Page 13 of Serenade Me

“Anyway, guys, we’ve talked about it, and Anca is happy to be given a shot to see if she fits in with the band.” Jez explains.

Wait. What did he say?

“Wait, what?” My mouth verbalizes my thoughts.

“Dude, what is wrong with you today?” He frowns at me before continuing, “I said that Anca is the person I was talking about yesterday, about coming to play with us. Anyway, we thought, maybe tomorrow, we’ll have a bit of a jam session, and if Cadence and you guys are okay with how it goes, Anca would like to play with us on tour.”

“Oh wow! That’s great!” Brad says, coming over and giving Jez a friendly punch on the shoulder.

“I knew it!” Sebastian says, “didn’t I say it was going to be Anca, babe?” he looks to Cadence.

“He sure did. And he said that you’d be great,” Cadence confirms and walks over to give Anca a hug. “I’m sure you will fit right in. And give these guys a run for their too-much-money,” she says, winking at Jez’s sister.

Anca smiles at her, looking instantly relaxed. It’s the exact opposite of what I’m feeling.

“Marius?” Cadence looks at me. “What do you think?” She’s giving me a weird look. And her eyebrows are doing something weird. Like, a ‘this is fate’ look.

I shoot her a look back. One that I hope tells her, between the guys in the band, it will always be, “misters before each others’ sisters.”

“Er, well, I guess we’ll see tomorrow.” I answer, hoping that’ll get them off my back for now and wonder what excuse I’ll have to come up with tomorrow to make sure this infuriating woman does not come with us on tour.