Take a Bow

“Red! That’s my girl! Although, I don’t mean to doubt you, but it’s pretty hard.”

Emme glares at Jack. “I can do it.”

And the way she says it, there is no question at all that she can.

I’m waiting for Emme at her locker after class.

“I’d say that I don’t mean to stalk you, but …”

She doesn’t look surprised to see me, but she doesn’t look pleased, either.

“What’s up?” she asks.

I didn’t think she was going to acknowledge my existence, so I don’t really have a plan.

“We still need to record some more songs for our thesis projects. I wanted to see when, ah, you wanted to come over.”

She stares at my sling. “Can you really work the soundboard with your arm?”

“I’m willing to try.”

She lets out a small sigh. “I don’t know….”

“Please.” I feel the desperation seep into my voice and I don’t care. I need to fix this. I need Emme. I hate myself so much right now, probably more than she hates me. If that’s even possible.

She nods to herself a bit, apparently weighing the pros and cons.

“Hey, guys. Welcome back, Ethan!” Tyler approaches us and I try to look happy to see him. Okay, maybe not happy, but I try to push down the murderous rage I feel inside.

I hold Emme’s gaze as Tyler stands between us, looking back and forth, waiting to be acknowledged. Then the corner of Emme’s mouth turns up slightly and she tilts her head at me. She looks at Tyler and grabs him by the shirt and kisses him. Hard.

I’ve never been so jealous of a person (or shirt) in my life.

“Hi,” she says as she pushes him away.

His eyes are wide. Clearly not the hello he was expecting.

She can hardly look me in the eye when she finally addresses me. “Yeah, I guess I could come over later. I’ll call you.”

She and Tyler leave hand in hand.

I feel sick to my stomach.

But I deserve that and so much more.

Emme does come over as promised. But instead of heading to the studio, she sits down on the couch in our living room.

“I’m pretty mad at you, Ethan.”

“I know.”

She starts playing with the tie that’s on her shirt. “But that doesn’t excuse me from not returning your phone calls or visiting you while you were out.”

I don’t even know what to say.

She continues. “I don’t know. I felt like I needed to get back at you for what you did. Which is why I made a total fool out of myself today with Tyler in front of you. But I don’t really think there is anything that I can do to make you realize what you’ve done. I want to move on from all of this.”

“I’ll do anything to make you not hate me.”

“I don’t hate you.”

Part of me doesn’t believe her, although I desperately want to.

I sit down next to her and take her hand. “Emme, I will do everything possible to make this up to you, I promise.”

She doesn’t respond. She slowly pulls her hand away. “There’s something I want to show you.” She takes out her phone and hands it to me.

I see an e-mail from Juilliard telling her she’s been invited to audition in February.

“You did it!”

She gives me a weak smile. This is something she’s dreamed about for so long. The old Emme would’ve been ecstatic, and a feeling creeps up inside me that makes me wonder if I killed that part of her.

“Emme!” I jump up on the couch. “You got invited to audition at Juilliard. JUILLIARD!” I jump right next to her so she starts to shake around.

She stands up. Her eyes get wide. “Flippin’ Juilliard!” She jumps up on the couch and lets out the most glorious laugh I’ve ever heard.

I lose my balance and fall backward onto the couch.

“Ethan!” She lets out a little scream.

“I’m okay!”

She jumps off the couch, slightly out of breath, and sits back down. “I really needed this.”

I nod at her. Happy to have Emme back, even if it’s temporary.

She turns to me. “I’m sure you’ll hear any day.”

I pause for a second. “I did hear back.”

She swats at my good arm. “You were supposed to tell me!”

“You were the first person I called, but, um, you weren’t returning my phone calls.”

“Oh.” I didn’t want to remind her of why she wasn’t talking to me. “Well?”

I jump back onto the couch. “Flippin’ Juilliard!”

She cheers for me and jumps back on with me to celebrate. We bounce around like idiots for nearly half an hour. I didn’t want this moment to end. I’m afraid that the second our feet touch the floor (literally), she’ll go back to Upset Emme.

But truthfully, I’ll hold on to whatever part of her I can.

Alumni night.

Jack is uncharacteristically pacing around backstage. He finally pulls me aside. “I’m not cool with this. Emme hasn’t run through her solo once.”

Every time we’ve practiced, she’s stopped playing when the break came for her solo. She’s simply said that she’s been practicing and knows what she has to do.

I don’t doubt for a second that she’s ready. Although there’s a small part of me that’s nervous for her, worried that she might freeze up. I don’t know if it’s because she got into the Juilliard audition, or she’s becoming more comfortable singing her own songs, but Emme’s starting to get this quiet confidence about her. I’m more excited for her than anything. I want to see her perform her solo, to finally be the center of attention.

“I don’t know, man.” Jack folds his arms. “I don’t like this. It’s like she’s suddenly become the unpredictable one. Look at me! I’m a nervous wreck. My hot girlfriend is standing over there in a ridiculously short flapper dress and I can’t even enjoy it!” Jack motions toward Chloe, who is getting ready for her twenties dance number.

Jerry Shan, the junior who’s playing Emme’s part, comes over to me. “Emme looks freakishly calm.”

Emme’s been standing in a corner, staring at her guitar.

I have no idea why this isn’t freaking me out. I, more than anybody, want to see her succeed. Maybe I’m just in denial about how much is at stake once we get on that stage. If it goes poorly, her confidence will be shattered.

Ben joins us. “What’s making me nervous is that you are calm. That’s u

“Can everybody relax?” I plead. “Emme is going to rock this out. There’s no doubt in my mind.”

Okay, maybe there’s a tiny fraction of doubt, but I don’t think it would help Emme if she saw everybody in the band freaking out.

Jack throws his hands up. “Okay, is this some kind of a joke? Seriously, you are being the voice of reason here? I can’t handle this. Please start freaking out.”

My laughter just makes Jack more agitated. So I laugh even harder.

Emme walks over. “What’s going on?”

“I have no idea. It’s like an episode of The Twilight Zone over here!” Jack walks away.

“What?” Emme looks confused.

“Nothing.” I smile at her. “You’re going to be brilliant.”

She shrugs. I start to get that familiar nervous feeling I get in the pit of my stomach before we go onstage. But for the first time, it isn’t about me. I so desperately want this to go well for Emme.

She gestures at my black long-sleeve shirt. “You can hardly see the sling with that thing on.”

I decide to not hold back anymore. I grab her by the waist with my one good arm and kiss her on the forehead.

Before she can respond, we’re told to take our places.

Emme is up front with me. Ben is to my right, and Jerry is to Emme’s left. Dr. Pafford introduces the eighties by showing famous alumni from that decade. Once the lights come up, I start the opening notes of the song on the keyboard with my one good hand, then Jack comes in with a harder beat than the original.

Emme begins to play the opening riff with such force it feels like the entire audience has been awakened after boring concertos and period dances.

As I start to sing and the crowd begins to move to the beat, I hear cheering from the current students standing in the back. I take the microphone out of the holder. I can’t dance and there’s no way that I’m going to even attempt it on a song by such an iconic dancer as Michael Jackson, especially with a sling on. I’m doing it because when Emme does her solo, I want her to be alone at the front of the stage.