Sun Poisoned (The Sunshine Series) (3 page)

Boo starts the first few chords. Trei comes in with beautiful, long notes, weaving in and out as Boo's guitar gets stronger. She twirls around on stage, the red and white lights around the edge twinkle in the fabric of her skirt.

I close my eyes. Start to feel it; really feel it. And I start to sing.

Two headed boy, all floating in glass.
When I open my eyes and glance up at Myles, he's completely absorbed, his eyes closed. Exactly the way he was the first time he heard us play this song.

It’s almost too much for me to believe I’m causing that serene look on his face. As soon as his eyes open, I close mine. But not before giving him a quick grin.
The sun, it has passed, now it's blacker than black. I can hear as you tap on your jar. I am listening to hear where you are.

I open my eyes again and Trei is smiling at me before she closes her
s. Boo is rocking back and forth, his head thrown back. Everyone is feeling it, feeling what I do every time I play.

The last song we play is my newest finished one, Color Blind. Boo and Trei follow my lead despite the fact that we’ve only played it a few times together.

It's a fairly slow song, but unlike when I gave it to Myles for Christmas, it has actual lyrics now.

I don’t want your flowers, no.

No violets, reds, or blues.

You could name a million colors.

All I want is you.

I purposely don’t look at Myles. I don’t want him to throw me off.

I want a world of black

And white.

A snowflake.

Your face.

All.

Black

And White
.

Trei leans over the piano as I play the slow, complicated middle notes and slightly faster deep ones. Then suddenly, all three of us jump into a minute-long improvised instrumental solo. When I nod, we go back to the song like we’re coming up for air.

Can we take a photo?

Can we save this time?

Make it all

Black and

White.

Then it's over. The stage lights go out, the house lights come on along with some muffled house music. Boo throws the last of his glitter as well as his drumsticks into the crowd as he, Trei, and I step behind the curtain once more, only to walk down the back entrance to join the audience.

My makeup is running down my face, my chest and throat are raw, and my heart is pounding in the best possible way. A few people come up to us as I'm looking for my family.

The general feedback from these strangers is that we did a good job; some people literally pat me on the back.

I finally reach Stevie, Laura, and Jade, and I hug them
all simultaneously from behind.

“
You guys were so amazing,” Jade asks, flipping his hair out of his face. His Mohawk has grown back into a dirty blonde mop, and it makes his head sweaty so when he hugs me again, my cheek is left slightly damp. Not that I’m exactly perspiration-free anyway.

Stevie plants a kiss on my cheek, his thick curls brushing my neck.
“Completely awesome,” he agrees. He then produces Boo’s top hat from behind his back. “And you made tips!”

“
I’ll take that.” Boo snatches it from him before my hand even touches it. “For my shirt.”

Laura grabs my hand and jumps up and down.
“I loved that two headed boy song!”

“
Thanks,” I say, my voice sounding slightly scratchy.      

Our conversation is interrupted when the audience starts cheering again. Jamie is making his way back to the stage, which can only mean one thing: Honus is going on in a few minutes. Though I don't want to leave my family and
band mates, I don't want to be squashed up against a bunch of strangers either.

Jade already knows this.
“Go find your boyfriend, we'll be fine.”

Trei and Boo stay up front with them as I finagle my way through heaps of bodies that congratulate me, or just simply say hi. I'm more concerned with getting to the less dense crowd, and the faster I move away from the stage, the faster that will happen.

I'm about a foot from the stairway that leads to the balcony when a hand catches my wrist. When I spin around expecting another stranger, it's the lead singer of Honus that's attached to me.

He's wearing a grey wife beater with a bowtie, a jacket slung over his shoulder. He has white slashes of paint in vertical lines across his cheeks.

“Hey,” he says, his voice low and gravelly. I notice for the first time that he's about ten years older than me, but most of the people here are older than us anyway.

I pull my wrist away, trying to act normal.
“Hey.

He raises his hands up in
apology. “Oh, sorry.”

“
That's okay.” My arms have found their way around my middle.

“You guys were great,” he says, “you know that?”

I can't help myself from smiling. This guy
liked
us? “Really?”

He nods enthusiastically.
“Yeah. And I mean, I heard you were a good piano player, but I never imagined you'd be
that
good.”

“
You've heard of me?” I can't keep my eyes from widening slightly when I ask that question.

“
Well, yeah.” He smiles. “Where'd you go to school?”

I've already gotten this question from Jamie. I laugh.
“No, I taught myself. I don't read sheet music.”

He raises his eyebrows.
“A sight reader, eh? That's awesome.”

“
Well, I'm glad you liked it.” My arms relax and fall to my sides. “Even if I messed up a bunch.”

He makes a
“pft” sound then laughs. “Have you seen me play piano? Now
that’s
messed up.”

I have seen him play. He plays piano like they’re drums. He squeezes notes out of it like the instrument owes him money. It’s completely different than how I treat my piano, but it’s still amazing.

“No way!” I say, though I’m wondering why he's over here when I’m sure his band is supposed to be on stage by now.

He shrugs with a smile much like my own.
“Either way, I wanted to ask you if you'd consider filling in for me as a piano person two weekends from now.”

I gulp.
“Are you serious?” The most popular band here wants me to play with them and they don't even know me?

He laughs again.
“Can I take that as a yes?”

I smile, but I'm not one hundred percent sure about it.
“It's an I'll think about it.”

“
Awesome,” he says like I've already said yes. “Can I get your number?”

“
Uhm.”

“
So I can text you,” he explains quickly. “You know, let you know when we can get together to rehearse. . .if you say yes and everything.”

My first instinct is to say no. My second instinct is to give him a fake number.

But I'm trying to not be that person anymore. Besides, this could be a really good thing for not only me, but An Anachronism. People will see me play with Honus and want to find out more.

“
Sure.” I tell him my number as he dials it into a phone he pulls from his jeans pocket.

“
Awesome,” he repeats. “I'll be in touch.”

The lights have gone out again, and he stalks into the crowd, throwing on his jacket and slipping a furry gorilla mask over his face that I hadn't even realized he had around his neck.

“Ladies and Gentlemen,” Jamie is saying as I begin walking up the stairs, yet not looking away from the gorilla climbing on stage. “Honus.”

And he sits at the piano, banging out rhythmic, yet discordant notes as the rest of his band, also wearing gorilla masks, emerge from behind the crimson curtain.
   

As I continue to walk up the stairs, Alex and Adrienne are heading down the right side. At first I think they're holding hands with each other, but there's a short girl with black hair between them. They’re in a line so there’s room for me to pass, but they’re all linked together.

Alex is in front, wearing the shiniest dress I've ever seen, with black and yellow horizontal stripes circling around her; a latex bumblebee. She wears her lavender hair in soft waves down her back.

“
Hello, Sophie.” She stops and so do the other two.

“
Hey.” My eyes dart from the girl to Adrienne. His light hair is slicked back and he’s wearing a similar shiny striped vest under a black suit, and the girl, who has both sides of her head shaved, is wearing a very tiny black dress that barely covers her body.

“
Well done, Sophie. Really.” Alex continues, smiling. “I really like the song you wrote for Myles.” She winks.

I have to fight the dumb smile that wants to stick to my face.
“Thanks.”

“
Oh,” Adrienne says, gesturing to the girl between them. “This is our donor, Evelyn.”

Before I can form a reaction, Alex glares at him.
“We're going down to the floor to get a closer view of Honus,” she says through almost gritted teeth. Then she turns and smiles at me, leading the train of alternating vampire-human-vampire down the steps.

Adrienne shrugs like it's no big deal.

“Nice meeting you,” Evelyn says before they move out of sight.

The rest of the way up the stairs is spent trying not to think about what Adrienne
said. I know what he means by donor because Myles explained it to me when he was spilling the beans; I just want a semi-normal night in a semi-human club.

Myles is already standing at the top of the stairs when I reach it and a very large security guard with a goatee is standing near him.
“It's okay, Carl,” he says, “She's with us.”

Carl nods and steps aside so Myles can hug me before I can take more than one step forward.
“You were so—”

“
Yeah, yeah.” My tone is joking, but it has an edge to it, added by my weird encounter on the stairs. The main floor of the balcony is just as dark as the rest of the venue except for some white Christmas lights strung on the walls.

“
I didn't know you were playing my song tonight,” he says when he lets me go. Thankfully, if he thinks there's something wrong, he doesn't let on.

I self-consciously wipe at eyeliner that's probably smeared
under my eyes. “I just finished it.”

He smiles like he's replaying my voice singing it in his head.

“Okay, that's enough,” I say, nudging him.

Myles grabs my hand and leads me to some seats a few feet from the golden balcony railing.
“There's someone I want you to meet,” he says.

“
I already met Evelyn.” It leaves my mouth before I can stop it. Damn it, I wanted a semi-normal night.

Myles stops mid-step, facing me.
“You did?”

I nod, but wave a hand in front of me.
“It's no big deal.”

He looks unsure of what to do now. From his expression, I know that he probably didn't want me meeting Alex and Adrienne's donor. After a second, he spins back around, leading me the rest of the way to red velvet seats.

There's a guy I recognize, though I've only met him once and it's been a while since then. He's wearing a casual blazer over a white shirt along with jeans. His honey brown hair hangs loosely around his shoulders.

“
You remember Evan?” Myles asks.

Last time I saw him he was wearing scrubs and I had a breathing tube crammed down my throat, but I remember who he is.

I smile tightly. “Yeah,” I say, sticking out my hand. “Nice to see you.”

“
It is good to see you well,” he says, a faint accent coating the words when he extends his hand and shakes mine. His are colder than Myles’, but I don’t think about that for more than a nanosecond.

“
Here,” Myles motions to two empty seats near Evan, and we both sit down.

I notice for the first time that there's a lady sitting next to Evan who has been silent up until now. She looks like she’s about thirty and has thick, long black waves of hair that curve down her back and around
her face; she's wearing a plain peach dress that would look like an oversized t-shirt if it weren't cinched at the waist. She looks like she's uncomfortable, biting her full bottom lip and looking around her once in a while, but she smiles sweetly at me as I take my seat.

“
I see your voice has healed,” Evan comments.

Self-consciously, I itch at the scar on my throat under my dress as Myles wraps an ar
m around the back of my chair.

“
Yup. All better.” I smile back.

Evan turns toward the girl to his left in the nude dress.
“This is Ava,” he tells me. His hand lightly rests on top of her balled up fists in her lap and she seems to relax fractionally.