He huffed indignantly. “I have my own apartment.”
“Is that what you call that closet?”
Snorting, Mel wrapped his arms around David. “He’s right, babe. Your apartment isn’t going to work for us. I’m about half the size of it. They don’t call me Mel the Mountain for nothing.”
David leaned back and cocked his head to look up at Mel behind him. “Are you asking me to move in with you?”
“Yes, of course.” Mel’s smile was sweet and tender.
“Oh, God, Mel-mel. Yes.”
Mel leaned in and gave David a sweet, slow kiss, that grew heated without growing deeper.
“The deal stands as long as you two don’t do each other again until I’m asleep.” I lifted an eyebrow.
Mel pulled back and kissed his nose. “Right. Right. No more hanky panky for now.” He turned his head and looked at me. “But, Aaron, you need to let some people know before this hits in the morning.”
I nodded. “Yes, I do. You’re right.” I stopped and stared at the phone. “Drew, Alex, Gertie. Anyone else? I’m not fully processing everything yet.”
“Your sister?” David offered, quietly.
Mel just looked at me.
“How old is she now, Aaron?”
“Seventeen.” I wanted to snatch the number back as soon as I said it.
“She’s never called you?” Mel asked.
“No.”
“But she’s also never changed her number,” David said. “The worst that happens is she deletes your message, Ay-ay. That’s all. It’s not even like it costs to call anymore.”
For just a moment, I stared at her name on the screen. Then, I tapped the call button and let it ring. She never answered. Ever. So, it would just be a message, as usual.
“Hey, it’s Vi. Leave it, if you’re important I’ll hit you back. Peace!”
“Hi, Violet.” I paused. “It’s Aaron. I uh…I just wanted to let you know there’s really big news happening tomorrow, and if you’re interested, give Rolling Stone a read. Miss you, Violence. Hope you don’t hate me.”
* * *
It wasa race to see who got to me first.
Drew was racing from the back of the bar, but Alexei had to jump over it. Turned out, they crashed into me at the same time and we wound up in a three-way hug.
“You’refuckingkidding me with this!” Drew yelled.
“I am not.” I grinned.
“You seriously landed a gig with Robot Servant?” Alexei’s eyebrows were ready to crawl back into his hair. “Why didn’t you tell us you were auditioning!”
“They didn’t tell me I was auditioning,” I said. “And it’s notagig. I’m the new drummer.”
“Farrrrrk, man.” Drew jerked me out of Alexei’s half hug and fully into his. “This is amazing. You really did it.”
“I thought you were going to go to grad school?” Helen asked from behind the bar.
I severely disliked Helen. She was a negative person, but not in a fun or nice way. She was down right mean to everyone. As best I could, I gave her a stare down my nose. “I don’t need grad school. I’m graduating with my masters in Chem, and my bachelors in Music. I was thinking about going for my PhD, if that’s what you mean.”
