Did he just sigh in irritation?
“We’ll get out of here as soon as possible. My friend is one of the best people in the world, and I’ll keep an eye on Amos, I promise,” I whispered, eyeing Amos as he kind of strolled closer to where Yuki was busy trying to pour batter onto a skillet she’d heated up at some point.
There was another sigh. “I…”
Shit.
“I know you would, Buddy. It’s fine,” he said.
Buddy? Where had that come from? Not that I was complaining, but… I cleared my throat and kept my voice even. “Okay. Thank you.”
Silence.
All right then. “Okay, well, I’ll see you later maybe.”
There was a moment of silence. “I should be home around two.”
“Okay.” I considered warning him who she was, but decided against it. Based on the few times I’d heard music playing when he had the windows down in his truck or Bronco, he either wouldn’t know who Yuki was or wouldn’t give a crap.
I heard him breathe. “Bye.”
“Have a nice day at work.” I hung up then, confused by how weird he was being.
I glanced over to find my old friend staring at me intently from the kitchen, where she had a hip against the counter.
Too intently.
Especially when she seemed to be smiling all sneaky too.
And beside her, Amos was still staring at her.
At least until he asked, “Ora…？”
I made my way over. “Yeah?”
“Jackie’s supposed to come over at eleven. To… you know…”
I did know. I was surprised he remembered too, especially when he seemed into a dead-eye stare at Yuki.
For a brief moment, I thought about asking her if she’d care if his friend came over… but this was his house. And she wasn’t that kind of person.
“Of course she can still come over. We might as well take advantage of having Miss One-Hundred-and-Twenty-Seven-Million Albums being here. She can help.”
His head snapped over toward me, wide and alarmed.
“She’s the one who sent you that crystal in your room.”
I swear his coloring changed. Then he choked.
Yuki piped up, “Who needs help? How can I help?”
I grinned at her. “I love you, Yu. You know that?”
“I know,” she countered. “I love you too. Who needs help though?”
“We’ll talk about it later.”
Amos choked again, and his face started to get red at what I was implying, asking Yuki for “help” because we were supposed to work on his performance today. I’d begged him to try to sing in front of me. We’d put it off and put it off until he’d finally agreed… as long as Jackie was there too. He’d had to ask his dad for an exception since he was still grounded. I’d learned recently that he’d been supposed to start taking driver’s ed over the summer, but because of the apartment rental stunt, he was going to have to wait until he was forgiven.
“Yu.” I glanced at her. “How the hell did you get here?”
She turned to flip the pancakes. “Roger”—that was her main bodyguard who had been around for probably a decade; he was in love with her, and we were all pretty sure she had no idea—“drove me straight over after my show last night in Denver. He dropped me off and went to rent a hotel room to get some sleep.”
I noted the dark circles under her eyes again before glancing back at Am to make sure he hadn’t passed out. He was still standing there, in his own little world, terrified or shocked, probably both. I was pretty positive he wasn’t paying either one of us any attention anymore.
“Everything okay?” I asked her quietly, setting the phone back into the cradle and closing the space between us.
The breath she blew out was straight from her soul, and she lifted a shoulder. “You know I shouldn’t complain.”
“Just because you shouldn’t complain doesn’t mean you don’t have a right to.”
She bit her bottom lip, and I knew there was something going on. Or maybe it was just the usual stresses from touring. “I’m tired, Ora. That’s all. I’m really tired. The last two months have felt… really long and… you know. You know.”
I did know. She was getting burned out. That’s why she was here. Possibly to just be… this version of herself. Her normal person. Not the persona she put out for the whole world to see. She was sweet and sensitive, and bad reviews of her albums ruined her month. It made me want to murder people to protect her.