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19
Jade
After getting dropped off by Austin, I’m all smiles. I can’t help it. It doesn’t leave after I change clothes and get ready to meet up with the guys, nor does it go as we all head over to an interview with a popular music website. While I’m sitting next to Maddox, I keep turning my phone on and off, looking at Austin’s name and number. He gave it to me before I got out of his truck.
“What is going on with you?” Derrik whispers to me, sitting on my other side.
“Nothing,” I answer, still looking at my phone.
The interviewer asks Maddox about the latest girl he’s been linked to. I’d usually roll my eyes at the repetitive question, but today it doesn’t even bother me.
What has me smiling the most is that it feels like the beginning of an actual relationship. I know that might sound odd, but before Austin, I think I forgot what a relationship should be. I wasn’t introduced to Bret from a friend or anything like that. I met him at a concert where he was hustling to sell his band’s CD out of the back of their van. I thought it was charming. That it showed drive and motivation. And even if it did, if I really think about it, ever since that day it’s always been about him and his band.
Maybe I was blind to it because I know the feeling of trying to get your music to the next level. Whatever the reason, being with Austin has felt more like a real relationship in the short time I’ve known him, than the entire time I’ve been with Bret. I feel a little bad about that, but at the same time, I don’t. Because Austin’s right. I do deserve someone who appreciates me. Not for what I can bring to the table or how I can help them. Everyone deserves someone who’s honest with them and values their worth as a person, not a celebrity.
The interview ends, and we all walk toward the elevator. I still feel the boys’ eyes on me. “Okay, spill it,” Maddox says.
“What?”
“You started giggling in there, Jade,” Derrik tells me. “What’s going on?”
“It’s nothing. Can’t a girl giggle?”
EJ gives me a suspicious side-eye. The elevator dings, and before he or the others can say anything else, I walk out first. I don’t want to tell them yet, especially since I want to end it with Bret before talking about whatever this is with Austin. No matter what, I think he deserves that.
“Hey,” Lily calls, getting up from a chair in the lobby.
“Hey, what are you doing here?”
Before she can answer, Maddox jumps in. “Maybe you can get it out of her.”
“What?” she asks.
“She’s got goo-goo eyes,” Derrik says, laughing.
“Whatever,” I snap back at him.
“You do,” Maddox agrees. He grabs my arm, turning me around. “Oh, crap. Please tell me you did it.”
“What are you talking about?”
He glances around at the others. I do the same, and we all wear the same bewildered expression. Maddox holds up his hands, on guard. “I know you guys have gone out for a while, and that you liked him. I don’t mean to sound like an insensitive jerk, I truly don’t. But please! Please tell me you finally dropped Bret’s ass.”
My jaw drops, and I slap his shoulder. “Maddox, come on.”
“I’m sorry, sis. But you know—”
“Yes, I know. You don’t even need to say it.”
He doesn’t respond. Then they all wait for me to answer. “Come on, Lily.”
Taking her hand, I hurry out of the building, not wanting to extend this awkward standoff between the boys and me. We both rush to the parking garage, and by the time we get to her white Toyota Prius, I still haven’t said anything.
She starts the car, but I feel her eyes on me. When she doesn’t put the car in gear to get us moving, I finally look over at her. “Is Maddox right?”
“About what?”
“Jade!”
