Aimee and the Heartthrob (10 page)

…

Miles looked for Aimee but couldn’t find her anywhere. She’d slipped away after their writing session yesterday, and he hadn’t seen her since. Later tonight, S2J had an appearance and another press junket, where they’d be performing in front of a small audience at a local radio station.

It’d be a mellow day and after hanging with the band well past breakfast, they all went their separate ways.

Writing time. The roadies set up several rooms at the hotel with keyboards and tables, perfect to steal away and work. Miles hoped Aimee would want to come along again, but since he couldn’t find her, he’d be on his own.

“Hey,” Trevin said, heading down the same hallway. “Off to write?”

“Yeah.” Miles glanced over his shoulder.

“Looking for someone?”

“No.” What a lie.

“Wanna share a room? I’ve got some ideas I want to knock off someone, but not the entire group. You know what a prick Ryder can be.”

Miles rolled his eyes. “Yeah, I know. Sure.” He nodded toward an empty room. “Let’s grab this before someone else.”

A brown upright piano sat in the middle of the room, looking huge and intimidating. Miles was afraid to get near it. Had Prince felt this way at seventeen when he’d lived in Minneapolis and was still learning his craft? Highly doubtful.

Suddenly, Miles regretted making that deal with Aimee. He’d been joking at the time, but when she’d flat-out asked him what he wanted from her in return, it had been too easy to ask for it, for the only thing he’d wanted right then.

In exchange for one song written on the piano, Aimee agreed to go on a date.

Which—they both agreed—was laughably unrealistic, since almost every day was jam-packed with concerts and other public events. But Miles couldn’t help it, it was pure impulse. He’d felt so comfortable with her. If he’d been just a regular guy, feeling how he did about a girl, he would’ve asked her out. That was normal.

The date would never happen anyway, and he knew it. Not only was a date with Aimee liable to make his best friend insane, but he’d never be able to keep up his end of the deal. Sure, he could pick out notes and find a couple of chords, but he definitely didn’t play the piano well enough to actually compose a song on one.

In fact, when he and Trevin entered the room, Miles made it a point to sit as far away from the daunting instrument as possible.

Trevin dragged out a notebook and his guitar, then played a choppy few measures of a song. Miles helped him flesh out some lines, but this was definitely Trevin’s baby; he was just there to listen and encourage.

While listening, Miles tried not to let his mind wander too far down a road it shouldn’t. What would it be like to take Aimee on a real date? What if their schedule freed up and he could do it? Depending on the town, they probably couldn’t go to a restaurant like a normal couple, but he’d figure out something.

Damn, no—Nick would skin him alive. “Bros before Hoes” and all that. Just because Aimee was the coolest girl he’d hung out with in a really long time didn’t mean he’d screw up his friendship with Nick.

But what about how she’d shown up at his school assembly with a stack of fan signs for him because she knew he’d been nervous? Seriously, Aimee Bingham was indescribable, amazing, in a class by herself—

“So?”

Miles blinked and looked over at Trevin. “Er, sorry. What?”

“I asked what you thought of the chorus.” Trevin sat back. “I asked you twice, and you just sat there smiling out the window. What’s up with you?”

Miles scratched his chin. “Nothing, I was just…thinking.”

“Some pretty deep thoughts there, bro. Care to share?” He strummed his guitar. “Or maybe you should put them in a song. Write something about
you
for a change.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s just, we know you’re a good writer and you’re really creative. But it’s like you’re overly creative. Don’t you think a song would mean more if you dug deep, wrote about something you’re going through right now?”

Miles considered the suggestion for a second, but no way. What he was going through right now, feeling right now, couldn’t be put in a song. “I see what you mean. I’ll think about it.”

Trevin laughed and tossed his straight black hair out of his eyes. “More thinking. Okay.” He glanced at Miles’s notebook. “Try to put some of that down on paper, though.”

“I will.” Miles exhaled. “Play me that last part, mate. I wanna hear it again.”

They worked for another hour, then Trevin left Miles alone.

But he wasn’t alone. That piano sat there like a damn hole in the ground he couldn’t jump over. Every time he thought of a cool musical hook, he couldn’t help wondering how it would sound on the ivories.

Finally, he stood and approached the thing, cautiously, like a lion tamer approaching the king of the jungle. He ran a hand over the top, tinkled a few keys, then he thought about Aimee, how she’d pushed him to stretch himself as a musician.

How had she known it was exactly what he needed?

Suddenly, an idea popped into his head—inspiration striking again, in the form of a girl with brown eyes. He grabbed his notebook and started to write, grinning the whole time.

Ha! And Trev claimed Miles never wrote from real life…

Chapter Nine

Aimee felt anxious all morning. LJ hadn’t said one word to her, even though it had been totally obvious that he’d overheard what she’d said to Becky in the heat of the moment. He’d just stared at her, grunted, then walked away. It was kind of creepy, actually. If LJ told Miles what she’d said, gah—she’d totally die.

Seconds to Juliet had an appearance at a radio station and Aimee purposefully stayed behind. She didn’t feel like being witness to Miles looking all happy and excited about crazy, screaming fans falling all over him. Not that she was jealous or anything, but still. Not so long ago, she’d been one of the crazy, screaming fans…at least internally.

And she’d been a fan of Miles for much longer than any of those other girls who didn’t even know him, or what his real favorite food was, or how sweet he was to his mom, or how he looked first thing in the morning.

But unless she wanted to lock herself in her hotel room, she had no choice but to head downstairs. If LJ was there, she’d talk to him and make sure he knew she’d been joking, even though it probably hadn’t sounded like a joke.

Before she’d made it to the conference room, she was grabbed by the hand and pulled around a corner.

“Shhhh.”

Aimee completely forgot how to breathe as the most beautiful boy in the world was an inch from her face and had a finger over his lips.

“Miles!” she hiss/whispered, trying to restart her heart from being scared out of her wits. And then restart it again because Miles looked absolutely gorgeous, and he was standing so close to her, and he smelled like the hotel’s soap and mouthwatering clean-boy cologne. “What are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be at the interview?”

“There’s time before and I wanted to show you something.”

His grin made her stomach go all swoony, but it was also very suspect. “What are you talking about? And you can’t sneak up on people like that. My heart almost exploded.”

“Didn’t mean to scare you, but I couldn’t wait.” He took her hand and gave it a tug, causing Aimee’s heart to jump again. “Come on.”

If she were in a calmer state of mind, she would’ve asked where they were going. But instead, she allowed herself to be tugged down the hall and around another corner, Miles’s strong hand keeping ahold of hers, heat scorching the palm of her hand, fanning out her fingers.

Friends could certainly be together in hotel hallways, right?

“In here.” He pointed to an empty banquet room. It was probably for special events or private parties, because instead of the normal hotel décor, it had fancy wallpaper and chandeliers overhead. There weren’t any lights on, but with the wall of windows that opened into a courtyard, there was plenty of sunlight flooding the room.

“It’s beautiful,” Aimee said. “But what are we doing here?”

“I finished.”

“Finished what?”

“The song.” He grinned and nodded to the other end of the room, where a glossy, black grand piano sat, lid wide open.

“Are you serious? You wrote a whole song in one day?”

“It actually came a lot faster than that,” he said as he slid his hands in his back pockets and began strolling toward the instrument. “Once I got the idea in my mind, I couldn’t stop. It just poured out.”

“It doesn’t usually work that way?”

“Not for me. I told you how I’ve been blocked lately.” He ran a hand through his floppy, perfect-boy-band hair. “But with this, it was like a major breakthrough.”

Aimee couldn’t help feeling flattered, though it probably had nothing to do with her. Miles was a writer, he was bound to start writing again at some point, she’d just given him a little push.

“Do you want to hear it?”

“Of course!” she blurted, her eager voice echoing off the walls of the room.

He motioned to a single chair that had been dragged away from the others and positioned directly before the piano. She’d have a front row seat.

She couldn’t stop her heart from doing a little happy dance in her chest. Here she was, alone with Miles Carlisle, the guy she’d crushed on for so long. It was pretty impossible to not remember those feelings now.

“Before I begin, I want you to know I took what you said to heart. You’re right, I need to stretch myself, grow, take a risk, be a more versatile musician.”

Aimee giggled at the speech. “I didn’t say any of those things.”

“Ah, but that’s what you meant.” He winked, and Aimee’s stomach fluttered with butterflies. “Anyway, it’s been a while since I’ve tried anything new, but since you asked, and since you were so demanding…” He winked again, then stood in place, his back to the piano, like he was preparing for a recital. “This is what I came up with. Please, hold your applause until the end.”

“I’ll try,” she said, laughing again.

After a second, Miles exhaled, cracked his knuckles, then shook out his hands, looking nervous and so incredibly adorable. “Oh, lemme just fix this first.” He turned around and moved to the exposed strings inside the piano, took ahold of the tall arm of the lid prop, and lowered the lid so the strings were covered and the top of the piano was flat. Then, instead of seating himself in front of the keys like she’d expected, he used the bench as a stair, climbed on top of the piano, then sat cross-legged on the closed lid.

“Wait, one more thing.” He leaned back to grab something on the floor behind him, and came back up with his guitar. “Okay…” He strummed a few chords. “Here’s the song I wrote for you, Aimee. It’s called ‘On the Piano.’” He met her eye then glanced down at where he sat.

Aimee’s mouth fell open and she was about to burst out laughing, but kept it in the second Miles started to sing.

“You requested this, so here I am, suspended above reality

The air is thin, in my weakened grasp

I might fall off the bench and ivory keys

Your eyes are miles away, holding in an endless gaze

and you’ve got me running through time and tempo

Just to come up short on a promised strain

for you, a song written on this old piano…”

The melody was cute and whimsical, and it had a super catchy hook, all about a tenacious girl bidding him to write a song
on
the piano…which Miles had done.

The big cheater.

It wasn’t exactly a love song, but the way the lyrics were specifically about her, made Aimee’s heart swell ten sizes, and the huge smile on her face might never go away. After his final chord across the guitar strings, she was on her feet, applauding. “OMG, Miles! That was so awesome! Though you know you
totally
cheated.”

Miles grinned as he jumped off the piano. “I don’t remember you being specific. All you asked was for me to write a song on the piano.” He nodded toward the instrument. “Technically, I did.”

She swatted his arm. “You knew what I meant.”

“Didn’t you like it?”

“Seriously? I love it.” She put a hand over her heart that was still racing from the fact that she was the subject of a song penned by Miles Carlisle. “The tune’s so catchy, though I doubt anything so innovative and personal will make it on the radio.”

“Probably not. Seriously, though, I haven’t been able to finish a whole song in months; you broke my writer’s block, even if it was with something silly.” He placed a hand on her arm. It radiated the same scorching heat as when he’d held her hand before, and Aimee had a hard time keeping eye contact with him. “So, thanks again.”

For about the hundredth time in ten minutes, she had to concentrate on restarting her heart. “H-happy to help.”

They looked at each other, neither of them speaking, and Aimee was hyperaware that he hadn’t removed his hand from her arm. It caused other parts of her body to heat up and tingle, imagining what it would be like if he touched her there. Everywhere.

They jumped apart at the loud sound of a throat clearing behind them. “Miles,” LJ said. “Been looking for you. The press conference is about to start.”

Miles looked as dreamy and off balance as she felt, but he nodded at LJ and then gave her a look she couldn’t interpret. “Duty calls.”

“Of course.” She stepped back, afraid to look at LJ, hoping he wasn’t about to tell Miles what he’d overheard.

“Will I see you in there?” Miles asked.

Aimee slowly glanced at LJ, but he was already walking away. “Um, yeah. I’ll be there.”

“Good. And thanks again for…” He trailed off but nodded at the piano.

She smiled. “You’re welcome.”

Miles jogged off, leaving her alone in the large and quiet room. Aimee stood still, waiting for her mind and heart to go back to normal, return to how she felt a week ago before seeing Miles again.

But they didn’t. Or wouldn’t.

She put both hands over her pounding heart, exhaled, and sank into a chair. Nut-burgers. Now what?

There was no way she could fall for Miles again. What kind of relationship would they have with her in L.A. and him traveling all over the world, never home? If she thought getting dumped by loser Jean-Luc sucked, how much worse would it be if she got involved with Miles? No way.

So she blew out a breath, straightened her dress, and marched into the main conference room and stood in back with the rest of the fans, prepared to force herself to look at Miles Carlisle and remember what it was like when she’d been so sad she didn’t want to get up in the morning, or talk to Becky, or to ever,
ever
fall in love again. She could do it. She’d mastered that every day for the past two years.

…

Miles couldn’t help grinning when he saw the shocked expression on Aimee’s face when the mob of fans at the back of the conference room rushed the stage and practically bodysurfed Aimee along with them to the row right behind the ropes.

He loved that she was here at the interview, and so close now. He loved that she started to blush the moment their eyes met.

Yeah, yeah, he knew he shouldn’t love that, shouldn’t even notice it, but he couldn’t fight everything all the time, especially how her eyes locking on his made his heart want to fly out of his chest and grab her.

Her reaction to “On the Piano” couldn’t have been more perfect. Another thing he dug about her: she could take a joke. She was fun and easy to be with, and the way her dark hair sometimes fell over her eyes like a silky curtain…

Miles snapped out of it when he realized he was probably grinning like a doofus. So he leaned forward and concentrated on the questions being asked. Trev and Nate were doing most of the talking. That was good for Nate. Being the youngest in the group, he wasn’t always as vocal as the others. The kid wasn’t an introvert, but with five massively healthy egos around, sometimes it was every man for himself.

Ryder was asked about their new album and, for a change, he didn’t give a smartass answer. He seemed preoccupied. Compared to the other guys in the band, he and Ryder weren’t very close, but maybe later, he’d ask him if everything was all right.

After about twenty minutes, the meat of the interview was over, and the fans were allowed to ask questions. Miles knew the personal topics were about to happen. It was always a drag, having to come up with new and clever answers for what his favorite color was or what was his ideal first date.

“My question’s for Miles.” This came from a girl with a blond ponytail who looked about twelve. She was wearing a Miles High Club T-shirt.

“Hi there,” he said, pulling the mike forward. “What’s your name?”

She giggled. “Maggie.”

“Hi Maggie.” He flashed a smile. “That’s a gorgeous name. Go ahead and ask me anything, anything at all, love.” This was his pat answer during fan Q & As. He could practically hear Ryder roll his eyes.

“Um, well, I know you don’t have a girlfriend now…”

When she didn’t go on, he laughed under his breath then continued with the reply LJ drilled into their heads a million times. “No, I don’t have a girlfriend, but I’m always on the lookout. Know anyone I might fancy?”

This answer always got the same reaction of shrieks and screams and names being shouted out, followed by more screams. Now Miles was the one who wanted to roll his eyes. But he didn’t. He was doing his job, and he knew how lucky he was. He was living his dream, so if smiling and answering goofy questions to please his fans was the worst thing he had to do, he’d roll with it.

Maggie’s hand holding the mike was shaking. “So, even though you don’t have a girlfriend, I was just wondering if there’s anyone you like right now, like, anyone you
really
like.”

LJ had given them an answer for this question, as well, but Miles’s brain couldn’t seem to remember it. Instead, he found his gaze sliding to Aimee and locking there.

He knew he was grinning, he knew she was grinning, and it suddenly felt like there was no one else in that huge, over-packed room but the two of them.

Was there anyone he liked right now, anyone he
really
liked?

Hell, yes.

Luckily, his mind snapped awake before anyone noticed, and he returned his gaze to the crowd. “Well, we’re hella busy, Maggie,” he said, resuming the rehearsed, safe answers. “But that doesn’t mean I don’t notice when a pretty girl’s in the room. And I’m noticing that now.”

This got the expected reaction of giggles and screams and excited sobs, and the rest of the press conference went on as expected. After the fellas thanked everyone for coming, Miles scraped back his chair and stood, relieved the thing was over.

“Out to the bus, guys,” LJ said. “The techs are having issues with the venue, so early sound check in thirty.”

“Minecraft is paused,” Trevin said, “and I’m about to level up. Care to make it interesting on the way over?”

“Bring it,” Miles said with a grin. He was following Trev out of the room when he spotted Nick by the door. And blimey, did he look pissed. “Um, actually, I’ll meet you there.”

“’Kay,” Trevin said, then left with the others.

“Dude, at last!” Miles held up a fist in greeting, but Nick didn’t bump him back. “Haven’t seen you in days. They keeping you busy?”

“I saw that,” Nick said.