Chapter Fourteen
Mike
The light dimmed noticeably. “Hey, sunset.”
“Where’d the girls go?” Dylan asked.
“They left hours ago,” Bob said, eyes still glued to the screen.
“Left?” I asked. Hannah’s purse was still here, so she couldn’t have gone home.
Jake pulled out his phone and started typing.
“What are you doing?”
“Texting Beth.” The phone chimed. “They’re in the farmhouse.”
“Dude.” Dylan backhanded Bob’s arm. “This is why we don’t turn on a game when the girls are here.” He pulled out his phone and started typing.
Jake laughed. “They’re watching a movie. Do you want to be stuck in front of some sappy rom-com right now?”
I didn’t mind some of them—and he didn’t, either—but that wasn’t a popular opinion in the group. Bob shuddered. Dylan kept shifting like he couldn’t decide to stand or not.
“Can’t be any more boring than this is,” I said. Once I stood, Dylan followed with a grateful nod.
“Thanks,” he said outside. “They’ve forgotten what it’s like when it’s new.”
“How are you and Jen?”
He grinned. “Really good, man. Night and day to my ex. With Jen there’s no drama.”
“Tell her you love her, yet?”
Nodding, he said, “We did that a while ago. It’s good timing to be on hiatus, you know…gives us time to figure stuff out.”
“Can’t start a relationship then leave. Remember the last tour?”
“Jake was a bear.” He glanced back at the living room. “Think we’ll ever get him out again?”
“Without Beth and the baby? Yeah, right.”
“He’s a sucker for the kid alright.”
“You’re not much better!”
He grinned. “Yeah, I know. It’s the eyes, man. The way she looks at you. Can’t help it.”
“I think Bob’s afraid holding her would give Celeste baby fever.”
“Wondered about that.” He shrugged. “Never minded kids, myself. Way I see it, if you’re meant to be a parent it’s going to happen no matter what you do, so no sense getting a complex about it.”
“Planning to knock Jen up, then?”
“Not without her permission.”
We could see the living room through the front windows now. The sky still had light though the sun had disappeared. “Good thinking.”
“What about you, man? I thought you weren’t lookin’ to settle down, but then you bring a girl by for the first time ever. What’s the story?”
“I’m getting to know her.”
“And?”
“…I didn’t want to come alone.”
“Dude, you’re family.”
“And you’re all coupled up now, which is great, I’m happy for you, but Aaron’s scene isn’t my thing and—”
He stopped me. “Why didn’t you say something before?”
“It was fine for a while.”
“Sorry if I’ve left you hanging recently.”
“Nah, it’s cool. Really. It’s my thing, not anyone else’s fault. I just realized I hadn’t cultivated anything outside the band in a long time.”
“Well, Hannah seems like a great girl, but you can’t wrap your whole life around one person.”
“I know. But I do like her.”
“Then I hope it works out.” He clapped my shoulder and started up the front steps.
Me, too.
Me, too.
Dylan quietly opened the door. We veered to the kitchen instead of interrupting the girls. He opened a cupboard door.
“Dylan Smith, stay out of my cookies!” Beth said.
“Damn. How’d she know?” He closed the door.
“I think it comes with giving birth. All that pushing makes the extra set of eyes pop out the back of their heads.”
He laughed. Jen shushed him. “You’re going to get me in trouble,” he whispered.
“You’re the one who went straight for the cookies.” I opened the freezer door. “When everybody knows it’s the Rocky Road ice cream that’s safe.”
“Because Beth doesn’t eat nuts.”
“Yep.”
Jake would just send Maria to buy more. The only thing he bitched about someone finishing off without asking was alcohol. Don’t take the last beer was one of the house rules.
I found the ice cream scoop while he retrieved two bowls and spoons, then we took the ice cream to the living room. Hannah sat in one of the armchairs, so I had to take the arm or the floor. I chose the floor, sitting on the braided rug in front of her. Dylan had squeezed in between Jen and Celeste. They were watching some flick I didn’t recognize.
Hannah had removed her sandals and tucked her legs up on the chair. A glance to my right revealed sparkly pink polish on cute toes. I loved that she was unapologetically girly.
Our fans ranged from late teens to early-forties women, and most of the females that managed to get backstage were only after one thing—or pursuing that one thing with every band member. Bob and Aaron partook the most and Aaron was still happily cruising through the groupie-of-the-night list, but Dylan liked intellectuals, Jake compared all women to Beth (though we didn’t know it then), and I didn’t want to be like my brother. Bob sticking with Celeste shocked everyone. Point is, we didn’t meet a lot of adult nice girls.
With Hannah, I felt I could bring out my cardigans when the weather cooled off and she wouldn’t blink. Could be the nerd in high school I’d never completely shed and it’d be okay.
But I shouldn’t be this invested already.
If this crashed and burned, it was really going to hurt.