Indigo Blues (26 page)

"I won't be gone long." Adam waves down a cab, Cat
still leaning against him. I think she's actually drooling on
his shoulder, but he doesn't seem to notice.

Pretty Girl tries another technique. "But how will I
survive without you?"

"You'll be fine, Hannah. All your friends are up there."

Figures those are her friends.

She stomps her foot on the pavement. "If you go with
her, then we're through."

I feel like we're in a really cheesy soap opera. Is this girl
for real?

"Really, Adam, we'll be fine," I say, climbing in next
to Cat.

"I know you will," he says, and climbs in after me. He
leaves Hannah standing on the pavement, stomping up
and down in her four-inch heels.

just want to thank you for helping me with Cat. I've
never seen her get that wasted before," Indigo says,
leaning against the couch. Her hair is tucked behind her
ears and her lips are still cherry red. I almost forgot how
naturally pretty she is.

"Don't worry about it. It happens to everyone. You
should've seen Zach when we first moved to New York."

"That's not hard to picture." She laughs.

I walk toward the door of their apartment. I don't want
to hang around like some unwelcome leech.

"Hey..." She stops me, her hand lightly brushing my
arm. "The least I can do is offer you something to drink.
Want a beer? Glass of water?"

"Water would be great." I've done enough beer damage for the week, and I definitely don't want to go on TV
tomorrow with a hangover. My phone rings, and I quickly
switch it to vibrate-I can't talk to Hannah right now. I'm
not in the mood to hear her whine.

Indigo hands me a bottle of Dasani. "Well, I guess
your girlfriend is waiting for you."

"She's not really my girlfriend." My phone goes off
again in my pocket.

"Not really? How does that work?"

"Mind if I sit?"

She shakes her head and I take a seat on the leather
couch. "We've been dating."

Indigo sits down in the armchair farthest away from
me and bites her lip. "She's pretty."

"Yes, she is," I say, because it's true. But what I don't
say is that looks aren't everything, and when you listen to
someone whine all day, that's not pretty.

Indigo is staring at me intently, like she wants me to
throw her a bone. Like she wants to know if Hannah is
sporting a promise ring.

The silence is awkward. I pick at the water-bottle label
and Indigo plays with the strap of her shoe. "Well then,"
she finally says.

"But she's not for me," I say out loud, because I need
to hear it, too.

"She's not?"

"No. She's way too into this I-want-to-be-a-celebrity
thing, and even worse, she's always up my butt."

"Oh, that can be a problem." Indigo laughs. It's great
to see her smile again.

I can't stop staring at her. I need to pick another focal
point. There's a painting of a sunset up on the wall. But you
can only stare at a painting for so long before it becomes
rude. I look back at Indigo. She's sliding her necklace back
and forth.

"You know, I read about Hannah in some newspaper
article," she says.

`Apparently you're not the only one that saw it. I think
Hannah contacted everyone she ever met to check her
out.

"She's a model, right?"

"Yeah," I say. Hannah would die if she knew we were
discussing her. Of course, she might have been friendly to
Indigo if things were different, but only because Indigo is
newsworthy. Come to think of it, I'm surprised Hannah
is even friends with Erica, given how Hannah's the type of
girl who always wants to be on top. She won't let anyone
outshine her in the I'm all that department.

A groaning noise comes from the bedroom, followed
by a thud. Okay, now I feel bad wishing for a diversion.
That sounded like it hurt.

"I better go check on Cat. Be right back." Indigo gets
up and shoots out of the living room.

After she's gone a couple of minutes, I walk toward the
bedroom door. "Everything okay in there?"

It takes a second, but Indigo emerges from the room.
"Yeah, false alarm. Cat knocked over a stack of books next to the bed. Thank God nothing's broken. I think she's out
for the night, snoring like you wouldn't believe."

"Well, that's good. Better than puking her guts out."

We sit back down and resume talking. Despite the afterparty glaze, Indigo still has a glow to her. Her hair shines
and her eyes gleam.

I have finally freed the label from my water bottle.
Before Indigo can bring up Hannah again, I ask, "So, are
you ready for the interview tomorrow?"

"Well..." She has a worried look in her eyes.

I reach out and pat her knee. "It should be fine."

"Really? Because I'm not sure what to expect. I guess,
since you and I weren't talking much, I thought it would
be set up like an interrogation."

I laugh. "The media can be pretty vicious sometimes,
but at least this interview is prerecorded."

"And Sabian seems a lot calmer than Candi Campbell
from back home."

"Oh, that lady is fierce." I make my hands into claws.

"She's been at me for months to get my side of the story.
But she's just out for blood so I never return her calls."

"Don't blame you. Well, for tomorrow, how about letting Sabian wade his way through the conversation. Let
him think we're still mad at each other, and he'll be surprised when he sees that things are pretty laid back."

"We're not mad at each other anymore," Indigo says,
almost in a whisper. I'm not sure if it's a question or a statement.

I hear someone opening the front door. As if on cue, I
stand up. "It's getting late. I better go."

"Hi," a girl says. I assume it's Cat's cousin. She looks so
familiar. And then I look down at her shirt-she's a waiter
at Pirate's Booty.

I reach over and shake her hand. "Hi, I'm Adam. Just
escorting the girls home." She's probably wondering what
I'm doing here at one a.m.

"Jane." She gives me a nod. "Hope they behaved."

"Of course," I say. "Wouldn't expect anything less."

Indigo walks me to the door. "Thanks again for your
help." She leans over me to undo the lock.

I can almost feel her warmth. I dig my hands into my
pockets to stop myself from reaching for her. "Don't mention it."

"Things got out of hand."

"Really, it's no big deal. Everyone gets wasted," I say.

"I'm not talking about Cat." She looks down at the
floor.

"Oh. Yeah." I need to say more, but it's hard to get the
right words out. "I ... ah ... acted like an idiot."

"You weren't the only one."

I wake up before my alarm. The first thing I do is grab a
bottle of water and two Advil. Hangover or E! jitters? I'm
just not sure if this whole interview thing was such a good
idea. I probably should've stuck with the instinct that blast ing my name and love tribulations all over E! was a bad
idea, very bad. Maybe by next week people will have moved
onto a new boy band crush. Next year people will already be
asking, "what is `Indigo Blues'? Urban legend? Myth? Surely
they're not talking about a real person." But now I will be
forever branded as the guy who wrote the song for the girl
that wronged him. I need to show them, show myself, that
I can move on. Have moved on.

'm lucky if I slept five hours last night. I probably look
like the psycho ex-girlfriend that everyone expects. Black
circles under my eyes, matted hair, and last night's makeup
smeared all over my face. It was sweet of Jane to let Cat
and me sleep in her bedroom while she took the couch, but
even two pillows smushed against my ears couldn't drone
out Cat's snoring.

Okay, I need to focus. This could very well be the end
of Indigo Jackson as we know it. I'm about to go on the
friggin' Sabian Lime Show. A show only Eli could aspire to.
A show where they squeeze the juice out of you for all the
world to taste. Am I going to be bitter or sweet?

Quiet so as not to wake anyone, I tiptoe into the shower and scrub off last night. Luckily Jane stocks up on some
good-smelling products. I start off with the mango-peach
body wash, followed by cucumber shampoo and apricot
conditioner. Too bad TV doesn't come with a scratch-andsniff button-people might hate me, but at least I smell
yummy.

I slide on a new pair of dark jeans and my thin, lavender V-neck sweater. It's probably a good thing I'm not at
home, because I'm already second-guessing this outfit. It's
actually all centered around the purple and silver beaded
bracelet set that I made. Don't know if anyone will even be
able to see it, but it's one piece that I'm really proud of. I
saw the design in a bead book when I first started beading.
It was labeled complicated, so I didn't even attempt it until
recently. It didn't take nearly as long as I thought it would.

To complete my outfit, I sit on the edge of the bed and
slide on my black boots. A second later, I feel Cat finally
stirring.

"Hey, Cat. You're alive." I pat her feet.