“I’m not going to let you wallow alone,” Keira insisted.
“Yes, you are. Seriously. You should call Walker. And then practice. And then go on a date, because God knows one of us should see a hot guy tonight.”
Keira hesitated. She did want to see Walker, mostly to find out if he was causing her visions.
But not when her piano playing was such a mess. Everything else was just going to have to wait while she worked on that.
Keira shook her head. “I’m going to be a twitchy mess until I get this music-block sorted out.”
“So practice fast,” Susan suggested, snapping her flute case shut.
“I’ll try,” she promised.
After Susan left, Keira went back to the piano and ran scales until her fingers burned as badly as the knot in her chest. The only way she knew how to unravel a knot like that was to play the right music, and, just then, none of the music was right.
I am so screwed.
? ? ?
Keira’s parents both came home for dinner. Keira retreated into her room while her parents mixed themselves cocktails and ignored each other.
She shut her door. Maybe an hour of homework wouldn’t kill her. Surely by then one of her parents would have cracked under the strain of so much politeness and left the house. There was no way she could practice with them slinking around, anyway.
She opened her chemistry book, flipped to the right page, and stared at the equations. The part of her brain that worked through music told her that there was a pattern here, too, but she couldn’t see what it was for the life of her.
Her phone rang and Keira slammed the book shut before she’d even bothered to check who was calling. Anyone would be better than chemistry.
But it was better than anyone. It was Walker.
“Hey,” he said. “You busy?”
“Not exactly,” Keira admitted.
“Well, are you busy tomorrow?”
The flutter in her stomach was nothing like butterflies. “I don’t have any special plans,” she said carefully.
“A standing date with your piano?” Walker guessed.
“Yes.”
Every time he did something to show how well he understood her, she fell for him a little bit harder.
“Do you have time for a date with me? If not, I demand a rain check. And I’ll want it to be made of actual rain.”
Keira laughed. “So you’re telling me it’ll take less time to go out with you than to make you a rain check?”
“Smart and pretty. You’re too good for me. Want to see a movie with me in spite of that?”
There was nothing in her that wanted to say no. So she didn’t.
“Sure. What’s playing?”
“Dunno. Don’t care. I just thought it’d be fun to sit in the dark with you for two hours.”
Heat flooded Keira’s cheeks. “You just want someone to hold your hand during the scary parts.”
“True.” There was a faint clicking on his end of the phone. “Ah. Perfect. Alien Invaders IV? Starts at seven thirty? That should have lots of scary parts.”
“Alien Invaders IV? Really?” It didn’t seem like his style. Or hers.
“It’s that or some movie about a talking dog.”
“Oh, God, aliens. Please. Aliens.”
“That’s what I thought. I’m working until six thirty—I’ll pick you up after, okay?”
Keira remembered her promise to find Susan some new music.
“Actually . . . I told Susan that I’d help her find a different piece for her flute. So, um, we’re coming to Take Note anyway—maybe we could time it so that you and I could leave after that?”
“Sounds great,” he said.
“Okay,” she said softly. “See you then.”
Chapter Eighteen
AT SIX O’CLOCK THE next night, Keira and Susan walked into Take Note. Well, Keira walked in. Susan trudged. When she’d heard that Keira was ditching her for a date with Walker, all the light had gone out of her.
The door chimed as they pushed it open, and Walker turned to look at them.
He wasn’t the only one.
At first, Keira’s gaze skittered over the sharp-featured guy standing across the counter from Walker. Just another customer. Except . . . She looked back at him. His black hoodie and dark jeans were unremarkable, and his faded Chucks weren’t noteworthy. His nose bent slightly, as though it had been broken before, which added an air of toughness to his face.
The thing that caught Keira’s attention most was that, though his hair was stick-straight, it was the same shining ebony as Walker’s curls. And when he looked over and caught Keira staring at him, his eyes were the same shade of charcoal that Walker’s were.
The only difference was that Walker’s eyes were full of concern, while Mystery Guy’s held nothing but curiosity.
Keira stepped forward and held out her hand. “You must be Walker’s cousin, huh?”
The guy looked down at her outstretched fingers and his slightly-too-thin lips pursed in confusion before he extended his own palm.
His handshake was limp enough that it made Keira want to wipe her hand against the leg of her jeans. She resisted the urge.