Page 87 of Not Another Love Song

CHAPTER NINETEEN

After two weeks of an empty apartment and only a few text messages, Jacob finally put his foot down on Friday and requested a dinner party. Gwen agreed to come out of her love bubble for an evening, but scheduled with Jacob for Sunday night.

Tonight, Gwen was headed to a party with Alex’s friends. Alex’s friends, who consisted of her favorite music group in the world. Alex’s friends, whom she needed to impress not only as his girlfriend, but also as a human. Hazel Renee and her wife would be there too, and Gwen took extra care with her makeup.

She’d slipped into a romper, boots, and a large cardigan, tugged her hair into a knot on the top of her head, and applied more mascara and lip gloss than normal, all while Xander sat at the foot of his bed, narrowing his eyes at her.

“You know it’s just a kickback to watch the game, right?”

“Yeah! Of course!” She smacked her lips, no idea which game was on.

In the cab down to SoHo, Gwen fiddled with a chipped nail and asked, “Whose apartment is this?”

“Sonya and Mac’s.”

“The bride and groom,” she clarified, as if she didn’t know these names by heart already. “You know Mac from the band, but how did you end up in Sonya’s bridal party?”

“I knew Sonya first; we grew up together. We went to the same elementary school, but different high schools. She visited my dad’s house every summer, though. I introduced her to Mac about four years ago, and they hit it off.”

Gwen smiled, but another thought gave her pause. “And how do you all know Chelsea?”

“She’s one of Sonya’s best friends.”

Gwen chewed on the inside of her cheek. “She’s on the road with you guys a lot, huh?”

“Yeah. She’s a stylist, so we invite her to keep track of our clothes and do our hair when she’s free.”

Alex dipped his head to read a billboard they were passing, completely unaware of the anxious shaking of her foot next to him.

“And will she be there tonight?”

“Probably.”

Gwen sucked in a deep breath. “Alex, can you please just tell me if I’m about to spend the next few hours with a girl you’ve slept with?”

His gaze snapped to her. “Chelsea? No.”

“Or hooked up with?” Gwen dug. “I’ve seen the way she is around you, and—”

“When?” His brow furrowed.

“Online. In pictures.”

“Oh,” Alex said, confusion vanishing, gazing back out the window. “Lorenz does that. Any opportunity to make me more ‘desirable,’ as he says.”

Gwen frowned. That still didn’t explain the pictures of Alex on Chelsea’s Instagram, but she dropped it for now, deciding to trust what he was saying.

They were quiet for a few minutes, but just before the cab pulled up to their cross streets, he took her hand in his.

“Nothing’s ever happened between me and Chelsea. Now I know why you asked about her at the Plaza.” He chuckled, and she rubbed her thumb across the back of his hand. “I did try to kiss Sonya in fifth grade, though. She knocked me out. Chipped my tooth.” Gwen smiled as he raised his top lip to show her which one. “And I guess you should know that I turned Hazel Renee into a lesbian when we were sixteen. She asked to have sex and promptly told me she was into women afterward.”

Gwen laughed out loud, forgetting her anxiety for a bit, but her nerves were bubbling in her stomach again by the time they got buzzed into the apartment. Mac opened the door for them, and when he extended his hand to meet her, she stuttered over her own name until it sounded like “Guyen.”

The introductions to the rest of them happened similarly. She knocked Jaden’s drink out of his hand (thankfully almost empty), went in for The Hug with Carlos, and performed what might have been a curtsey when meeting Dom, the violinist.

Thankfully, Dom was just as exuberant and flirty in real life as he was onstage and ended up kissing her on the mouth for a hello.

“I, um, I love your work,” she said lamely, unable to tell him in front of Alex and the rest of his bandmates that aside from Xander Thorne, Dom was her favorite part of the Roses. He played to the audience, head-banging and playing other people’s instruments mid-song.

---