Sing for Their Supper - 21

"Curl in, like this." Evie pulled her knees up, wrapping her arms around them. "Stare down at the sidewalk like you're afraid someone's going to kick you."

"Been there, done that," DJ said tightly. "I was the guy who got bullied all through school."

"Oh, man. I'm sorry."

"It wasn't your fault."

"I know that," she said, looking exasperated. "Jeez. So what did you do when that happened?"

"Went home and listened to my music and prayed my dad wouldn't lay into me for being a wimp if he found out."

"He did that? What a creep."

DJ lifted a shoulder. "He was big and never really got what it was like to be my size, even though my mom was tinier than you. He'd tell me to stand up for myself." He sighed. "After a while, I just let it go in one ear and out the other."

"What music did you listen to?"

"Dark ambient, when I was really bummed." She cocked her head in question, so he explained. "It's distorted, dissonant, melancholy—all the things I was feeling. But if I was just lonely or sad, then it was show tunes."

"Like musicals?"

"Uh-huh."

"Did you sing along?"

DJ grinned. "Well, duh. Why listen if you don't?"

"Me, too. I like the older ones."

"Define older. At your age, five years ago would be older."

Evie swatted his arm. "I mean the good ones. The classics—Gypsy, My Fair Lady, Guys and Dolls. Ones like that."

"Ever hear music from The Fantasticks?"

Evie smiled. "'Soon It's Going to Rain'." She started humming it. DJ started singing. She jumped in to sing Luisa's part. When they finished, she told him, "You're pretty damned good."

"Lot's of practice." He smiled shyly.

"Did you ever do any plays in school?"

"I wanted to, but look at me. I'm hardly actor material."

She harrumphed. "Daniel Radcliffe is five six. Tom Cruise isn't much taller. Joe Pesci is five three."

"How do you know that?"

She grinned. "I've had crushes on them. Well, not Pesci so much, but the other two. So, see? You don't have to be tall to be good as an actor or a singer. Or an actor who sings."

"But it helps."

"Yeah, I guess it would. But still."

DJ held out his cup when he realized they had an audience, thanking the people who had dropped their spare change into it. One guy—he looked like a college student—asked what else they knew, saying he loved musicals. Evie gave him a thumbs up and started in on "Never Been in Love Before" shooting a look at DJ, so he sang, too, grinning when the guy said, "One of my favorite shows."