Behind the Strings by Courtney Giardina Page A

requested everyone’s attention.
    “On behalf of Logan, I want to thank everyone for being here tonight,” she began. “This is a very special occasion and a little surprise celebration, actually, for our man over here.”
    Logan gradually put one foot in front of the other as she waved him over. I could tell by the look on his face that he truly was surprised at whatever it was she was about to say. He had both hands stuffed deep in his pockets. That was always the case when we were growing up. It was a habit I had told him he needed to break. It’s how his mom always knew when he took the car without asking or stayed out past curfew.
    “It was really hard to keep this secret until now. So many of you standing here today have worked so hard to make this happen, but as of this coming Sunday, Logan, you officially have the number one song on country radio.”
    It was an instantaneous reaction, almost involuntary. I turned to Jesse and squeezed his forearms with all my might. My mouth shot open as if I wanted to scream, but nothing came out. I stood there, watching his body jolt at the reaction of my own.
    “Oh my gosh!” I said.
    “He is the man!” Jesse said, sounding genuinely excited.
    I threw my arms around Jesse while the rest of the room continued to applaud.
    “I’m sorry,” I said as I removed myself from his grasp, “I guess I got carried away.”
    “You don’t have to be sorry,” Jesse said, “we’re all happy for him.”
    I took a few steps back and listened to Logan as he started to address the room. I snapped a few quick pictures as he thanked everyone he could think of, including me, and when he was done he made his way over so I could hug him. We both squealed and I hung there in mid-air for some time before he let me down. Jesse reached out his hand in between us for Logan to shake.
    After the congratulations were over the deafening silence fell upon us again. I could tell and the way Jesse swayed from side to side made it obvious he could as well, it seemed the tension between the two of us was rather apparent no matter how hard we tried for it not to be.
    “Everything okay over here?” Logan asked.
    Jesse and I interrupted each other as we both tried to convince him it was. He nodded his head, patted us both on the shoulders and told us to have another round while he made his way through the crowd.
    “Look, Celia,” Jesse started once Logan had walked away, “I don’t want things to be weird between us. It’s okay if you aren’t into this.”
    “Oh Jesse, that’s not it at all. Look…my life is really complicated.”
    “With Logan?”
    I looked over in the direction his head turned. Logan was in the midst of a group conversation, but I could see him glancing over in our direction out of the corner of his eye.
    “No, it’s not Logan, I promise,” I said. “And I had a really great time the other night.”
    “Then I don’t understand.”
    “This terrifies me. Relationships, dating, guys, love, all of it.”
    “Listen,” he said as he took my hand in his, “I’m not asking you to marry me. I don’t plan on getting down on one knee tomorrow, but I would like to get to know you better. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you and well, that’s a lot coming from a guy like me.”
    “A guy like you?” I asked.
    “Can we go outside for a minute? I’d like to talk about this, but not here.”
    I was hesitant at first. Then I looked at everyone standing around us. They were all immersed in business like conversation. Clearly it wasn’t the place to be having a conversation like this. I nodded, but followed far enough behind him as not to make it obvious we were going anywhere together.
    “So, a guy like you?” I asked again once the door to the bar door shut behind us.
    “This world we live in, music? It’s not like any other. It’s not a 9-to-5, always-home-for-dinner, straight-and-narrow kind of life. It’s hard to find people who understand that. And when