Catch My Breath (7 page)

Still, he considered that a success. How could it not be when everything in him was demanding that he just give in and admire the view? From the very beginning, no matter where Elliot was or what they were doing, Danny’s gaze instinctively sought him out. It was like everything else was boring shades of gray, and Elliot was a solar flare, bright and burning. Danny never wanted to stop looking. And, honestly, that freaked him out a little.

He couldn’t believe Elliot was so worried about the cameras and the people watching. His sweetness and shy charm were bound to win everybody over. In Danny’s opinion, Elliot really didn’t have a clue how very beautiful he was, how his smiles made Danny,
everyone
, want to smile back and give him whatever he wanted.

Danny had already seen some of the girls in the house sneaking glances whenever Elliot was distracted. Elliot hadn’t appeared to notice any of the looks, though, too caught up in laughing and roughhousing and generally being his perfect dorky self with the other guys. Danny liked that. It made him feel strangely gratified that Elliot didn’t pay much attention to the girls.

Oh, he was friendly enough—he grinned and talked and joked with them. But never once had Elliot given any of them that one smile that seemed to be reserved for Danny—small, sexy, with a little crook at the corner. He was pretty sure Elliot didn’t realize he was doing it, but it drove Danny nuts. He was just so innocent and open, and, damn, even his mop-top of curls was beautiful, and Danny just wanted to—

The shove at his back cut off that thought. One second Danny was beside Chris and the next he was underwater. He surfaced to find Reece nearly doubled over laughing.

“S-sorry,” Reece choked out. “You were just spacing out. I couldn’t help myself.”

Danny fake growled and lunged toward the edge of the pool, grabbing for Reece’s ankle, but Reece was too fast. He dodged and took off toward the house. Almost made it all the way inside too, when suddenly Tate appeared seemingly out of nowhere and caught him around the waist, sending them both sprawling to the patio. Danny laughed and shook his head as the cameramen swooped in to film Tate and Reece as they grappled on the ground. That was going to leave some bruises.

“
S
O
,
TODAY
was interesting,” he said to Elliot when they were in their room at the end of the night. They weren’t filmed as much as he thought they’d be. There were lots of breaks, and they even had some days off blocked into their schedule. Still, it was a lot. And it would be hard to get used to.

Elliot turned over in his bed and smiled sleepily. “Yeah. I’m sure it’ll be different tomorrow.”

Danny nodded and opened his mouth to say something else, but the buzzing of Elliot’s phone made him pause.

Elliot grabbed it from the table beside his bed and glanced at the screen, his smile widening when he read whatever message had just come through.

“What is it?” Danny asked, curious despite himself. Elliot had never mentioned having anyone special back home, but Danny didn’t want to assume.

Elliot looked up from his phone. “My friend Sara. She’s asking how everything is going.”

“Oh, she’s the one you mentioned before, right? The one who talked you into auditioning?”

Elliot nodded. He had the phone gripped in both hands as he used his thumbs to type back a message. “Yeah. I was worried she might be kind of jealous, you know? I went with her for moral support, and now I’m here and she’s still back home.”

“And is she?”

Elliot shook his head. “Nah, I don’t think so. We’ve been texting the last few days. She just seems happy for me, really.”

“That’s good,” Danny said. Katie seemed happy for him too when they talked. It was too bad that at the end of their conversation that morning, he’d realized he spent nearly the entire time talking about Elliot and, to a lesser degree, the other guys. Only belatedly had he remembered to ask her what she had planned for the day.

He’d felt awful after they hung up. He loved Katie. He knew he did. But the butterflies that overwhelmed his stomach whenever Elliot was close, the way he constantly
needed
to touch Elliot—his lips, his skin, his hair. That crazy smile he couldn’t seem to control whenever Elliot was near. He’d never felt any of that with Katie. Not even at the start, when they’d been kids.

Danny wasn’t sure what to think about any of it. What he did know was that he loved to be around Elliot, loved to make Elliot laugh. That sound was quickly becoming one of Danny’s favorite things. He wanted to hear it all the time. Because it was warm and irresistible and it made him feel—

“Hey, Danny?”

Danny blinked, coming out of his thoughts. Elliot had put his phone down and was facing him again. His brown eyes looked huge in the semidarkness of the room. “Yeah?”

“I’m glad you’re here,” Elliot said softly. “I never knew how much my life would change when I went to that audition. I’m glad you’re a part of it now.” He paused, looking abruptly self-conscious. “I mean,” he added in a rush, “I’m happy to have all the guys. We all get along, and it’s great. But I… well, especially you.”

Danny smiled. Elliot had gotten a little awkward and rambly at the end there, but Danny understood. He felt the exact same way. “Me too, El. I’m happy to have you too.”

Chapter 5

“O
KAY
, guys, just act natural. Be yourselves… well, yeah. Just be yourselves. This one can be nice and short. Just introductions, maybe one or two little facts per guy, and we can be done, cool?” The cameraman swiveled his camera around on a tripod and aimed it at the couch where all five boys were piled.

“We’re ready,” Danny said confidently.

Ready?
Elliot wasn’t so sure. He fidgeted in the corner of the couch while Webb and Reece flicked each other on the ears, Tate tried to keep order, and Danny laughed.
I can do this. There aren’t many people in the room. It’s cool.
Elliot was fine as long as he didn’t think about the thousands of people who would potentially be watching it later.

“We’re rolling in three… two… one…. Go!”

“Hi! We’re Static!” All of them chorused together, waving at the camera. Then Danny made one of his signature goofy faces—sticking out his tongue and crossing his eyes—and instead of introducing themselves, everyone laughed. Webb punched Danny lightly on the shoulder, and he pushed back, and before long all five of them were in a puppy pile in the middle of the couch.

“
Gentlemen
,” Tate reminded them. Then he turned to the camera. “Hi. I’m Tate. I think it’s going to be my job to keep these monkeys in line.” He smiled and winked and turned to Webb.

“I’m Webb. I like to write and I like to sing and I wish I could’ve met Kurt Cobain. I love Nirvana.” He gave the camera a shy smile that Elliot knew the girls would be swooning over. He was glad he was at the end of the couch. Reece then Danny and he was up. His stomach flipped.

“Hey,” Reece said in his slow drawl. Elliot knew this would be easy for him. “I’m Reece. I’m from Alabama and I like to play the guitar.” He lifted his six string from where it was resting on the floor, then raked his fingers through dark hair and gave the screen a long look.

Damn, they’re good at this….

“I’m Danny.” Danny made another face at the camera. It was dorky and cute and Elliot couldn’t help staring. “I have a thing for pickles.”

Elliot tried not to laugh. Like really tried. It was hard with everyone else snickering behind their hands. “I’m Elliot,” he forced out on a laugh. Then he looked out from under his bangs and waved at the camera. “Hi.” That was about all he could handle before the nervous giggles came back. He couldn’t help it. He just waved again and hoped someone else would take over. Thank effing hell for Danny and Reece.

“We’re Static!” Danny said.

“Be sure to check us out every week on
Band Camp
,” Reece added.

“And check out our page on
Band Camp
’s website!”

“You can find us on Twitter too,” Elliot added, shocked he was even capable of speech. “All the links are on our page!”

They all waved at the camera for a second before Danny launched himself at Webb for another round of horseplay.

“And that’s good,” the cameraman called out. “You guys are done.”

They ignored him. Danny had managed to shove his foot into Elliot’s stomach. He grunted and lunged in to wrap his arms around Danny’s waist and tickle him. Tate, who liked to pretend he was above the rest of them when they started acting like morons, must have noticed that Elliot was tickling Danny and yeah, he wasn’t so above that. He joined right in, tickling and tackling until Danny and then Elliot were both nearly crying from laughing so hard.

“All right boys. We need to get The Pixies in here for their intro. Time to clear out,” the producer said from the doorway.

Elliot dragged himself off the couch and reached down to help Danny from where he was halfway on the couch and halfway dragging on the floor. Danny grabbed his hand and used it to haul himself to standing. His hair was standing straight up, his clothes were rumpled, and Elliot found himself leaning closer. Danny smelled really good, and his eyes were so green and sleepy and….

Reece jumped on Elliot’s back. “Let’s go, Elli-bean.”

Elliot groaned. “Did you seriously just call me that?”

Reece ruffled Elliot’s hair as he slid down to his feet. “What do you want me to call you? Cupcake? You’re just so cute and sweet.”

“Am not,” Elliot argued as he followed Reece out of the room. “I’m a badass.”

All four of the other guys laughed. As he turned back, he noticed the camera guy turning his camera toward the wall and fiddling with a few buttons.

I
NSTEAD
of a late dinner with the rest of Static, Elliot wandered toward the pool in the backyard. He needed a breather, needed a second to figure things out. Well, that wasn’t true. There wasn’t anything to figure out. Danny was hot. Elliot was attracted to him. And he liked him
so much
already as a friend and as a guy he was attracted to. But Danny had a girlfriend. And he was straight. Besides, they were in Static together. Also a problem. Truth was, though, Elliot hadn’t felt so much for anyone since, well, since ever. He’d
never
been so gut-churningly, instantly attracted to anyone before. Why did he have to pick the absolute worst candidate for it? Danny was so far out of his league, so off-limits, and he was his friend, just like Tate, Webb, and Reece. Elliot wished he could feel the same about Danny as he did the other three. It would be so much easier.

The night wasn’t bad, balmy for midsummer. The breeze from the ocean helped. Elliot imagined he could almost hear the waves. They weren’t too far from the beach in the big house where they were filming. The backyard was nice too. A lot nicer than the yards in the middle-class suburb where he’d grown up. It had this huge pool and a ton of really nice lawn furniture. Elliot kicked his shoes off and rolled up the bottoms of his khakis before he sank down onto the ledge of the pool and stuck his feet in.

Sometimes he wondered when all of it would really sink in, when it would hit him that his life had totally changed. He wasn’t just Elliot Price from Palmdale anymore. He was… well, he wasn’t sure what he was. But it wasn’t the same kid he’d been a month before. That much was certain.

“You diggin’ the alone time, or can I sit?”

Elliot tipped his head up. It was Chris, the solo guitarist with the gorgeous moonlight voice and more talent than Elliot could ever imagine having. They’d all hung out that first night, but things had been so busy that he’d not gotten much chance to talk to him since. Chris had his guitar slung over his shoulder, like he had most of the times Elliot had seen him. He seemed like a cool guy. Elliot nodded.

“Hey, Chris. Sure. Have a seat.”

“You sure?”

Elliot nodded again. “Of course.”

Chris toed off his flip-flops and plopped down next to Elliot. He had on cargo shorts and a somewhat ratty T-shirt. His blond hair was in what seemed to be perpetual disarray, and he was smiling, which also seemed to be a permanent fixture. Elliot already liked him.

“What are you doing out here alone?” Chris asked. He propped his guitar on his thighs and strummed a few notes.

“Just relaxing. We had to do that video diary thing. I suck at being, I don’t know. Whatever it is.”

“On stage?” Chris asked with a slight laugh.

Elliot smiled at the irony, ’cause really if they succeeded, the stage was where they’d be for most of their time. “It’s different. I love singing, performing that way, you know, but it’s hard when I just have to sit there and talk. Who cares what I have to say?”

Chris looked Elliot up and down. “I’m guessing quite a few girls will care a
lot
about what you have to say. Especially after they hear you sing.”

Elliot chuckled, blushing. “Yeah, that’s what Danny said too.”

“Which one’s Danny again?”