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Effortlessly, casually cool.
And those eyes that seemed to shift and change with her mood and time of day. Sometimes amber gold like they were now. And sometimes when she was tired and introspective, they were dark and deep, making it difficult to distinguish where her pupil ended and the iris began.
When those eyes were on him, he felt like he could do anything.
It wasn’t until a few minutes later he even noticed Nikki standing right beside her.
Shawn acknowledged their audience and stopped playing. Naturally Asa did too.
Shawn stood up and shoved his sweaty hair out of his face. He came out from around the drum kit and Asa, having returned the bass to its stand, met him in a hand clasp and back slap.
“That was…” Shawn shook his head and folded his hands on top of his head. He didn’t need to expound because Asa got it.
“Same, dude,” Asa returned.
“I’d like to track that,” Shawn said, sounding almost shy. “Would you mind?”
“Doing a drum track for you?” Asa repeated. “You got it.” He backed toward the stairs that led up to Studio Y’s control room. “How long do you need?”
“I’ll be ready in… fifteen?” Shawn was moving toward the door and Nikki and Zara. “I just wanna check in with Z.”
Asa nodded, his gaze lingering briefly on Zara’s smile as she greeted Shawn.
Huh.
Something uncomfortable curled in his stomach and he pushed it down. Taking the steps two at a time, he entered the control room and started flipping switches. His gaze drifted out the glass window to where Shawn and Zara were talking below.
They were about the same age, weren’t they? Or close.
“Hey.”
He flinched at Nikki’s unexpected presence. “What’s up?” he greeted casually, taking a seat on the stool where he couldn’t see Shawn and Zara anymore.
“How’s it going?” Nikki asked, sidling up to him.
He puffed a laugh at her pretend casualness. “Fine. How’s it going for you?”
“Fine.”
He finished turning on what he’d need to use and swiveled to face his longtime friend.
She regarded him quietly, her cool blue gaze narrowing as a small smile tugged at her mouth.
“What?” he asked.
“Nothing,” she said. But her expression said it was something. And whatever that something was made her happy.
He suspected the reason but he didn’t want to give her false hope. So instead of addressing it, he picked up a nearby rubber band and flicked it at her. She swatted at it too late and it hit her on the shoulder.
“Be careful,” she said in a teasing tone.
“About what?” Asa asked, picking the rubber band up off the floor.
Nikki didn’t answer and he glanced back up at her.
She had a look on her face he wasn’t sure he’d ever seen before. Which said a lot because he’d been with her the first time she’d bought tampons.
In other words, they knew each other. Well.
