Never in my life had I felt as stressed out as Thursday afternoon. I didn't know if I wanted Miles to show up sooner or never at all. My apartment was still a mess from moving but my dear friends pressured me into hosting so they could take a look around my new place.
Miriam was the first one to arrive at five pm sharp because unlike others she had been here before and didn't have trouble finding it. Dahlia came with Sadie soon after. Kiara brought her girlfriend and that's why they were the last ones to arrive.
An hour later we were in the middle of a heated argument on what is the best warm-up song when the doorbell rang.
I opened the door after peeping through the hole, it was Miles. Finally!
My 'hi!' was muffled in the hug I was greeted by. It was tight but short-lived and it left me feeling a little dizzy with euphoria.
He was carrying two cases. I noted he had gone for an Italian mob look and it complemented his forearms too well for my sanity, making it hard not to stare.
"Welcome to mi casa," I said as I guided Miles to the room everyone was in. Between the kitchen and bathroom, there was a spare room with two sets of windows facing the street.
At the door, I stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. "I must warn you, there is too much female energy in there. Buckle up."
I opened the door without waiting for a response.
Miles shook everyone's hands in turn.
"So you settled on a warm-up yet?" I asked while helping Miles with his stuff, turns out he brought a saxophone and an electric guitar.
My question started a new round of loud name-calling until Kiara's girlfriend, Lenny, shouted, "Dark Haired Lady!"
"Sounds good to me," I said.
Miriam was the only one not happy with this choice but she didn't want to tell two strangers why, so she just went with it.
Now that the song was settled we each took our places, getting into position. I sat next to Miles on a green sofa facing the windows. In the middle of the room, Dahlia and Miriam sat on a bunch of pillows. In front of the other wall, Sadie sat on a stool holding her acoustic guitar. Lenny and Kiara sat on the windowsill, Kiara holding her violin.
The band started playing Dark Haired Lady. Miriam sang the first verse then Kiara played a violin solo. By the end of the second verse, Miles leaned back and put his arm on the back of the sofa, close enough to my neck that I could feel the soft taps of his fingers to the rhythm. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up as if trying to get even closer to him. The bridge came to an end right as I finally decided which new song I wanted to show the band first.
"She has a really beautiful voice," Miles whispered in my ear as Miriam did some additional notes. "Sounds kinda like you."
"Oh, thanks, Emm's my twin sister," I said while going through my pages.
"Is she like Kiara and Lenny?"
"In what way?" I looked at him.
"Well, the song... It sounds a little homoerotic."
Oh, he picked up on that!
"Do not let Emm hear you say that. Ever!" I warned him but I assume he didn't take it seriously because of the laughter in my voice.
"Why not?" He moved closer to me, whispering the words like some kind of a conspiracy plan.
"We sorta kinda tricked her into singing it and she is like the only hundred percent straight one of the five of us." I looked at Emm, she was showing something to Dahlia on her phone. "But when we released it, the tabloids started this whole thing where they made her into some kind of a closeted lesbian. All they had was that we went to an all-girls high school and our publicist back then told her she should go with it. How fucking crazy is that?"
