It was the thought that had plagued her for days.
Blythe stood up, putting her hands on Darcy’s shoulders to make her stop moving. An uphill battle, given Darcy’s near inability to stay completely still. “If I had an answer to that, Darce, I would have told you days ago. The first time you asked. But I don’t. And right now, we need to focus on the fact that we’re going live with Miles Stanton in five minutes,notfocus on Juliet and what she may or may not have meant by that comment.” She squeezed her hands, comfortingly, looking into Darcy’s eyes. Where Darcy’s were green, her sisters were blue – because while they both heavily resembled their mother, they’d both gotten their eyes from their respective fathers. “This is your moment. Don’t let Juliet get in your head.”
Darcy took in a long, deep inhale through her nose, nodding as she breathed it out.
Blythe was right.
Except for – “This isourmoment,” she corrected.
Juliet might want to use the fact that Darcy was in a group with other people as some sort of weakness, but Darcy knew very well that her sister and her best friend were her strengths.
Blythe returned the smile, tightly, before she squeezed Darcy’s shoulders again, then dropped them. “Right. Now, I need to clarify: youdidtell the producer that I will not be playing that ridiculous dating-game-thing that they had us do six months ago. Right?” She asked, sternly.
“Yes,” she firmly stated, mostly because she didn’t want Blythe to tear her a new one.
Ohhh, her sister had been fucking livid the last time – and first time – they’d been guests here, after their album had blown up. They’d been featured along with pop sensation Joshua Ross, and Miles had them all play a game, spinning a wheel where they answered hypothetical questions about their romantic lives.
Most of it had been fine. Except for when Joshua had answered that he’d been hoping to “shoot his shot” with Blythe since he’d first seen her in a picture.
Blythe had narrowed her eyes at him, holding up her left hand and wiggling her fingers at him. “I’m engaged.”
And it wouldn’thave been such a big deal, really. Except for the fact that Joshua had already tried toshoot his shotwhen they’d seen him in this very green room and hadalreadybeen firmly shot down, and was trying to use the pressure of being on-air for Blythe to give in.
“Joshua Ross isn’t even on the show with us this time,” she added, hoping to take away some of that cloud of negativity surrounding Blythe.
This, actually, was why she needed to not let herself get caught up in thoughts about Juliet. Because Darcy had biggerfish to fry, namely making sure to put out any fires that arose with Blythe and Emerson.
None of them had expected this meteoric rise to fame, and absolutely nothing in the world could have prepared them for it.
There wasnocrash course in preparing for this level of exposure, and they’d all learned that very quickly.
Blythe and Emerson had both taken to posing their questions to Darcy. It was the default setting when it came to their music, and it always had been. Most of the time, she was the one who had a vision. She was the one scribbling in her notebook or sending herself voice notes. She was the one signing them up for open-mic nights and trying to get them auditions at festivals and competitions.
It made sense, mostly. Especially taking into consideration that she was the centerpiece – Blythe had been roped into this, into performing with her, due to being her sister, and Emerson had gotten into it as her best friend-slash-instrumental expert. Blythe and Emerson had now formed a friendship, but they all knew that Darcy was the glue.
Darcy didn’t mind being that glue. She did her very best to show up for Blythe and Emerson and reassure them and lead the way into their newly found public status.
The only problem was that she had no fucking clue what she was doing, either. She was flying blind here, just like they were.
So, when it came to Blythe’s struggles being away from Colton – her high school sweetheart, someone she hadn’t been apart from since they were fifteen – and Emerson’s anxiety, Darcy had to play it one day at a time.
“Besides,” she reminded her sister, “Colton took that whole Joshua issue like a champ.”
“I don’twanthim to take seeing me get hit on, on national television, like a champ,” Blythe bit back. “If I went online andsaw people posting that Brenna was putting the moves on Colton while I’m not around, I wouldn’t be taking it like a champ.”
Yeah, if Blythe was referencing Brenna, shewasgetting heated.
Their hometown of Pineford wasnotlarge enough for the two of them. Since day one of kindergarten, Brenna Sheridan had been Blythe’s foil. They’d competed to be head cheerleader, competed to be class president – hell, they’d competed just last year to be on City Council. And, back in the day, Brenna had wanted to compete for Colton, too.
“Hey, if Brenna ever puts the moves on Colton, or if any of these guys ever put the moves on you on television again, we will handle them exactly how we handle handsy men at Stardust,” Darcy assured her.
Blythe sniffed, arching her nose in the air. “I don’t need to handle handsy men at Stardust.”
No, because if someone in Pineford got too familiar with Blythe, they’d be on the receiving end of a walloping from Colton, and everyone knew it.
“Fine, I’ll rephrase:Iwill personally handle them the way I handle handsy men at the bar. Okay?”
Even at the thought, she flexed her hand. It had been a while since she’d needed to manhandle a fully grown guy out on his ass. But by virtue of being teased nonstop on the playgroundandall of their mother’s many skeezy boyfriends, Darcy had learned self-defense at a young age. And she had needed to call on those skills far too many times while working at the only bar open after midnight.
