Page 41 of Loved Out Loud
I don’t move. I think I may have melted into place. What does he mean, we’re not done? Done with what? The conversation?
My phone vibrates on the desk with a notification. I pick it up to find a text from an unknown number.
UNKNOWN:Have fun at your signing tonight
ME:Who is this?
He replies with a series of emojis, the rock, a guitar, and the tongue. I fight a smile. Why does he have to be so damn charming?
ME: Thank you, Stone
I set my phone down on the bed, intent on ignoring it. Sierra knows what room we’re staying in, so she won’t need to reach me. I decide to sit down and do a few sprints on my Freewrite. It’s always the easiest way for me to squeeze writing in when I don’t have time to stare at my computer screen and second guess every word that I type.
I get three rounds in before I hear a knock at the door. I throw the door open and practically jump into Sierra’s arms as if it hasn’t been only a week or so since I saw her. She laughs and squeezes me back just as hard.
She rolls her suitcase past me, and I close the door behind her. I watch as she takes in the room and sets her purse down on the empty bed. She’s so effortlessly beautiful that if she wasn’t my best friend I’d hate her on principle.
“Is this what you’re going to wear?” She looks at the dress laid out on the bed and back to me, doing a double take when she notices my neck. “Holy shit, what happened to you?”
I reach up and cover the spot. “Would you believe it was a curling iron burn?”
“Not a fucking chance.” She gently pulls my hand away, her eyes widening at her up close view.
“Do you think you can cover it up?”
She nods. “Yeah, I can do it, but I’m going to need to hear every single detail, and we’re going to need to start now.”
I pick up my robe and go change into it in the bathroom. She suggests letting her braid my hair into a fishtail on that side to help cover whatever she can’t color-correct. Once she’s got me sitting in the bathroom, she puts her hands on her hips and examines my face and neck.
“Spill all the details. I need to know how this happened.”
“I saw Stone after the concert last night, and he kissed me.”
“Looks as though it was more than a kiss.” She pulls out a green color corrector and applies it. “Also, look at you go, making out with a rock star after just a week of being on the road with them.”
“It won’t happen again. It was just something that happened in the heat of the moment.”
She hums under her breath as she uses a brush to dapple the area until it’s neutralized. “Was it good?”
“Probably the hottest experience I’ve ever had,” I confess. “Wandering hands, pressed against the wall, the whole nine.” That’s actually saying quite a bit because early on in my puesdo-relationship with Greg, we fucked like rabbits all over his office and even in a few places around campus. I just never felt desired in the same way I did in that five minutes with Stone.
“Hell yeah.” Her lips lift into a wide smile showing off her perfectly straight, white teeth. “Do it again.”
“It’s a bad idea.”
“Why?”
“Because we’re stuck together for months in a small space. Because he’s a fucking rock star. Because I’m justme.” I gesture at my body dismissively.
“Hey.” Sierra yanks on my ear hard enough to hurt. “That’s my best friend you’re talking about. Watch yourself.”
“I didn’t mean it in a mean way, just I’m me. Boring Hazel, who spends too much time lost in her own mind.”
“Lost in the mind that’s making you, me, and many other people a fuck ton of money.” She puts a layer of concealer over the corrector.
We smile at each other in the mirror as we examine her handiwork. Once I put my foundation and the rest of my makeupon it’s just barely visible, easily mistaken for a shadow. The fishtail braid is the perfect final touch for our camouflaging job.
While I finish getting ready, she asks about how plotting and writing is going. She listens intently, encouraging my ideas and the direction I’m headed. The publisher has given me a decent amount of leeway to craft the story of these side characters that are so beloved. I’m lucky to have a team behind me that’s so supportive.
