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“I’d like to hear you, even if it’s rough,” I said. There was nothing more in this world that I’d like to hear than Lark’s singing voice.
Lark rolled her eyes. “Okay, fine. But you can’t look at me.”
I sighed and turned my back to her.
She inhaled and started to sing. My mouth dropped open within the first two seconds.
Lark had been selling herself short. Her voice was unbelievable. As she continued the song, her voice got stronger and she let it out, filling the entire apartment with the rich sound. I didn’t know shit about music, but I knew that she was good. Damn good.
I also knew she was good because I hadn’t even recognized the song at first as an upbeat pop song that she’d somehow transformed into a melancholy ballad that almost made you want to cry.
I couldn’t see her face as she sang and I wished I could, but I’d agreed not to look at her.
At last, the song faded and she held the last note and was silent. I had to remind myself how to breathe as I’d been too invested in her song to bother.
“Can I turn around now?” I asked, my voice shaky.
“Yeah,” Lark said quietly.
I turned around in my seat and before she could say or do anything, I leaned forward and kissed her. Lark let out a little sound of surprise before she hesitated for a second and kissed me back.
Realizing I should not be kissing her, I pulled away.
“Sorry,” I said. “I don’t even know what that was.”
Lark studied me for a second, her cheeks flushed so prettily I had to grip the chair so I didn’t reach for her instead.
“It’s fine,” she said, and then hopped off the chair, taking her bowl to the dishwasher. As soon as that was done, she headed for her room and shut the door.
I guess we weren’t going to talk about this either.
* * *
Lark’s singingvoice echoed through my head for the rest of the night and through the next day. Every time I tried to tell her what a good singer she was, though, the words stuck in my throat and I couldn’t come up with a casual way to tell her. I had never had an issue like that before and I didn’t like it one bit. I’d never been so tongue-tied or worked up around a girl before and it needed to stop.
I told Joy that I need to talk with her and Layne after book club and that it was a friend emergency.
“Oh, that sounds serious,” Joy said when I dropped off the cake for book club later and she put it in the fridge.
“Yeah, I’m having…issues,” I said. I didn’t want to get into it now, but I was in desperate need for advice from the two people I trusted the most.
“I’m here for you, babe,” she said, giving me a hug. Joy’s hugs could cure almost anything. She rubbed my back and let me go with a supportive smile.
“I’m fine, Joy. I’m not dying or anything, so don’t get too worked up,” I said.
“You’re my best friend. Of course I’m going to get worked up over you,” she said, rubbing my arm.
“Likewise,” I said. “Everything good with Ezra?”
If Joy ever told me that things weren’t good, or that she needed to come back, I would be there in a second.
“Yeah, everything is good,” she said with a beaming smile that made her eyes sparkle. “I finally, finally got her to go to therapy to deal with some things, and she’s going to apply to schools for the fall so she can finally get her Masters and become a sex therapist.”
It had taken a long time for Ezra to reveal to me and Layne that she worked as a sex advice columnist and sex toy reviewer with the dream to become a sex therapist. Honestly, I found it all fascinating and wished she’d talk more about her work. I wanted to know if my theory about every single human being into at least one “weird” (by society’s standards) sex thing was correct.
“That’s so great,” I said. “I wish I could send some of my old hookups her way.” I shuddered. Even though I was selective with who I slept with, every now and then I’d get surprised, and not in a good way. There had definitely been more good than bad, but the bad definitely stood out in my memories.
“Yeah, I don’t need to know about that,” Joy said. “Ezra might, I definitely don’t.”
