Graceless (Grace Notes #2)

Savannah moved into the sweet wistfulness of Make me Wonder and Cassidy struggled valiantly, this time buoyed by Lane’s solid presence beside her. As Savannah hit the bridge and her voice soared, Lane elbowed her, practically daring her to cry again and she found herself smiling instead.

The rest of the show was equally life-ruining, but somehow it felt healing in a way she couldn’t quite put her finger on. It might be late – Cassidy would have thought too late – but here she finally was, the little sister at the Savannah Grace concert, dying of pride. Lane stayed close to her side, just in case she turned into a basket case again.

Then, Brynn joined Savannah on stage for Longing and as the ridiculously – and embarrassingly, if it were your sibling – sexy duet began, Lane shifted noticeably away. It was probably as weird for them as it was for her, seeing the couple they saw squabbling over breakfast each morning, singing to each other like they’d only just met and couldn’t look away.

When the encore was over and the house lights rose, Lane turned to her.

“You’re a Savannah Grace superfan,” they accused. “And if you don’t tell your sister how fucking amazing you thought she was tonight, I will literally never speak to you again.”

Fidgeting beside them, Cassidy watched the crowd slowly thin, before Lane led the way to the backstage entry. After showing their passes, security let them through and Cassidy nearly died when she saw the small crowd of who’s who of country music milling around backstage, laughing, drinking and toasting Savannah.

“Oh fuck,” she whispered to Lane when she’d stopped still so suddenly they’d bumped into her back.

“Jesus, Cassidy, be cool.” They stepped beside her and tugged her by the arm away from where she stood, staring in frightened awe at a country music legend three feet to her left. Lane literally did not seem to care, moving comfortably through the rarefied crowd with a confident nod to anyone who looked their way. Cassidy followed in their wake. All of a sudden, they were in the innermost circle.

Savannah looked up as they appeared and with a practiced sparkling smile, laid her hand on the arm of the famous man who currently had her ear and excused herself.

“My sister’s here,” she explained, and the thirteen-year-old that still lived inside Cassidy glowed.

“Cassidy has something to tell you,” Lane piped up annoyingly. Cassidy spared two valuable seconds to give them a dirty look. Then she looked at Savannah Grace and for the first time saw both the sparkling superstar and her tired, pregnant sister.

“You were incredible,” she said softly. “That was the most amazing show I’ve ever seen. I’m so proud of you – I can’t even believe you pulled it off.” She looked down at the belly containing her niece-to-be, then up at her sister’s face. Savannah was smiling like Cassidy had literally just given her the moon, a sheen of tears lighting up her eyes. For the first time, Cassidy realized that maybe family approval meant something to Savannah, too. She wasn’t sure who moved first, but her sister’s arms were around her, the ridiculous bump firmly between them, and they were hugging each other tightly.

“Thanks, Cassie,” she said in her ear, a catch in her voice. “That means the world to me.”

Cassidy blinked back tears of her own as she pulled back. Lane tried to hand her the handkerchief again and she elbowed them hard in the ribs. Brynn was smiling at them, her hand on Savannah’s lower back. Cassidy wondered if she was practically holding her up at this point of the evening, though Savannah’s game face didn’t show any obvious cracks.

“You know, it’s not even 9 p.m. on a Saturday night,” Brynn said, looking from Lane to Cassidy and back again. “You two should go out, explore the city.”

Cassidy’s heart leapt in her throat. Nashville at night? Music, bars, beautiful humans, more music. She wasn’t sure if she was terrified or wildly excited. Lane though just shrugged.

“Nah,” they said. “I have a stack of schoolwork to do. Plus, this one will turn back into a pumpkin and a couple of rodents come midnight.” They cocked their head at Cassidy, whose mouth dropped open in offense. Brynn raised her eyebrows.

“Ooh, did you hear that?” she said to Cassidy, her eyes sparkling with amusement, “Lane literally thinks you look like a fairytale princess this evening.”

Cassidy looked harder at Lane. They were rolling their eyes, but there was a faint hint of pink on their cheeks.

“You asshole.” She frowned at them, her voice low as Brynn and Savannah were interrupted by another luminary. “You could have told me that before we left the house. This place is such a big deal, and I’ve been so stressed all night that I look stupid.”

Lane looked actually abashed.

“Come on, Cassidy.” They finally looked her properly in the eyes. “You can’t possibly be worried about that.”

“I’m not you, Lane! You’re all cool and confident and always look ridiculously good. I’m just a small-town girl still trying to figure out which end of a lipstick is which,” she said with equal measures of exasperation and embarrassment. “You literally could have taken three seconds to tell me you thought I looked good.”

“You don’t look good, you look fucking gorgeous,” Lane blurted. Cassidy blinked. Her stomach flipped at the slightly ferocious tone in Lane’s voice. “It’s annoying, actually,” they continued. “With a girl that pretty on my arm, literally no one is going to hit on me tonight. It’s a bummer.”

“My apologies.” Cassidy couldn’t stop the smile spreading over her face at Lane’s clear discomfort. It felt like it reached all the way to her toes. “It didn’t seem to slow Mia down though,” she pointed out with a sly smirk.

“Are you kidding me? She’s so mad at your existence she’s barely even tried to shove my face in her cleavage all week.”

Cassidy laughed out loud.

“Poor Lane.” She patted their arm. She couldn’t quite help feeling smug about that. Something about Mia had just annoyed her from the get-go. Lane seemed like they deserved better, even if she was the kind of hot hipster girl Cassidy imagined them dating. “Do you want me to leave you alone, since you need attention so badly?”

“Uh, I think not.” Lane frowned. “I’m not leaving you alone here. You’re the little sister of the star and you look like that. Can’t you see how many sharks are circling us right now?”

Cassidy rolled her eyes.