Felicity's unreleased single blasted through Nora's headphones. She frowned and leaned back against the large oak tree in the courtyard. The bark dug into her sweater and the wind nipped at her cheeks.

It was uncomfortable, but at least there wasn't any snow on the ground. The sun was out this morning and warmed the ground enough that only patches here and there remained. The rest had seeped deep into the ground. She didn't mind this weather. The cold often sapped away her exhaustion and helped her think.

Or in this case, listen.

The melody was off and the chords didn't quite flow as well as she'd hoped. She bit her bottom lip and tapped her slim fingers against her leg. She could add another instrumental layer to the track and give it a touch more weight, but she also didn't want to drown out the lyrics. This song was a power song—the words along with the delayed bass strategically thrown throughout were what gave it the extra oomph. She had less than two days to put the final touches on the piece, but maybe she could convince Felicity to hop in the studio once more and re-record the chorus if she tweaked the words—

Something poked hard on her head and she jumped, half-turning to find Eli Leonger staring at her with a glint in his eyes and a peculiar tilt to his lips. Nora's focus shot to them. It was such a delicate little gesture and yet she focused on it hard. His lips appeared almost softer than her own—definitely softer as hers were always chapped—and for some reason, she wanted to reach up and feel them. To trace the edges of his smile.

And wasn't that a weird, creepy thought?

"...are you out here?" he asked.

She'd been too busy staring at his lips like some crazy stalker to hear the first half of the question. "What?"

Eli tilted his head, his eyes narrowing. His dark hair flopped to the side—chaotic and unruly as ever—as he frowned at her. "You okay?"

She mimicked his expression, tilting her own head, "Are you okay?"

"I'm not the one daydreaming outside in the middle of winter."

She snorted. "I'm not—" Well, she was daydreaming a little. About his lips no less. But she'd chuck herself into a boiling pot of lava before she told him that. "I'm just thinking."

He shook his head as if saying, "what am I going to do with you?" and threw an arm over her shoulder. "Let's go think somewhere warm," he said.

Nora let him drag her over to a waiting black SUV. Only when the door was open and Ian Leonger peered out did she dig her heels in. "Wait—"

"Get in the car."

"Where are we going?" She asked. She needed to come up with something fast—there was no way she could waste time hanging out with the Leongers—despite that she would love every second of it. But she had to fix Felicity's showcase piece and start drafting Sneezy's latest ballad. At this rate, she hardly had time to even look at a restroom let alone use it. And she sure as hell could not kill a couple of hours with Eli.

"Does it matter?"

"Actually, yes."

Her response made him grin. "You are truly one of a kind, Nora.

What?

"Nora!" Ian called from the car, "we're getting ice cream! You in?"

Ice cream? In this weather? "School hasn't finished yet."

Eli shrugged next to her. "We snuck out a period early."

That sounded nice. Actually, ice cream sounded fantastic and very...normal. Nora bit her lip.

Her last hour was a free hour and while most times that meant she worked head-down in the Jostlin Academy studio, she'd done her own bit of sneaking out to get some fresh air. She would've joined him but she had a strict session with Bashful in the school's studios after school.

But...ice cream. "I really can't."

Eli nudged his shoulder with hers. "You can. You should. I won't tell if you won't."

"I have to be back at 4 for an after school meeting..."

He waved it off. "We're just grabbing and going. We'll be back before you know it."

When's the last time you did anything for fun? A tiny voice in her head whispered.

She got into the car, "let's go."

❆❆❆

Nora dug into her pocket for the small black recorder there. "Do that again," she told Ian.

Ian tilted his head, "Do what?"

Impatiently, she gestured at the vanilla milkshake in front of him.

Eli had a maroon beanie on his head that he absently adjusted."She wants you to make the noise again," he said, crossing his arms on the sticky wooden table.

Nora nodded, "Just once. Please."

Ian raised a single eyebrow, shared a glance with Eli, then shrugged.

She clicked on her recorder and put it close to his straw. "Okay, go."

Ian pulled from his milkshake until it gave a loud slurping sound. Nora sat back in the booth, did a quick replay to find the sound satisfactory, and put her recorder away.

Ian's eyes were bright with withheld laughter as he said, "I have so many questions."

"At least she only made you do it once," Eli muttered, "I felt like she had me do it for hours."

"It was only a minute," Nora pointed out.

Eli leaned forward, his own ice cream in a small cup in his hand. "You never did tell me what it was for."

She scrambled for a lie, but came up empty, "I like to collect sounds."

"Really?" Ian bit at the straw on his milkshake. "That's interesting."

"It is," Eli looked at her with a weird intensity that made the air around her vibrate. "What do you do with them?"

You don't have to tell them anything, she reminded herself. And yet...the urge to show them even a glimpse of her life bubbled dangerously beneath her skin. She shrugged, "sometimes I use them for music projects for school."

"And other times?"

Be careful. Nora only smiled and shrugged again. "You wear hats a lot," she said to Eli in a somewhat desperate urge to change the subject.

Eli automatically adjusted the beanie on his head. She liked the way he looked in hats. With his darker hair, most colors looked good on him, though he tended to gravitate towards reds and grays. More neutral colors.

"My hair is thick," Eli explained. "It gets unruly really fast."

"Even though it's short?"

"Especially because it's short."

She tilted her head slightly, "hmm. I think it looks good short. If it was longer, I imagine it might be too poofy."

The hint of a smile teased the right corner of Eli's lips. "It used to be. Which is why I like hats."

Nora stared at the tiny tuft peaking out of the front. A part of her strangely wanted to reach up and tuck it under the cloth. "I think you look good either way."

Something crossed over Eli's face that she couldn't quite decipher. His attention seemed to focus on her. Enough that she awkwardly shifted in her seat.

She made herself focus on Ian. "So is this something you two do often?"

Ian shrugged, "Sometimes. It gives us a little bit of a break."

"A break from what?"

"The chaos," Eli supplied.

Despite the vagueness of the answer, Nora knew exactly what he meant. For them no doubt he was referring to all the attention of the people around them. She imagined it must get very draining to deal with every day. When they left school and went home, it followed them there too.

She had her own chaos in life. But this hour here in the ice cream shop with the two of them felt calm—a normalcy she hadn't felt in a while.

Nora pursed her lips and shook her head, "I just don't know what all those people see in you two," she joked. "It must be so tiresome."

Ian grinned. "You get used to it."

Eli's focus had shifted to the spoon in his cup. He scooped and scooped at his melted ice cream. "If only it was warranted."

Nora frowned but sat up straighter as Eli continued, "we haven't even done anything yet."

Ian sucked at his milkshake. "Mmm, not like Lizzie. Or Jackson."

The table got quiet.

"Fame makes people act weird," Nora said after a moment. She stared at the last two sprinkles in her own cup of what was once chocolate ice cream. "It's one of those things you want until you have it. Then you wished you'd known differently." Her father had worked with a few individuals like that. He used to bring home stories of the artists he produced music with and would talk with her mother late at night about how being famous made people stupid. Or pompous. "There's an opportunity there though I don't think many people realize they have."

Take Daxton Cavenaugh for example. He was by far famous enough to become a house name. He had the power to single-handedly build people's careers by working with them. And he made a lot of money, sure, but he and Kamree Philips donated a bunch of it to charities for kids. To give back in ways they could.

Tearing herself from her own thoughts, she glanced up to notice the Leongers staring at her. "What?"

Eli smirked at her, "you're weird, Nora. You know that?"

Nora grinned, "No one wants to be completely normal. That's boring."

The bell over the door chimed. Automatically, Nora glanced over to see a Jostlin student walk in. She noted the uniform shirt as the same white collared shirt she wore. The girl looked at their table, frowned, but continued to the counter for her order.

Nora glanced at the clock and started. "Oh my Creator," she shot up.

Eli and Ian immediately followed suit. "What is it?" Eli asked.

"It's 4 o'clock!"

"And?"

Nora scrambled for her bag. "I have to go."

They were only two blocks from the school. If she ran she could make it back in ten minutes. Maybe less if she was lucky.

Her phone buzzed in her pocket. Crap.

She was halfway out the front door of the shop when her elbow got caught in a firm grip.

"We'll take you back," Eli assured her. "Just give Markos a minute to pull the car around."

Driving would take maybe five minutes and was clearly the better option. But...

"I see you calculating," Eli said. "One minute. We'll get you back."

"Yeah," Ian piped in over Eli's shoulder, "we did kidnap you after all. The least we could do is take you back."

Nora's shoulders dropped. "Okay. Okay. Thank you."

Eli's hand was still on her elbow, impossibly warm, as he smiled down at her. "Anytime."