Julia smiled dreamily. “All this time he was…this, and we never knew.”
“Yeah, what else are you holding out on us?” Caitlin said with a nudge.
Oh, the irony.
I’d been telling anyone who would listen how talented Miller was for years, but it took visual proof to dispel the aura of poverty and homelessness.
Caitlin peered over my shoulder at the video. “He’s got this scruffy, alternative-rocker-hottie vibe going on. You two ever…?”
“No, never,” I said, stepping back and leaving the two of them to watch the performance.
“Really? You’ve been friends for years and never…? Not even a kiss?”
“We almost did. Once. Two years ago.”
I leaned against the sink, the memory falling over me. Miller and me in my room, hanging out as usual. He played his guitar and sang for me. Emotion beyond his years pouring out of him. I watched his mouth the entire time, mesmerized by how his full lips moved and the sounds that came from them. And for some reason, at that moment, I started thinking about how neither of us had ever been kissed. No one had kissed that mouth of his and that was crazy.
“What happened?”
“We were fifteen, and neither of us were getting any action,” I said. “I told him that we should kiss for practice. So when the moment came, we wouldn’t be totally helpless. I told him that it wouldn’t count toward a real first kiss or anything. Just research.”
“And?” Julia asked, jarring me from my thoughts.
“He refused.”
“I’m not kissing you for practice,” Miller said, the last word coming out sourly. “So that some other guy…” He bit off his words and went back to his guitar, messing with the frets.
My cheeks burned. “Sorry. Forget I brought it up. Probably better, anyway. It might be weird.”
“Yeah,” Miller said, still not looking at me. “Weird.”
I looked up to see Caitlin and Julia offering cringe-y glances on my behalf. I waved them off, my cheeks flushed again like they had been then.
“No, it’s…fine. It just proved what I thought: that we’re only friends and that he’s not interested in me in that way.”
“He seems pretty interested in Amber Blake,” Julia said with a sigh and put her phone away. “A pity. Seems like we missed the boat.”
My brows wrinkled. “You’re interested?”
“Maybe. Intrigued, definitely.”
“Can’t blame her,” Caitlin said. “What girl wouldn’t want to be sung to like that?”
The stall door banged open, and we jumped; we’d all forgotten about Evelyn. She went to the sink and washed her hands. The girls and I waited, tension coiling, and then Evelyn caught our glances in the mirror as she smoothed a stray hair from her ponytail.
“Periods can suck it, am I right?”
Julia and Caitlin smiled with relief as Evelyn turned to me, a sweet smile on her face. She put her arms around me and hugged me close.
“Congratulations, Vi. You deserve it.”
“Oh…thank you. It’s kind of surreal.”
“Did you tell the girls?” Evelyn put her arm around me. “Violet doesn’t need anyone’s practice kisses. Very soon, she’ll be having the real deal with River Whitmore. Homecoming King and Queen are going to the dance together. How perfect is that?”
I searched Evelyn’s face for a sign that my coronation bothered her more than she was letting on, but her smile seemed genuine.
The others congratulated me excitedly.