Stephen’s eyes turned upward to the hooded stranger standing over him. “Waverly?”
Dressed in a red sweatshirt with the hood up and a pair of oversize glasses on her face, Waverly nodded nervously and took a seat next to him. “Hi!” she said quickly.
“Aren’t you banned from here?” His eyes narrowed on the girl.
Waverly slipped her glasses down the slope of her nose. “Aren’t you?” she asked sarcastically.
“Bad news travels fast, huh?” He slouched back down in his seat. The room had thinned out for everyone to get ready for the next part. The judges were deliberating over their scorecards.
“More like fast texts and blogs.”
“What?”
The lights on Waverly’s phone came to life when her finger swiped across the screen. “Natalia Ruiz, Stephen? Seriously?” said Waverly, holding the photograph of him exiting the booth with Natalia the other evening. “I hope you know you lost all your points on the scorecard and you’re a douche for the way you treated Lexi. She’s a good person.”
Stephen nodded and accepted the teenager berating him. In this world of technology, of course someone had shown her. The question was when. He only found out about it today, but his meeting with Natalia was the night before. If she’d seen it yesterday, it easily explained her attitude toward him at dinner. The teenager took a break from giving him an earful. Waverly sat back into her seat and sighed.
“So you came this way to tell me about myself?”
“Actually, I came looking for Lexi, but I got here right after the beauty segment ended. I can’t run into anyone.” She nodded her head toward the judges’ table, where Rose Laing had strolled over with a tray of cookies.
The two of them snorted in disgust at the desperate woman. “I hate her. She will do anything to win.”
“So it seems.” Stephen sighed.
“I blame her for my accident.” Waverly folded her arms across the front of her sweatshirt.
“The motorcycle accident?”
“Yeah.”
Stephen sat up in his seat. “Did she run you off the road?”
Waverly shook her head. Her hood came off but she quickly put it back on. “Not the actual accident but the pictures after.” People began wandering around the room. Waverly stretched her legs against the chair in front of her. “Ohmigod, I forgot how boring this part is when I’m not working a pageant. They seriously need to learn how to entertain while we wait.”
“Let me ask you something.” Stephen cleared his throat and turned toward Waverly. “This scorecard I keep hearing about. Do you and your friends keep one on your boyfriends?”
Waverly gave him a side-eye glance. “Why?”
“Lexi mentioned one before. I was curious what my score would be.”
“I wasn’t kidding when I said you’re at a total zero right now.” She blew a bubble from a piece of gum he didn’t realize she had.
“What do I need to do to bump my score up in her eyes?”
He listened intently to Waverly’s ideas about making things right. The beauty queen came up with a bevy of ideas, the majority of which he shot down. They’d been so engrossed in their conversation he hadn’t noticed the room filling back up or when Nate reentered the room. No one from his family or from Grits and Glam Gowns acknowledged Stephen.
“Ladies and gentlemen, are you ready for the final event of this evening?” The emcee’s voice brought a round of applause from the packed room.
“She sounds tired,” Waverly commented as she leaned over. “I don’t think I’ve been to a bigger pageant. At this point, we’ll never get through it until tomorrow evening.”
Stephen was eager to watch Kimber in the next event. Like their mother, the girls’ talents lay in their singing. He also feared, after tomorrow, Lexi might walk out of his life for good. Could he imagine living in the same town as Lexi and not being able to be with her?
The music began and one by one the teenage girls worked their talents. Stephen closed his eyes during most of the routines. Anyone who dared to clap should have been shot. A few girls showcased clogging, baton twirling, juggling and even some gymnastics. The buildup of excitement for Kimber mounted. She had this in the bag. The red curtains moved and he caught a glimpse of Kimber in a simple solid white dress and a white gardenia tucked behind her ear—a scene right out of Lady Sings the Blues, another movie they’d stayed on the phone and watched.
“Kudos for Lexi’s choice in costume,” Waverly whispered behind her hand. “The judges will enjoy the break from the stripper outfits some of the other girls wore.”
With hope, Stephen craned his neck to try and find Lexi in her usual spot off to the side. She wasn’t there. His eyes averted to the spot behind the judges’ table. No way would she stand behind them to coach Kimber from the front. Kimber didn’t need help.