“That’s not what I meant.” He combed his black hair back, forehead creased. “Did something else happen last night with Jared?”

“Nope. Nothing happened.” I hated lying to him, but I couldn’t tell him the truth about me and Jared. Best case, he’d say, “I told you so.” Worst case, he’d want me to leave the band when the show was over. Besides, kissing Jared had been a brief moment of weakness, and it wouldn’t happen again. There was no reason to bring it up.

“Are you going to be able to rehearse tomorrow?” he asked.

“Yeah, but remind me to not fall off a stage ever again.”

“I thought that would be obvious, but sure.” He grinned, and my shoulders relaxed. I didn’t want anything to be weird between us. Before I’d joined the band, we’d been the kind of friends who always sat next to each other in class and did homework together, but we’d never hung out much otherwise. Everything had changed that night after his show, and even if this thing with Jared was a mess, I was still happy I’d gone to that party.

“I’m really glad you joined the band,” he said, echoing my thoughts.

“Me too.” And there was the guilt again.

I was this close to spilling everything, but he led me back to the lounge. “C’mon, it’s almost time for the Team Dan elimination.”

Jared frowned as we entered together. “Everything okay?”

“Fine,” Kyle said, shooting his brother a dark look. He must suspect I wasn’t telling him everything, but there was no time to worry about that now. We had bigger things to stress about, like whether or not we’d still be on the show after tonight.

We joined the other bands backstage and waited until it was time for Team Dan to go on. Team Lissa went before us, and when Fairy Lights was saved, Ray yelled, “And America’s sweetheart continues to the next round!” Ugh, when had they started calling Lacey that? She gave a pageant wave and dashed off the stage, where she was met by an older woman with big Texas hair. Her mother, I guessed.

When Team Dan was up, the show’s people arranged it so Hector and Kyle would walk out first, with Jared and me behind them. Ray’s voice echoed from onstage, preparing for our arrival.

“Maddie, can we talk?” Jared whispered, his mouth close to my ear.

I flushed with the memory of those lips on me. Dammit, I wanted to kiss him again. Must. Resist. “Later.”

“How about coffee after the show?”

“I can’t. My ankle—” I started.

He raised an eyebrow. “Would you rather I come to your room?”