Little Do We Know(27)

“Okay,” I said with a sigh. I wished I could make the miles between us disappear. “Text me if anything changes.”

“Promise. Oh, and Luke told me to give you a message.”

“What?”

“He said ‘goodnight’?” She giggled. “I have no idea what that means, but it seemed important to him that I told you, so there you have it.”

I smiled into the phone. “Tell him I’m glad he’s okay. And that I said ‘goodnight.’”





“What are we doing tonight?” Alyssa asked after SonRise practice ended. “I want to do something fun. Jack and Logan don’t have plans either. We could all go get pizza, or go bowling or something.”

I hadn’t told her I’d made plans to help Aaron finish up the video. I wasn’t keeping it a secret from her or anything, I was just kind of hoping it wouldn’t come up.

I glanced over at him on the stage, gathering up all the microphone stands to return them to the storage room.

Alyssa followed my gaze. “Ooh, I have an idea! Let’s see if Aaron wants to come.”

“He can’t. He has plans.”

“Sure,” Jack said. “I bet he’s got plans for a big Tinder-filled evening.” Logan laughed hard. I hadn’t realized the two of them were standing behind me.

Alyssa slapped him with the back of her hand. “He does not. He has a girlfriend.” Then she laughed along. “He’s going home to an empty house to FaceTime with her? Which is even more pathetic.” She looked back at me. “You’re the one who told me he didn’t have any friends here. Let’s take him out, show him the town and all that.”

Before I could say anything else, she turned her back on me and strutted toward the stage. “Hey, Aaron,” she said as she climbed the steps. She gestured toward Jack, Logan, and me. “The four of us are going out tonight, and we’ve decided that you should join us. What do you think? Wanna come?”

“Tonight?” Aaron asked. He looked right at me. “Oh. I thought you were going to stay and finish our video project?”

Our video project.

Alyssa flipped around and locked her eyes on mine.

“But it’s okay,” Aaron said with a dismissive wave. “Seriously. I shouldn’t have asked you to stay and work on a Friday night.”

A slow smile spread across Alyssa’s lips and before she said a word, I knew exactly what she was thinking. She turned toward Aaron again. “No, it’s cool,” she said. “I’ll stay and help you two. We’ll get it done faster, and then we can meet up with Logan and Jack.” She raised an eyebrow at me and then looked back at Aaron. “Sound good?”

The word no was right on my lips. There were only two stools in the sound booth, and Aaron and I could barely squeeze ourselves into that area in front of the monitor as it was. Besides, this was our project.

But none of that mattered, because Aaron answered right away. “Sure,” he said. “Give me a minute to put all this stuff away, and we’ll get started.” He left through the door, carrying the mic stands in both hands, and Alyssa skipped down the stairs.

Alyssa gripped my arm. “This is even better!” she whispered.

It wasn’t better. It wasn’t better at all.

“You ready?” he asked as he walked past us, down the aisle, and out the back doors that separated the sanctuary from the foyer.

As we followed him up the steps that led to the balcony, Alyssa asked, “So, what’s Beth doing tonight?” She looked over her shoulder and shot me a grin.

“She’s going out with her friends,” Aaron said as he reached the landing and turned toward the sound booth. Alyssa and I followed him.

“So, you two are pretty serious?” Alyssa asked.

“I guess.”

“What does that mean, you guess?”

Aaron worked the dead bolt, jiggling the key in the slot a few times and leaning into the door until everything lined up and it unlatched with a thunk. “Well, we’ve been together for six years and we’re talking about getting engaged this summer.”

Alyssa looked at me, and then back at him. “You’re talking about getting engaged?”

He pushed the door open, stepped inside, and flipped the light on. “Sure. It’s time. We’ve been together since our sophomore year of high school. Our families have been friends all our lives, so…” He trailed off as he gestured to the mini fridge. I knew what he meant.

Aaron kept walking, heading straight for the computer, but I stopped and grabbed three sodas from the fridge. I handed Alyssa a Sprite and took one for myself, and then grabbed a Coke for Aaron. I moved quickly. I wanted to get to the open stool before Alyssa could claim it.

“Here.” I handed him the can.

“Thanks.” He smiled.

Alyssa didn’t seem to mind that she didn’t have a seat. All her attention was focused on the mixing board. She had her whole body bent over it, sliding controllers, and messing with dials. “What do these stickers mean?” she asked, pointing at four colored dots that seemed to correspond with a set of controls.

“Those are for SonRise.” He pointed at the blue dot. “That’s you, Alyssa.”

“Aww, how did you know blue was my favorite color?” She popped her hip as she said it.