The next few moments were a blur of frenzied activity. A tall, slender man with red hair, who we later learned was Steve, rushed onto the stage and checked Cassie’s oxygen level, which was at 75%, and promptly began barking orders. Kevin scooped her limp body into his arms and ran to the loading dock, which, after all the stage equipment was unloaded, had been made into an ambulance bay for Brian in the event that he needed it. Amelia and Chrissy climbed into the ambulance with her and they were whisked away to the nearest hospital. I stood frozen in place on the loading dock and Mel placed a hand on my arm. “I’m going to go call her parents,” she said gently. I nodded and kept staring straight ahead in the direction the ambulance had sped away.

I don’t know how long I stood there before I heard the sound of a heavy door being pushed open and soft footsteps padding towards me. I didn’t turn around and didn’t flinch when a warm hand landed on my shoulder. “I heard all the commotion and ran into Mel in the hallway. She told me what happened. Do you need someone to take you to the hospital?” Howie’s voice echoed in my ear and I turned to look at him.
“What’s going on with you and Mel?” I asked. Avoidance was good.

He squinted his eyes and tilted his head to the side, but apparently decided to humor me. “We’re just messing around, having a little fun if you will.”

“You know she thinks you’re incredibly hot....”

He blushed. “I think she’s pretty hot, too.” He sighed. “If it turns into something more, great, but if not , we’ve talked about and I think we’re both okay with that.”

I nodded and stared back out into the street. “So you’re sleeping with her?”

“Yeah,” he admitted. We stood there quietly for a while and he rested his head on my shoulder.

“You know, I’m really tired. I think maybe I’ll go take a nap before we have to be in hair and makeup.” I turned on my heel and took a step forward, but his hands immediately flew out to stop me.

“Emily, I think you should go to the hospital and check on your friend.” His eyes, which were the same color, but several shades darker than my own, seemed to bore holes through me.

“I can’t right now!” I hissed, pushing past him. He didn’t fight me and I ran back inside the building. I soon found myself in what I’d dubbed “the piano room” because it was this big room in the basement of the venue that had about 10 pianos in it. There was one big black grand piano in the center and three or four baby grands scattered throughout the room and uprights lined the wall. I assumed there must have been some music classes held in the venue. I sat down at a baby grand and grazed my fingers over the keys. I pounded out some chords then played some melodies with my right hand, then played some more chords. I didn’t notice the other person in the room until he literally sat down on the piano bench beside me.

I jumped nearly three feet in the air. “Jesus Christ, Kevin! Are you trying to give me a heart attack?!” I snapped, glaring at him.

He smirked in amusement. “Is there a reason you only play one part at a time?” Apparently he’d detected my air of avoidance.

I could feel my face getting hot. “That’s all I know how to do,” I answered sheepishly.

“Hmm...” he placed his fingers on the keys and played a little bit of some vaguely familiar hymn (both parts of course).

“Hmm, what?” I asked suspiciously.

He shrugged. “I just find that a little hard to believe is all.”

“Seriously. I can read the music fine, I can play the chords with my left hand, I can play the melody with my right, and I just can’t put them together.”

“Really?”

“Really! Give me a microphone and I’ll sing and dance at the same time like a pro, but ask my hands to do two different things on the piano, and it’s just not happening.”

He smiled. “Maybe you just need a good teacher.”

“Oh, and who’s that going to be? You? Yeah right.” I started to stand up and he put a hand on my shoulder and sat me back down, then he started playing the bouncy opening chords to “Heart and Soul.”

“Well, go on.” He nodded towards my right hand which had naturally become poised over “middle C,” and I laughed as I started playing the melody. We went through the entire song about 3 times before he stopped and turned to me, suddenly looking very serious.

“So....You hidin’ out?” he asked.

I groaned. “Howie sent you didn’t he?”

“Nope, but he is wandering the halls looking for you and muttering something in Spanish. I think it’s cuss words,” he said with a smirk in his southern drawl.

I rolled my eyes. “Then what are you doing here?”

“Why aren’t you at the hospital?

I crossed my arms. “You don’t answer a question with a question.”

“Fine.” He crossed his arms to match my stance and turned to straddle the piano bench face me. “I wanted to see if you were okay, which obviously, you’re not. Now you answer my question. Why aren’t you at the hospital? What are you hiding from?”

I could feel myself crumbling under his stare and my breath hitched in my throat. “I can’t lose two of my best friends in two months. I just can’t.”

“What makes you think you’re losing Cassie?” he asked, suddenly very concerned.

“She used to do this a lot, and the number of near-death experiences....well, I’d rather not recount them all. I’m afraid her luck’s gonna have to run out sooner or later.” I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding and swiped my fingertips under one of my eyes to keep a tear from falling.

“So you’re hiding in the piano room?”

“Yes.” I buried my face in my arms which fell down on the piano, producing a loud, dissonant chord.

“Emily,” Kevin said, placing a hand on my shoulder. I stayed still. “Emily!”

“Go away!” My voice was muffled by my sweatshirt.

“No,” he said sternly. “You need to go check on your friend. You don’t want to hear of something happening when you could have been there do you?”

“I just want it all to go away.”

“Well, it’s not going away, so I recommend you get up, go to the hospital, and find out how Cassie’s doing.” The piano bench shifted as he stood up. “Come on.” I peeked out from under my arms to see his hand sticking out in front of me.

“No.” I kept my head buried in my arms. He sighed loudly and shoved the piano bench out from under me. “Hey!” I shouted at him as I went flailing onto the tile floor.

“Emily Rose, I’m going to say this just once, so you better listen.” He stooped down and started scolding me, shaking his finger at me and everything. “You are being totally irrational. Sure you’ve been hurting because of Danny, but Cassie’s not Danny. She’s sick in a hospital far from home and she needs her friends. I’m not saying she’s going to die, but it I’d had even one more second to spend with my father, I’d have taken it. So, you are going to get up, pull yourself together, and go see about your friend. Got it?”

I stared up at him with wide eyes and managed to squeak out an “Okay.”


“Okay then, let’s go.” He held his hand out to me and I took it, letting him pull me up out of the floor. He slung his arm over my shoulder and bent down to kiss me on the forehead as we walked out of the room.

I tensed. “Don’t push it, Kevin.”

He jerked his arm away and stuffed his hands in his pockets. “Sorry.”