A Gift of Wings (3 page)

“Mo just texted me,” Lucky said as they were getting into the car. “I’m so lame. I haven’t even thought about calling or texting her. I mean, she knew I was going to be busy these last few days, what with G-Ma, and you moving in and everything, but…. She’s my best friend. I should have called her. About tonight, at least.”

“Ask her to come along if you want.”

“Really?”

“Sure. She’s into Icarus, too, right?”

“Yeah. She’d be majorly bummed if I went without even asking her.”

Seconds after Lucky texted her reply, the cell phone rang. As soon as Lucky accepted the call, before she could even speak, her friend was squealing into her ear. “Oh, my God! I’m changing right now. Can you and Josh swing by and pick me up? I can meet you there, if you can’t, but it would be fun to ride together, right? I can’t believe we’re going to see them tonight! Oh, my God!”

“Can we—?” Lucky began.

“Pick her up?” Josh interrupted. “Yeah, no problem. Given how she’s screaming into the phone, she’s probably too excited to be trusted behind a wheel right now anyway.”

“We’re on our way, Mo. See you in a few. Yeah, I’m excited too. I’m really glad you can come.” Lucky ended the call and turned to look at Josh. “Thank you. I know she bugs you sometimes….”

Josh glanced at her, one corner of his mouth lifted in a wry smile. “Just when she’s all super-excited. It’s like you can’t find the off switch. She makes me tired.”

“Mm-hmm…. And she’s
so
not excited now,” Lucky responded. “Like I said, thank you.”

They pulled up in front of Mo’s building, and before Josh could tap the horn, the blonde girl was running out the door and down the steps toward them. She burst into the back seat like a sudden storm, tossing bag and jacket aside before launching herself at the back of the seat in front of her. She gave Lucky a sideways hug and brushed a quick kiss across Josh’s cheek, repeating “Thank you, thank you, thank you,” throughout the entire process.

Lucky laughed. She’d forgotten how invigorating her friend’s effervescence could be. Like Josh, she sometimes found Mo’s overwhelming energy and excitability tiring, but most of the time, she found it comforting and a little bit contagious. It was very difficult to be sad around Mo. Even when Lucky was feeling her worst—in the depths of her initial grief about G-Ma, for example—Mo could tell her a story about her day and have her laughing so hard her stomach hurt. She had a unique and creative way of looking at the world, and she didn’t take herself or anything else too seriously.

“I can’t believe this,” she gushed, pushing back the messy blonde locks that had fallen over her face. “Fifteen minutes ago I didn’t have anything to do tonight besides paint my toenails in contrasting colors that would give my mother heartburn. And now I’m on my way to see Icarus. You guys are the best.” Turning toward Josh, she added, “You know the band, right?”

Josh cleared his throat. “Some. My friend Ben is the bass player. You’ll get to meet him tonight. Probably the rest of the band too.”

Mo gave Lucky a backhanded smack to the shoulder. “As long as we get to meet Aidan, right? He’s just”— she stopped speaking long enough for a rapturous sigh—“too gorgeous for words. And that voice….” She sighed again.

“Get a grip, girl,” Lucky laughed. “It’s not as if he’ll even notice us. We’re just barely out of high school.”

Mo dropped the pose and replied in all seriousness. “He’s not that much older. I think I read somewhere that he’s only 20.”

“I know he’s good-looking, and he’s got that voice and all, but he’s just a guy, okay?” Josh interjected. “Could you two please try to restrain yourselves at least a little? I don’t want to regret bringing you along.”

“Oh, not to worry, Josh, you won’t even know we’re there. Right, Lucky?” Mo said, giving Lucky a wink.

“Okay, I have to ask,” Lucky said, as Josh gave a resigned sigh. “
Did
you paint your toenails? What color this time?”

“
Colors
, plural. And not yet. But I’m going to do the left foot alternating purple and green and the right alternating yellow and turquoise. You just can’t show up at the country club with toes like that. It’s not done. Which is precisely the point.”

“Is she seriously asking you to show up at the country club?” Lucky asked. After Mo’s parents had divorced a few years ago, her mother had remarried and moved to the suburbs. Mo had chosen to remain in the city with her father, and she stubbornly resisted her mother’s attempts to shape her into the daughter her stepfather thought she should be.

“Oh, there’s some stupid fall dance, and I’m supposed to go and ‘comport myself as a young lady should.’” Mo’s voice went all snobby on the last bit. Then she snorted. “Young lady? You’d think she’d know me better by now. I mean,
really
. I’m not wearing any frilly, floofy dress. I’m thinking some short black frock with a wild beaded belt, a lime green feather boa, and strappy sandals with outlandish toes. That’ll go over big, don’t you think?”

Lucky giggled at the image. Before she could respond further, Josh spoke up. “Mo, do you really think it’s a good idea to bait your mother like that all the time?”

“Oh, why not?” The girl let out a breath and flung herself back against the seat. “If she persists in thinking I can be turned into country club material, she deserves to be baited. I can’t stand the thought of spending that much time listening to my evil stepfather and his snooty friends trying to out-snoot each other. Life’s too short.”

“I suppose you do have a point,” Josh said. “Now, both of you, start looking for open parking spaces. The bar’s just a couple blocks away.”

After they parked and made their way to the bar, they had to wait in line for about fifteen minutes to get in. Once inside, Josh led the way toward a table near the stage that was marked “Reserved.” Lucky and Mo gave each other wide-eyed looks at the special treatment.

The band was on stage finishing their equipment setup and performing a sound check. As the trio approached their reserved table, one of the band members, an attractive young man with shoulder-length straight black hair pulled back and tied at the nape of his neck, looked up. Catching Josh’s eye, he smiled. After securing his bass into place, he stepped down off the stage and came toward them, pushing back a lock of hair that had escaped the leather tie. Lucky’s already wide eyes widened even more in surprise as the young man embraced her cousin, and the two exchanged a brief kiss.
This must be Ben,
she thought,
and he and Josh must be more than just friends.
She knew her best fam was gay, but she didn’t know there was anyone of interest in the picture right now.

Turning to her with a slight flush coloring his cheeks, Josh made the introductions. “Lucky, this is Ben Takada. Ben, my cousin Lucky and our friend Mo.”

Ben’s brown eyes sparkled with laughter as he held out his right hand to Lucky, his left arm still around Josh’s waist. “Hi, Lucky. It’s so good to finally meet you. I understand my boy here got all settled into his new space today. I can’t wait to see it.”

“It’s good to meet you too,” Lucky said, taking his hand. She felt an instant liking for the attractive young man with the mischievous eyes who looked at her cousin with such obvious intimacy. “We did a lot of work today. The place looks great.”

As Ben turned toward Mo, Lucky gave Josh a pointed look which made his flush deepen. But before he could say anything, one of the other band members called Ben’s name.

Untwining his arm from around Josh, Ben started back toward the stage. “Catch you all later. Enjoy the show!” he called, looking over his shoulder and giving Josh a wink.

After they’d seated themselves at the table, Lucky looked at Josh with raised eyebrows. “So?” she asked.

“Yeah, Lucy,” interjected Mo, “you got some ’splainin’ to do.”

Josh gave Lucky an apologetic smile. “We’ve been friends for a while. We just started dating a month ago. I’ve wanted to tell you, but I wanted you to meet him first. Sorry to spring it on you like this.”

“It’s okay. I like him—I mean, I don’t know him at all really, but I think I like him. If he makes you happy, that’s what matters.”

“He does. And you will like him. He’s a good guy.”

“Not to mention easy on the eyes,” Mo chimed in.

“Do Uncle Matthew and Aunt Beth know?”

He shook his head. “I’ll tell them soon. I kind of wanted to make sure it was going somewhere, you know, before telling everyone. But,” he cleared his throat, flushing again, “it’s feeling kind of serious.”

“That’s great!” Lucky replied, reaching across the table to cover his clasped hands with one of her own. “Good for you.”

Josh smiled his thanks. Then they all turned toward the stage as the first chords filled the room.

Lucky and Mo both gasped a little as Aidan Townsend, the lead singer, stepped up to the microphone. The young man really was stunningly handsome. His golden hair curled just below his ears, and even from this distance Lucky could see that his eyes were the intense blue of a glacial lake. Everything about him shone as if he were lit from within.

When he started to sing, Lucky gasped again. She felt as if the husky baritone struck a chord in her chest and left it humming inside her. Listening to Aidan sing was unlike listening to anyone else she’d ever heard. She didn’t just hear the music; it was as if she became the music, or the music became her. She couldn’t take her eyes off him as his voice rolled over and through her. The lyrics were about love and loss, pain and joy. Lucky couldn’t quite capture the words, but she felt every nuance of emotion conveyed in them. Aidan’s voice was the echo of her own heartbeat, her heart the speaker through which his voice was conducted.

As the song ended, Lucky felt as if she were waking from a dream or coming out from under a spell. She shook her head to clear it, a frown wrinkling her brow as she continued to stare at the singer. Only then did she notice that he was looking at her with an equal intensity, his eyes narrowed, his gaze curious and probing. Lucky held his eyes for a few moments before turning away.

She hadn’t realized she’d been holding her breath until she broke the connection with his eyes. As she exhaled, she saw that Mo was looking at her curiously. Then her friend grinned at her and repeated her earlier words back to her in a teasing tone, “‘It’s not as if he’ll even notice us,’ she says. I think
someone
just got noticed.”

Lucky gave her a small smile. “Not like that. I mean…. That was…. Well, that was a pretty amazing song, huh?”

“Mm-hmm,” Mo’s brows drew together with concern. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine. I think I just got a little swept away for a minute.”

When she turned back toward the stage, Aidan was finishing the introductions of the band members. As the band played the intro to the next song, he scanned the audience, his eyes catching hers and lingering a moment before moving on.

The rest of the set did not affect Lucky so intensely. The music was great—from the driving anthems to the subdued ballads—but she didn’t get caught up in it, swept away, as she had when the first notes from Aidan’s lips had struck her ears. This was at least in part because now that she knew he could evoke such a strong reaction in her, she was somewhat on guard. The few times she felt the touch of his haunting voice inside her head and her chest, as if it were attempting to wrap around her and weave its way through her, she made a conscious effort to shield herself from its thrall. It was not that the experience had been unpleasant—quite the opposite—but it had been unnerving, a little frightening, to have lost herself like that, to have somehow merged with his voice so completely that she couldn’t tell where her edges were, where she began or ended. Especially when she came back to herself and realized that no one else seemed to have been affected in the same way.

But that wasn’t all. She had the curious sense that Aidan was singing differently too, that he had also been shaken by what had happened and was holding back, reining in his own voice so it didn’t overcome her. She gave a little shake of her head at the thought. What was wrong with her? She was letting her imagination carry her into crazy territory. As if a human voice could have that kind of power. No, Aidan’s voice was just one of the most beautiful she’d ever heard, and she’d been seriously moved by the song—there was nothing more to it than that. And thinking she’d felt it trying to enfold her? Well, she was just over-emotional right now, vulnerable to the suggestions of her own imagination.

The set ended, and Aidan announced that they’d be back after a brief break. Ben came over to their table with the drummer and the guitarist following behind. Aidan and the keyboard player headed toward the bar. After a few moments they returned armed with drinks for the whole band. Ben introduced Lucky and Mo to the rest of the band members. Lucky smiled but remained silent while Mo, to whom shyness was a completely foreign emotion, without hesitation told them all how much she’d loved the set and how excited she was to meet them. Lucky sat back in her chair and listened as the conversation unfolded around her.

“So, what kind of name is ‘Lucky,’ anyway?” The soft, deep voice came from close to her ear.

She turned in surprise to find Aidan seated next to her, one booted foot propped on the rung of her chair. “What do you mean?”

One side of his mouth crooked upward in a smile. His eyes were like blue flames. “I’ve never met anyone named Lucky before, that’s all. How do you get a name like that?”

“Well, it’s Josh’s fault really. He was five when I was born. When his family first came to visit us, I guess I was wrapped in a blanket that had ‘Lucy’ embroidered on it. My real name is Lucinda, after my grandmother. Anyway, Josh was just starting to read, and he thought the blanket said ‘Lucky.’ So, that’s what he started calling me, and I guess it stuck.”

“It suits you somehow.”Aidan tilted his head to one side, looking at her through narrowed eyes. “You liked the first song a lot, did you?”

Lucky’s cheeks grew hot. “I… It….” She cleared her throat. “Yes, it was very… moving.”