Page 9 of Passion’s Song

“You don’t expect me to answer right away, do you?”

Actually, he had. Kinda.

“No,” Damien said, shaking his head. “I figured you’d need some time to think about it. It’s just that, um, the first event is Friday night, so I’ll need to know pretty soon.”

Damien reached over and covered the hand that still toyed around with the sugar packet. He gave it a light squeeze.

“Please, April,” he pleaded. “At least think about it. And then say yes.”

Several moments stretched between them before she said, “I’ll think about it. I’ve got another music class starting in a few minutes, so I need to go, but I’ll get back to you later today.”

Damien stood, a smile drawing across his face. “I guess that’ll have to be good enough for now,” he said. He leaned over and placed a kiss on her cheek. “I’ll talk to you later. Thanks for considering this, April.”

He winked at her, then started for the exit, feeling a whole lot better than he had when he’d first walked through these doors.

* * *

I need you to be my girlfriend.

Her stupid heart gave a stupid leap of joy as April replayed Damien’s words in her mind, even after discovering just what he’d meant by that. He needed her to be his fake girlfriend. A pretend love interest. A phony plaything he could drape on his arm so that he wouldn’t have to deal with any of the women who—if he were not tied up with this special project of his—would actually be candidates to be his real girlfriend. Damn him for giving her those few brief seconds of hope.

She snapped the lid closed on the violin case with more force than necessary.

“You’re an idiot,” April said with a disgruntled sigh. “But at least you broke up that fight today before any limbs were lost, so you’re not completely pathetic.”

“You talking to yourself again?”

April yelped and swung around, finding Nicole standing in the doorway.

“Girl!” April yelled, holding her hand to her chest.

“Sorry.” Nicole laughed. “I couldn’t help it.” The twenty-five-year-old sauntered into the room where April had just finished up her intermediate music class. Nicole grabbed the handles of two of the violin cases and followed April to the closet where the instruments were stored at the end of the day.

“Thanks,” April said over her shoulder. She locked the door then turned to find Nicole standing there with her arms crossed.

“So,” Nicole said, a cagey smile tipping up the corners of her lips. “Looks as if you’ve been holding out on us.”

“I have? How so?” She gathered the last of the sheet music into a pile and used the mug from her desk as a paperweight.

“Uh, hellooo!” Nicole sang. “Was that not Damien Alexander who came to see you today? You never told me that you knew him.”

April tilted her head to the side and touched her finger to her chin. “Funny, but I can’t recall telling you even a tenth of the people I know. I’m not sure why I would tell you about Damien.”

“Whatever,” Nicole said with an eye roll to rival those of the teens who walked the halls. “So, how do you know him? More importantly, how well do you know him, if you catch my drift.” She lifted her eyebrows suggestively.

“Get your mind out of the gutter,” April said with a laugh. “Damien and I went to high school together. We’ve been friends for years.”

“So you’re just friends?”

“Just friends,” April said. “Nothing more.”

She would ignore the pang of disappointment that attempted to seep into her skin.

“Awesome,” Nicole said. “That means you wouldn’t have a problem introducing me to him.”

“Believe me, the one thing Damien isn’t looking for right now is to be introduced to a woman. In fact, that’s the exact opposite of what he wants.”

“Don’t tell me he’s gay,” Nicole said in a shocked voice.