Page 14 of Wish We Were There

Taylor answered with a small, tired smile. “Thanks.”

The Gomez siblings let themselves in the way Kylie had, arriving a few minutes later, just as Parker was helping Taylor carry trays of food into the dining room. Like Kylie, they both looked surprised to see him there. Angie seemed to recover quickly, though, and greeted him affably; but Dean only gave him a quick nod with an almost suspicious look on his face, leaving Parker more confused than before.

The siblings were quite different; Dean, the drummer, looked like a poster child for Hot Topic straight out of 2008: a tall, lanky twenty-something with dark hair half covering his face, stretched earlobes, a t-shirt with an indecipherable band name emblazoned across it, and black skinny jeans with a studded belt and a wallet chain. Angie, who’d played lead guitar, was dressed in a bright yellow and orange sweater and flared jeans, with dangling gold earrings that were only occasionally visible through the curtain of her jet black bob cut. Even with the heels of her ankle boots, she was a head shorter than everyone else.

Parker knew Angie did some music under her own name on the side that sounded much more like her sweet girl-next-door appearance, and he wondered what Dean would do after this was all said and done.

“Thanks for coming, everyone,” Taylor said, coming out of the kitchen to usher everyone into the dining room. “Sorry I’ve been kind of MIA lately. Here’s my peace offering.”

Angie smiled. “No worries, Taylor. I’m just glad to see you.”

“How’s your ankle?” he asked.

“Good as new,” she chuckled, sticking her booted foot out. “Is your wrist okay? I got my cast off a few weeks ago, so I’m surprised to see you still wearing it.”

Taylor held his arm self-consciously closer to his body. “Yeah, all good. I missed my appointment to get it off and haven’t gotten around to rescheduling.”

“Gosh, isn’t it killing you? Mine was so itchy, I was counting down the days to get it off.”

“It’s been alright,” Taylor chuckled. “I’ll get it off soon. Just need to reschedule.”

Everyone started to sit down around the dining room table. Parker awkwardly stepped out of place so that he could sit next to Taylor as he’d asked; but he could practically feel the weird look Dean shot at him as they all settled into their seats. Luckily, Kylie spoke cheerfully before he could think too much about it.

“I brought wine!” she chirped, pouring the red into glasses without asking who wanted one. “No offense, Taylor. Just figured we’d need something to lighten the mood a little bit.”

“I’ll take some,” Taylor replied, shrugging. Kylie raised an eyebrow, but offered him a glass all the same.

“We’ve been worried about you,” Dean said, speaking for the first time. He was the quietest of the group; the deep resonance of his voice always surprised Parker whenever he did speak up. “What have you been up to, Taylor?”

Taylor shook his head. “Not much, to be honest. A lot of wallowing and feeling sorry for myself. But I’m ready to move on from that, you know? I got sick of moping. So here I am.”

For some reason, everyone seemed to glance furtively at Parker the longer Taylor spoke, but he didn’t know why. Were they still confused by his presence? But then why would they be looking over at him now, as if trying to gauge his reaction to Taylor’s words? It wasn’t adding up—clearly they were looking for something, but he didn’t know what. He took another nervous drink of the wine. Whatever. He was here to be Taylor’s moral support, so if they thought him being there was weird, they’d just have to deal with it.

“Don’t rush yourself, Taylor,” Angie finally spoke, her tone much more gentle. “It’s a complicated situation, so... Take it easy on yourself.”

“Right,” Taylor agreed hurriedly, clearly trying to change the subject. “Anyway, uh, the curry and the pad thai are vegan for you, Angie, and the fried rice has shrimp. Everything else has chicken. Go ahead and serve yourselves.”

“We need some music,” Kylie said firmly, then called out more loudly, “Hey, Google! Play the new Blink-182 album!”

Despite himself, Parker laughed as the music came on. “New Blink, huh? Is this the kinda stuff you listen to over dinner?”

“Are you telling me you haven’t listened to the new Blink album?” Kylie asked, her voice accusing, but with a teasing lilt.

“Oh, I’ve listened to it plenty. My review for it for PNN went up last week.”

The mood lightened considerably as they started eating, but Parker still couldn’t shake the feeling that Angie and especially Dean were watching him far too closely. Not that he had any idea why. He’d been friends with Zach and Taylor for years—while he had never exactly been a permanent fixture, the three of them would meet up with and without the rest of the band a few times a year. And Taylor would want his friends around him as much as possible, wouldn’t he? So why was his presence so strange to them?

He kept thinking it over through the course of the meal, trying his best to not appear too obviously distracted. Once everyone seemed like they were mostly done, though, Taylor cleared his throat, before saying hesitantly,

“I, uh, I wanted to talk to you guys about something, actually.”

Again, Dean’s eyes darted straight to Parker; and this time he couldn’t quite stop himself from shooting Dean an annoyed, confused expression when their eyes met. The stoic drummer didn’t react, but after a beat, looked back at Taylor without speaking.

“Sure,” Angie offered, sounding uncertain now too. “What’s up?”

Beneath the table, Parker felt Taylor’s hands first rest on his thigh, then squeeze tightly. He froze, willing himself desperately not to react outwardly, even though the firm grip of Taylor’s fingers sent electricity rocketing through his nerves. Taylor was scared and nervous about this, so he needed to be strong—if this was how he needed Parker to support him, then he’d do it, and pointedly ignore how his dick was already half-hard in response.

“I, uh,” Taylor stammered. “I’m buying the old Bridge, the venue Zed Miller used to own. I’m going to open a new venue there.”

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