Stars Landing [Book 3]

Chapter 23 - The Sketch Master

'Don't kill me, but I did something crazy.'

'I met a hot-shot musician at the coffee shop near our place last night and he overheard me listening to your cover of Chasing Pavements. He wants to meet you so you can sing for his upcoming band!'

'He's in Ottawa for the weekend too! Any chance you would be up for meeting him today?'

Sera stared at the text messages from Harry, holding back her urge to commit murder. Two years ago, she had a moment of weakness and decided to cover one of Adele's songs, and she had made Harry swear on his grandparent's grave that he would not leak or send the file to anyone. And yet, despite her efforts, there she was. Sitting in the backseat of Christian Lu's rented BMW, discovering that not only had the file been leaked, but some sketch master wanted to meet her.

'How dare you?' Sera furiously typed, huffing and puffing. Tegan picked up on her distress signal from beside her, and leaned in to see who her friend was texting. 'You swore to me that it would never get out. You made a promise! I can't even deal with this right now—can't even fathom you being this careless!'

"Oh no," Tegan gasped from beside her.

Harry replied instantly. 'I'm sorry, I listen to your cover occasionally! I didn't know someone was eavesdropping.'

Sera snapped. 'I am not meeting this guy today or ever! You can be the one to tell him that!'

"But wait," Tegan intervened. "Maybe you should?"

Sera made a face at her. "I am not a singer!" she hissed, hoping Christian and Red wouldn't be able to overhear. "That was a one time thing!"

"What was a one time thing?" Christian asked, looking into the rear-view mirror. "Share with the class. I think I'm owed that much for driving you two around the city."

It was Tegan's turn to get angry. "We had no choice in the matter," she spat. "Don't act like you're doing us some monumental favour. We could have Ubered."

Harry's three additional messages followed:

'Look, I know you don't want to be a singer, but he seems legit. He has his own band and they are getting ready to make a debut. They may only want you for a voice-over and you can demand a private room to sing if you accept their offer.'

'This was all by chance, I didn't mean to give up your secret.'

'But also I'm a little happy that someone is finally recognising you for your talents.'

Sera groaned aloud. "He wants me to meet this guy without any information except that he's some up and coming musician? Is he kidding me?"

"Do you want me to come with you?" Tegan offered. "I'm too late to meet up with my uni-friends today. It will have to be after the concert."

"I don't want to sing," Sera said.

Red's interest peaked. "You sing?"

"Leisurely!" Sera corrected. "I covered Adele and some dude overheard Rhea's brother listening to it at a coffee shop in Toronto. Now he wants to meet me...."

Red couldn't get over the initial news. "Why would you sing for someone else when I'm sitting in this car with you? Come on Sera, I thought we were friends."

Sera's heart melted a little. "Aw, of course we are friends, but I'm not worthy of you. Trust me, I just sing for fun. Don't make anything out of this."

"I still think you should have someone go with you," Tegan supplied. "You shouldn't be meeting random strangers. You think Harry told the guy that you were out of town and he followed you out here just to meet you? Sounds super creepy."