Page 54 of Fractured Heart

As soon as he’s gone, it’s like this physical tension seeps out of me. My shoulders relax and I smile. Tate smiles back. He stares at me hopefully and I can’t bear to hurt his feelings. I cast a desperate glance at Charles. He scratches his beard.

“We want your honest opinion, Roonie,” JJ says. Charles nods.

If they want me to be honest, then I guess I owe them my honesty. But how do I do that without hurting their feelings? Maybe, like a fairy godmother.

This summer, I binged a cartoon about fairy tales. It was kind of silly, and definitely meant for kids, but the cute songs sprinkled throughout were actually quite useful.

In this one episode, the princesses were practicing archery. Most were hitting the bullseye, but one particular princess wasn’t very good. No one wanted to hurt her feelings and tell her, so Fairy Godmother sang about making a criticism sandwich. You layer a compliment, then some suggestions for improvement, and then another compliment. It was meant to help the girls improve their aim without giving up, but it should work well enough here.

“Your voices are all very beautiful,” I say carefully, setting down the first metaphorical slice of bread, “And you’re good at projecting your sound. Plus, the fairy tale theme was…there.”

“However?” Charles fills in like he’s reading my mind.

I clear my throat. “Every performance piece has its strengths and weaknesses,” I say carefully.

“That bad, huh?” JJ teases.

“No, no,” I assure him. “It’s not bad. It just needs…Um…”

The guys stare at me expectantly: three knights awaiting word from their princess.

“It has a lot of potential. There were just some parts that maybe need a little more work.”

Charles scratches his beard and nods as he considers my words. “Which parts?”

I gulp. “Um…”

“All of them?” JJ supplies helpfully. “Because our whole performance sucks?”

“Of course it doesn’t suck!” I cry. “I never said that.”

“But you were thinking it?” Tate slides onto the piano seat next to me. He leaves a little bit of space between us but sits so our legs touch. Like at the Campus Health Center, I’m not sure if he’s even aware of it.

“It’s fine if you don’t like our song, Roonie.” Charles moves to my other side. I try to shift over to give him space, but it’s a small bench that definitely can’t fit three people. Especially when one of those people is Charles.

He places his huge hand on my shoulder and the heat from his touch seeps in through my sweater. He doesn’t try to sit, but even standing at my side he still leaves me pinned between him and Tate. It reminds me of last night and I gulp.

“We know our audition’s terrible,” JJ drawls. “Tate and Charles invited you here so you could see for yourself.”

“But why?” I turn from him to Tate and then crane my neck to look up at Charles’s towering form.

“We were hoping…” JJ steps forward and takes my hand in his.

Once again, all three guys surround me. This time, instead of comforting and consoling me, they’re asking me for my help. JJ is in front of me, holding my hand. Charles is on my right—instead of on my left like he’d been last night—his huge hand on my shoulder. Tate’s on my left, his leg still pressed casually against mine.

My heart stutters and resumes at breakneck speed. When JJ flips my hand over and draws a circle on my palm with his thumb, I barely suppress a whimper. “We were hoping,” he repeats, his voice dropping an octave, “that you could help.”

“With your song?” I ask, feeling a bit lightheaded.

“Would you?” JJ breaths.

“I…I guess I could suggest a few changes.” Even if I can’t think of what they might be at this moment. I’m not sure I even remember my own name.

“Actually…” Tate draws my attention even as JJ continues to run his thumb along my palm, “we were hoping you’d let us use your song from last night.”

It takes me a second and then my eyes widen. “You want to audition with my song?”

I can understand asking me for some pointers. They’ve gone over this song so many times they could probably use an outside opinion. Honestly, they could use any opinion. And possibly a girl to hit a few of the higher notes. Obviously not me, since I don’t have a great singing voice, but I can hit considerably higher notes than JJ. And I'm sure a princess dress would look much prettier on my apples as opposed to his.