Page 76 of Next to Everything We Wanted

“Hey, guys,” Gavin said, his voice lower than usual. Even he was nervous about letting me in here again. “Sienna wanted to talk to me about some stuff with her band.”

“Hey.” I waved at everyone. “Don’t mind me.”

Nick beamed and waved back at me. “Nice to see you again, Sienna. Welcome to our crib.” He winked at Gavin, which caused him to roll his eyes.

The three at the table shared whispers like mean girls at a lunch table. Would it kill them to be polite?

Gavin swallowed. “I know you’ve met Nick, but I don’t think you’ve met everyone else formally.”

“I haven’t.” And from the way they were looking at me like I was a tramp picked up from the side of the street, they didn’t want to. “It’s nice to meet you guys. Your performance was awesome tonight.”

“Thank you.” Eli gave me a genuine smile, brushing his shaggy strawberry-blond hair out of his eyes. “We’ve heard great things about you.”

“Yeah,” Celia said, her brows squishing together as she studied me. Man, even her eyebrows were perfect. “Great things.”

“I’m glad Ivan has been talking fondly of me,” I said before cringing. Gosh, what teenager used the word fondly? I sounded like I’d aged by at least thirty years.

I waited for Everett to say something, but he just narrowed his eyes at me before going back to his game. My blood boiled from his rudeness.

Gavin sat beside Nick on the couch. “So, what’s the band thing you wanted to talk about?”

“You don’t have to say yes to it.” I drew in a sharp breath before rushing all the words out. “Since my bandmates and Imight be performing here regularly this summer and are picking up more gigs, I thought it’d be cool to get some pointers from you. Like building our social media presence and good practices for performing gigs.”

“What?” Everett spat, dropping the cards in his hands.

“You spoiled the game!” Eli moaned. “Now we have to start all over again!”

Everett shot a glare at Eli, who closed his mouth and looked away.

“It’s just an idea,” I said, trying to keep my voice from shaking. “If Ivan, or any of you, have the time, I think it could be a good idea. It doesn’t have to be a long process.”

“I like that idea,” Nick said with a smile. “Though I should warn you that we’ve never performed outside this café, so we might not be the best.”

“Really?” I blinked in surprise. How had they never played a gig anywhere else? “That needs to change.”

“Can’t you just figure out how to build your brand yourselves?” Everett asked, still scowling at me. “We learned how to run this band with no help. It isn’t that hard.”

“Can you stop being a jerk for once?” Gavin snapped, his eyes darting to Everett.

“It was just a question,” Everett shot back. “Don’t be so sensitive.”

“Guys!” Celia hissed, her perfect brows furrowing. She cleared her throat and faced me. “I think it’s a great idea to get help from others experienced in the industry.” Her eyes widened as if she’d slipped up. “You know, the indie industry.”

“I agree,” Eli said, way more chill than the others. “It would’ve been nice to have some guidance when we were starting off. I’m down for it.”

Celia nodded. “Me too.”

“Hold on.” Nick reached over Gavin to hand me his phone. “Put in your number.”

“Send her my number, too,” Eli said.

“And mine,” Celia added.

I couldn’t contain my smile. “Thank you so much,” I said as I put in my contact information on Nick’s phone. “My bandmates are going to be so excited. This will be a dream come true.”

Everett rolled his eyes as if I hadn’t just complimented his band. “Are you guys sure you want to do this? Like, we’re always busy with work?—”

“If we have time to play cards and eat junk food, we have time to network with her band,” Gavin said firmly. “Like Airplanes has potential, and evenyouwere jamming out to them during their performances. So, I don’t see the problem.”