Enough Isn't Everything (Everything Trilogy) (12 page)

“It isn’t my one
of my strengths,” she admitted.

“I don’t think there is anything stronger than your voice Mandy.” I could see what I told her had meant a lot to her
, and it was dawning on me that Mandy wasn’t as confident as she first appeared.

“You’ve got yourself a date for lunch.” I smiled, squeezing her hand before I dropped it and hitched my guitar over my shoulder. We turned and headed in the direction of our first class of the day.

The morning passed quickly and by lunch break, I felt that although there was a lot to take on technically, I was able to apply what I was learning to things I had written previously.

I wasn’t
hungry, so I just pulled an apple from my backpack, and I sat on the lawn flicking through my notation pad for a score that I had been working on in the UK. I was deep in thought about how to improve this when I heard Mandy call out to me.

“Lily honey, we’re just going to get started, are you coming?” I gathered my things and went over to join them. There were a couple of other people from Will’s
class that had also joined us.

Will looked a little coy. I smiled at him
, and he took my hand kissing my cheek. I squeezed his hand to let him know that I was cool with him hooking up with my friend.

I stupidly
inquired, “Good night?”

H
e blushed and sputtered, clearing his throat, “Eh, yeah, it was, um, very cool.” 

I blushed but leaned forward and whispered, “
Don’t worry your secrets are safe with me.” Will dug me in the ribs, and grinned wickedly at me. I blushed again, and he pulled me in for a hug.

When it came down to all of us jamming, we meshed really well together. Will played the saxophone, amongst other instruments, and he was incredibly talented. We played a few well-known tunes together as a group first to learn the group’s strengths.

There was a guy
, Landon, who did beat boxing and produced the most ridiculously complicated bass beat percussions, adding a totally different dimension to our instruments.

When we were done, Will asked me if I
 could play Oasis
Wonderwall
so he could accompany me on sax, just as a duet.

I felt a little nervous as we were under the scrutiny of our peers
, and we had never played together before. I needn’t have worried though, because just a few bars into the piece, and I was lost in the music.

Will’s playing was like a knife
 gliding through butter, and his arrangement was amazing. His intuition for playing at certain points during the piece gave it a unique sound.

Everyone sat around in silence apart from the beat boxer
. He couldn’t contain himself a few times, but again, his timing was impeccable. An eruption of cheers, clapping, and whistles came from the people watching, telling us that they had enjoyed it as much as we had.

I looked beyond the people sitting with us and noticed that a lot of the other students had stopped to listen.

 I blushed when I noticed Alfie, nervous about what he was thinking. He was standing with his arms folded, grinning, and winked at me when our eyes met. I looked away and hugged Will.

When I looked back,
 Alfie’s eyes had darkened and fleetingly, his brow formed a crease in the middle of his eyes, before he smirked, and his face brightened. He came over and chatted to the group, congratulating Will on his performance and inviting him and indeed, everyone sitting there, to a beach party performance later in the evening.

He
 told us there was going to be a stage and artists were welcome to showcase before the main artist’s performance. The band that was scheduled to perform was quite well-known in the state.

Will, Mandy
, and Neil really wanted to go so we arranged that we’d be there. I noticed that Alfie still didn’t acknowledge me personally during this.

No one seemed to notice that he didn’t speak to
 me or comment about me. Will turned and looked tentatively at me. “Do you want to come and do that again tonight?”

I was about to refuse when he added, “It’s not every day I get an opportunity to perform in public with my sax.
People either want a guy with a guitar, or if I do get to play, it’s usually a one minute instrumental for someone else’s showcase.”
Well, when he put it like that, how could I say no to him?

“Sure
,” I agreed. “We’ll need another rehearsal before we play to an audience tonight though.” I frowned.

“Why? You were fucking perfect! You play beautifully, there’s so much passion in your performance. Don’t underestimate your
talent, it’s amazing, honey. I can’t believe my luck, playing with you.”

Mandy nodded as well.
 “Do you really have no idea how great you are, Lily? We really need to do something together. I so want to perform with you, it’ll be a blast.” She looked at me genuinely, but I thought that she was just being kind.

I arrived home a little after
 five. I’d found it difficult to concentrate after lunch. My mind kept wandering, thinking of Alfie, and how he’d been watching us play. I wondered if I’d misread his fleeting reaction to Will hugging me. I couldn’t understand it, when he’s already told me that he has no issues with me forming emotional attachments elsewhere.

Holly was just
coming back from the beach when I arrived at the entrance of the apartment block. “Thank goodness I finally have a few days off,” she said. “Where are we headed tonight, I need a night out.” I told her about my day and the beach party. “Well hell, Saffy and I need to come and support our little British contingency.” She smiled.

“Oh great,
 so now I’m even more nervous,” I mock groaned, but was pleased that I was going to have familiar faces there who loved me. Saffy came breezing in, with a new pencil skirt and blue satin blouse on. She was glowing.

The outfit was great and she seemed more than happy with her date last night. “Well, howdy, girlfriends
,” she gushed humorously. Holly groaned, “Oh great, she’s got the fucked-senseless-and-now–gloating face on. We’re in trouble Lily.” Saffy pretended to look hurt, but her face slowly stretched into a big grin.

She slapped
 her hand over her heart, and squealed, “Oh. My. God! He.Is. A. Fucking. Stud. Girls! He had me coming every which way until I didn’t know what day it was. He must be related to James Deen. Talk about keeping me up all night. He actually growled and ripped my fucking panties off.”

“Who’s James
 Deen?” I asked innocently. Holly and Saffy stared at me.

Holly cocked her brow at me.
 “Seriously, Lily?” Dismissing my question completely and turning her attention back to Saffy. Holly threw her hands up covering her ears and shaking her head vigorously. “I don’t want to hear any more, you’re taking liberties now. Everyone’s having orgasms but me.”

Saffy
 chuckled wickedly and then tried to comfort her. “Okay, honey, we’ll make it our mission to get you laid tonight, won’t we Lily?”

I raised an eyebrow, giggling now too. “Well, we’ll try to find you a man to give you some attention, but as for getting you laid, I think he’d have to take over from us.”

I picked up some laundry I’d folded earlier and began to make my way to my bedroom, still laughing. Saffy called out to me, “Lily… if you don’t know who James Dean is… you seriously need to google him.”

We
 pampered ourselves and the apartment smelled of perfume, various bath foams, body sprays, and hair products. I was nervous as hell about performing. When I felt nervous I always power dressed using my sexuality to help me feel less self-conscious and more confident.

Both girls gave me a gasp of
 approval when they saw me. “Wow. Wow. Wow,” said Holly. They both looked great, but they had dressed in shorts and blouses, some lovely accessories. They were so effortlessly pretty anyway.

T
hey could have worn old overalls and still looked sexy. I had purposely dressed to impress though. If I was going to make an ass of myself up on some stage, I would at least look hot doing it.

I was wearing a tight bronze and black sequined vest top with shor
ts that made my ass look a little bigger than it actually was.

I knew my legs looked good, but they looked much longer in my little shorts and my
black Christian Louboutin heels. Saffy looked puzzled and stared at my feet. “Fuck-me shoes to the beach?”

I giggled at her description. “We’re eating first, right? I have some strappy roman sandals for the beach, but I wanted to wear these to perform in, then if I bomb they won’t remember the guitar playing.”

They both giggled at me. “You are not going to bomb, honey. You are shit hot on that thing.” Saffy motioned her head toward my guitar sitting near the window. “Stop worrying.”

Holly continued, “
Besides, men will be stunned into silence just by the sight of you, Lily. Most won’t hear you play a note, they’ll be too busy fantasizing.” I blushed and she threw her head back chuckling. “You are way too innocent for your own good,“ she teased.

I
hadn’t really noticed men looking at me at home. Sure, guys hit on me, and Jack told me I was hot, but I seemed to be getting more attention here than I had in London.

This was especially true when I went out with my girlfriends.
 Saffy and Holly had teased me about being a man-magnet the few times we’d been out together. I couldn’t see it myself, thinking that they were the ones that were attracting the attention.

We walked into the Italian restaurant, and the smell of garlic and
parmesan hit me immediately, making my stomach growl. I inhaled deeply, and my stomach suddenly ached for food. Holly groaned, “I’m starving.” She lifted a menu from the menu holder at the front desk and flicked through it.

There were a few guys sitting at the bar near the reservation desk and a fabulously hot
 looking guy with blond hair and tanned and toned muscles swivelled around on his bar stool to look at us.

His eyes scanned over all of us before settl
ing on Holly. His mouth spread into a wide smile. “At last, there you are honey. I’ve been waiting for you forever. ” Holly turned and looked behind her expecting someone to be there.

Saffy
 and I noticed her and giggled loudly. She realized he was talking to her and smiled broadly at his forwardness. Saffy dug me in the ribs and nodded for me to look at Holly’s wide mouth. He gave her a lopsided smile and winked at her.

Holly
was, naturally, a very forward girl, and walked over to him, gently squeezing his knee. “Don’t get me wrong, I like what I see, but I’m starving for food right now. My energy levels need recharging an’ all, but if the entrée doesn’t satisfy me, I may need dessert.”

She drew in a sharp breath as she raked him over with her eyes and leaned into him with her cleavage
almost in line with his mouth.

He glanced at it and
smirked, looking back up at her as she murmured in a seductive low voice. “So… don’t go running off anywhere just yet, I might get back to you, honey!” She winked.

She
 stepped back, blew him a kiss, and turned back to us as we were about to be seated. “Just as well I hadn’t planned to leave just yet, the night is still young,” he called after her chuckling.

Holly sat down and stared at us both, picked her napkin up and flicked it across her lap saying, “
That my girls, is how you pick up a guy.”

We
 ordered the delicious lasagne, garlic bread, and red wine, and it tasted amazing. Holly wouldn’t eat the garlic bread for the obvious reason sitting at the bar. I prompted the girls after checking the time. I didn’t want to be late meeting Will.

I needed
 another quick rehearsal with him before we took our spot on stage. “Okay girls we need to head out, I don’t want to be late for my first proper gig here.”

Saffy
 caught our waiter Ben’s attention, and we settled the bill, getting up to leave. We passed the hot guys again. “You’re leaving us?” Holly’s suitor said.

Holly eyed him up and down
. “We’re going to a gig on the beach, Lily’s playing. I didn’t get time for dessert, and I’m still hungry, you want to come?”

The guy jumped down from his bar stool and grinned at his friends. “I always want to come, honey, but if I have to sit through some musi
c to make it happen, I’m game.”

Holly nodded, her eyes widening and she licked her lips and smirked. “Honey, you’re just my kind of guy.” She put her hand out and he put his in hers, but yanked her
to him.

Her hand went close to his chest, and he placed his arm around h
er shoulder.

“Brett
,” he cooed.

We squeezed
into my little car after I changed into my sandals and drove to the beach park. Will was waiting in front of the venue for us. I smiled, and he looked awkward again when he saw that Saffy and Holly were with me.

He walked
 over and hugged me. I whispered, “Don’t worry about me Will.  Saffy likes you. Don’t feel awkward about it around me.” He smiled and squeezed my hand appreciatively, then smiled and winked at Saffy.

“Are
 you nervous?” He smiled, but was concerned for me.

“Nervous? Nope. Petrified, maybe
, ” I said, pulling my lips into a twist. He chuckled putting his hand around my shoulder, and hugged me to him again.

Saffy
 moved in, wrapping her arms around his waist, and pulled him closer to her. His arm dropped from me, and she moved forward and began kissing him.

Poor Will looked dishevelled when she
was done with him, and Holly and I giggled. I think his pants suddenly shrunk, and he adjusted himself by stretching his leg out.

This didn’t go unnoticed by Holly, who said, “Wow,
 Saffy that’s a long tongue you have there. You’ve managed to fiddle all the way down to Will’s pants, honey!” Will cleared his throat, stifled a smirk, and turned away awkwardly.

He excused us, grabbing
 me, and told the girls that we needed to find Alfie. We still had to tune up and grab a quick rehearsal. Alfie was backstage with an entourage following him around. “Hey man!” he said to Will. “All set?” Will gave him the thumbs- up. “Yeah, we’re good. This is Lily, who’s playing acoustic guitar with me.”

Alfie ignored me completely, and began telling Will where he needed to be and what time we’d be up,
 before someone called him and Alfie moved away to deal with them.

Will looked straight
 at me, his brows bunched together. “I don’t know the guy, but he needs to get some fucking manners. Sorry about that, honey.”