Page 44 of A Duet of Darkness and Dreams

If they get really famous now, I’ll be annoyed. And I know that makes me a terrible person.

I wonder if they’ve seen it yet. Would they even know to check theChronicle? Should I call and tell them? Oh god, I don’t even know what to say. And what if Dave answers the phone?

Picking up the article, I tear it out and stuff it into my notebook for History of Fashion while I finish getting dressed. I’ll give it to Becks. I may feel dead inside about it, but I can fake being happy for a few hours, right? If I can fake an orgasm without anyone being the wiser, then I can fake this too.

CHAPTER 15

Just What I Needed

DAVE

Part of me is still in shock as I stare at the article, my eyes glazing over as I read it again for what must be the fiftieth time. This is incredible.

“I’m running out to the store, you want anything?” Joel asks before grabbing my keys and heading for the door.

I look up, then glance at the fridge. “Uh, yeah, hold on, there’s a list.” Once I pass him the short list of groceries, he grins at me.

“Careful, you look at that too long and it’ll burst into flames,” Joel teases from the other side of the counter, nodding to the paper still clutched between my fingers.

Flipping him off, I head back toward my bedroom to tuck it into the shoebox with the others from theStoneman Pressthat Izzy wrote. On the way, James rushes out of his room and our shoulders collide.

“Hey, hey, whoa, you okay, man?” I ask, steadying him as he nearly topples over.

He rights himself before pulling on his denim jacket. “Yeah, sorry. I uh . . . I’m going out for a bit.”

I cock a brow. “For food? Joel already left.”

James laughs a little nervously, his weight bouncing between his two feet. “No . . . no, actually. For something else.”

Something’s up. Why is he so jumpy? “Dude, what the fuck is up with you?”

He settles and sighs, leaning back against the wall behind him. “I’m going to ask Becks to marry me.”

My eyes nearly bug out of their sockets. “You what?”

“Don’t try to talk me out of it. It won’t work.”

He sets his dark eyes on me with a determined stare, and after a moment, I smile. “I wouldn’t dream of it, congrats, man.”

His face melts into the most repulsively happy grin. “Well, she still has to say yes.”

“Pigs will fly before that girl says no.”

“Do you want to come with me?” he asks.

I narrow my eyes. “You trying to brainwash me into monogamy?”

He shrugs. “Can’t help but notice you’ve come home alone the past few weeks, and not for a lack of girls falling all over you. What was it that girl with the black hair said last night?” He pouts and bats his eyelashes, placing his hands under his chin in a show of dramatics. “Oh! Mr. Noblar, how do you drum so fast? Do you want to practice on my ass?”

I laugh and shove his shoulder. “Fuck off. That is not what she said.”

“One hundred percent that’s what she said.”

Sighing, I hook my thumbs in my belt loops. “So what? You’re concerned about my ability to get laid and your solution is to show me how perfect your life is with just one woman?”

“Just wondering if maybe there was something going on.”

At my blank expression, he continues.

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