𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐄 𝐓𝐎𝐆𝐄𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑 ♫ 𝐣𝐮𝐥𝐢𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐬 ¹

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝟑

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𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝟑
𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐔𝐍𝐄𝐗𝐏𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐄𝐃 𝐀𝐔𝐃𝐈𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄

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Lexi walked across the street back to her house, only for her to stop in her tracks when she saw the driveway empty. Normally it would contain two cars at this time of night, which meant that her parents still weren't home from work. A quiet sigh passed over the redhead's lips as continued her journey home before climbing the porch steps and opening the front door. As soon as she entered the house, loud music and a mouthwatering aroma filled the air before she walked into the kitchen. When the young girl arrived at her destination, Cami was dancing around the island and singing along to the music as she waited for the oven to finish cooking the pizzas.

A silent giggle escaped Lexi's lips as she watched her older brother's smiling girlfriend act like she didn't have a care in the world. Just as the redhead was about to make herself known to the older girl, a pair of arms wrapped around her waist. It wasn't long after that when her feet left the ground then she was spun around while her brother's laughter filled the air. This continued for a good minute or two before Ryder carried her over to the kitchen and sat her down on one of the chairs at the table.

"Mom and Dad called and said they were gonna go to grandma's for dinner so Cami and I made pizzas," the redheaded boy told Lexi as he opened the oven. The younger Daniels sibling watched her brother's movements as he pulled out three single-serving pizzas from the oven and placed the tray on the counter. As soon as the hot metal was set down, Cami began to cut them up and dish them out while Ryder leaned against the marble with his arms crossed and a smirk on his face. "Maybe if you finish your homework early, you can finish that new song I heard you working on the other day."

Lexi paused mid-bite as her brown eyes landed on her older brother before she glanced over at Cami, only to see the curly-haired girl standing next to her boyfriend with the same smirk on her face. "Why are you guys looking at me like that?"

"What you have so far is amazing, Lexa," Cami told the younger girl as she sat down at the table across from the skeptical-looking redhead, "so, Ryder and I were wondering if you wanted to sing it at our gig this weekend."

As if sensing the panic growing within his sister, Ryder sat down next to Lexi and placed a comforting hand on her shaking knee. "It's just a small crowd at that tiny coffee shop downtown. No one from your school would be there."

Lexi just stared at the now unappetizing slices of pizza on the plate in front of her while she tried to take in their words, only for her brain to replay the memory of her last on-stage performance. A knot in her stomach began to form at the thought of singing in front of a crowd as her knuckles clenched so tightly that they began to turn a ghostly white. A long, silent breath passed over her lips in an attempt to calm down her nerves before her eyes left the plate in front of her to meet the two pairs of brown ones staring back at her.