“It was stupid of—”
“Stupid?” My finger shot right up into his face. “I am not stupid and I am not going to listen to your insults. I may not be some top-tier, ultrachic sex-teen who fawns all over you, but I am sure as hell not--”
“Nina. Stop.” He grabbed my outstretched arm and pulled me up close to him. “You are not stupid. I am.” He kissed me. It was like electric currents racing through my body. After what seemed like a much-too-short eternity, we came up for air, but he still held me close. “I will never let anyone hurt you, ever.” It felt so right, being in his arms. I ignored the bit of doubt in the back of my head—this didn’t feel like he was only interested in me for my father.
His hot breath on my neck sent little tremors though my whole body. I was shivering, but not from the cold.
“Skivs, I’m an idiot.” He ripped his jacket off and threw it over my shoulders. “Let’s get inside; you must be frozen.”
When we were back at the table, Sandy made no secret of scrutinizing me and Sal. He’d scooted his chair next to mine and was holding my hand under the table. She grinned, pretty smugly, and said, “Sixteen’s right around the corner, Nina. Told you…”
I felt a blush rising up my neck and started to pull my hand away from Sal’s, but he wouldn’t let go. And I didn’t mind.
“Oh, come on, it’s not like you can stop it from happening.” Flouncing her hair, Sandy gave a quick glance around the room. “By the way, have you heard from Ed?”
Sal squeezed my hand; Wei and Mike stared at Sandy.
“What did I say?”
I grabbed a napkin and wrote, Can we find somewhere DZ to talk? I pushed it into the middle of the table.
“Not until after Derek plays,” Mike said. “He’s counting on us being here. Besides, we couldn’t leave him out of this.”
Everyone nodded in agreement, except Sandy, who still looked confused. “What’s going on?”
Wei whispered something to her and she didn’t say anything else.
Mike was right. I wasn’t too eager to leave anyway; Ed might still be out there.
Derek and Riley started their set. They weren’t playing the electro-tech that everyone listened to, which didn’t surprise me. Media owned all the popular broadcast stations, so all music was government sanctioned. Occasionally a rogue broadcaster would tap into PAV airwaves and play old protest songs from the 1960s and the 2070s. The GC really hated that. Ginnie’d always said that they persecuted the rogues because the music they played made people think about what freedom really was. Those underground broadcasters were always on the run from the Audio Media Management agents, so there was no telling when you could hear them.
The guys were great. I was glad I hadn’t insisted we leave. I wouldn’t have ruined Derek’s moment in the spotlight for anything. When a string on his guitar snapped, he and Riley took a short break. While the room was relatively quiet, I listened in on Sandy’s conversation with Wei. She was rattling on about the guys in her school, all the XVIIIs.
Sal nudged me to look at Mike. His elbow was on the table, his chin firmly seated on his hand; he was hanging on Sandy’s every word like she was giving directions to the lost treasure of San Cabalo—or the nearest free all-you-can-eat buffet.
As he leaned close, Sal’s lips barely touched my earlobe. “Looks like he’s smitten,” he whispered.
That can’t be, I thought. Mike being infatuated with Sandy would not be good, not at all. Even though she herself was low tier, she looked down her nose at welfare families. No matter how low you are, you can always find someone lower, I thought. Two of my best friends on a collision course with disaster; I knew which one would be crushed.
I noticed Wei’s eyes were glassed over and her smile looked more than a little forced. Sandy’s babbling on about FeLS and boys definitely had that effect on people. I started to intervene, but Derek and Riley took care of interference by playing again.
The crowd loved them so much they did three encores. When they finished, Riley went to the table where his twentieth-century music clique was sitting. They were going nuts, pounding him on the back and yelling like he’d just won a free trip to Galacticaland.
“Well… ?” Derek avoided direct eye contact with all of us, he was so nervous. “What’d you guys think?”
“I loved it!” Wei said.
“It was cool,” Sandy said, leaning forward so her shirt gaped open more. Then she tossed her hair just like the girls in the XVI Ways how-to guide.
“What kind of music is it, Derek?” I hoped to steer Sandy off course.
“Zydeco. From New Orleans.”
The blank look on all our faces demanded an explanation.
“Oh, come on, guys. The city that was totaled after the Cat Six hurricane in 2025. What was it called? Hey, Ri,” he yelled across the tables. “What was the name of that storm that took out New Orleans?”
“Sandra!” Riley yelled back.
“That’s the one—Sandra.”
“That’s my name,” Sandy squealed.
“Huh?” Derek shook his head and went on: “It was like the third hurricane to hit in a couple of decades. It washed away so much land, there wasn’t anywhere left to rebuild.”
“After that storm and the multiple oil disasters in the Gulf, that’s when they finally got serious about alternatives for oil, wasn’t it?” Sal asked.
He, Derek, and Mike started to talk about fuels, which I knew would lead to a discussion of transports. We’d be there forever if I didn’t interrupt.
“Can we go?”
“What?” Derek asked.
I held up the napkin so he could read it, and mouthed, “Ed.”
“Is Dee okay?”
“Yes, but we need to, you know…” I gestured toward the napkin. “Come on, let’s go.”
“I’ve gotta put my guitar away.”
“Just do it, then.” No sooner were the words out of my mouth, and I saw his reaction, than I felt awful. It was his big night and I had just ruined it by being a bitch. “Derek, I’m sorry,” I called after him as he walked back to the makeshift stage and put his guitar in its case. He either didn’t hear me or he didn’t want to.
Wei’s eyes followed him as he packed up his music.
“I should’ve been nicer,” I said.
“Yeah,” Sandy replied. “That was über-B. What’s got into you?”
“You need to hear the whole story first.” Wei turned her back on Sandy. Reassuring me, she said, “He won’t mind once he finds out what happened.”
Over Wei’s shoulder I saw Sandy’s eyes narrow and I knew what was coming next. The last thing anyone needed was Sandy losing her temper.
“I’ll apologize, okay?” I directed my words at Sandy.
She shrugged and proceeded to fuss with her hair and straighten her jacket. I noticed a couple of guys checking her out. I glanced at Mike. The look on his face was unquestionably fanaholic.
Derek’s shoulders slumped as he walked back to us, guitar case in hand.
On the way out I whispered, “I really am sorry. You were great. Everyone loved you guys.”
“Yeah, thanks.” He repositioned his guitar between us, eyes intent on the sidewalk.
Tangling with Ed had been bad enough, but hurting one of my best friends felt worse. Derek had always been there for me, and I’d just stomped all over him. I’d have to make it right, somehow.
“Where can we go?” I asked.
“The park,” Sal said. “Not far from your moun—by that place where we met. There’s a vert tower near there, it’s not total DZ but it scrambles everything.”
“Not like anyone’s paying attention to us anyway,” Derek said, scuffling his feet along.
Wei caught up to him. “I wouldn’t be so sure…” She began whispering to him.