Page 137 of Lyric & the Heartbeats

Plus she wasn’t taking suppressants anymore…

“I’m sure that was stressful,” the interviewer continued. He was polite… but that was about as far as Lyric would go. Dressed in jeans, a plain shirt, and a beanie paired with the stupid smirk on his face and the half interested questions, he didn’t impress Lyric.

But like the good little artist she was, she pasted a smile on her face and continued. “Oh yeah. But we got the bus fixed, and we made up for it with the next few shows.”

“Mm-hmm. Tour is full of surprises. And this is your first, right?” He asked the question without looking up from shuffling his papers.

“That’s right. I’m so excited to finally get to share my music from the stage.” Her response was the truth, but it sounded fake even to her own ears.

“And what do you think of the experience so far?”

Lyric ground her teeth together. He might as well have just asked her to recite the fifty-second page of a dictionary.

“It’s been... different than I imagined, but not necessarily in a bad way. A little more chaotic, but that makes it all the more fun.”

Actually, it was a lot different than she imagined. Her gaze trailed to Emerson and Adra on the other side of the room, Henry and Nohen. Desi was glaring at the interviewer, and Lyric quickly turned her attention back to him before she started laughing. Javier was absent, probably working on something delicious back on his bus.

Yeah, tour had shaped up to be a whole hell of a lot more than she’d ever bargained for.

Four weeks ago, if someone had told her she’d be hooking up with almost her entire band, plus the manager? Lyric would have laughed in their face. And yet, she couldn’t wait for the interviewer to dismiss her so she could return to the bus and curl up between them on the couch while everyone relaxed for the ride to the next state line.

“It was quite a big event, the auditions for your tour. How did you narrow it down between so many applicants?”

Lyric puffed out a breath, blowing a piece of hair from her face and then tucking it behind her ear. “That was more stressful than anything that’s happened on tour. Over a hundred musicians applied, and each one of them was so talented, at first I had no idea how I was going to decide. But of course, everyone had to go through extensive background checks. The red tape actually did most of the eliminating. And from there...”

How did she professionally say she picked the artists with the best vibe?

“From there, I had to make a decision between the most talented musicians I’d met, and it wasn’t easy. Ultimately there were more factors to consider than just who was talented. I’m extremely grateful for Emerson, Adra, Nohen, and Desi for accepting the offer and giving a hundred and ten percent to the crowd, and to me, night after night.”

You got two hundred and twenty percent the other night.

She sailed a bright smile in their direction, hoping her cheeks didn’t flush and announce her gutter brained thoughts to the room.

“So everyone gets along then?” the host asked.

Lyric nodded, trying to douse the heat rushing to her cheeks.

You could say that...

“Of course. At least until it comes to video games,” she admitted and chuckled.

She thought Emerson and Nohen would come to blows the night before. The word ‘cheating’ had been thrown around, followed by threats and possibly punches if Henry hadn’t finally put his foot down.

“Oh, that’s right,” the host said, snapping his fingers. “Nohen Lyle is the lead guitarist. I bet he’s not an easy opponent to play with.”

A wave of confusion descended over Lyric, and she cocked her head to the side. “What do you mean?”

“From his stint in professional gaming. Were you not aware?”

Lyric masked her features behind a smile. Yes, she was aware, but the others probably weren’t. She forced her gaze to remain on the host. Plucking her lips into a smile, she waved her hand through the air. “Oh, that. Of course. Sometimes I just forget because I only know him as the guitarist, not the gamer.”

When she glanced across the room a few moments later, Nohen was pale, arms crossed, and staring sheepishly up at Emerson. Even from the distance between them, she thought she saw Emerson’s eye twitch.

“Alright, let’s have some fun,” the host said, though his tone implied anything but. “Rapid-fire questions.”

Lyric took a deep breath and nodded as the host glanced down at his paper.

“Beach or mountains?”