The Cure for Second Lead Syndrome by Amanda Abram

CHAPTER 10

I glanced nervously at my watch. Ten minutes. Caleb was ten minutes late. Everyone was supposed to meet outside The End Zone Saturday night at seven o’clock exactly, and everyone had managed to arrive on time. Paige. Paige’s friend Lucy. Tyler. Braden. Braden’s friends Troy and Josh. Natalie and I.

But not Caleb.

While the rest of our party had already filed inside to play some arcade games while they waited, Natalie and I had stayed outside to wait for our group’s sole remaining member. The star of the show. The reason we were even here to begin with.

I lit up my phone screen for the one hundredth time to see if I had somehow missed a call or text from him telling me he was on his way, but I had no notifications.

He wasn’t going to show.

“He’ll be here,” Natalie assured me. “Don’t worry.”

“I’m not worried.”

“Yes, you are. You’ve got worry lines.”

“No, I don’t,” I grumbled, rubbing at the spot between my eyebrows. “It’s just that we didn’t even rehearse the song last night. He said he wanted to practice on his own. But I have no idea if he ended up doing that or not. He probably didn’t, and now he’s chickening out because he realized he’s unprepared—”

“Or,” Natalie cut in, “he was running late, and he’s right over there.” She pointed past me.

Glancing over my shoulder, I saw Caleb walking across the parking lot toward us, and I breathed a huge sigh of relief.

“Go round up the others and tell them that Caleb is here,” I instructed Natalie. “We’ll be right in.”

“Okay.” With a nod, Natalie turned and headed inside the building.

“Hey,” Caleb said with a wave, breaking into a light jog to get to me faster. “Sorry I’m late.”

“I was convinced you weren’t going to show up.”

“Yeah, I figured.” He stopped in front of me and grinned. “I was late because I was still trying to pick out the perfect song for you to sing tonight.”

“That can’t be good,” I groaned. “What did you decide on?”

“Baby Got Back,” he declared proudly.

I gaped up at him. “You mean that rap song from the 90s about liking big butts?”

Caleb’s grin became so wide it almost outgrew his face. “Yep. That’s the one.”

“Real mature choice,” I said, rolling my eyes.

“Thank you.” He stuffed his hands into his pockets as his grin slowly faded. “So, um, I guess I’m gonna have to go in there and do this, aren’t I?”

I nodded. “Yes. Did you practice?”

“Yeah.” He took a deep breath and then let it back out slowly.

“Are you nervous?”

“Kinda.”

“Well, don’t be. It’s not like you’re confessing your feelings tonight. At least, not directly. You’re planting the seed.”

“I know.”

“And if you’re feeling nervous as you begin to sing, just look at me, and I’ll try to give you the encouragement you need to get through it.”

Caleb smiled and nudged my arm with his fist. “Thanks, Bria.”

“No problem,” I said returning his smile and then motioning to the entrance. “What do you say we get this show on the road?”

With a nod, he led the way inside, where we immediately made our way to the room that Natalie had reserved for us. Paige greeted us as soon as we walked through the door.

“Bria!” she exclaimed, grabbing my arm excitedly. “This was such a great idea! I have tried for so long to get Caleb to do karaoke with me, and he’s always refused. He thinks he’s a terrible singer.” She leaned in and whispered not-so-quietly in my ear, “But he’s not.” She then blinked up at Caleb as her gaze fell on his hair, which looked the same as it had after I’d messed it up the night before. “Caleb, your hair looks great like that.”

“Oh, um, thanks,” he said, but I wasn’t sure if Paige heard him or not before she took off to go say something to her friend Lucy.

I gave Caleb an I-told-you-so look. “See? Was I right about the hair, or was I right?”

“You were right,” he reluctantly admitted.

“So, I’m probably right about the shirt then, too.”

Instead of responding to that, he shook his head and left me to greet Braden and his other friends.

“This is going to be fun,” Natalie commented behind me. “You wanna do our usual duet?”

“Absolutely, I do.”

Our usual duet was Girls Just Want to Have Fun. We’d been singing it together since we were little, after our moms introduced us to the world of 80s music. We would tease our hair and dress up in our moms’ old clothes because we thought the fashion from that era was so cool. We eventually grew out of that phase, but we still held an appreciation for the music.

“Awesome,” she beamed. “Okay, let’s get this party started!”

I took a seat on one of the long couches that lined the walls of the room as Natalie took to the center.

“Who would like to go first?” she asked.

I glanced over at Caleb, who was sitting on the couch across from me and gave him a questioning look. He shook his head vigorously back and forth. Obviously, he didn’t want to be the first one to go. I couldn’t blame him.

Luckily, Braden volunteered to go first and passionately belted out a hair band ballad which made his friends hold up their cell phones as they swayed back and forth. Troy and Josh went next as a duo and sang that 90s song about walking five hundred miles, and they did it in the most exaggerated Scottish accents I’d ever heard. It was quite funny and a real crowd pleaser.

One by one, everyone began to take a stab at it. Natalie did a song by herself. Paige and Lucy sang a duet. Tyler got up and sang Surfin’ USA by the Beach Boys, which was no surprise to anyone. I watched in amusement as Caleb kept rolling his eyes every few seconds of Tyler’s performance.

After Tyler was done, Natalie grabbed me by the hand and pulled me into the center of the room and handed me a microphone.

“This next song is a classic,” Natalie said into her own microphone. “Bria and I have been performing it since we were practically still in diapers. Enjoy!”

The music began, and we gave the song our all. As usual, we stumbled over some of the lyrics—even though we’d sung it a million times—and sang our hearts out as we did silly things like bump our hips together and sing into each other’s microphones instead of our own. By the end of it, I was breathless and breaking a sweat, but everyone was cheering for us, so it was worth it.

As Natalie took a seat, I went over to the touchscreen to search for Baby Got Back in the song list. Once I found it, I said into the microphone, “My solo song is dedicated to Caleb who picked it out for me because he’s a jerk.” I glared playfully at him, and he responded with a smirk.

Inhaling deeply, I held my breath for a few seconds before hitting play.

Words could not describe how foolish I felt singing a song about liking girls with large posteriors in front of a room full of mostly Braden’s friends, but it was my own fault. I had told Caleb he could pick the song. I should have known he would pick something ridiculous.

But I made the best of it anyway, and it turned out to be quite a fun song to perform—especially when I began shaking my booty around, mortifying Braden and causing him to facepalm so hard it was probably going to leave a mark.

Meanwhile, my antics seemed to amuse Caleb who, by the end of the painfully long song, was laughing so hard he was clutching his stomach.

I ended the song with a mic drop while everyone except for Braden applauded. I even got astandingovation from Troy and Josh. Caleb looked particularly pleased with my performance, grinning from ear to ear and giving me not one but two thumbs up.

“That was great, Bria,” he said as I sat back down across from him.

“Thank you. Great song choice.”

He chuckled as Natalie said, “Okay, who’s next?”

I glanced around the room and realized there was only one person who hadn’t performed yet. Caleb must have realized the same thing too because he was suddenly looking a lot less jovial than he had been only seconds ago.

“I think Caleb is next,” I replied, and everyone turned to look at him.

Caleb’s eyes shot to me, wild and terrified. I felt bad for him. I knew this wasn’t going to be easy for him. Not only singing in front of his friends but singing to the girl he loved.

“I-I don’t know…” he said, shifting uncomfortably on the couch.

“Why don’t you go pick out a random song?” I suggested. I wanted to make sure no one—specifically Paige—would wonder if his song choice was premeditated. Otherwise, they might think he was singing it on purpose, to declare his love for Paige.

Caleb remained frozen, unmoving as we proceeded to have an unspoken conversation with nothing but our eyes. I was telling him silently that everything was going to be okay. That he was going to do a great job. Meanwhile, he was telling me silently that this was a terrible idea, and he couldn’t believe he’d let me talk him into this.

At least, that was what I assumed he was trying to convey.

“C’mon, Caleb,” Paige said encouragingly, poking him in the ribs.

Reluctantly, he stood and walked over to the touchscreen where he took his time scrolling through the song list. When he finally found Can’t Help Falling in Love, he took a deep breath and hit play.

I was extremely nervous for him, so I could only imagine how he was feeling as the music started. What if the song choice was too obvious? What if Paige took it as a love declaration and turned him down? What if I was the reason their friendship was about to become awkward and weird?

Half of my worries immediately washed away as Caleb began to sing. My jaw dropped at the sound of his voice. He’d claimed he was terrible and couldn’t carry a tune, but his voice was as smooth as Elvis Presley’s. It complimented the song quite well. And, while the delivery was a bit shaky, likely due to nerves, it was spot on.

He was amazing.

At first, he kept his gaze glued to the floor. But after a few lines of the lyrics, he finally got the courage to raise his head and, heeding my advice from earlier, turned to look at me as he sang.

Our eyes met and slowly, the nervous look on his face began to disappear until it was replaced with one that was cool, calm, and collected. He was really getting into it. And so was I. I could feel a smile forming on my face as he sang softly about the inability to keep himself from falling in love with me. Well, not with me, of course. Although, for one fleeting moment, it did kind of feel like he was singing to me, not at me.

But this song and its lyrics were not meant for me. They were meant for Paige.

I was reminded of that about halfway through the song when he removed his gaze from me and redirected it to Paige. My smile began to fade as he slowly made his way over to her. She stared up at him in awe, as if that were the first time she had ever heard him sing. It wasn’t, of course. According to Caleb, she’d heard him sing many times in the past. But this time, it seemed to hit her in a way it probably never had before. And maybe, just maybe, this was the moment she was starting to see him in a different light.

Maybe she was starting to see him as more than a friend.

Reaching out, Caleb took Paige’s hand and knelt before her as he continued to sing. Placing her free hand over her heart, Paige mouthed a silent, “Aww!” as she beamed at him. She then turned to her friend Lucy, and they shared a schoolgirl giggle as he neared the end of the song.

“Bria, you are a genius,” Natalie leaned in and whispered to me.

I blinked at the sound of her voice. I’d forgotten she was sitting next to me. “Huh?”

She motioned to Caleb and Paige with her eyes. “This karaoke idea is working. Extremely well.”

Swallowing hard, I tore my eyes away from Caleb and turned to Natalie. “Of course, it is. When have you ever known a K-drama to steer us wrong?”

Natalie chuckled. “Never.”

When Caleb was done, he stood back up, and the room erupted in applause. Braden, Troy, and Josh wasted no time mocking him by pretending to swoon. Laughing, Caleb pushed off each one of them as they tried to pull him into an embrace. Meanwhile, a blushing Paige was engaged in a whispering session with Lucy. I tried desperately to read her lips but to no avail.

“I’m going to go see if people want to order food,” Natalie said. I had no time to respond before she got up and made her way over to Braden and his friends.

I watched her go and then averted my attention to Caleb, who immediately met my gaze and smiled. I was about to wave him over when somebody sat down next to me and said, “This is fun.”

I turned my head to see it was Tyler who had joined me on the couch.

“Yeah,” I agreed. “It is.”

Tyler flashed me a toothy grin. “Do you guys do this kind of thing often?”

I shook my head. “No. This is actually the first time we’ve ever done this.”

“Really?” He seemed surprised. “My friends and I used to have karaoke parties all the time in California. So, being here tonight makes me feel a little less homesick.”

“Oh,” I said with a small smile. “Well, I’m glad to hear that.”

“Thanks for inviting me.”

“No problem. I’m sure you’ll be getting invited to a lot of things like this in the future.”

A new song started playing, and I turned back to see that now Caleb and Paige were singing a duet together.

“What’s up with those two, anyway?” Tyler asked me, pointing.

“Who? Caleb and Paige?”

“Yeah. Are they, like, just friends? Or is there something more going on?”

How was I supposed to answer that? If I said there was nothing going on between them, that might give Tyler the confidence he needed to make his move. If I said there was something going on between them, that would be a lie. And if it ever got back to Paige that I made that claim, it was possible that Caleb’s crush would be revealed.

In other words, there was no good answer, so I went with, “I have no idea, actually.”

He seemed to accept my lack of answer as his eyes zeroed in on Paige.

“Why do you want to know?” I asked casually.

Tyler shrugged. “No reason. Just curious.”

Just curious, my butt. He was asking for a reason. He was asking because he liked Paige and wanted to know if she was available. And after Caleb’s song and now his duet with Paige—singing You’re the One That I Want from Grease—Tyler’s curiosity was justified.

If I didn’t know for a fact that the two weren’t together, I would have assumed they were.

Without thinking, I shot up from the couch and said, “Excuse me,” to Tyler before promptly leaving the room.

I hadn’t planned on leaving. I didn’t even know where I was going. I just knew that suddenly, for whatever reason, I’d had enough karaoke for one night.

I thought of finding Natalie, to help her with the food order, but ended up in the restroom instead. I didn’t have to go to the bathroom, so I randomly washed my hands instead so that I wasn’t standing there doing nothing like a weirdo.

Glancing at myself in the mirror, I noticed my brow was furrowed slightly but wasn’t sure why. I rubbed at my forehead to smooth it out, but it didn’t help. In fact, it only made it worse. Grabbing a couple paper towels, I spun around so I was no longer looking at my reflection and dried my hands. I placed my hand on the door to push it open, but it was yanked away from me as someone from the other side pulled on it.

That someone was Paige.

When she saw me, her face lit up. “Bria! Hey!”

“Hi,” I said, backing up to let her in. I planned on making a quick exit, but she spoke to me before I could.

“This is so much fun,” she said with a big smile. She went directly over to the mirror to check out her hair and makeup. “We should do this more often.”

“Totally,” I agreed, inching closer to the door.

“Oh, hey, wait a sec.” She turned around to face me and motioned for me to come over.

I joined her at the sink and leaned against it with one hand. “What’s up?”

She set her purse down and pulled out a tub of lip gloss. “Do you have a crush on Caleb?”

Caught off guard by her question, my hand slipped on the smooth surface of the sink, and I stumbled slightly against it. “Um, no. I don’t have a crush on Caleb. Why would you—I mean, what would make you think I might?”

She shrugged as she began applying her lip gloss. “I don’t know. The two of you have been hanging out a lot lately. It seems like every day Caleb is telling me he’s got plans with you.”

“Oh.” I studied her reflection in the mirror, looking for any indication that she was bothered by that fact, but her expression was unreadable. “Well, we’re just hanging out as friends. There’s nothing going on between us if that’s what you’re wondering.”

She dropped the lip gloss back into her purse and turned to look at me. “You know, Bria, it’s okay if you do have a crush on him.”

I blinked at her in confusion. “Huh?”

Her face broke into a warm smile. “People always assume there’s something romantic between me and Caleb because we’re best friends. It’s like, no one thinks a boy and girl could ever be just friends. Which is ridiculous because Caleb and I are living proof that it’s possible.”

An uneasy feeling began to form in the pit of my stomach. “So, there’s never been anything romantic between the two of you? Nothing at all?”

“Nope.” She shook her head back and forth. “Never. Don’t get me wrong, I love Caleb with all my heart and soul, and I would literally die for him, but he’s like a brother to me. Most everyone assumes we’re secretly in love with each other or something, but that isn’t the case.”

How could she not know Caleb was in love with her after the way he sang his heart out to her? Was she that oblivious?

“I mean, look at that song he sang tonight,” she continued.

Okay. I guess maybe she had picked up on some vibes after all.

“I mean, obviously, he’s got feelings for you,” she said matter-of-factly.

Wait—what?

“Wait—what?” I laughed as I gave my head an adamant shake. “No, he doesn’t.”

“Sure, he does. I mean, he sang that incredibly romantic song to you. It was so sweet.” Her gaze wandered as she sighed dreamily.

No, I wanted to say. He was only singing to me for the first half of the song because he was nervous. But then he went on to sing to you. Why do you think that was?

I didn’t ask the question out loud, but she answered it anyway.

“And then he came over and started singing it to me, obviously to make you jealous.”

My jaw dropped. That’s what she took away from Caleb’s performance? That the song was meant for me, not for her? “No, Paige, you’ve got this all wrong—”

“Bria, it’s okay,” she insisted. “If you two want to date, I’m totally cool with that. I’m telling you this because I like you, and I think you and Caleb would be great together. I don’t want you to worry that I would try to come between you or anything. I know he hasn’t dated a lot of girls because most of them don’t like that he has a girl for a best friend. But you have nothing to worry about. Trust me.”

I wanted to grab her by the shoulders and scream, “No! The reason he hasn’t dated a lot of girls is because he wants to date YOU!” But I didn’t. I couldn’t be the one to reveal his feelings to her. He would never forgive me.

So, I said nothing. I just stared at her, mouth agape, speechless, wondering how she could have so grossly misinterpreted Caleb’s karaoke performance. That was supposed to be a moment for them. It was supposed to make her swoon. It was supposed to give her butterflies, not me.

Not that it gave me butterflies—because it didn’t—but Paige thought it did. And that wasn’t part of the plan.

“Anyway,” Paige said brightly, “that’s all I wanted to say. You’re free to go now.” With a small giggle, she turned and headed for one of the stalls.

As soon as she was inside one, I pushed open the door and fled from the restroom as fast as I could.

This wasn’t good. At all. My plan had suddenly gone from solid to broken. And I had no idea how to fix it.

Paige wasn’t into Caleb romantically. She never had been. And probably never would be. No matter how many Hawaiian shirts he wore or how many love songs he sang to her. No matter how many piggyback rides he gave her or how many times he saved her from a falling object or a moving vehicle. How could I have been this stupid? How could I have been so naive to think that we could go against the K-drama formula? The female lead never ends up with the second lead. Ever. For any reason. Why did I ever think I could be the one to change that?

I was so lost in my own thoughts as I blindly made my way back toward the karaoke room that, when a hand reached out and grabbed my arm to stop me, I let out a surprised yelp.

Caleb—the owner of the hand—laughed at my reaction as he let go of me. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you.”

“It’s okay,” I breathed.

“I was worried maybe you left or something,” he said, stuffing his hands into his pockets. “I saw you leave the room during my duet with Paige, and when you didn’t come back, I decided to go look for you.”

“And you found me,” I said with a nervous chuckle. “What’s up?”

Caleb tilted his head curiously to one side. “I wanted to know how you thought I did. With the song.”

“Oh. Right. The song!” I put on the best, most sincere smile I could muster. “Caleb, you were amazing.”

His shoulders sagged in what looked like relief. “You think so?”

“Most definitely,” I said, and then smacked him on the arm. “But you told me you couldn’t sing. You’re such a liar.”

“I didn’t lie. I can’t sing.”

I rolled my eyes. “Stop being so modest. It’s annoying.”

“Sorry.” Caleb grinned. “So, I also wanted to find you to tell you that this idea of yours actually turned out to be a great one. I’m glad you forced me into it.”

I didn’t know what to say. I wasn’t glad I’d forced him into it. Now I knew it was all for nothing. And maybe I’d caused more harm than good. This whole time, I’d been so sure I could get Paige to fall for him, and I’d even managed to convince Caleb of that. But I’d given him false hope.

Only to have to tell him that, oh, by the way, Paige thinks of him as a brother.

And I had no idea how to do that.

“Are you okay?” Caleb asked, snapping me out of the mini panic attack I was about to have inside my brain.

“Oh, uh, yeah. I’m fine.” I motioned to the karaoke room door that was only a few feet behind me. “Ready to go back in? Natalie was ordering food.”

“Sure. But first, I was wondering what our next step is.”

“Next step?”

“Yeah. Of our plan. What kind of crazy ideas do you have?”

There was no plan now. The mission was about to be aborted. But I couldn’t let him know that yet. I needed some time to figure out the best way to break the news to him.

“I’ll have to check my whiteboard,” I said with a shrug.

“But I thought you erased everything that was on it.”

“Oh, that’s right. I did. I’ll have to brainstorm some new ideas, then.” That should buy me some time…

“How about I come over to your house tomorrow and help you?” he suggested.

Then again, maybe not.

“Tomorrow is no good. I’m hanging out with Natalie.”

“Okay.” He accepted my answer with a nod. “How about Monday, then?”

“Actually, my schedule next week is pretty booked up,” I lied. “There are a ton of things I promised Natalie we would do when she got back and…well…she’s back now. Maybe you and I should take a week off and meet back up the week after.”

Caleb narrowed his eyes again as they studied me. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

I couldn’t have him suspecting anything, so I forced a giggle and said, “Of course, I’m okay. Why wouldn’t I be okay?”

He opened his mouth to reply, but before he could, Natalie appeared by his side and said, “Hey, guys, what are you doing out here? The party is in there.” She pointed to our room.

“You’re right. We should get back,” I said to Caleb. I gave him another smile before grabbing Natalie’s hand and pulling her away as quickly as possible.

“Did I interrupt something?” she whispered to me.

“Nope,” I said. “As a matter of fact, you saved me.”

“Huh?” she asked, confused. “Saved you from what?”

I offered her no explanation as we headed back into the room.

Natalie didn’t know it, but I owed her one.