Taught: A City's Secrets Novella Read Online Free PDF Page B

near-kiss in the stairwell. I had no clue what came over me, why I would invite her, or why I would try something like kissing a student. But it happened, like I was suddenly outside of myself, or at least it almost happened. I’ll never know if she would have kissed me back, but she wasn’t pulling away at least.
    I couldn’t get her out of my mind. It wasn’t exactly inappropriate, but maybe that made it more exciting. Part of me hoped she wouldn’t show up, so I could let the whole thing go, but part of me wanted to catch her eye in the crowd. I wanted to see that fucking sexy frustrated look again.
    “What’s up man?” George said, pulling me back into the night. The bar was hot and loud, partially full, but not yet packed. It was an hour before we went on, and I already felt like I needed to change into a less sweaty shirt.
    “Nothing really,” I said.
    “You seem a little off tonight.”
    “Guess I’m distracted.”
    “Well, get your shit together, it’s a big show.”
    I nodded. George was right: I couldn’t afford to obsess. We had been working hard on our songs for the past few months, and there was some pretty good buzz out there about us. A lot of it came after we changed our name from Slimmer Pickings to Honest Mystery, which I guessed was catchier or something. Still, it was a big show for us, a huge step up from the usual spots.
    “I’m fine, don’t worry about it,” I said. I was the lead guitarist and backup singer; George played bass, Andy played drums, and Tom played rhythm guitar and was the lead vocalist. If he didn’t show up, I wasn’t sure what we’d do.
    Andy slipped his way through the crowd and stood next to George.
    “Tom’s running late,” he said.
    “Fuck, he’s such an asshole,” George said.
    “What’s his excuse this time?” I asked.
    Andy shrugged. “Got a flat tire, apparently.”
    That was possible. Tom had been living with a girlfriend outside of the city, so he had to drive in to make our gigs.
    “He’d better get here soon,” George grumbled, and went back to drinking.
    I scanned the crowd again, half convinced that every cute, young girl I saw was Emma. I sighed and went back to my drink, trying to keep her smile out of my head.
    ––––––––
    G eorge counted us down. The lights were bright and hot, and as we began to play I felt high and exhausted all at once. We sounded good; Tom showed up and was mercifully neither drunk nor high for once in his useless life. I had to admit, though, that when he was on stage, Tom was the best front man I had ever seen. He was personable, high energy, had a good voice, and could play his instrument. He put on a show for the people, and he didn’t just strum. If he could get his shit together, he’d go somewhere, with or without us.
    I kept my eyes on the middle distance and focused on my playing. As soon as I hit the first note, everything but the songs drifted from my mind. No Emma, no money problems, nothing, just the rush of making music in front of people. The crowd seemed pretty into it, as far as I could tell. We powered through our first song, an up-tempo power rock anthem meant as a tribute to old school glam bands. As we hit the final note, and Tom began to banter with the crowd a bit, I looked over the faces looking back at us, and out toward the bar.
    My heart nearly stopped: sitting between a guy I recognized and a girl I didn’t was Emma. We locked eyes for a second, and I was positive she smiled, until Dillon pulled at her arm. I quickly looked away as George counted us down for the next song, and we began to play.
    I couldn’t believe she showed up. After the stairwell, I had gone back to the library every day until closing to try and run into her again, but I hadn’t seen her anywhere. I wandered around the first and third floors as well, but as far as I could tell she wasn’t working at all. It was possible she only worked Tuesdays, but I guessed something else had happened. I