Chapter 2

I woke up pretty late on Sunday after a very late night out watching the band that Chef had booked at the Blue Ridge the night before. They had been a straight rock band and were really good. Plus, it was nice to be just a member of the audience for the first time in a long time.

It was late enough that I was honestly shocked to find myself all alone when I finally got up and walked around the house. Kat was still asleep, which maybe wasn’t surprising since she’d been with me at the show, but Mrs. Phillips was nowhere to be found. She didn’t usually show houses on Sunday, so it was a little bit of a surprise to not see her.

I poured myself a mug of coffee and settled onto the couch, trying to figure out what to do with the day. School had just started, so I didn’t really have anything in the way of homework, and we didn’t have to be to the Blue Ridge to set up until around four, which left me in the unusual position of having nothing to do.

Well, there was one thing I had been putting off and procrastinating about that I figured I needed to get to eventually. Pulling out my phone, I called Hanna on video chat. We hadn’t spoken since Christmas when everyone had flown out to California to watch me in the finals of The Stage and things over the last few months had been tense, to say the very least.

“Charlie?” Hanna’s face filled the screen. “Everything okay?”

It was a fair question. I usually checked in with her before I called, just to make sure she wasn’t busy, and when I did call out of the blue, it was usually because there was a problem.

“I’m fine. Just wanted to catch up since we haven’t talked in a little while.”

“Ohh, yeah. I guess we haven’t. So what’s going on? How are things?”

“Good actually. Warren’s already got us some gigs booked and there’s interest for more, so it looks like he was right, getting on the show did end the MAC blockade.”

“Really? Charlie, that’s great.”

“I know, but it’s not even the best part. Next month, right before the tour starts, I’m going to be on The Late Show with Hayden Brooks.”

“Shut up! You’re not.”

“Swear to God. It’s mostly arranged through The Stage production company to build up hype for the show and the tour. Warren says it’s because The Stage is partially done by NBN, so it’s in-house. Honestly, I don’t care why. I’m going to be on freaking TV.”

“You already were on TV,” she pointed out.

“It’s not the same, and you know it. I was a competitor on a show, which was cool, but now I get to sit in the same seat movie stars do and get interviewed on like ... a real show.”

“Charlie. I ... man, I can’t tell you how happy I am for you. It’s really happening.”

“That’s what I said. But, we have time to get excited about it as it gets closer. You stayed to work on a project over the winter break. I want to hear about it.”

“Nah, it’s boring.”

“Bore me.”

“Thanks,” she said, rolling her eyes.

“That’s not what I meant. I mean, I just want to hear what you’ve been up to. We’ve both been so busy, I feel like I don’t know what’s going on with you anymore.”

“Fine, but I warned you,” she said.

She then launched into a story about her latest business project. I really wasn’t following it all that closely, since she was kind of in the weeds, but that didn’t matter. Her eyes lit up as she talked about it and, her thing with Professor Cross aside, I knew she loved her major and was truly excited to talk about what she was learning. So I did my job. I listened, nodding along and asking questions at the right moments. I wanted her to know that I cared about what she cared about.

We talked for almost thirty more minutes before things started to wind down.

After a prolonged silence, she said, “Hey, Charlie? Don’t mention to my mom that we talked, okay?”

“I thought things were going better between you two.”

“We haven’t had a fight, exactly, but things have been ... tense. I can tell she’s thinking about everything that’s happened. She might not say anything, but I know she’s judging me about it.”

For a moment, I didn’t say anything. I’d been ignoring the elephant pretty hard during our conversation so far, but that didn’t mean I condoned what she was doing either. I agreed with her mom that this was going to blow up, but I also didn’t want to burn bridges while we waited for it to happen. It was also a strange thing to ask, since she knew I’d agreed to stay neutral and I never mentioned what we talked about to her mother and would tell her if I was going to.

“You two need to work this out, but I’m not going to get in the middle of it. I promise I won’t say anything.”

“Good. I’m sorry it puts you in a tough place, but I just don’t want to keep fighting with her about it. You know? I get to date who I want to date, and no matter how it’s going with him, I don’t want to be judged for it.”

There it was. She wanted to talk about her relationship, but she wanted me to ask about it. I knew Hanna well enough to know she wouldn’t have just brought it up out of the blue.

I suppressed a sigh and asked, “So, how are things going with Professor Cross?”

“Honestly? Not great. He’s been ... I don’t know ... distant lately.”

“Distant how?”

“Like he’s pulling away from me. We don’t spend as much time together, and when we do, it’s like his mind is somewhere else. I’ll be talking to him and realize he hasn’t heard a word I said.”

I fought back the urge to say I told you so or point out that this was probably a good thing. Hanna was an adult, capable of making her own choices, and Professor Cross being a sleazeball wasn’t exactly news. I’d made my thoughts clear already. Repeating them now wouldn’t help anything.

“Any idea why?”

“I think it’s because I haven’t made him a big enough of a part of my life. You know, outside of school. He wants to go out and do things together, meet my friends, but with this deal I made with Mom ... I can’t do that.”

I severely doubted that was the issue, but again, I kept my mouth shut. In my experience, guys like Cross were only interested in one thing, and it wasn’t being introduced to their girlfriend’s friends and family. In fact, that was almost certainly the last thing he’d want.

“It’s not fair, Charlie. I should be able to have my boyfriend over without everyone making it a big deal or changing the subject every time he comes up. I want my mom and Kat and everyone else to accept that our relationship is real and celebrate it. And because they can’t, I might be losing him.”

I tried. I really did. But the third time really was the charm. I don’t know how Hanna managed to delude herself like this, but she was out of her mind if she thought her mom or anyone else accepting her relationship was the reason she was losing his interest. Odds were, he’d found another co-ed to date and was ready to change up again.

“Hanna, I get it. I really do, but you have to accept this is complicated. You’re dating your professor, and that is always going to be something that’s hard for your friends and family to accept. Have you considered that maybe the reason he’s growing distant is he’s ... you know ... seeing someone else?”

The silence on the other end of the line was deafening. For a moment, I thought the call had dropped.

“What do you mean?” she said.

I could hear the anger in her voice.

“I’m just saying, from what I’ve heard, he’s made a habit of this kind of thing. Dating students.”

“And who exactly did you hear that from, Charlie?”

“That’s not important. What I’m trying to say...”

“I know what you’re trying to say. You’re trying to say he doesn’t actually care about me and he’s just using me, and I’m too stupid to understand it. Right? And Kat’s over there, chatting away, telling you whatever gossip she hears that makes me look bad, isn’t she?”

“It’s not like that.”

“The hell it isn’t. Well, you know what? You two can keep your concerns to yourselves. I don’t need it, and I sure as hell don’t need friends who go around talking behind my back about how much of an idiot I am.”

“Hanna, wait. That’s not what...”

But it was too late. The line went dead as she hung up on me.

I was staring at the phone in my hand, mentally kicking myself for letting that call get out of hand, when Kat came thundering down the steps. She kind of peeked around the banister and, when she saw me sitting by myself on the couch, came the rest of the way down, still wearing the long t-shirt she slept in.

“Who were you talking to?”

“Hanna,” I said, holding up my phone. “I called her to catch up, since we haven’t really talked since Christmas.”

I think she could hear something in my voice because she asked, “Oh, how’d that go?”

“Not great, actually. I told her about the Nashville gig and being invited on Hayden Brooks’s show, which was fine. But then she asked me not to mention our conversation to her mom because they’re fighting about the professor.”

“Of course they are.”

“Have you talked to her recently? In the last few days?”

“No, not really. I mean, the last time we actually talked was in California. Things got a little ... tense. Hanna was trying really hard to get me to hang out with her and her ‘boyfriend’ when we got back to school,” she said, using air quotes around the word and wrinkling her nose. “I managed to dodge the invitation, but it was awkward. I’ve kind of been avoiding dealing with the whole situation since then. Why?”

“There’s something going on with her and her professor. She seemed, I don’t know, tense. She was definitely looking for sympathy and made some comments about things being difficult between them because her friends and family wouldn’t meet him, offending him or something?”

“That’s some bullshit,” Kat said, her face about summing up what I thought about it.

“Right? I mean, it’s pretty obvious he’s the one who wants to keep things on the down low.”

Kat nodded vigorously. “Exactly. He’s a professor dating a student. There’s no way he wants that getting out. It could ruin his career.”

“That’s what I told her! I said it seems like, from what she was saying, he was seeing someone else and it was kind of a pattern with him. She didn’t take it well, yelled at me, and hung up.”

“Ugh,” Kat groaned, flopping down on the couch beside me. “This is such a mess. I don’t know what she’s thinking.”

“I know. I’m not looking to start a thing with her, and I won’t mention it again, but it’s making it very hard to deal with her.”

“Yeah,” Kat said, kind of letting her voice trail off.

I knew it was hard for her, too. Hanna had quickly become her best friend, and Kat was one of the most loyal people I’d ever known. I knew it was eating her up, there being tension between them. But there was also nothing we could do about it since actually feeding into the insanity would be worse.

“So, on a happier topic,” I said, sitting up and shaking off the mood I was about to sink into. “I talked to Warren yesterday about what you said on Tuesday, about wanting to be more involved in things.”

Kat perked up. “Yeah? What did he say?”

“Well, he was talking about how we needed to get a better presence online, on social media and stuff, since we’re starting to get more exposure. I guess it’s important once things get to the next level, which the talk show definitely is. He wants someone to manage posting on my accounts, since I’ll be too busy when we’re on tour. I thought maybe you could do it, if you want to.”

Kat’s eyes lit up and she bounced in her seat a little. “Really? I’d love to! I could totally run your socials.”

“I figured you’d be into it. You’ve always been better at social media and well, everything, than me. Seemed like a good fit.”

“This is perfect. I can do the band accounts too! It’ll be so much fun, and I can make sure everything looks great and really represents you guys well.”

“That’s what I told Warren you’d say. He wasn’t so sure about it at first.”

Kat’s smile faltered. “What? Why not?”

“He didn’t say no, he just felt like there’s a lot on the line and, once you get to a certain level, there’s a lot of liabilities and stuff. Like, if you say the wrong thing you can lose jobs or even get sued. People don’t care when you’re a no-one, but once you hit a certain level, you get a target painted on your back. He’s right, but I don’t think that would be a problem with you. Besides, he was talking about hiring someone to post, like, tour dates and stuff. Really dry. I told him you’d be way better at it.”

“Damn right I would be. I know you and the band way better than some random person he’d hire. Plus, hello, I’m literally a college student. I know what works on social media way better than Warren does.”

“Right? He was talking about it like it was some kind of corporate thing, but that’s not what I want. I mean, yeah, my personal account should still be me, but the band account should have some personality, too.”