Page 76 of Two Hit Wonder

Ellie watched her an eyebrow raised. "And who's that?"

"No one."

"That's not a no one face. That's a someone face."

"It's not a face. I don't have a face."

"You've been checking your phone compulsively for weeks," Ellie said slowly, and Iona could see the pieces coming together. "And disappearing for calls. And being weirdly secretive about your evenings." She sat up straighter. "All of which means even if I’m trying not to notice things, I’m still noticing things. And what I’m noticing is that you, Cam, are teasing the trousers off Iona and Maeve because you’re a hypocrite. You’re seeing someone, aren’t you?"

Cam's silence was answer enough.

"You are." Ellie sounded satisfied. "Since when? Who is it?"

"It's not… it's complicated." Cam shoved her phone in her pocket. "Elijah isn't ready for things to be public. He wants to keep things quiet for now."

"Mmmhmm," Ellie said. "Well, maybe take it down a notch when you’re teasing these two then, and we might let you have a little privacy of your own."

"Eugh. Fine. That’s fair. I suppose."

Iona laughed. "Looks like we’re all getting settled. That’s not quite how the whole rock band thing is supposed to work."

"Yeah, well, we can always pretend we’re not," Cam said.

Maeve put a hand on Cam’s shoulder. "Be careful out there, eh?"

"Not all men are arseholes," Cam said.

"Just most of them," said Maeve cheerfully.

"Lesbians," Cam said, shaking her head.

"I’m straight as a die and I thoroughly agree with her," said Ellie. "So be careful."

"I'm always careful."

"You once set fire to a hotel room trying to make toast."

"That was one time. And the toaster was defective."

They got back to work. And something clicked. Maybe it was the lingering warmth from the afternoon, or the way Cam threw herself into the drums like she was trying to forget something, or the way Ellie's bass line wound around Iona's guitar like they'd been playing together for years instead of weeks. But the song they'd been struggling with suddenly made sense. The pieces fell into place. It sounded like something real.

When they finished, Shepherd, who'd walked in halfway through, nodded with an expression that might have been approval. "Not bad," he said. "Actually good. I'm cautiously optimistic about Lakeside."

"Cautiously?" Cam demanded. "That's all we get? Cautiously?"

"It's the highest praise I'm capable of. Take what you can get."

After rehearsal, Maeve helped Iona pack up her guitar. Their hands brushed over the case latches and neither of them pulled away.

"I should tell you something," Maeve said.

"That sounds ominous."

"It's not. It's about Mo."

Iona went still. "What about her?"

"Um yesterday, the limo thing. See, the thing is, she texted me. She was having trouble at school. Some girls didn't believe she knew me." Maeve's voice was carefully neutral. "So I picked her up in a stretch limousine and drove past the school gates at four miles an hour while she waved at them."