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Florence tilts her head back. Her cheeks are still flushed. Her eyes are so bright. “So were you.”
“Good job, guys!” Amy cuts in. “That was incredible! Come on—there’s drinks and snacks in the dressing room, and then you can go to your seats to watch Juno’s show.”
They don’t have to be told twice.
Because Luca’s entire life is a fever dream now, Juno finds them after the show and invites them out to dinner with her and her band. An hour later, security escorts them into the back of a Parisian restaurant. It looks too expensive for them to ever set foot in on their own, all shiny marble floors and heavy silverware glinting in the candlelight. Luca ends up sitting between Miray and Florence, with Juno opposite them.
“So,” Juno says as they wait for their food, “how are you feeling after your first show?”
“Relieved,” Miray says.
“Tired,” Toni says.
“Like I want to do this every single night of my life,” says Florence.
Juno laughs. “It does have that effect, doesn’t it? You girls did an incredible job up there. Much better than I fared during my first performances.”
“That’s not true,” Florence says. She smiles as she leans forward, easily taking up space. “We’ve all seen the recordings.”
Juno was only nineteen when she won the talent competition that helped her land her first record deal. Her winning performance has several million views; Luca thinks half of them were probably from Florence.
After her performance, the jury raved for minutes about Juno’s star power—how her presence could fill any stage, how being in the same room as her felt like witnessing something monumental. Looking at Florence, Luca thinks she understands what they meant. She’s radiant in the flickering candlelight, all bright eyes and quick answers, her fingers curled loosely around a glass of wine. Luca wonders if she’s aware she’s holding the attention of everyone at their table, or if she’s used to the way every single person in her orbit seems drawn to her as she talks.
“—about you, Luca?”
Luca jumps back to attention to find Juno Wilde looking questioningly at her. “Sorry?” she says thinly.
“Have you acclimatized to being in a band?” Juno asks.
“Oh.” Luca darts a look at the others. “Yeah. Practicing for this tour has been really fun.”
“You only joined super recently right?” The question comes from Juno’s drummer. He’s twenty years older than every member of Scorpio Season. He’s probably been touring with bands since before Luca was born.
Her tongue feels heavy in her mouth, so all she does is nod. She’s suddenly overly aware of what her hands are doing. She hides them in her lap where no one can see them fidget.
“We were so lucky to find her,” Florence says. “The first time we played a song together, all five of us, it felt like everything just clicked into place.”
The arrival of their food saves Luca from having to contribute anything equally meaningful. While the others keep up a steady stream of conversation, Luca focuses on eating her pasta without getting sauce all over herself. Izzy is chatting—flirting?—with a guy from Juno’s string quartet while Toni and Juno discuss their favorite guitar brand. Miray and Florence rope Amy into a conversation about what she thinks will be the best tour stop. Luca lets it all wash over her without trying to hold on to anything.
When their plates have been cleared away and the others are poring over the dessert menu, Luca gets up and excuses herself to the bathroom. It’s hidden away in the basement of the restaurant, down a winding staircase and at the end of a dimly lit hallway. Luca exhales the moment the door clicks shut behind her.
Pulling out her phone to check her messages, she finds that added to the preshow good-luck messages from her parents and Jemma, which she has yet to respond to, is a slew of messages in the group chat with her brothers.
Henry:
DUDE
Henry:
I SAW CLIPS FROM YOUR SHOW
Henry:
THAT WAS SO COOL
Henry:
SINCE WHEN ARE YOU SO COOL???
