“Sounds like it!” Piper said excitedly.
“Don’t tell me they’re performing tonight.”
Piper laughed. “No, it’s probably just a recording of their demo.”
When I gave her a confused look, she continued.
“Their EP is on SoundCloud right now. You can totally listen to it whenever.”
That was news to me. I had to fight the urge to reach for my phone and pull up Dreamscape’s music. I was trying to do better.
We entered the barn, and the music enveloped us. At least a hundred people filled the space, all dancing and drinking and laughing. Some girls in the corner of the room sang along to the Dreamscape song’s chorus. I wrinkled my nose in slight disgust—not because anything was wrong with what they were doing, but because I was frustrated with myself and annoyed that they could so casually enjoy Grey’s music when I was haunted by it.
“I’m getting a drink. You want one?” I asked, not even glancing at Piper. The air had suddenly gotten very thick in my chest, like I was trying to inhale water.
“Yes please!” she called over the music.
I immediately moved toward the drink table at the opposite end of the room, right next to the DJ. I was pouring two cups of punch, one for me and one for Piper, when Grey’s song finally ended, and I felt like I could breathe normally again.
“I’m so glad that song ended,” someone with an all-too-familiar voice said next to me.
Apprehension rising, I glanced over to find Grey standing next to me. He looked incredible, of course. His hair was perfectly parted. His eyes seemed to glow like dark embers in the soft gold light. And his scent was intoxicating. Desire swelled in me, colored over by annoyance at its existence.
“You don’t like listening to your own stuff?” I tried my best to keep my tone light.
“If you listened to each damn track as many times as I do while producing it, you’d be sick of it too.” The corner of his mouth twitched upward. “Listen, about the other day—”
“I’ve got to go,” I blurted. “I’m here with a date tonight.”
“A… date…” Grey repeated, clearly perplexed. “Well, you certainly don’t waste any time.”
“And you certainly don’t give a guy many options except to get over you,” I replied.
Grey winced, and a dark part of me took some joy from that. The rest of me felt shitty about it. I lifted a hand to place it on his arm and provide some sort of comfort, but I froze, my hand in midair.What am I doing?Shaking my head, I grabbed both drinks and left Grey at the table. I couldn’t trust myself to be around him.
Piper waited patiently along the side of the barn, leaning against the metal wall. She was smiling to herself, clearly enjoying the energy of the place. My heart panged.Am I a bad guy for leading her on? Hold on.AmI leading her on?I’d gone on this date with the explicit intent ofnotthinking about Grey. Still, that felt a lot like using an innocent girl to deal with my own angst.
“Here you go.” I handed her one of the cups. No use overthinking it now. If and when things became an issue,thatwas when I would worry about them. As Josh had said, it was a bridge to cross when I came to it.
Piper thanked me and accepted the drink. “Did you see Grey’s here?”
“Why would I care about that?” I asked stiffly.
“Oh, I thought you liked Dreamscape’s music.” Piper frowned. “I mean, we went to a concert and everything.”
My face softened. “Yeah, I do. No, I haven’t seen him.”
She peered up at me. “Are you okay?”
I forced a smile and took a sip of my drink. It was meant to be suave, but I gagged when I realized the punch was strong as fuck. “Jesus, how much liquor did they put in here?” I managed to cough out.
Piper took a sip of her own drink, and her face went instantly red. “I think they’re trying to kill us.”
I laughed, and she joined in. I had to admit, it felt good to just laugh with a person. It felt goodbeingwith a person without them having all the unnecessary baggage that Grey did. Sure,there might not be the pure electricity with Piper like there was with Grey, but I didn’t care. I liked being around her, and that was enough for tonight.
“We should just chug these drinks and go dance,” I suggested.
Piper shot me a mischievous smile then tossed back her drink. “Your turn.” She winked.
