Closed Off To You (Singing Star Trilogy #1) by Rachel S. Rose Page A

stuck her bottom lip out but didn’t say anything. Ella took the paper back and stuffed it in her pocket.
    “Don’t look at me like that. I mean it. I want something more but not from him. He’s too young, anyway.”
    Lizzie started to walk again, ignoring my defensive statement. Ella looked at the ground as we moved through the mud.
    “I still think you’ll hook up again,” Ella muttered.
    I nudged her with my arm to shut her up. She stuck her tongue out at me, running away before I could react.
    “You’re supposed to be supporting me. If he’d asked me on a date, maybe I would have hooked up with him again. But I don’t want just sex. Even if he is ridiculously gorgeous.”
    Lizzie whistled for her dog. He bounded over, splashing us as he charged through a puddle. We laughed when he shook right next to Ella, covering her with mud and water.
    “I’m not sure I could be as strong as you if that muscular hot being wanted to pound-”
    “Lizzie! Don’t be so crude.” Ella put her hands on her hips after her failed attempt at brushing the mud off her legs. She had smeared it in, making it even worse.
    “Oh, come on. Why do you pretend to be all innocent?” Lizzie asked Ella as she put her dog on a lead.
    My friends talked between themselves as we approached the car park. The birds sang high in the trees, but we had ignored them most of the way round. Stopping, I inhaled a deep breath. I loved nature, but I hardly spent any time enjoying it.
    The others had confused me. They were usually extremely supportive of my decisions. Lately, they hadn’t agreed with what I wanted to do.
    First the TV show and now Nathan. Although they weren’t saying it, I could feel something brimming underneath them both.
    “Anyway, if you don’t want Nathan, I’m sure someone else will take him off your hands.” Lizzie winked at me as she opened the boot and the dog jumped straight in.
    “That’s the thing with you, isn’t it, Lizzie? You’ll happily pick up someone else’s seconds,” Ella snapped.
    Lizzie and I stood frozen with our mouths dropped open.
    Ella was always so kind and loving. She had never said a bad word about either of us.
    She tucked her dark thin hair behind her ear as she yanked open the car door and climbed in. I glanced at Lizzie and shrugged. She shook her head and smiled, but I caught the flash of pain that crossed her face.
    “I’m sorry. That was uncalled for,” Ella said when we got in the car.
    “No, you’re right. I shouldn’t joke about Nathan and Melissa. It wasn’t like she actually took him from me, even though I pretended she did.” Lizzie grinned over her shoulder at me. I was glad I was in the back seat. The tension in the atmosphere made me sit back and look out the window.
    “We probably shouldn’t have gone on the show.” Ella sighed.
    “Why not?” Lizzie asked, putting the key in the ignition. “We’ve just got to stop bickering. It’s all we’ve done since we got through. Our friendship is too important. This could be an amazing adventure.”
    Ella was right. The audition had changed our friendship. No, that wasn’t quite right. I had changed our friendship. By being scared, and not wanting to put myself out there, I had tainted the excitement of our achievement. My fear had got in the way, but I wouldn’t let it any more.
    “We need to have some fun. Let’s start again. We’ve got a week until we go back to the studios to start this bizarre journey. There’s only one thing for it.”
    “Karaoke!” Both Lizzie and Ella shouted at the same time.
    I grinned as my best friends tuned into my thought pattern. The one thing we did when we were feeling low was sing our hearts out.
     
    *
     
    “What are you up to?” my brother shouted down the phone when I answered.
    The song blasted in the background so I held the phone as tight to my ear as possible. “Karaoke, brother, karaoke. The only way to cheer a woman up.”
    We had started on the wine as soon as we got