“Of course. But you have to include my lovely guitarist too.” He dragged me in, though I scowled at him, and took a selfie of the three of us with her phone. “There you go.”

“Oh my god, thank you, I love you!” She grabbed him again, pressing her face against his shoulder. I’d be jealous if this wasn’t so hilarious.

“This has been so much fun, but we have to run,” Jared said when the girl wouldn’t let go of him. He mouthed, “Help!” but I shook my head and grinned.

As soon as we managed to escape across the store, we burst into laughter. “Does that happen a lot?” I asked.

“No, that was new. And very weird. I kind of want a shower actually.”

“Better get used to it. You’re ‘famous’ now. Soon you’ll have fangirls ripping off your clothes every time you go out.”

He moved closer, a teasing smile on his lips. “The only one I want ripping off—”

He cut off as Kyle and Hector rounded the corner and joined us, but I knew what he meant. We returned to friend mode and told them about the girl, and the other guys all laughed with us. It was a new kind of agony, being near Jared but being unable to actually be with him. But at the same time, I didn’t want to do anything to jeopardize this new family I’d become a part of either.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Carla hopped out of her ‘67 Mustang and grabbed me in a hug, and Julie dashed around to join us. With Dan’s help, I’d been able to score VIP tickets for tonight’s live show for my two favorite ladies, who were both back in town.

“I’m so happy you’re here!” I hugged them back hard. After being surrounded by nothing but testosterone for weeks, I really needed my girls again.

“I demand to see everything,” Julie said. “Dazzle me with your rock-star lifestyle.”

Carla shook her head, her dark curls bouncing. “She’s been talking nonstop the entire drive over. I kept turning the music up, but she just got louder.”

“What? I’m so freaking proud of Maddie I could scream.” She shrieked to demonstrate, and it echoed across the open-air parking lot.

“How are things going?” Carla asked me.

“Things are great. The show is amazing, and I’ve improved so much in these last few weeks, and playing with the band and on stage…there’s nothing like it in the world.”

“You do seem a lot happier than you’ve been in months. Maybe years.”

As we headed toward the Nokia Theatre, we passed the massive line of people hoping to get into tonight’s show.

“Thank god we don’t have to wait in that mess,” Julie said.