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A tense silence fell between us, and suddenly all the apologies that had been spilled a few moments ago drifted from my mind.
“How…why…Maeve…” My head fell to my hands, and I tried to take a deep breath. As dumb as I thought the decision was, there was one glaring problem with her decision that I couldn’t ignore. “I can’t afford rent without you here.”
She blinked a couple of times, like she hadn’t thought of that fact. “You’ll have a month to find a new roommate…”
I shook my head. “I seriously…I don’t even want to talk about this right now.” I pushed off the couch, feeling like I was on the verge of losing it on her. She seriously came home and berated me for worrying about her getting hurt—and all her very questionable decisions—and then she had the nerve to come back at me for my own choices…
All the while hiding the fact that she was moving out with short notice.
What the hell am I going to do?
I slammed my bedroom door shut, trying to force myself to take deep breaths. Forget the fact that I felt something other than irritation when I sang a song with Jackson, this clusterfuck of a situation with Maeve just overshadowed all of it.
And I don’t want to be here right now.
Swallowing hard, I threw open my closet and grabbed a black tank top and a pair of faded mom jeans. I got dressed, slid on my vans, and then hesitated.
It’s almost half-past midnight…where the hell am I even going to go?
Pulling my phone out, I scrolled through my contacts until I got to the number of one of my good friends, Mason. I hit the call button—which is something I never did—but hoped that he would pick up anyway. He was always out playing the bars late, and maybe he would be able to distract me.
“…Lena?” Mason answered, his voice only slightly louder than the chatter behind him. “Are you okay?”
“Um…” My voice trailed off as tears threatened to form in my eyes. “I just need to get out of the house for a while, and I was wondering if you were playing anywhere tonight…”
“Yeah, I am.” His voice dropped in volume, like he had stepped outside. “But are you sure you’re okay? It’s a weeknight. Don’t you have work tomorrow?”
I smiled, touched by the way he cared—he always did. “Yeah, I do, but it’s a long story. We can talk about it tonight? Where are you playing at?”
“A VIP place called O.C.’s. You wanna come? Do I need to come and pick you up? I don’t mind.”
I shook my head like he could see it. “Nah, I can just Uber there. You must have a late set?”
“Yeah, of course,” he chuckled. “There’s a pretty star-studded crowd here tonight though. I’m surprised. Well, surprised they’re all still here late. Maybe tonight will be the break I need.”
“Yeah, I hope so.” I grabbed up my purse and put him on speaker as I scheduled a ride. “Anyone interesting?”
“No, not that I can tell. You’ve been really distant lately,” he added, catching my attention. That was the way he was, though, and there was a time when I thought Mason had liked me as more than a friend…
But there was just never a spark between us.
“I’ve just had a lot going on,” I said carefully. “And you’ll never believe who showed up to the class I had to stay for tonight.”
“Let me guess…Reba?”
I laughed. “No, it was Jackson Whiss from Bad Man’s Land.”
“Oh hot damn, that’s cool as fuck. He’s a hell of a musician, you know. There were rumors that he and his band were here earlier, but I looked all over the place for them.”
My heart stopped. “And you’re positive they’re not there, right? I don’t want to run into him.”
He was quiet for a moment. “You got a crush on him or something?”
“Try the polar opposite of that.”
“Yikes. He must really live up to his reputation as an asshole then.”
“Something like that,” I muttered. “But you’re certain he’s not there?”
