Page 30 of Next to Everything We Wanted

“I have no idea.” Dallas shrugged. “Did they say anything on social media?”

“I checked their page an hour ago,” Hayden said. “All they said was that they’d see us here at their usual time.”

“That’s weird.” Raina’s brows furrowed. “Ivan Hicks never misses a performance.”

Maybe this Gavin person does.

“Hey, everyone,” Everett said into his microphone, his voice sounding cheerier than his face looked. “I’m sorry that we didn’t announce this sooner. As you can see, Ivan isn’t here. He’s been under the weather, so today’s performance will go on without him.”

The crowd muttered in disappointment.

Everett exchanged another unhappy look with Celia. He sighed and faced the audience again. “To honor him, I’ll be playing ‘What We’ve Left Behind’, a song he wrote a few months ago. I hope you’ll still enjoy it.” He started strumming his guitar.

“I’m sorry, Sienna,” Emma said as the song began. “I thought Ivan would be here today.”

“Me too.” I looked at the stage longingly. “I wanted to talk to him.”

“It’s okay,” Hayden said, though his tone expressed otherwise. “It’s about time one of them got sick. I was starting to think they were immune.”

Dallas played with his straw. “Maybe he had one of these milkshakes.”

“Dallas,” Raina hissed.

“I’m not joking! This tastes like?—”

I drowned out the rest of the conversation, thoughts clouding my head about what could’ve happened to Gavin. We’d been in the rain for a hot minute. It made sense that he had a cold, right?

But deep in my gut, I knew he wasn’t sick. Would he fake being sick just to not see me here? Over a flippingname? It wasn’t any of my business, but I still wanted to know what had really happened and if he was okay.

Stay in your lane,Sienna, I told myself as I tried to focus on what Everett was singing. He had a beautiful voice. It was deeper than Ivan’s, but it was still rich with emotion. His eyes met mine for a second, though he was too lost in the song for it to mean anything.

However, Nick’s gaze went toward me a few times. It was strange, since he always focused on the drums instead of the crowd. Had Ivan told him about what had happened last night? Was he mad at me for it?

Somewhere in the Sky wrapped up half an hour early, and it didn’t take long for most of the café to clear out.

We were getting ready to leave ourselves when Nick appeared at our table. “Hey, guys,” he said, waving at us. “I’m sorry Ivan couldn’t show up tonight. He’s as sick as a dog.” His dark eyes met mine. “I hope you still enjoyed the performance.”

“You were still amazing,” I said, trying to read his face as my friends murmured in agreement. He didn’t seem like he was on to me. Then again, it wasn’t like I’d done anything wrong. Why did it feel like I had? “Tell Ivan that I hope he feels better.”

He gave me a small smile, one without teeth. “I will.”

I expected him to say more, but he only nodded at us before walking away.

“Man, even he’s sad about Ivan not being here,” Hayden said. “Hopefully he’ll feel better next week.”

“Yeah.” I glanced at Adam and Emma, who exchanged unsure looks before looking at me. They didn’t have to say it—they knew he wasn’t really sick, either.

I sighed, watching Nick as he approached his bandmates. They only gave a collective nod before going backstage, looking like they were trying to hold themselves together.

Who was this Gavin, and what could he possibly be hiding other than his real name?

CHAPTER 9

Gavin

“You’ve screwed up.”

I scoffed at Phoenix as I clutched a couch pillow to my chest. “Tell me something I don’t know.”