t pull away, and neither did I. My hand traveled to her hair, my fingers curling into the soft strands. My other hand glided along her ribcage until it reached her shoulders, and I looped my fingers underneath her thin top strap. Her skin was burning hot from all the singing and dancing, fromme.

Her hands traveled down to my shoulders, squeezing them tight through my jacket. A moan escaped from my throat, and someone made gagging noises from behind us. I wanted to get her alone so her hands could explore more. To feel her skin on my fingertips.

Remembering the importance of self-control, I broke out of the kiss. “I’m guessing you liked the show.”

Sienna grinned, her eyes glowing so much in the light they almost looked like pure gold. “That was freaking amazing!” She shook me so hard I almost fell over. “Fantastic. Extraordinary. Out of this world. There aren’t enough words to describe it.”

“Thank you,” I nearly gasped, still out of breath as electricity surged through my veins.

Raina slid up beside Sienna, wiggling her eyebrows at us. “How did it feel to sing in front of hundreds of people but still only focus on one girl?”

“Perfect.” I kissed Sienna’s temple. “It was perfect.”

We talked for a few minutes before going outside to dance to the DJ’s music.

Sienna swayed with me, looking at me like I was the only person who existed. Her fingers slipped into my belt loops,sending a shiver down my spine. There was nothing that couldn’t make me crazy about this girl.

“You know, this is a pretty great place,” Sienna said. “When you outgrow What Do You Bean, this could be a nice spot to play regularly.”

I brushed a lock of hair behind her ears. “It is, but I still want your cousins to watch us perform.”

She nodded. “It sucks they weren’t allowed here. Arielle took a lot of videos for them.”

“Good.” A grin spread across my face as I looked into her gleaming eyes. “There will be so many more performances, so many more moments like these, so many?—”

“Sienna?”