I held my breath and turned the knob, pulling it open just enough to slip past and tiptoe down the hall. I was halfway there when they beckoned.
“Nova,” Parker called. “Come hang out.”
“Yeah, Nova.”
“Come on, Nova.”
Accepting defeat, I pivoted on my heel and tried to hide the fear that Parker would blurt out that I could sing and then I’d get harassed forever and ever. As soon as I rounded the corner, I met his smile with a glare.
“Damn, Nova. Looking good,” Ash complimented, looking me up and down. His dark perusal wasn’t completely hated.
I’d grown comfortable with the guys—at least a little bit as I stuck to the periphery of their group, but they did their best to pull me in. Oren did it with playful jabs and jokes. He acted the most brotherly to me. Ash won me over with flirtatious comments I put down to his own version of joking. Because even considering Ash wanted to seriously flirt with me was a joke.
I stepped into the semi-circle of chairs and couches, and Ash patted the minuscule amount of cushion next to him. “Come sit with me.”
“I’m small, but not that small,” I laughed.
“Then my lap it is,” he said, now patting his thigh.
Oren snorted, and I think Parker may have growled. Before I could dwell more than a second on why he’d growl, his hand slid around mine, tugging me to the space beside him and nowhere near Ash. Not that Ash seemed to care. He met Parker’s glare with a devious smirk.
“All right, ladies,” Oren interrupted. “Are we going to work or just stare longingly into each other’s eyes? I mean, I get it, Parker has those baby blues you could get lost in, and Ash yours are dark like the pits of hell, so anyone could take a wrong turn there, but I thought we were in a band, writing songs and not a circle jerk.”
“Tell them how you really feel, Oren,” I laughed.
“What?” He shrugged. “They have pretty eyes, but we also need to stay focused. We got that gig coming up.”
“You mean the basement party?” Ash deadpanned.
“Hey, dude. A gig is a gig. We’ll get more.”
“Okay, okay,” Parker said, grabbing his guitar. “I was working on this earlier.”
He strummed the tune, and Ash picked up his bass to find a rhythm with him as Oren tapped out a beat. I leaned back into the corner of the couch, observing them work—enraptured by how they fed off each other. They joked and ribbed, but all in good fun. It was like I didn’t exist in their realm, and I was completely okay with that. I just wanted to be close enough to watch the magic.
They got through the second verse and struggled over the ascending climax. I closed my eyes, listening to the beat, bobbing my head, quietly humming along.
“Uggh,” Parker growled. “It’s not right.”
“What if…” I spoke up before I could think better of it. I wanted to choke the words back as soon as they escaped, and I could only hope they hadn’t heard my quiet voice. No such luck, because a second later, all eyes were on me. I swallowed my nerves and forced myself to step out of the shadows. “What if you played something like this, Parker?” I hummed a quick tune with a slower beat. “And then you did a little lower like this, Ash?” This time, I hummed a quick pace similar to Flea from Red Hot Chili Peppers. “And, Oren, your beat could match the bass. Maybe heavy cymbals?”
I stopped talking, but no one followed up. They all stared, blinking, and I worried that I had a booger hanging out of my nose. Or maybe a giant penis randomly sprouted on my forehead. That’s the only thing that made sense for why they kept staring in silence.
“Damn, Nova,” Oren said first. “That’s some shit. I didn’t even think of it. Let’s give it a try, ladies.”
Parker looked away last, his eyes hinting at a smile I knew laid just below the surface. They played what I suggested, messed up, and tried it again. By the third time, they nailed it, giving each other high fives with cheers of delight.
Oren wrapped his arm around my shoulder and jerked me into his chest. “Magic, guys. She’s fucking magic.”
Tucking my chin to my chest, I basked in their cheers, my face almost splitting in two from smiling so hard.
“What else do you have tucked up your magic sleeves?” Ash asked.
“Well,” Parker started, and I jerked a wide-eyed glare to him. With a shrug that was anything but apologetic, he announced, “She can sing. Like really, really fucking sing.”
“What?” Ash screeched.
“Hell, yes!” Oren said, clapping.
“Fuck you, Parker,” I grumbled under my breath.
“What? Don’t hate me. It’s awesome.”
“Sing for us,” Oren demanded.