We were starting the Walls on Fire tour in Brisbane and traveling right down the east coast through all the capital cities and a few regional towns before hitting Victoria again, bypassing Melbourne via the country cities of Shepparton and Ballarat. Then on to South Australia for gigs in Mt Gambier and Adelaide before coming back the eight-hour or so drive from there to Melbourne for a final two shows before the tour officially ended. We had a planned twenty gigs to get through in the next month and a bit, and that didn’t include interviews and photo shoots along the way.

Much to my relief, I was stuck next to Frank on the flight, and we made it to the hotel at the edge of the CBD with a few hours to kill before the gig. We had a tight turnaround, so we had to make do with no sound check and hope for the best. We were playing at Brisbane’s Hi-Fi Bar, so hopefully, that would sort itself out.

Check in seemed to be a slow process for a busy Saturday afternoon, and we loitered in the lobby as the staff coded key cards for us. I leaned against the tours counter and flipped through some travel brochures—not that we’d get the time to see anything, but there were a lot of things about rainforests and tropical islands that looked like a great way to stop my gaze from wandering.

A shadow loomed in my peripheral vision. Automatically, I glanced out the corner of my eye, and there stood Will with his wild sexy hair, and—now that he was close enough in daylight so I could see—stormy blue-gray eyes. My whole body began to tingle, and it unsettled me how attracted I was to him.

“Hey,” he said, leaning against the counter.

“Hey,” I said slowly, and it came out like I was suspicious. Well, that would be the truth.

“I’ve seen you around. You know, before this.” He waved his hands around, gesturing toward the others.

“Oh?” I tried not to let on that I knew exactly what he was on about.

“There was this show at The Corner a while back,” he said, frowning at me. He seemed to think I would remember the awkward, sexy eyes he gave me and the odd eyebrow-raising incident. And that thing at our first gig. Of course, I remembered, but I wasn’t going to let on. It was months ago.

“Oh, yeah. I was there,” I said nonchalantly, putting the brochure I had in my hands back on the rack.

“I wanted to say hi to you, but your mates seemed rather protective.”

“Who? Dee and Frank?” My eyebrows rose. “Yeah, well, maybe Dee, but Frank would probably push me on anything that looked my way.” Will looked confused, so I said, “He’s all for havin’ a good time if you know what I mean.” It didn’t seem to be going well.

“Well,” he said. “It’s gonna be a great tour. I guess we’ll have heaps of time to hang out and get to know one another.”

I’m not sure if he said it to be polite or to get away from the crazy person, so I just nodded. Dee chose that moment to come along and thump my room key on the counter, and I turned around to pick it up. Obviously, Will used the distraction to escape, so when I turned back, all I saw was his back as he went over to pick up his bags.

“So awkward.” Dee shook his head at me. “I need to coach you on social interactions or something.”

“Shut the hell up,” I hissed and pushed past him, picking up my bag.

“Don’t be so bitchy, Zoe.”

“Don’t be such a smartass.”

I pushed the button for the elevator about a million times as if it would make the hunk of junk faster. I heard the rest of the guys loitering in the foyer as the door slid open.

“Zoe!” Dee yelled at me.

I turned and gave him a look, holding the door with a hand to stop it from closing. Everyone looked at me, and I felt my face going red. Shit, I could stand in front of hundreds of people on stage, but this made me embarrassed? What a dork.

“Pick you up at six, bitch,” Dee declared, much to his own amusement, and I glared at him.

As I stepped into the elevator, my gaze crossed Will’s, and he looked away before he had to acknowledge me. It stung more than I thought it would. Shit, at least I didn’t declare my crush on him, but somehow, I thought I might have done that already.

Sometimes, I thought I was grateful for the human interaction, no matter how awkward it was. Hiding away for so long had to leave some kinks for me to work out, right? I just wished they weren’t so embarrassing.

* * *

The day after the gig in Brisbane, we stood in the middle of the hotel car park, the early morning sun peeking over the top of the trees, and stared at our mode of transport for the next five weeks.

It was a gold bus with a trailer attached to the back. Enough room to stick us all in and our gear. We weren’t rich enough to have a fancy bus with beds, so seats would have to do.

The night before, I cut out on the after party altogether and went straight back to my room and crashed. I tried to convince myself I was just tired after an early morning flight and another show and wasn’t being antisocial at all. Secretly, I was too embarrassed to look at Will, let alone talk to him.

Frank opened his arms wide and spun around. “This is the lap of luxury,” he yelled at the top of his lungs.

Dee tackled him with a laugh, and they almost fell to the ground in a heap. I was so glad they were there. Their idiotic behavior detracted from mine.

Bob, our driver, was laughing as the boys wrestled each other. For me, it was way too early for that kind of enthusiasm.

“Do you mind driving around a bunch of degenerates like them?” I asked him.

“Nah.” He shook his head. “I’m an old rocker myself, so for me, it’s kinda fun. Reliving the old days.”

It wasn’t a full-sized bus, so once we’d stuck in the bags that couldn’t fit in the trailer, we had to cram in with little space to spread out.

Simone was following us in a rental car, a swish little 4WD crammed full with both bands’ merchandise. Dean was off somewhere and was going to meet us in Sydney by the weekend, so for the time being, she was the only manager with us and was more than glad to handle The Stabs, as well. Sometimes, I had to remind myself this was Simone’s dream as well as ours.

Dee winked at me from under Frank’s armpit where he was in a headlock, and I knew there was incoming. Glancing at the door to the hotel, the guys from The Stabs were walking toward us, bleary-eyed in the sunlight. Seemed like they had a hard night after I left the venue, and I tried not to care how hard it was.

Will had on aviator glasses and a worn denim jacket, and I found myself staring and feeling a little hot under the collar. He held two takeout cups of coffee and was saying something to Sticks, who was shaking his head and knocking away one of the cups, but who knew what that was. I was too busy thinking about my hands in his hair…again.

“Got an extra coffee,” Will said to no one in particular. “Anyone want it?”

“Zoe wants it,” Dee said, and right then, I could have killed him.

He held it out, and I went to take it, but my hand shook so much it slipped from my fingers and fell to the concrete, splashing over my boots.

“Shit,” I cursed, my face flaming red.

“Aw, dammit,” Will hissed, jumping back a step.

I didn’t know what the hell was wrong with me, but I was seriously beginning to think I had some kind of mental deficiency where good-looking guys were concerned. I picked up the now empty cup and walked over to the bin, doing my best to ignore Dee’s laughter so I could escape my awkward nightmare. Idiot, idiot, idiot.

As I walked back, Simone gave me a knowing grimace.

“Can I ride with you?” I asked wryly. It was only an hour to the Gold Coast, but I couldn’t think of anything worse than riding in that bus today.

She looked at me and then looked at the boys loitering in the car park and nodded. “Sure.”

“Zoe?” Dee called as we began to walk toward the car.

“I’m riding with Simone today,” I called back. “I’ll entertain you tomorrow.”

He shielded his eyes from the sun, and even without looking, I could tell he was concerned. He would be kicking himself now for making fun of me. Something so small shouldn’t get to me like this, but he knew me well enough to know it cut.

I waved him off and opened the passenger side door to Simone’s rental. As I settled in, she slid on her black rimmed glasses and started the car. On anyone else, they would look super awkward, but she could pull the nerd glasses off like no one’s business. She turned on the radio to Absolute and a Two Door Cinema Club song was playing. As the bus pulled out of the car park, she followed, tapping her fingers against the wheel.

She shifted in her seat about a million times before we’d even hit the highway, and it was only a few blocks away.

“Are you okay?” I asked, glancing at her and then to the road ahead where the bus with my awkward crush and my infuriating best friend was sitting at a traffic light.

“Can I ask you a question?” she asked.

“Uh, sure,” I replied, curious as to what had her worked up.

“How well do you know Chris?”

“Chris?” I asked surprised.

“Yeah, you guys spend a lot of time together. With the band and stuff.”

“Yeah, I guess we know each other pretty well.”

“Does he ever mention me?” She said it in a small voice, which made me think she was embarrassed to be talking about him.

“Do you like him or something?”

Her skin was so pale it was totally obvious when she blushed. “I’ve known him for years,” she said. “But we haven’t been that close. Not until now.”

“You should tell him,” I said, offering up advice I couldn’t take myself. “He’s a good guy. Ask him out.”

“But what if he doesn’t feel the same way?”

I didn’t know what to say to that without sounding like a hypocrite.

“Could you say something to him?” she went on. “I mean, to see how he might take it?”

“Like an undercover cop?” I joked.

She laughed, and I was glad my joke had succeeded in cheering her up a little. “It’s just I’m firmly in the friend zone.”

“And you don’t know how to get out of it?”

“Totally. Would you ask him?”

“Sure. I’ll scope it out.”

“Covertly.” She grinned at me.

“Covertly.”

We merged onto the highway behind the bus, and it was smooth sailing until we hit the beach. We both laughed when ‘Walls’ came onto the radio, and she made me sing along. It always felt weird hearing my own voice coming out of a set of speakers, but it was slowly growing on me. So far, Simone hadn’t brought up the coffee incident, but I should have known she was biding her time to bring up boy chat again. It seemed to be her favorite topic other than music.

“What’s with you and Will?” She peered at me with one eye on the road.

“What are you talking about?” I said a little too quickly.

She laughed at my reaction. “You like him,” she teased.

I rolled my eyes, knowing the reality wasn’t so light and fluffy. “Not gonna happen.”

“Why not?”

“Why would it?” I grimaced.

“He’d be stupid not to go for you.”

“I don’t want a fling,” I said, annoyed.

“Hmm,” Simone said in thought. “He does have that reputation, doesn’t he?”

“Which is why it will never happen.”

“That was awkward as hell back there.”

“One of the more stupid reactions I’ve had.”

“Don’t be so hard on yourself, Zoe,” Simone said kindly. “I’ve seen him looking at you.”

“People do that when I’m on stage.”

She scoffed. “No, not then.”

I frowned. When was he looking at me?

“The other night at the Hi-Fi back in Melbourne,” she continued as if she’d read my thoughts.

Oh, I remembered what he was doing back in Melbourne. Letting some random chick rub her tits all over him. He probably took her out back and fucked her. The thought had my pulse racing with something akin to jealousy.

“He was all over that girl,” I said sullenly.

“He was hardly paying attention to her. He was too busy seeing if it pissed you off or not.”

I felt my cheeks turning red and thought about the death glares I’d shot at him. They were pretty epic. Some of my best.

“Will’s into you,” Simone declared like it was a done deal with a happily ever after.

“Too bad,” I shot back with a little too much anger in my voice. “I don’t want a fling. I don’t want anything.”

It was silent for a while after that, and it seemed like Simone had gotten the hint. I did not want to talk about Will Strickland or any reference to my love life—ever. So Simone’s next question came right out of left field and caught me off guard.

“Did something happen to you?” she asked carefully, breaking the silence with a resounding crash.

“Yeah,” I heard myself saying from somewhere very far away. Simone had that effect on me. The one where she was easy to talk to.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

I sighed, glancing out the window at the passing countryside. “I went through a bad break up,” I began. “Everyone believed him, and not one of them believed me. I ended up with a broken arm and a broken life. If it wasn’t for Dee, I don’t know where I’d be now.”

“Fuck, Zoe.”

“It’s much better now.”

“Your arm…”

“Dee started the band to help me,” I said, ignoring her. “I owe him everything.”

“Well, I’m glad,” she said. “Cos I got to be friends with you.”

I looked over at her then, and she glanced back to the road with a smile.

“We’re besties, right?” she asked.

I let out a small laugh, the tension easing from my shoulders. “Besties.”

She held up her fist and declared, “Sisters before misters.”

Cracking a smile, I bumped my fist against hers.