Page 62 of Rock Out Together
It’d been an entire week since we returned from Panama City and the shitfest that was our spring break. Each day felt heavier than the next, the memory of Jake’s touch haunting me like a song stuckin my head on repeat.
“None of your damn business!” I yelled from under my covers.
I'd gotten my ass up for class, sure, but as soon as I got home, the pajamas were back on, and I was in bed watching sappy Hallmark movies, yelling at the women not to trust the stereotypical men who showed up on their doorstep holding chocolates and a puppy. Their predictable happy endings annoyed me now, where they’d once warmed my soul.
“The hell it ain't! Just because some asshole did the dick-and-dash two-step, doesn't mean you can lock yourself away in your room for the rest of your life!”
Oh, yeah? Try me.
I heard the doorknob rattle for a minute, and then Zara barged in.The hell?
“You’re picking locks now?” I could understand why she was worried. If the shoe had been on the other foot, I’d be climbing through her window.
“You should never doubt me!” She flung out her arms dramatically, and I chuckled. Her fierce loyalty helped to ground me.
I’d been avoiding her, and I rarely did that. I was engaged in a good old-fashioned pity party. The sting of Jake’s silence was a wound I couldn’t stop poking at.
After getting the big “D” with a rockstar and then getting ghosted by said rockstar, I felt entitled to one.
“How long is this going to last?” Zara asked as she tore the covers away from me.
“As long as I want it to.” I pulled them back, covering myhead. Like a pill bug, I wrapped them around myself and whined, the cocoon of blankets shielding me against the world.
Zara sat on the bed and ran her hand up and down my back. “If it makes you feel any better, Rowan never called me, either.”
I shoved the covers down and glared at her. “No, it doesnotmake me feel better. Now I just feel bad for you, too.”
“You don’t see me moping around, hiding in my bed.”
“That’s because you’ve got Antonio on speed dial. And Chris. And Blake. And?—”
“Don’t hate me because I’m popular and suck a mean dick. Or I’ll eat the pancakes I made you for breakfast.”
Like a shot, I sat straight up, pushing aside the blanket. My hair looked like I’d been electrocuted.
“Pancakes?” I asked. Zara’s pancakes were epic. I wouldn't have been surprised to find out she secretly laced them. The promise of her cooking was a rare light in my gloomy week.
She nodded. “Blueberry. With real syrup. And sausage and coffee.”
I was out of bed in a second, my self-pity forgotten in favor of a carb, grease, and caffeine overload. Sitting at the small dinette in our kitchen, I dished up pancakes and sausage while Zara turned onThe Today Show.Zara claimed to be a distant cousin of Al Roker’s, so she watched it religiously. I suspected the man had no true relation to her and the story was the product of her grandmother’s overactive imagination. But Gram’s word was good as gold to Zara, so it was stated as a fact in our household. Herquirky belief in the connection always made me smile, even now.
I’d just taken a sip of my coffee when Savannah Guthrie made an announcement.
“And now, to play their newest single, ‘Ocean Melody,’ welcome Steele Horizons.”
I dropped my coffee in shock, hot brew going everywhere. Zara screamed at the mess as I snagged the remote and turned up our tiny kitchen TV as loud as it’d go. My heart raced, a mix of hope and dread overtaking me as I heard his name.
Ignoring Zara’s freakout, I stared as Jake, Elliott, and Rowan came tromping onto a makeshift stage on the Plaza at Rockefeller Center. Seeing him on screen was like a jolt, rekindling the feelings I’d been tamping since the day I woke up in his bed with him gone.
“What the fuck, Em? You—” Zara shut up as she watched Jake on stage with his band, talking to the hosts ofThe Today Show.
“So, Jake, you’re performing something new for us? What made you decide to release a single after your album dropped?” Al was on the stage next to Savannah and the band, where they all sat on stools.
“I had some last-minute inspiration, Al,” Jake said.
His voice was warm, and I could almost feel it wrapping around me like it had the night he sang to me on the beach.
“Don’t listen to him, he met a girl!” Rowan shouted into the microphone, and Jake jammed his elbow into his side.
