“Am I interrupting?”
A huge grin spread across his face as he rushed over to me and gathered me in a big hug and a kiss. “Not at all.” His eyes searched mine as he smoothed the hair out of my eyes. “I missed you.”
“I missed you too.” I couldn’t stop smiling at him.
All of a sudden we heard someone clear their throat and we remembered that we weren’t alone in the room.
“Oh sorry guys, I'll have to catch up with you later, my beautiful girlfriend is back and I need to be with her. I know you guys understand.”
They chuckled and shook their heads at us as they walked out of the room and closed the door behind them.
“It’s good to see you.” Jonathan still had his arms wrapped around me and there was nowhere else in the world I wanted to be. “Thank you for the book, I can’t believe you remembered that I wanted to read that.”
I’d bought him a book on rare cars that he said he wanted and I was happy that he liked the gift.
"Jonathan," I touched the necklace around my neck, "thank you so much for the beautiful and thoughtful gift. It means so much to me.”
“You’re welcome, sweetie, it looks so beautiful on you.”
Even though we had talked and Skyped every day, we sat in his room for a while chatting about our vacations and how nice it was to spend so much time with our families.
“Maybe next year you can come home with me for Christmas. We usually go to Aspen every year so I would love to take you there.”
"Next year? Aren’t you thinking a little far into the future?" I was half teasing but I also was curious to hear what he was thinking about us being together long term, especially since he was graduating in May.
“Of course I am Skylar, don’t you think we will still be together next year at this time?”
“I was just teasing honey, of course I do! You can’t get rid of me that easily.”
“I have no desire to get rid of you, I told you before, I’m completely smitten.” The butterflies ravaged my belly as his intense eyes searched mine.
“So am I.” I smiled at him as I held his gaze.
He smiled at me. “Good! Now that we have that out of the way, do you want to go grab something to eat?”
“Sure. Should I go check to see if Katie is back yet and ask her if she wants to come with us?”
“Maybe next time, today I just want to be with you.”
What could I say to that? I just wanted to be with him too.
“Okay.”
We grabbed our coats and headed out to find something to eat.
Chapter Eleven
The days passed quickly and I didn’t see Jonathan quite as much because he was practicing every day for his performance at the Shadow Room. I also, thankfully, hardly ever saw Barbi. I think that after she saw that Jonathan and I were really serious she just left us alone, and it was really nice not to see her and not to have to deal with her.
Jonathan was a nervous wreck because he knew that his parents were going to that performance and he wanted everything to be perfect. I tried to reassure him that everything would be okay, and it seemed to help a little bit, but he was still on edge.
He asked me to go to his last rehearsal before the performance to make sure that they sounded okay and that they all looked okay on stage. It was the first time that he asked me to go to one of his rehearsals and I was really flattered because he was super private about practicing with the band. It was even more amazing to see them in rehearsal because I was able to see how they were all in sync with each other, and they knew when to correct each other in the tiniest places that no one else would notice. I really felt like I was watching a professional band and I just knew that they could have a huge future ahead of them.
The day of the performance I was a nervous wreck for Jonathan because I knew how much this meant to him, and I really hoped that his parents enjoyed the show. Katie, Mike, Jen and a few other people went with me to the show and we got there about a half hour before they were supposed to go on. I looked around and I didn’t see Mr. and Mrs. Hunter yet and tried not to get nervous. They have to show up, they just have to. Jonathan will be devastated if they don’t.
The Shadow Room was an 18 and over club so it kept out the high school crowd. We got a table near the stage and ordered some nachos and sodas. I decided to save two seats at our table for Jonathan’s parents because the band was so popular and the show would probably be standing room only. Fifteen minutes before the start of the show there was still no sign of Mr. and Mrs. Hunter and I really started to worry. Ten minutes before the show, I glanced around the room, which was quickly filling up, and I saw a tall, imposing figure standing in the back of the room surveying the area. Relief flooded over me and I walked over to Mr. and Mrs. Hunter to let them know that I had saved seats for them. I introduced them to everyone at the table and they ordered a couple of drinks.
Katie leaned over and whispered to me so that I would be the only one to hear her. "Are you kidding me? Jonathan is the spitting image of his father, they are both so gorgeous!”
I looked at her and mouthed ‘I know, right?’, so that no one would hear what we were saying.
Mrs. Hunter seemed to be amazed at the crowd as she looked around at what was now standing room only.
“Wow, are all of these people here to see Jonathan’s band?”
I smiled at her so excited that they were there and that they were seeing the huge crowd.
“They are. The band is really popular and all of their shows sell out. Everyplace they’ve played has had to turn away people because they don’t have enough room for everyone who wants to see them.”
"That's impressive." Mr. Hunter was a man of few words but I could tell that he actually was impressed. The hard exterior I normally saw whenever Jonathan brought up his band around his father was now gone and was replaced by a softer expression.
The lights started to dim, the crowd started to whistle and clap and I glanced over at Mr. and Mrs. Hunter to watch their reaction to all of this, and they seemed totally intrigued. The strobe light circled the room as the curtain began to rise, and a male voice flooded the speakers as the slow drum beat began to play. “Shadow Room, give it up for Sonic Blaze!” The crowd went crazy with screaming, whistling and clapping as Jonathan’s liquid smooth voice caressed our ears.