Indigo Blues (24 page)

On the way home, I call Cat. "Good or bad news first?"

She doesn't hesitate. "Good. Always."

"We have a reason to go to New York next weekend."

"Really? Do we need a place to stay? Because, you
know, my cousin Jane's dying to have us visit."

I slow for the blinking red light on Evergreen Street.
Nobody is out tonight, and there's only a few other cars on
the road. "That's if we want to go."

"What's the catch, then?"

"Eli booked me on The Sabian Lime Show with Adam."

She screams into the phone. "No way! I love that show!
When do we leave?"

"Not so fast." I hit another light. This one's at the intersection of Route 16 and is not blinking. "It's about
twisted loves and could be a total disaster."

"No, this is what you need. This is your comeback!"

"My comeback? I never knew I left."

"Well, your moment to shine, then."

I pull into my driveway but don't get out. "I don't
know. This could be a huge mistake."

"It's going to be awesome. I'll help you come up with
some solid answers like I did for Krista's interview. Think of
it as a girls' weekend in the city-shopping, parties, good
food."

"What about our parents?"

"Well, we know yours will be cool with it. And trust
me, if I can get you to say yes, I can get my parents to. So
do I hear a yes?"

I turn Darnell off and grab the box of Rocky Road fudge
that Mom asked me to bring home. "Si," I finally say.

"Yay, you won't regret this!" Cat makes kissy sounds
into the phone.

"I hope you're right," I mumble.

'm still totally shocked that Eli got Indigo to agree to
this interview. Because it also means that I can't back
out now. I better not choke, or I'll never hear the end of it
from Gina. She's been really stressing out about our image.
I never knew so much went into creating a lasting band.
Silly me. I used to think it was all about the music.

I meet up with Hannah for dinner. She insists we eat
in the Village at Bali Cafe. I've never heard of it before, but
she said I won't be sorry. Hope the eats are good, because
I'm starving.

She's sitting at a window table when I arrive, gabbing
on her glittery pink cell. She motions for me to sit down.
There's a basket of bread on the table, so I take a piece and dip it into the oil. I look around at the wicker furniture
and hanging paper lanterns. This place is so white. I wonder how they keep it so clean.

"I'll be off in a sec," Hannah mouths.

"Okay." I nod. She's decked out in a body-hugging turquoise dress. Not that I'm complaining. I glance down at
my white button down. I'm as white as the restaurant linen.
I check out the other customers-Hannah definitely stands
out. The couple at the table next to us is sporting the cowboy look in flannel button-downs and jeans. They have to
be tourists.

I peruse the menu until Hannah ends her call. "The
curry chicken is really good if you like spicy food."

"I do. I was thinking of ordering it. You too?"

"No, I'm getting a salad. I have an audition in four
days. Need to drop five pounds." She pats her stomach.

I have a career make-or-break interview in three days,
but I don't tell her or she'd want to tag along. Something
tells me I need to go to this thing solo, especially since the
topic is twisted loves. Now, if they were doing a show on
love triangles, Hannah could dive right in. And before the
show was over I'm sure there'd be at least one black eye.

"So what kind of food is this, exactly?" I ask after the
waiter takes our orders.

"Midwest Indian fusion."

"Ah, that would explain the sides of corn bread and
mashed potatoes on the menu and the couple next to us."

Hannah eyes the cowboys. "I don't know why no one's
coming up to us."

"You need the waiter to come back?" I try flagging him
down.

"No, I'm talking about the customers. This place is
known for star gazing."

"Well, I don't see any stars here." I laugh.

"You're a star in the making." Hannah fluffs back her
hair.

I've got a good name for you, star catcher. "If I can make
music and stay under the radar, I'll be fine with that." I
lean back in the chair and cross my legs. It's nice to be able
to sit at a restaurant and not worry if someone is going to
snap a pic of me with spaghetti sauce on my face or spinach in my teeth.

"You don't want to be famous?" She jerks her head
back, making her eyes bug out. I might as well have told
her I'm gay, given the look of shock on her face.

"Not particularly." I hand the busboy my glass for a
refill of water. "Do you?"

"Ah, yeah."

I never thought about how Indigo must feel about her
sudden fame. Even if it's on a small scale just around town,
I think it's the staring that gets to you. It's going to be so
weird seeing her for the first time in five months on the
set of a TV show. Maybe we should get together before.
Or maybe not. Indigo probably doesn't want to see me at
all. I bet she's just coming to the city to meet with Sabian
and then she'll head right back home. She'll probably even
blow right out of the studio after the interview and never
look back.

"Well, not me," I say to Hannah. "If making music
ever stops being fun, I'm out."

Hannah frowns. "I'll be right back. I need to freshen
up." She grabs her purse and heads for the restroom, checking out the people on the way no doubt.

I'm on my third piece of bread when my phone beeps.
I pull it out of my pocket. It's a text from Indigo.

Onboard for sabian. u?

I think about writing on a hot date with a star catcher,
but I'm so over being mad at her.

Yup. should be interesting.

I look up. Hannah's making like the hallway from the
bathroom is her catwalk. Her mega-heels make a clicking
sound against the wood floor as she slowly walks toward
me.

I quickly type: Eli is something else!

So tru0.

I guess mad people don't use happy faces, so at least
she won't be out for blood on the show. I think.

Hannah sits back down. "Turns out we're here on the
wrong night. Most celebs dine at Bali early in the week."

Makes perfect sense. When the star catchers are not
there. The waiter brings the food to the table and I dig
right in. "Chicken's good."

"Mmm, yes." Hannah slowly chews her lettuce. "Are
we still on for the party on Saturday night?"

"Yeah, I'm in. You say the host is a friend of yours?"

"I met him at school. He's a grad student, comes from a
lot of money. He's throwing himself this birthday bash, at his
place in Soho. He promises it'll be a party to remember."

"Guy knows how to party!" I chug down my water-this
stuff is spicy. "Will there be any celebrities at the party?"

"Are you making fun of me?" Hannah pouts.

"Never."

at, I can't believe we're actually here!" I grab my
bag from the top rack of the Peter Pan bus. This
week passed like dial-up Internet as we waited for Saturday
to roll around, and we caught the seven a.m. this morning
to make sure we had plenty of time to hang out in the city.
We would've left last night, but Cat's parents were against
us arriving in the dark. I was so grateful that they let her
come with me that neither of us argued. The only thing
my parents were concerned about was that I don't show
up in wrinkled clothing for my national debut. Personally, I'm just glad that Eli wasn't able to make it. He had
already committed to filming a safety video for our local
Ace Hardware.

"Yes, this is so cool. New York, watch out, we are ready
to rock!" Cat screams. And surprisingly, no one gives her
a second glance. They're all too busy trying to get to their
destinations.

We shuttle out of the bus terminal and hail a cab to
Jane's house in Brooklyn. If it wasn't for Cat I'd be totally
lost. I've been to New York a few times with my parents and
once on a school art trip, but I never really paid attention
to how the streets worked or where I was going. The place
is so huge-unlike Caulder, which is basically like living in
a snow globe. I'm not sure if I'm ready to see Adam again,
especially in a TV studio, so being separated in a city of
millions is fine with me. The whole thing makes me queasy.
I'm just going to focus on shopping and hanging out at
Pirate's Booty, the restaurant where Jane works. When I go
to college, I want to get a job at a restaurant with an equally
cool name. It won't be easy to top Rock Candy, though.

The cab driver slams on his brakes. "Okay, this is Mayfair." I look up at the gray building. It's the same as the one
next to it. Not exactly how I pictured New York living, but
then I guess Jane is a grad student, not a hotel heiress.

We ring the buzzer to Apartment 42 and the door
unlocks, but we're too slow to catch it and have to buzz
again. We quickly open the door and head straight for the
elevator. While we're waiting for it, Jane comes charging
down the stairs. "I thought you guys got lost." She gives
Cat a huge hug. Then me.

"We must seem like such tourists." I laugh.

"Nah. It takes a while to get used to the city." She hits
the button for the elevator again and of course it pops open.
We file in. "So are you guys ready to have some fun?"

"Yes!" we both say.

"Cool. I'm not working tonight until five. Let's drop
your stuff off, and we can go out for lunch. Then tonight
you can have dinner at Pirate's Booty. There's always a lot
of ambience there."

"Thanks, Cuz, for letting us stay here." We follow her
into her apartment and Cat walks around, checking out
Jane's place. There's a leather sofa and pin-striped armchair
in the living room. Next to it is a small kitchen with barely
enough room to fit a table and two chairs. But the red and
purple curtains on the windows and antique-looking vases
displayed around the place make the apartment seem very
charming.

"Hey, it's small but it's mine," Jane says. I know enough
about city living to know that her parents are picking up
the tab for her rent-there's no way she could afford even a
small place like this.