She turned onto a side road so we could go under the highway overpass. In-N-Out was on the other side, just outside a shopping center that contained a Trader Joe’s. Dad and I had gone to it before.

“It depends,” she answered. “For the song I sang at the open mic, I was going for a different sound—acoustic, Americana-type stuff.” She glanced at me as she said, “I wanted to try something new.”

“Did you write all the Madchen songs?”

“No. Roxy wrote a couple and I wrote a couple. But the whole band worked on the music together.” She turned into the In-N-Out drive-through lane. There were four cars ahead of us. “I thought we’d get it to go to save time,” she said. “There’s a nice place to park down the road where you can see the bay. I go there for lunch sometimes.”

“Sounds good.”

We were quiet for a while as the line inched forward. A young couple came out of the restaurant with a tray of food and sat down at one of the tables near the drive-through. The girl was blond with glossy pink lips, wearing short jean shorts and a pink tank top. I could see the blue straps of her bra. The guy, dressed in a 49ers jersey and baggy shorts, quickly stuffed a bunch of fries in his mouth.

Steph saw me watching them and said, “So, do you have a boyfriend? You never told me.” She added with a smile, “Or a girlfriend?”

The second part of her question made my whole body go hot. “Not right now,” I answered, trying to sound nonchalant.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw the girl at the table unwrapping her burger, lifting it to her pink lips. I looked down and noticed that the twin cup holder wasn’t built into the dashboard; it had been velcroed beneath the ancient tape deck. Steph shifted in her seat, and I wondered if she was going to ask me something more. I wanted her to, but I was also afraid she would.

But then she said, “I think I’m going to do the concert.”

I looked at her in surprise. “You are?”

She was gazing at the Prius in front of us, one hand resting on the steering wheel, the other on the gear shift. She pulled us ahead. “Yeah. It’s just one day, and Roxy and I wanted to do it last year, but we didn’t get in. I didn’t realize she tried again.”

“Are you excited?”

She made a face that was sort of a grimace. “I don’t know. I mean, I want to do it. I like playing with the band. But if I do it, will I want to do it again? I’ve done a couple open mics and they’re just not the same. I don’t think I like performing solo.”