Page 130 of Next to Everything We Wanted
“Are you worried about people finding out our identities?” Phoenix asked, sitting on the couch.
Forrest shrugged. “I mean, it is a bigger crowd.”
“It’s pretty dark in there,” Ellis said. “I’ve been a few times and could barely see the faces of the girls I was making out with.”
“Gosh, why do people make out in the dark?” Phoenix asked.
“Better than doing it in the dirty bathrooms.”
I swallowed, the article with our band mentioned popping in my mind. “Ellis is right. It’ll be dark with flashing lights. People will care too much about the vibe to focus on what we look like.”
“And I think it’ll be fun to become a bigger band,” Celeste piped up. “Isn’t that what we’re supposed to do? Grow and reach new people?”
“And if we get bigger, we can do fun things like hire a manager,” Ellis said.
Celeste smiled. “And we can hire someone to do our promotions, too. I still can do the social media posts, but it’d be nice to have an assistant to help us reach a bigger audience.”
Forrest gave us a tight smile. “We’re doing it. I’m excited to see how things turn out.”
“Are you sure?” Phoenix asked, exchanging an unsure look with me.
“I said yes, okay?” Forrest got up from his chair, shoving it underneath the table. “You don’t need my seal of approval for things anymore.”
“Sheesh, just making sure,” Phoenix muttered.
Forrest cursed under his breath before leaving the room. The door slammed, shaking the pictures on the wall.
Phoenix sighed and crossed his arms. “Okay, something’s up with him.”
Ellis scoffed. “Would it be Forrest if there wasn’t?”
“He would’ve said he didn’t want to do this if he didn’t,” Celeste said, staring at the door. “Maybe he’s just having a bad day.”
“Since when does Forrest have a good day?” Ellis asked.
Celeste shot him a glare. “Seriously.”
“Maybe he wants to keep feelings to himself,” I said. “I know how it is.”
Celeste gave me a nod as if saying,We both do.
I went out to the crowd to see where Forrest went, but he wasn’t anywhere in sight. Sienna still sat at her booth with her friends. Her eyes locked with mine, and she smiled and waved for me to come over.
“Hey, everyone,” I said as I approached the table. “How was the performance tonight?”
“Amazing as always,” Sienna said with a beam. “What’s going on? I saw that dude talking to you and Nick before going backstage with you guys.”
“Jimmy Cook,” Hayden said.
“You know who he is?” I asked.
“Hetotallydoesn’t spend hours researching every venue owner in the area,” Dallas said with an eyeroll.
Hayden smiled with a shrug. “I have no shame in it.”
I laughed. “Yeah, that was him. We may or may not be performing at Moonlight Lounge next Saturday.”
Sienna gasped. “Oh my gosh, that’s amazing!”
