Sing to Me by Michelle Pennington Read Free Book Online Page B

closed my eyes and pretended he was singing it to me .
    A few minutes later, he stopped singi ng and let the guitar strings hum into stillness. I barely had time to realize that Abby must be asleep before Colby emerged from her room and bumped into me as he turned the corner into the hall.
    There was a sudden firing of happiness in his eyes, and something warmer that was impossible not to recognize for what it was.
    “How long have you been there?”
    “Only a few minutes. It was long enough, though, to be amazed all over again at how talented you are.”
    It was impossible to be certain in the dim light, but I swear he blushed. His eyes never wavered from mine though.
    “Thanks,” he replied simply. “Want to go down stairs?”
    I glanced at his guitar. “ Sure. Will you sing to me?”
    “If you want. I don’t want to put you asleep too, though. ”
    “Don’t worry. Your voice has a comple tely different effect on me than it has on Abby, ” I assured him as I started downstairs.
    He c aught up to me and hi s free arm came around my waist as I hit the bottom step. “ Well, that’s an interesting statement I don’t mind exploring. It’s kind of ironic that I skipped out on rehearsal tonight, but I can’t seem to escape the music.”
    We were in the living room now, and I stopped before I sat on the couch to say, “Oh, I thought you must have just gotten done early. ”
    “No, there was no way that was happening so I had to bail.” He kissed me briefly and gently encouraged me to sit down with faint pressure on my shoulder. He sat across from me on the coffee table and began fiddling with the strings on his guitar . I caught my breath at how gorgeous he looked in the faint but war m circle of light from the lamp. “ I’m joking around about the music though . I wasn’t trying to get away from playing or singing – I just wanted to be with you.”
    “Was Micah mad?”
    “He wasn’t thrilled since I’ m sure he could guess what I was up to. I don’t care though. He needs me in the band, and he knows it. He didn’t give me too hard a ti me except to warn me we’d be practicing every night next week since prom is Friday. ”
    “So, I’m guessing that means we won’t see much of each other again.”
    His eyes met mine and he nodded as his shoulders sagged a little. Taking a deep breath, he muttered as he fiddled with the tuning on his guitar, “I can’t wait till this whole prom crap is over.”
    “Aren’t you excited to perform?”
    “Yeah, but I can’t say I’m excited to be up on stage watching you dance with someone else, knowing there’s nothing I can do about it.”
    Somehow, my mind hadn’t really gotten as far as that. I’d only been thinking about my dress, and my hair and everything. I’d vaguely realized that I’d be taking pictures with Brian and doing whatever else I needed to do as his date, but Colby was right. I’d have to dance with him and hang out with him, at least for a while. “Maybe he won’t want to dance much.”
    “I doubt that, not when it will be a good excuse to hang all over you. Are you going to leave with him too, go somewhere afterwards?” Colby’s jaw was stiff and I could see a storm brewing in his eyes as they bore into mine.
    “What? No. I don’t know. I hadn’t thought about it that far. Why are you so angry all of a sudden?”
    He stood up and laid his guitar on the table before going to stare through the blinds at the window. “I’m sorry. I’m not angry. It ’ s just really eating at me to think about you going out with Brian. I watched you drool over him for too long for it not to bother me. You know?”
    I went to stand beside him. “Look, I never drooled over him and I had no idea you liked me. Maybe if you’d acted like any normal guy and been nice or even flirted with me a little, I would have gotten over Brian sooner and we wouldn’t be in this mess.”
    “Yeah, well, it’s never been easy for me to talk to girls – and