A smattering of awkward laughter from the crowd, like they thought she was doing some kind of stand-up bit. She didn’t know what she was doing. She shielded her eyes against the lights, looking up at John.
“Sorry,” she said. “I’m done. I mean, I’ll finish the song.”
To her relief, he didn’t make a big deal about her weird spoken-word interlude. Instead, he just played the vocal melody as a lead line on his guitar, giving her a nod to let her know to jump in. She sang the last two lines of the song still from her seated position on the floor, barely registering when someone took the microphone from her to pass it along to the next singer.
“Please drink responsibly,” Vance said into it. “And this should go without saying, but just in case—don’t drink antifreeze.”
The band started up the next tune, a much more upbeat version of “Santa Baby” that Sonia was attacking with off-key gusto. A hand reached down to Lauren, and she glanced up to see Asa, looking down at her with a grave expression.
“Come on,” he said. “I want to show you something.”
Chapter
Twenty
For a second, Asa thought Lauren intended to stay on the floor for the rest of the night. But then she put her small, cold hand in his and let him pull her up, swaying slightly against his body as she found her balance. Even that incidental contact crackled up his spine, and he knew he had to be careful. His instincts wanted to gather her to him, to wrap his arms around her and not let go. But she was clearly in a vulnerable state, between the effects of that punch and whatever else was going on in her head.
He’d been surprised by what a good singing voice she had, low and husky and intimate. It had hit him right in the solar plexus, the raw yearning she’d given to a song he’d barely paid much attention to before. It felt like she’d ripped his heart out of his chest and shown it to him.
Or maybe it was her own heart. He’d been even more surprised by the things she’d said up there, in front of everyone. How Cold World was a family she felt left out of. How she would always fail the I’m not a robot tests. He hated that she felt that way, and he knew it was at least partly his fault, the way he’d always teased her.
“Why are we going to the Snow Globe?” she asked once he’d led her inside. He realized he hadn’t let go of her hand the entire time they’d been making their way to the enclosed space, but now that they were there, he had to drop it in order to hook up the machine. He’d been working on it all week, finding a way to attach it to the ceiling, a safer （and actually effective） way to plug it in. He’d tested it only briefly, but this would be the first time he’d see if it all worked the way it was supposed to.
“Close your eyes,” he said.
She shot him a dubious look, but then her eyelids fluttered closed. He switched on the machine, holding his breath until the first clusters of bubble snowflakes started falling from the ceiling.
Her face was upturned, her lashes dark on her pale cheeks, and he could see the moment she felt the first bubble hit her skin. She flinched a little, then opened her eyes, letting out a surprised laugh at the snow falling down on her.
“Oh my god,” she said. “Asa, you did it.”
He rubbed the back of his neck. “You were right about the outlet,” he said. “That was why it didn’t work that night.”
“It’s so . . .” Her lashes were spiked with something that sparkled in the light, and at first he thought it was bits of the mixture that made up the snowflakes. He stepped closer to her, about to try to brush it away, to protect her against the sting of soap in her eyes. But then it tracked down her cheek, and he saw that they were tears.
“Lauren . . .” he said, and her face crumpled.
“I’m sorry,” she said, backing up when he stepped toward her. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. Well, I have a few ideas. Nothing about tonight has gone the way I planned it, and I just—”
She shook her head, brushing her hand across her cheeks almost angrily, looking down as if any evidence of the tears on her skin would be a betrayal.
Asa wanted to reach for her, but he wasn’t sure if she’d welcome it, so he shoved his hands in his pockets instead. He didn’t know if she was referring to her date with Daniel, or something else. He’d noticed Daniel slip out of the party somewhere in the middle of Lauren’s song, and as much as it annoyed him to think of Daniel bailing on Lauren halfway through the night, he couldn’t deny that it had been a relief to see him go.