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“He’s amazing Belle. He’s better than I am on the bass,”he chuckles and shakes his head. “Mav is kind and funny. He’s loyal to a fault. He’s just…” Ezra sighs, and I can see the hearts in his eyes. “He’s my person.”
“I’m so happy that you’re happy,” I tell him, and he squeezes me tight.
All the happiness I’m feeling vanishes, and anxiety takes its place the moment we return to the clearing. My anxiety increases when I see the amount of people standing in front of our setup. Kai is tuning his guitar while Willa twirls her drumsticks. Cal is talking to a group of girls that are shamelessly flirting with him. Ezra pulls me to my keyboard and gives my shoulders one more squeeze before he heads to tune his bass.
I walk over to Kai, wanting the hug he always gives me when he sees me. He looks up, but instead of the warmth I usually feel coming from him, his blue eyes are as cold as ice. My steps falter, and I stop in front of him.
“Hey,” he says before turning away from me and continuing to tune his guitar.
I hold back the tears that instantly want to fall at the indifferent tone in his voice. I saw him yesterday, and he was the same warm and friendly Kai he always is. I don’t know what happened between then and now for him to act this way. Maybe this is just how he’s handling being nervous about playing tonight.
“I, uh — I just came for a hug,” I mutter, almost embarrassed. I’ve never had to ask for or explain a hug to him before.
He looks at me again, the same cold expression still plastered on his handsome face. His shaggy black hair is falling in his eyes and making him look like a model. An angrymodel. Kai nods and quickly gives me a stiff, one-arm hug. He always gives me hugs I melt into. Hugs that take away every anxiety and sadness. I don’t understand what’s different.
My body has run through a gauntlet of emotions in such a short amount of time that it panics. My breathing gets heavy and difficult, my tongue feels like it weighs more than an elephant, and my palms are sweating. Kai doesn’t notice since he’s back to tuning his guitar again, but I see the moment Willa does.
She drops her drumsticks and quickly walks over to me, pulling me away from Kai and behind a tree.
“Breathe, Bellamy,” she says as she breathes deeply in front of me, gesturing for me to copy her. I do as she says and as my breathing calms back down, I cry. “What happened?” she asks quietly.
“I’m really nervous about playing in front of people,” I say between sobs.
“What did Kai do?” she asks, not fooled by my excuse.
“Nothing,” I mutter.
“What did he do, Belle?” she asks again, glaring over my shoulder at where I’m assuming Kai is standing.
“Nothing, Willa. I went to hug him, and he looked angry with me and then gave me a hug he gives to people he doesn’t actually want to hug. It was weird and with my nerves being all over the place because we’re playing tonight, I just panicked,” I tell her honestly.
Willa keeps glaring for a few more seconds before she turns her eyes on me. “He better apologize later, or my heel is meeting his ass.”
I laugh at how serious she is before hugging her. “Thank you for calming me down.”
“Always, babe. Now let’s go play so hard everyone’s panties drop!” she yells before grabbing my hand and pulling me back towards the crowd.
My hands are shaking as we wait for Willa to knock her drumsticks together to start the set. We’re playing a set of ten covers tonight. Nothing original and nothing we haven’t played hundreds of times before.
Once the crowd hears Willa count, a deafening silence falls over the woods. I hear the last smack of her sticks and play the first note. The moment the music leaves my fingertips, I’m in the zone. The crowd fades away behind the notes and the sound of Cal’s smooth voice.
Before I know it, we’ve played all ten songs. I’m sweaty and a little shaky from the adrenaline. The crowd is screaming and clapping, and a group of girls are throwing bras at the guys.
“Classy,” I mutter under my breath.
“You guys sounded great.”
I look away from Kai, who’s smiling while holding a bright pink bra he caught, to find Maverick in front of me.
“Thanks, Mav,” I tell him. He’s looking between me and an uncomfortable-looking Ezra who was just hit in the face with the biggest bra I’ve ever seen. I snicker as I watch him try to hide the look of disgust on his face.
“Ladies really love musicians, huh?” he asks, his hands in the pockets of his jeans. I tilt my head and get a good lookat him. Maverick is tall, not as tall as my guys, but he still towers over me. His hair is short and a light brown color that complements his honey eyes. He’s attractive and seems really sweet. I can see why Ezra fell for him.
I hug him. I can feel the surprise in the jolt his body gives before he wraps his arms around me. “Treat him well. He deserves it,” I whisper.
Maverick pulls back and looks at me, definitely not aware Ezra told anyone about them. He smiles and nods before hugging me again. “I will, I promise.”
Ezra comes over to us and sweeps me up into his arms. I giggle and hug his neck. “I told you we’d be great,” he says.
